While some countries restrict films with age ratings, the US is surprisingly loose by comparison. No one under 15 would’ve been able to see Terminator 2: Judgment Day in UK cinemas back in 1991 or on re-screenings. In the US, they could see it in all its glory so long as they had a parent, guardian, or cool elder sibling. Still, there is one US rating that has an age restriction, and it’s seen as such box office poison.
The NC-17 rating rarely sticks to a film because it limits its reach. Most cinemas won’t show NC-17 films, and most stores won’t stock them because they’re either a touch too violent or (most likely) too sexual. Some come to their defense, such as the 2011 film Shame, and the hope of critics that it would legitimize the rating. Others use them as a promotional tool, like the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde. But most either appeal the rating or trim the film down to an R rating, like these eight films.
8 Robocop
The NC-17 was a replacement for the old X rating, but the standards remained the same when Paul Verhoeven’s film about identity, resurrection, and commercialism. Also, there’s a cyborg policeman that shoots criminals in there. Robocop has become a classic icon, appearing in cartoons, TV shows, video games, and more, which is quite an achievement for such a graphically violent film.
The final product isn’t squeamish-friendly either, but the original version earned it an X rating. The MPAA blanched at two scenes in particular: Alex Murphy getting his arm blown off by a shotgun and the ED-209 emptying its guns into an innocent businessman. These were cut short for the theatrical version, but there is a director’s cut available on DVD for the curious.
7 Bad Lieutenant
1990 was when the NC-17 rating came into effect, just in time for Abel Ferrara’s 1992 police drama about a cop investigating a rape case while dealing with a drug and gambling addiction. The rating was supposed to be more respectable than the X rating, but it still meant Bad Lieutenant couldn’t get stocked in Blockbuster or advertised in newspapers. Eight minutes of mature footage had to be cut out to get the R rating.
The film also suffered legal trouble when it used Schoolly D’s ‘Signifying Rapper’, which got sued by Led Zeppelin for using a riff similar to ‘Kashmir’. The song ended up getting cut from every subsequent home release, including the still-NC17 Artisan DVD release, but it’s still present in the rare but censored US Laserdisc version. So, no matter what film buffs do, there isn’t a truly ‘uncut’ version of Bad Lieutenant out there.
6 Casino
Martin Scorsese’s 1995 film Casino is still stuck in the shadow of his earlier film Goodfellas. Both were films following the lives of notorious gangsters, both were based on true stories, and both involved Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and writer Nicolas Pileggi. Except, Casino was based in Las Vegas and only took inspiration from a gangster’s life story (Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal) instead of straight adapting one like Goodfellas.
This is mainly because it was subject to a lot of legally required rewrites. Sure, the city looks a lot like Las Vegas, and ‘Back Home’ resembles Chicago, but the film couldn’t say so for sure. Then, once that was out of the way, the MPAA wasn’t pleased with the film’s violence. The notorious torture-by-vice scene surprisingly didn't get their ire, but Scorsese trimmed it down, along with other shooting and torture scenes to get an R rating.
5 Team America: World Police
Ever since their porno-themed superhero film Orgazmo got hit with the NC-17 rating, despite being quite tame, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have found ways to get around classification boards - albeit not always with success. One of their wins was replacing the South Park movie’s original subtitle All Hell Breaks Loose with the less infernal yet more suggestive Bigger, Longer and Uncut. But their most famous example was their jokey pro-war puppet comedy Team America: World Police.
It had a sex scene between lead character Gary and love interest Sarah, which Parker & Stone was sure would get the MPAA's ire. So, they deliberately made it more profane, throwing in more positions and fetishes. That way, once Parker & Stone trimmed it back to their intended vision, the MPAA would be satisfied and give it an R rating. It worked, as the doll sex scene ended up being the only scene trimmed down.
4 Clerks
Does anyone remember the hardcore sexual and bloody content in Kevin Smith’s 1994 classic Clerks? That’s because it doesn’t exist. Smith couldn’t have afforded it at the time anyway, as the film had a budget of less than $28,000. It was just a simple, cheap film about two store clerks, Dante and Randal, and the people that surround them, but the film still gets referenced today due to its funny scenes and dialogue.
However, that dialogue was worth an NC-17. The film never shows Dante’s girlfriend Veronica providing lip service to 37 men across her life, but her, Dante, and Randal talking about it (“In a row?!”), was enough for the MPAA to bring the hammer down. Miramax Films hired lawyer Alan Dershowitz to appeal the decision. They succeeded, and Clerks got its R rating without needing to cut anything.
3 Hard Target
Jean-Claude Van Damme seemed like he’d take over the action scene in the early 1990s. Instead, he ended up stuck in the Direct-to-DVD market. Yet, he was the lead in 1993’s Hard Target, the first American film made by the legendary action director John Woo. It follows Van Damme’s ex-Marine as he helps a young girl discover what happened to her father, all while chased by evil businessmen who hunt people for sport.
The MPAA found it too violent and gave it an NC-17 rating. So, Woo trimmed it down and resubmitted it, getting another NC-17 rating. He had to make 20 cuts across 5 more submissions before it finally got an R-rating, which chopped down its opening chase sequence and the burning warehouse finale. The fully uncut version has still never seen a home release in the US, but it can be found abroad. However, the best scene, where Van Damme punches a snake, can be found in any version.
2 Inside Deep Throat
The title is probably reason enough why it got the rating. This 2005 documentary looked into the creation, legacy, and people behind the infamous 1972 porn film Deep Throat, how it received the biggest return on investment for any film ($600m on a $25,000 budget), where that money went, and the sad story of its lead star Linda Lovelace.
Shockingly, it got the NC-17 rating for sexual content. So, the makers replaced the hardcore scenes with softer equivalents to retain its runtime and get an R rating. Surprisingly, the uncut edition did make it into US cinemas. It also got released in Germany with an FSK 16 rating (for people aged 16 and up), so German teens could see the titular act in this documentary but would have to wait 2 more years before they can buy the FSK 18-rated Yakuza 0 from stores.
1 This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Germany notoriously cracks down on violent and bloody content, while more racy stuff gets treated more gently. Conversely, the MPAA will sooner give an R rating to violent action films than to films featuring sex or nudity, especially if it was ‘unconventional.’ Kirby Dick’s 2006 documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated interviewed filmmakers like Matt Stone, Kevin Smith, John Waters, and more on the MPAA’s biases and censorship in general.
It also showed cut content from Team America: World Police, Boys Don’t Cry, and others, and it got the NC-17 mark as a result. Dick appealed, citing that the final edition had additional footage that made the early version they rated obsolete. While it was released, it was never resubmitted for a new rating. This is why, even now, this film is still not yet rated.