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I was watching the original The Day of the Jackal starring Edward Fox as the Jackal. There is a scene where the character Denise is shown in bed with her boyfriend, whom she is using to gain inside information on the French Government.

As the scene progressed, we see both her breasts, nipples included. She then sits up out of the camera's view and pads away silently, whereupon we are greeted with full ... err.. reversal ... nudity. Anyway, whatever the opposite of full frontal nudity is. Head to toe, nothing on. I wasn't ready for it, and I didn't remember seeing it previously, but no worries. I like a little skin.

However, I noticed that the TV Menu system showed the movie with a PG rating. I verified it on IMDB as well, PG. I'm sure that since the movie was made in 1973, it preceded all of the newer ratings (i.e. nc-17), but still even in the day, wouldn't that have gotten it an R?

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    I believe the term is "dorsal".
    – Will Feldman
    Commented Jul 5, 2014 at 20:34
  • In those days PG meant: Parental guidance suggested – some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers
    – Oliver_C
    Commented Jul 5, 2014 at 22:11
  • Granted this is from a comedy site but most of it is true: cracked.com/… (I'd just like to take a moment to comment how messed up our media has become when truth comes out of comedy shows)
    – slebetman
    Commented Jul 7, 2014 at 7:45
  • Good point. But full body nudes apply to PG rating as long as no sexual contact is made or engaged in nude sex.
    – user18459
    Commented Jan 27, 2015 at 21:13
  • So, just to clarify: seven killings, one by firing squad and one with great force from a machine gun — not to mention a fatal car accident, a suicide, a death from old age, and a brutal interrogation, as well as the attempted assassination — are all fine for children to see; but a couple of brief, dim shots of unclothed adults, in a natural and non-sexual context, should not be?
    – gidds
    Commented Aug 8 at 14:30

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Well if you take into consideration the MPAA just established the ratings board in 1968 and on the board sits 8-13 members and these members watch each film and rate it for what their generalizations of what the "American public" would think of a particular film. Bias? or Gatekeepers? Hmmm... Another thing of note that complicates matters -- with DVR's and VOD now being popular.. a film may have a modified rating for the exact same content!? ie a Theatrical R getting PG-13 on VOD.

If you're interested more on this subject I'd recommend viewing "This Film Is Not Yet Rated".

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  • Good point on the rating change for different platforms. What goes in theater doesn't fly on regular TV and has to be edited, but usually the original rating still stands.
    – DustinDavis
    Commented Aug 6, 2014 at 20:11

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