The X-rating?
So without being too crude, what were the reasons that it was given the X rating?
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MovieChat Forums > Fritz the Cat (1972) Discussion > The X-rating?
>> So without being too crude, what were the reasons that it was given the X rating? <<
You've gotta remember... FRITZ is a period piece now.
At the time it was released, two things came together at once. First, the
MPAA rating system was brand new, and second, FRITZ was breaking new taboos
in filmmaking... the very idea of a cartoon that WASN'T in the Walt Disney
mold was a shock to everyone.
Today, FRITZ wouldn't warrant an X rating... but back when it was released
it was crossing too many lines that hadn't been crossed before.
What we have here is a case of increment creep. We're more jaded now, and
tolerate more than we did then.
Actually the movie was put in the front of the ratings board a few years ago for the DVD release--and got an NC-17 rating (the equivalent of an X). The movie includes nudity; plenty of explicit casual sex; LOTS of swearing and sex talk; pretty bloody violence...It's also incredibly dated. Most of the references will go over the head of anyone who wasn't in college in the early 1970s. I agree with Gavno--it DOESN'T deserve the NC-17 (X) rating but the MPAA obviously has issues with it. It's the same with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"
shareThe DVD is NOT RATED, not NC-17.
HAIL ILPALLAZZO!
I haven't seen it yet, but if it was re rated and got an R rating, that would kind of ruin it's historical value. It's the first cartoon to be rated X, so for that reason alone, it should keep it's original rating, whether it needs to keep it or not.
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I agree with you on the X-rating.
shareI agree, and since an X-rating can be self-applied, there is no reason for the rating to change
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Paraffin never works
On contrary, it wouldn't have gotten an NC-17 rating today, it wouldn't have gotten released at all. This movie is full of stereotypical characters that would have had everyone from the christian right to the NAACP to GLAAD would be protesting the release of this movie because it is so dreadfully un-P.C.
...and by the way, that's why I like this movie so much.
Lol, I'm sorry, but LOL.
We just recently had a gay transsexual religous Ms. Garrison *beep* an old white male evolution advocate on cable TV. This movie would have no problems passing with a simple R rating.
Tj-
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Actually, there are a few things on South Park that just might earn an NC-17 from the MPAA. Remember that the South Park film actually did get an NC-17 originally. Things Indiana Jones getting raped graphically 3 times in one episode might just push it over the border.
As for Fritz the Cat, it'd definitely get an NC-17 today, whether it "deserves" it or not. I think it'd break the limit of hip thrusts or whatever the MPAA devises. If the orgy scene in "Eyes Wide Shut" was enough to garner an NC-17, then "Fritz the Cat" would also get it, too. For, in fact, it shows the exact same things (thrusting, varied sex positions, etc.). It also has a crassness about it that begs for a rating beyond R. The animal don't just lick breasts: they slurp on them, even chew on them. They do quite a bit of vigorous pawing (pun intended) in each other's privates. And it happens quite frequently.
Oh, and there's the violence. But I think that'd pass, because the MPAA has a really skewed idea of violence vs. sex.
Remember: just because it's "dated" now (though I think that's an unfair pronouncement) doesn't mean people now watch movies like this all the time. I know many of my college-aged friends who'd be shocked by the sexual content; pleasantly shocked for some of them, but shocked all the same.
"Introduce a little anarchy." ~The Joker
"We Fascists are the only true anarchists." ~The Duke
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NC-17 is NOT the equivalent of an X. X is considered 18 and over. NC-17 is 17 and over.
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Paraffin never works
No it isn't. It was (quietly) changed by the MPAA a few years ago. It DID originally mean 17 and over until it was discovered that some states have the age of consent at 18--not 17. It was changed with no big announcement. And the age limit on the X rating has been all over the place. Originally-back in the late 1960s--it was for 16 on up but that was changed pretty quickly.
shareSo now NC-17 means 18 and over?
thats... just.... stupid!
why would they keep the damn rating NC-17?
it stands (stood) for no children under 17!
and isnt X still essentially 18 and over, because you have to be 18 to watch porn?
*beep* mpaa
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Paraffin never works
They kept it as NC-17 because they were afraid of a huge outcry if they changed it to NC-18. Yeah, it's stupid but what else do you expect from the MPAA?
sharelol, good point.
