Margot Tenenbaum Would Not Approve
by Daniel J. Flynn
Should the Motion Picture Association of America retroactively slap an “R” rating upon To Have and Have Not (1944)? After all, the classic film famously depicts silver-screen debutante Lauren Bacall and future husband Humphrey Bogart–gasp!–smoking. The American Medical Association Alliance demands that films featuring smoking characters be given an “R” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA already takes into consideration the tobacco habits of celluloid characters in determining a film’s rating. The AMAA’s demand would take that consideration from the MPAA, automatically assigning an “R” to any film depicting an ordinary, everyday activity normally conducted in the open when the cameras aren’t rolling. The ACLU hasn’t voiced objection, but what about Margot Tenenbaum? The Smoking Man? The Man with No Name?
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43 Comments
Different times.
Why stop there? Why not go for the NC-17? How idiotic is this going to get?
A liberal organization squelching free speech with retro ratings on Hollywood? OK, so…. I am adding a second level to my bunker, anyone wanna help?
Insane times!
Sign me up. If all else fails, there's plenty of room here under "Touchdown Jesus."
And it all started when non-smokers demanded a small section of every aircraft be "smoke-free." And the airlines acquiesced. Give them an inch…… This is the classic "slippery slope"
http://shermansmarch.blogspot.com
So what happens with children's classics like 101 Dalmations (Cruella smokes) or pinocchio … the fox smokes … are they going to make those G movies R rated now??
Smoking in movies now gets a R-rating? This is more PC nonsense.
This will also mean 1975's JAWS will get an R-rating as well since smoking is shown in the movie as well; heck, the bulk of the PG films from the 1950's, 60's, 70's, & 80's will now be R.
This is stupid.
NC-17 will more than likely mean when the actors switch cigarettes or smoke from the same cigarette…
My fave: Dentist/murderer Ralph Bellamy joins patient/sleuth Errol Flynn for a pre-denouement smoke between gentlemen in the 1941 classic "Footsteps in the Dark."
Substance abuse then and now
Morons.
They should just censor it:
The Man With No Name leans down and gives a dying soldier a puff of his… lollipop.
Margot Tenenbaum reaches into her chimney and pulls out an ancient pack of… chicklets.
The Smoking Man… uh… those are herbal cigarettes?
I don't smoke. In fact, I'm allergic to cigarette smoke. But, to retroactively rate classic movies "R" for smoking, especially when new movies are rated "PG13" with breasts and butts showing and excessive profanity spewing, seems crazy to me.
Welcome to the warm & fuzzy land of Liberal Logic where the sky is green & the grass is blue.
How about showing a big black spot when they light up?
All the classic television shows such as I Love Lucy will now have to come with a viewer warning about cigarettes.
Didn't they mock this nonsense in Thank You For Smoking? I didn't realize Buckley's work was going to embolden these loons.
The retroactive rating will never happen. Even Star Trek VI would get an R rating since, in the prison scene on the arctic Rura Penthe asteroid, Martia (Iman) gives Kirk a cigarette, saying "This'll help keep you warm."
Yeah and Cruella did it so much that the room was filled with smoke.
This is utterly rediculous… :/ Ratings based on cigerettes? But yet they let PG and PG-13 movies have suggestive sexual themes riddled all through them (if there isn't an obvious sex scene in it, just sans heavy nudity)…. So what's the message in this…
Go have as much sex as possible, just don't smoke?
Again, IDIOTS!!!
All of this insanity just keeps on snowballing…can't you feel the madness in the air?
And for some reason liberalism itself upon looking at this article caused me to remember an old movie I saw years ago called "Something Wicked This Way Comes", it starred Jason Robards, and involved some sort of Satanic Carnival that came to a small town…and the Carnival offered rides, promises, hope, and change…for the mere cost of your soul…and I think that is liberalism in its very essence.
Well, I think it is understandable. We can't have children watching movies that are as shameless as a Capra movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJfZaT8ncYk
Just shocking, I tell ya.
It's not rated R for the sex, it's the cigerette after sex
Well, I suppose the MPAA will have to retro back and give every fricking picture that came out in the 30, 40, and 50s to start an R to NC17 ratings if smoking is going to be the criteria they use. I am thinking the MPAA members just have to much time on their hands. They all need to get a REAL JOB if they can but based on their intelligence I rather doubt it and the reason they have the MPAA job.
Well, to be fair, The Man With No Name was always an R – rated kind of guy already.
How I respect smoke nazi's They'll give tobacco an R rating, but smoking crack is aok. This is where all this new PC crap started from. The civilized and gracious world of yore is officially down the toilet. I think this sucks!
Will doobie smoking get a pass?
No doubt the adults at the AMAA are embarrassed and disgusted by this childish foolishness. Another example of misplaced trust. Granted this country has some of the worst lifestyle habits the human body has ever endured but this misdirected attack is bound to further marginalize the medical profession. Whoever conceived this idea should be removed.
I'm no fan of smoking, but … this is preposterous.
Well, aside from its iconic smoking, let us not forget that "Casablanca" also depicted a far-off world where there was gambling, amateur attempts at prostitution – and worse yet – a clear line drawn between good and evil whereby adults had to actually choose whose side they're on. That would warrant an X, no?
What's the point? Smoking has already been so culturally marginalized it's no longer an issue. A generation of health nuts has been created that abhor the very notion of smoking. Anyone familiar with the South Park episode where the children visit the Museum of Tolerance, where the people tell them they have to tolerate everyone's lifestyle choices, and then everyone rabidly chews out a guy smoking outside?
AAARRRGGGHHH! I now know what causes people to go postal. It is this absolutely ridiculous PC world we live in.
Sorry, man. I'm working on the third for mine.
Depends if it gets on Hopey's "approved" list…
Can I buy back those DVD's from Gordon Brown?
As long as we continue to prostrate ourselves before the priests of political correctness, this kind of crap will be shoved in our faces. Stand up for free speech. The next time you use the plural (they) when you mean the singular (he) so you won't be considered sexist, wake up and realize you're being manipulated.
Thank God, sexually transmitted diseases don't kill men or women. Or else we’d have to ban 90% of all Hollywood movies.
Great analogy! I've seen that movie several times over the years, and you're spot on. Obama/liberalism is Robard's character; and he's secretly laughing with each new acqusition of power over our lives.
How about The Man with the Golden Arm? Is heroin – illegal – addiction OK but cigarette – legal – smoking out of bounds?
I suppose leftards are entirely desensitized to cognitive dissonance, so that makes sense to them.
They'll have to take the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE sets off the market; Peter Graves, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau all smoked like chimneys.
Weird. I just watched The Royal Tenennbaums earlier today. And yes, Margot was smokin' like a chimney. Luke Wilson (Richie) however did not seem to mind.
I agree, the proposal is ridiculous on its face, although no more so than the general prohibition against certain types of male nudity or the incredibly unpredictable rulings on violence. The MPAA has always been a hodgepodge and the ratings often make no sense.
However, if I try to look on the bright side, if this passes, perhaps the rule will increase the interest in old movies, as people rush to their Netflix to get full-frontal pictures of this oh-so-illicit activity. Wouldn't that be great?
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[...] Cowardly Conformist Who Makes Things Worse for Women in Hollywood Daniel J. Flynn, Big Hollywood: Margot Tenenbaum Would Not Approve Chris Yogerst, Big Hollywood: Film Noir Revival, [...]
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