{"id":508563,"date":"2026-04-02T07:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/508563\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T07:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T07:36:16","slug":"the-first-movie-to-be-rated-nc-17-for-extreme-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/508563\/","title":{"rendered":"The first movie to be rated NC-17 for \u201cextreme violence\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hollywood<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ De’Andre Bush)<\/p>\n

Wed 1 April 2026 16:45, UK <\/p>\n

Age ratings have long guided us towards what we\u2019re meant to (and not meant to) watch \u2013 as children and teenagers, watching movies<\/a> we were not old enough to legally view was often our first act of rebellion. What could be more scandalous than watching a PG without parental guidance? <\/p>\n

Since the establishment of cinema as a proper art form and one of the most popular forms of entertainment, censorship boards have formed across the world to monitor the kind of content being served up to audiences\u2026 Is it age-appropriate? Is there anything that simply needs to be edited out for risk of offending or traumatising a wide viewership? <\/p>\n

Moral panics have come and gone over the years \u2013 who can forget when British institution the BBFC went crazy over the apparent threat of video nasties in the 1980s<\/a> \u2013 but for the most part, age ratings are a pretty good thing. There\u2019s no need to sell a 12-year-old a DVD featuring grisly violence and explicit sex. <\/p>\n

In America, the Motion Picture Association decides what age rating is given to each film, although it\u2019s not a legal requirement \u2013 movies are allowed to be screened even if they don\u2019t have an age rating\u2026 This system was established when the Hays Code fell out of use in 1968<\/a>, ushering in a new era for Hollywood that wasn\u2019t half as restrictive as it had been for the past few decades. <\/p>\n

While a G allows absolutely anyone to watch a movie, a PG advises that \u201csome material may not be suitable for children,\u201d and a PG-13 suggests that \u201csome material may be inappropriate for children under 13\u201d \u2013 then you jump into the heavier stuff, with R-rated movies advertising themselves as \u2018under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian\u2019\u2026 While the UK has a 15 rating following PG and 12, which seems to be a good midpoint, America skips straight from PG-13 to R, and then you hit NC-17, which replaced the X-rating in 1990.<\/p>\n

The first movie to be rated NC-17 for \u201cextreme violence\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one 17 and under admitted,\u201d reads the warning, although that doesn\u2019t mean that the movie is going to contain pornography, as \u2018X-rated\u2019 films suggest. Rather, NC-17 movies are those which contain a strong amount of nudity, sex, violence, or excessive drug use \u2013 essentially anything that is so intense and shocking that conservative and religious groups would probably rush to ban it. <\/p>\n

An adaptation of Ana\u00efs Nin\u2019s Henry and June was the first movie to earn an NC-17 rating<\/a>, but two years later, a different title became the first to be given the rating purely for its sheer levels of violence. Intent to Kill, directed by Charles T Kanganis, featured Gilmore Girls\u2019 Scott Patterson and pornographic-star-turned-John-Waters muse Traci Lords, and focused on some heavy themes of prostitution and drug trafficking. <\/p>\n

The film saw Lords play a police officer who decides to go undercover to try to investigate a prostitution ring, while her boyfriend, also a police officer, similarly gets pulled into this dark criminal world. There are plenty of violent fights between gang members and thugs as Lords\u2019 Vickie and Patterson\u2019s Al get themselves a little too wrapped up in the danger. <\/p>\n

In the UK, it was released as an 18, although several seconds had to be cut by the BBFC for it to be passed. While the movie hasn\u2019t really endured as anything very memorable, it does stand as a landmark in the American film rating system, nabbing the first NC-17 rating for \u201cextreme violence,\u201d not sex.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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