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You're taking a picture of yourself at ground zero. Do you smile?
I saw the movie "Shame" recently and I noticed the change of working. NC-17 used to read "No one under 17 admitted." They changed the wording to "No one 17 and under admitted." In other words, you now have to be 18 to see an NC-17 movie.
The earlier poster was right that in the late 60's, the R and X ratings had 16 as their age limits.
WALT DISNEY MOLD. TRU. TRU
THERE R ALOT WORSE *beep* ON THE INTERNET THAT DONT PLAY WITH UR MORALS BUT UR INSTINCTS LIKE THAT MIDDLE PART OF UR BRAIN NEEDED JUST FOR SURVIVAL THATS REALLY *beep* UP THAT MAKES FRITZ SEEM LIKE GARFIELD IN COMPARISON
THE INTERNET. RATED X
Today it would warrant an X (or NC-17 for that matter) as much as it did back then, perhaps even more so.
share[deleted]
there's vagina and penis in it.
shareThere's also both a vagina and penis in your mom and R-rated films as well. Point being?
shareWhat rated R movies have penis and vagina in them? Name all of them.
sharenot simultaneously but there are ones thaat have each seperate so I don't see the issue with having them in the same film:
28 Days Later,
Scary Movie,
there's billions with penises.
As for vaginas there arent many and quite a few are obscured by pubes but a vagina is a vagina nontheless.
The Shining,
Broken Flowers,
Ichi the Killer (cut version is R),
etc.
American History X
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (The edited version is R, and I'm pretty sure it's still there)
Private Parts
The Devil's Rejects (Cut version is R, I think it's still there)
Heavy Traffic
Pink Floyd: The Wall
That's just a few off the top of my head.
HAIL ILPALLAZZO!
oh yeah and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance has some very graphic sex with both genitals but its R. You juts don't see both genitals in the same dmovie that often in American films because in the USA we are uptight about sex but loose about violence (even though our films aren't nearly as violent as other nations'). Its the puritan philosophy of it all.
shareBaise - Moi. That has lots of nudity in it...and full on graphic hardcore sex.
As for Fritz, yeah, its a period piece now. Back in '72 I don't think there were many big release animations that were as crude as this. Loads of films have 18 ratings simply because of how old they are; for example, The Wild Bunch.
Also in the 70's in America especially, there was big political pressure put upon the general populous to follow their government and be 'upstanding' citizens. This is why films like Punishment Park have 18 ratings, when there is no graphic violence or nudity whatsoever in the film.
Fritz The Cat broke the mould of animation, and left it in better shape, even if the movie sucks.
Signature's are for fags.
sam is mr gay boy
shareMovies with that show full frontal male and/or female nudity? Have you never seen nudity in a film before or something? You could easily name thousands upon thousands of movies. Foreign films show it all the time, but in American films, you could even name big stars who've shown their lower halfs. Just out of boredom I'll name a few, but frankly I could go on forever.
Kids
Billy Bathgate
Eyes Wide Shut
Color of Night (which has both)
Logan's Run (has both)
Ken Park (has both, including real sex)
The Brown Bunny (has both and real oral sex)
An American Werewolf in London (has tons of male frontal nudity throughout the ENTIRE film)
Red Dragon
Revenge of the Nerds
Porky's (male & female frontal nudity)
American Gigolo
There's just no point to going on, and those films pretty much consist of major stars doing the nudity too.
don't forget the dreamers.
as for the X-Rating, I think everyone has already covered why. I still beleive It's banned in Australia, although I have seen this film and it's sequel (the sequel is not banned here.) How about the group orgy? or the violent deaths of Duke, the sniper crow on the rooftop, the police and the torture of the horse by the neo-nazis?
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*Coughcough*Clockwork-Orange-Is-R-Now-And-It-Had-Full-Frontal-During-Sexual-Activity*Coughcough*
HAIL ILPALLAZZO!
