I noticed on Amazon it is now listed as an R-rating. Does this mean Scheider's F-bomb will be restored during the truck departure? One would hope. I always thought it was a very noticeable bit of looping.
It's been several years since I've watched it. I'm not positive where it was, but I think it's where Scanlon's talking to Nilo as they depart.
“Listen Pancho, I've been clocking you every second you've been in this town. If you wanna pick your nose in this truck, you better clear it with me first, otherwise I'm taking you and this nitro right into a <insert F%@#ING> ditch!”
Its PG rating was very controversial in '77. I remember my dad taking me to see it opening weekend. I was ten years old, and we were both shocked by the level of language and violence, even by '70s standards (it was the first time I'd heard an F-bomb on screen). Friedkin has said that he expected it get an R, but didn't object when it got the PG. Today, it would be a "hard PG-13," but most likely an R for the level of bloody violence and overall dark, foreboding atmosphere which makes it most assuredly not kid-friendly.
Indeed. Violence is pretty strong even for PG-13 standards. You see charred corpse (quite gruesome), and bloody shooutout with terrorists who wanted to steal the truck. While it could sound as excuse "they didn't have PG-13 then, yet... Another movie, released in 1977, IMO exceedes PG rating and is titled A Bridge Too Far. And yet, that movie initially got R, but was reduced to PG.