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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2006 > July > 26 > Entry
What was your first R-rated movie?
A discussion I had with GO editor Mandy Gambrell about the best racing movies led to this interesting query: What was your first R-rated movie?
For most kids, entry into their first R movie is kind of a rite of passage; one that stays with them for a long time - usually because the scary R-rated movie scared the bejeusus out of them.
For better or worse, my own experience is not so dramatic. My parents were pretty freewheeling about what I watched, so the R-rated movie never became the forbidden golden ticket for me. Heck, my dad likes to tell the story of how he took me to see the John Landis movie Schlock, and I yelled out in my loudest 4-year-old voice, “What the fudge was that?”
Only I didn’t say “fudge.” Schlock wasn’t t R-rated, but my mouth nearly was. (By today’s standards my outburst would be PG-13. The F-bomb has to be used as a verb to merit an R.)
So I can’t say with certainty what my first R-rated movie in the theater was. Beverly Hills Cop is my best guess. I do know that one of the first R-rated movies I saw on TV was Blazing Saddles, and I remember being confused at the gay jokes in the Hollywood chorus line. And, of course, the double entendre of names like Lili Von Shtupp sailed right over my head.
The first R-rated movie that traumatized me was Alien. Couldn’t get past the chest-bursting scene. And you’re talking to a kid who thought it was scary when Bill Bixby turned into the Hulk.
So tell me - what was your first R-rated movie? Please do try to keep the comments PG-rated!
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Moviegoing
Comments
By MisterG
July 29, 2006 10:44 PM | Link to this
Good topic, Eric, glad I finally got back to it. I believe my first “R” film was either Zefferelli’s “Romeo and Juliet,” or Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” I’m not sure; when you’re as old as I am, it’s hard to remember back to antediluvian times. “) Here’s an equally amusing question in return: what was your first “X” film, either mainstream or (choke,gasp!) “adult?” Mine was, I believe, “A Clockwork Orange.”By Bud Norton
July 28, 2006 2:06 PM | Link to this
“Animal House,” when I was 14 or so. My mom took me to see it.By Tomas
July 27, 2006 7:17 PM | Link to this
First “R” rated movie? That would have to be “Mash” with the Sally Kellerman “shower tent” scene. Just like Mark, I also remember going to see “The Night they Raided Minsky’s”, my first “M” rated movie, which likewise, I saw with my parents. Heh, neither one would rate anything more than a “PG13” these days.By Greta J.
July 27, 2006 5:50 PM | Link to this
“Saturday Night Fever” was my first R-rated movie and I saw it with my mom at age 7 at the old Kon-Tiki. I loved John Travolta and I loved disco - dancing was a huge part of my life back then. There was a little sex and violence, but the movie was all about dancing, for goodness sakes. Mom would never deprive me of that, no matter what the rating!By Patrick
July 27, 2006 2:33 PM | Link to this
First “R” was Stripes, with Bull Murray. Wondered if anyone else here would mention that one ;)By Kevin
July 27, 2006 2:01 PM | Link to this
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest I saw it with my parents when I was 10.By SRCputt
July 27, 2006 12:21 PM | Link to this
My first R rated feature was “Ordinary People”. It was the first in a stretch of R movies I saw with my dad. My mom didn’t want me to see Rs, so my dad took me when mom was out of town. He knew I could handle the language and the nudity, just not the violence. So most of the movies in that stretch were comedies such as “Stripes”. My first R for violence was soon after I left for college, and that was “The Killing Fields”.By Zack
July 27, 2006 11:26 AM | Link to this
At home it was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” In the theater, it was “In the Line of Fire.” The first R-rated movie I snuck into without a parent (and without their permission) was “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer” by buying a ticket to “The Wizard of Oz,” which had just been rereleased. I wish I’d gone to see the “Wizard” instead…By Mark Fisher
July 27, 2006 10:17 AM | Link to this
Eric: I’m old enough to remember the old “M” for “Mature Audiences” rating, and recall that when I was a kid, my parents took me to a double-bill in which “The Night They Raided Minsky’s” was the second movie — and it was an “M” fer shure. Needless to say, I cannot remember anything about the first movie — but I do remember the second!By Alicia
July 27, 2006 9:58 AM | Link to this
My first R rated movie was Halloween H20 I remeber begging my parents to let me see it.By Barb Clark
July 27, 2006 7:23 AM | Link to this
My first R-rated movie was Saturday Night Fever. My sister and her boyfriend took my best friend and I to see it at a theater in Centerville that no longer exists. I think it was in the same place the Vue night club is now. We were big Travolta fans and just really wanted to go. I think we giggled about some of the sexual dialogue, but didn’t think “R” was that big of a deal after seeing one. I even remember my first PG was Funny Girl. A couple of my sisters took me to a drive-in to see that one.By Muriel
July 26, 2006 9:55 PM | Link to this
At home it was ‘Child’s Play’ (the Chucky movie) with my dad at the ripe old age of 5. In the theatre it was ‘Cruel Intentions’. I was so not old enough to see it in public, but couldn’t resist seeing it on a double-date at a small town theatre. The first legal one was ‘8 Mile’ (the Eminem movie) and I saw it opening night a few days after my birthday.By pete
July 26, 2006 4:32 PM | Link to this
My first “R” was “Summer of ‘42”, and I was a teenager. I should’ve gotten a clue that it wasn’t all THAT racey by the fact my parents invited me along with them. I was so excited by the fact it was “R” rated, I didn’t even pay any attention to what it was about until I got to the theatre. (I think we saw it at a drive-in…) As it turned out, I remember that I enjoyed it even without what we then called “the good parts.” By todays standards, it would likely get a G or maybe a PG.By Kei
July 26, 2006 3:17 PM | Link to this
If I remember correctly, my first R-rated movie was “Seven.” I was about 11 and I couldn’t even sit through the whole thing. Still can’t, really.By Mandy, GO! editor
July 26, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this
“The Good Son” with Macaulay Culkin was my first R-rated film in the theater. I wasn’t scared of the movie so much as I was of my mother finding out. My friend’s mom bought our group the tickets to get us out of her house for the night; she told us we’d be okay if we didn’t tell our own parents. I never did! I’m not sure if a few that followed were rated ‘R’, but they also made me nervous Mom would find out: “The Bodyguard,” “Strip Tease,” and “The Fugitive.”By Big Motuh
July 26, 2006 12:49 PM | Link to this
My first R rated movie was Jaws, at the drive-in down off of County Line in Kettering. Scared me to death. I was probably 5 or 6.