It was probably X rated just so parents didn't buy it for their kids by accident.
shareInteresting note: A while back, I went to a video store, and asked if they had any Ralph Bakshi movies, as I was short on time and couldn't look. Turns out, Fritz The Cat is in the 'ADULT' section, next to such thrill-a-minute epics as "Cocks & Knockers Vol. 27" and "Fisting Firemen 9". And yet they had just-as-explicit-as-Fritz (Possibly even more!) non-porn films like A Dirty Shame (The uncut version) and Pink Flamingos in the Comedy section. WTF, man?
You're not just crazy, you're a freakin' loon! - Frasier Crane
I just thought of one movie that is R-Rated and has more frontal nude scenes of both men and women than any other movie I have seen: Schindler's List.
shareForgetting Sarah Marshall was rated R and it had obvious male genitals, and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot had full-frontal female and was R as well. Plus, the Andromeda Strain (the original one) had bare breasts and buttocks and was rated G (for GENERAL AUDIENCES, ALL AGES ADMITTED, that G).
Let's not forget that The Wild Bunch got its rating bumped up from R to NC-17 in the early 1990s, even though the violence in it wasn't as explicit as later R rated stuff, and it only contained some brief bare breast shots and no explicit sex. Fritz might get NC-17 now, but it might also get R.
You also forgot Monty Python's The Life of Brian, which was released in '79, around the time of Fritz, which has both, and still received an R.
'Your mother ate my dog!'-Dead Alive/Braindead
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OK, you're obviously 12 years old.
...and what the hell was up with that ending? Sheesh!
is this banned in australia?
"Rage Against The Machine RULES!!!"- movielova1
i dont think it is banned in australia...i have seen it in various video shops - rated r in the adult section so whether it was censored i dunno. i also remember it being screened on SBS in the early/mid 1990s so im thinking maybe not.
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I thought this animated film was lame. Not nearly as good as Wizards.
shareits still a shocking film, people that think Borat is ok, feel that Fritz is evil cause of the fact its cartoon cats and rabbits ****ing up a storm. (literally)
sharehold on a minute
someone wrote "there's also both a vagina and penis in your mom..."
does anyone else see something wrong with this statement?
Actually, you can show female nudity in a film and still receive an R, but for some strange reason a penis will get you an NC-17. But the MPAA has made a few exceptions for a few films, but in general, male frontal nudity will get you an NC-17
"The people should never fear their government, the government should fear their people"
but for some strange reason a penis will get you an NC-17. But the MPAA has made a few exceptions for a few films, but in general, male frontal nudity will get you an NC-17
Wrong. Only an erect penis will get you NC-17. Did you see "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" or "Sex in the City" this year? Both featured penis scenes, both got an R. And "Standard Operating Procedure" even had a photograph of a man with an erect penis and it got an R. And the soldiers from Abu Ghraib were talking about forcing the man to masturbate, so you knew what was happening. Admittedly, though, the photo wasn't glaringly obvious, and it was a documentary, so it had some leeway.
"Introduce a little anarchy." ~The Joker
"We Fascists are the only true anarchists." ~The Duke share
like i said, there are a few exceptions
"The people should never fear their government, the government should fear their people"
like i said, there are a few exceptions
Yes, a few exceptions to the erect rule. But you can just about always show a flaccid penis and keep an R, as long as it's not during a sex scene.
"Introduce a little anarchy." ~The Joker
"We Fascists are the only true anarchists." ~The Duke share
First of all - remember all of the characters are ANIMALS not people. Yes, there is a lot of sexual activity, but not graphic (at least by today's standards). There is a lot of drug use, blood and strong lanquage. (However, almost anything by Q. Tarentino would be more extreme).
This was a rather ground-breaking film when it came out. It was rated X simply because it did NOT go to the rating board (if not rated by the MPAA, a film was automatically given an X rating). It probably would have been rated R (or M, I cannot remember ratings from back then) if it had actually been rated.
Read in one comments that American Werewolf in London had lots of full frontal male nudity. Are you talking about the John Landis movie? Been a while since i've seen it but i dont remember anything like that.
Also, if Fritz was released today it would get attacked by everybody no matter how liberal or conservative- cartoon sex and nudity aside, the movie stereotypes ethnic groups by assigning certain animals to them- i.e. all black characters are depicted as crows and speak jive, etc..
"Read in one comments that American Werewolf in London had lots of full frontal male nudity. Are you talking about the John Landis movie? Been a while since i've seen it but i dont remember anything like that."
