11 Things You Can't Believe Your Favorite Movies Got Away With
Oh, the '70s and '80s were a glorious time for Hollywood. You could rip out hearts and chop off limbs and still get your movie a family-friendly rating. Hell, even after the PG-13 rating was created, movies still pushed their limits. Here are 11 films that got away with things they couldn't do today.
Quint's Death in 'Jaws' (1975)
This bloody demise of our favorite hard-drinking shark hunter feels really out of place when you think of the film's PG rating. And yet, audiences didn't seem to mind -- making "Jaws" the first blockbuster ever. Ironically, director Steven Spielberg who would help lead the charge in finding a rating where death's like Quint's could be made more matinee friendly.
The Face Peel in 'Poltergeist' (1982)
Those are producer Steven Spielberg's hands tearing away at fake flesh in this 1982 classic that forever gives us nightmares thanks to a very, very lax PG rating. In fact, the film was saddled with an R until the filmmakers worked with the MPAA to overturn it.
Superman Forcing Himself on a Woman in 'Superman III' (1983)
Some homemade kryptonite turns the Man of Steel into five o'clock shadowed sex offender. Yup, after some aggressive, flirty foreplay, he kinda forces a woman to submit to him in this tonally-confused threequel.
The Heart Rip from 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984)
Holy sh**, this is messed up. Spielberg blames the dark tone of "Temple of Doom" on the fact that he was going through a divorce at the time the film was made -- but that's no excuse for ripping out a guy's heart; our childhood did not need to be scarred like that. This Indiana Jones prequel lead to the creation of the PG-13.
Ray's Dream Sequence in 'Ghostbusters' (1984)
This sequence brings a whole new meaning to the lyric "bustin' makes me feel good." Even as kids, this scene -- which was largely deleted from the final film -- made us scratch our heads. Ray, wearing old timey naval gear, dreams of an attractive ghost that proceeds to unzip his fly and, well, go to third base. In a family comedy. Moving on...
Killing So Many Autobots in 'Transformers: The Movie' (1986)
Hasbro's plan with the Autobots' first big-screen outing was to make way for a new toyline. They did so with an early sequence in the film where Megatron attacks an Autobot ship and his fellow Decepticons slaughter the Gen 1 robots inside. Ironhide gets it POINT BLANK to the face -- RIP.
Killing the Joker in 'Batman' (1989)
Nevermind the death plummet Joker suffers in a movie trying to sell toys. You couldn't get away with killing the Joker today because 1) save him for future sequels and 2) Batman doesn't kill. Sure, he skirts his one rule with the whole "don't have to save you" thing in "Batman Begins," but murder is not part of the Dark Knight's ethos. Today's fans would riot.
The Used Condom Gag in 'The Mask' (1994)
Pretty much self-explanatory. This happened, in a summer movie, aimed at kids. Stay classy, 1994...
Bond Forces Himself on Pussy Galore in 'Goldfinger' (1964)
What starts as a playful roll in the hay (literally) between Bond and good-girl-gone-bad Pussy Galore ends with, well, you can see it right here. Not cool, James. Not cool...
Bond Going Japanese in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967)
Woof. Even in the '60s, Bond going Japanese must have seemed like a bad idea. Yeah, this would never fly today. Thankfully, Bond and a bunch of ninjas assaulting Blofeld's volcanic lair overshadows everything happening in this picture.
Bond Slaps a Woman in 'The Man With the Golden Gun' (1974)
The late Roger Moore hit a rough patch with his second Bond film, in terms of plot. His mission gave us one of the series' best villains ever -- the titular assassin -- but it also gave us a scene where Bond, seeking information, physically abuses a woman to get that info. Before bedding her, as Bond does...
Chopping Off a Limb in 'Star Wars' (1977)
The Cantina is home to the worst kind of scum and villainy, but do they deserve to have their limbs severed by a lightsaber-happy septuagenarian? Also (*puffs on inhaler) if this scene happened today, a lightsaber would have cauterized the wound -- leaving this use of the Force a bloodless affair.