It's during the scene when Naughton's character wakes up at the zoo.
My head hurts, my teeth itch, my feet stink, and I don't love Jesus.share
Doesn't qualify as "lots!" Not by a long shot! (my apologies for puns)
At the time of Fritz, X ratings had not yet become associated with the pornography industry. Soon afterwards, the porn industry put X-rated into their advertising, and invented triple X.
The best example of an undeserved X-rating I've seen is Midnight Cowboy. Wikipedia: "While the MPAA was prepared to give the film an R rating upon their initial viewing, the co-chairman of United Artists, Arthur Krim, insisted upon self-applying an X rating on the advice of psychiatrist Aaron Stern, later to become an official MPAA ratings board consultant. It soon became the first X-rated film to win an Academy Award."
Yes, there is a lot of sexual activity, but not graphic (at least by today's standards).
I dunno, that orgy in the bathroom was pretty graphic. However, I felt the film definitely spoke for itself when it came to reasons why it was X rated. Don't forget the graphic death scene of the crow, the trippy *beep* fantasy, and the Neo Nazis. share
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This was a rather ground-breaking film when it came out. It was rated X simply because it did NOT go to the rating board (if not rated by the MPAA, a film was automatically given an X rating)
Incorrect.
Fritz the Cat was duly submitted to the MPAA and received an X-rating.
This is documented in the Code and Rating Administration's published book of rated films.
It was not self-applied.
Based on my understanding of current CARA standards, I have no doubt the film would be rated NC-17 today.
This is correct. As well, as someone else stated the fact that is a cartoon will cause the retards who rate movies at the MPAA to assume that it was directed toward kids giving them more reason to make it NC-17 or X-rated.
top 5 favorite movies: 1.The Holy Mountain 2.Gozu 3.Rabbits 4.Irréversible 5.Samurai Rebellion
At the time, just about anything that had more than 5 minutes of nudity and sex was labelled pornography. And on top of that it was a cartoon. So to steer away parents and children from watching it, they made sure it was an X.
Imagine if a parent had bought it, started watching it with there kids, and BAM in the first seen a guy whips an animal penis out and starts pissing on a guy.
TOO MUCH HAIR!! CANNOT SEE!! CANNOT SEEEEE!!!
Lets see, Straw Dogs, A Clockwork Orange,ect. Must of had over 5 minutes of nudity/or sex. and they were made in the 70's. and they both have r ratings.
shareYou have a point there. Clockwork Orange was banned for 29 years though. I know nothing of Straw Dogs though.
shareace2u35; it was kubrick who stopped the movie from being shown. not the ratings board etc.
shareace2u35; it was kubrick who stopped the movie from being shown. not the ratings board etc.
Say what? I just posted possible reasons, I didn't know what the official statement about the X-rating for this film was.
I...drink...your...MILKSHAKE!
I DRINK IT UP!!! share
A Clockwork Orange was "X" when it came out.
shareBoth Straw Dogs and A Clockwork Orange were originally X-rated.
Dogs was trimmed to "R" before it's first release (uncut version is on disc), Clockwork was trimmed a year after its initial release.
Although most tape and disc versions of Clockwork list an "R", all releases are actually the original "X" version. The actual "R" version is extremely rare now, and contains one unique shot not in the original.
to me this would have gotten an nc 17 rating or an r rating now a days.
shareI have not seen Fritz since 1972 (35 years ago) I did not realize it was DVD. I was shocked and amazed then and it deserved its X rating. Now I am going to have to watch it again and see there are any brain cells left from that period in my life.
shareMy DVD has the Canadian rating R.
Nobody mentioned Life of Brian. That one had full frontal male nudity, full frontal female nudity, and old man dangily testicle nudity.
"Why doesn't the world just shrivel up and die?"- Al Bundy
One of my favorite movies, but it is incredibly perverted at times so i can see why it would get an X-rating. The sex and nudity in the movie is probably what earned it it's X-rating.
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"They're crabs, they're eating him... nature sucks."
well...... A Clockwork Orange is r-rated and this got an x rating and A Clockwork Orange came only a year before and this got an x rating which is dumb becaus a clockwork orange is way WORSE!
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