MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > What are the hardest PG/PG-13 movies and...

What are the hardest PG/PG-13 movies and the softest R-rated films?

posted 5 years ago by JuanMaddox (7)
17 replies | jump to latest

I just finished watching Cloverfield to find out that it was only rated PG-13. It was highly graphic for a PG-13 movie, probably the most violent PG-13 I’ve seen, maybe besides the animated DC Comics films. Other movies that come to mind for me that are hard PG/PG-13 are the Dark Knight, Poltergeist, and Jaws.https://omegle.onl/ https://discord.software/ https://xender.vip/

For soft R’s, the Matrix felt way less graphic than the previous movies I mentioned, Planes Trains and Automobiles is another example which only got an R rating for the swearing scene, and the King’s Speech also for the scene where Colin Firth says the F-word multiple times.

Those movies I think would’ve been fine for a PG-13 rating, they’re all less inappropriate than the stuff shown in movies like Cloverfield, Poltergeist, and Jaws, which I think have too much blood and violence for PG/PG-13 ratings.

The films I mentioned are all the examples I could come up with off the top of my head. What are some other examples?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

In the late sixties and early seventies, they were pretty relaxed about handing out PG ratings.

Something like It's Alive comes to mind, a fairly gory, nasty movie about mutant babies that crave human flesh. I think there were some gorier ones that got by with a PG rating, but the titles aren't coming to mind right now.

Soft R's - The Blues Brothers is the first I can think of. I remember my parents letting me watch it as a little kid. There were a few F words IIRC, which at the time pretty much got you an automatic R rating.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21581) 5 years ago

You got that right about It’s Alive. There’s a scene in one of them where they are looking for the baby in the woods and some guy is biting his fingernails until they bleed because he’s so nervous. Do you know which one that is from? I know it had a sequel or 2.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It's been a while since I've seen them. I do remember the little monster babies being pretty nasty looking and some of the deaths being brutal, though. They usually didn't show everything, but still pretty strong for a PG movie!

[–] rudeboymurray (3281) 5 years ago

Yes, in the seventies films could get away with a lot more. It's impossible to imagine The Bad News Bears (kids swearing a lot) or The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (murderous and naked kids) coming close to a PG rating in today's world.

[–] Sarmoviefan26 (1368) 5 years ago

Can’t think of a hard PG-13 but a light R I’d say Gladiator

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Gladiator has boobs...

[–] Sarmoviefan26 (1368) 5 years ago

Mm it’s been a few years since the last time I watched it.
There was a time that I felt like I knew it by memory but I guess it’s time for a re watch

[–] Padeen (6459) 5 years ago

Saw this same question on Reddit yesterday.

[–] FredBurroughs (21909) 5 years ago

https://old.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ffibf6/what_are_the_hardest_pgpg13_movies_and_the/

Lots of recently created accounts lately have been copy/pasting reddit threads. Either it's someone desperate for virtual attention or a bot.

[–] yatzo376 (7724) 5 years ago

Jaws is a pretty hard PG imo
Pretty graphic shark kills including a young boy!
Didn’t bother us at all back then

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

People back then know a movie is a movie.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (14708) 5 years ago

A really soft rated-R film I can think of is "A Few Good Men." The worst they have in that film are people cussing (not sure if they even drop an F-bomb at all), and one guy commits suicide, but he blows his brains out off-camera.

To be fair, if the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy had been made a decade earlier (impossible, I know, but go with me on this one), it probably would have been rated R. I mean, despite being a PG-13 rating, there was some pretty graphic stuff, the worst being Aragorn chopping orcs heads off left and right, with the black blood spewing out of the severed holes. Some of the imagery would have been considered too scary for even teenagers back in the day.

Heck, "Starlight" managed to skirt being a rated-R film at the time it was made because of the throat-slashing scene with Lamia and Prince Primus. The film-makers said that he bled blue blood as a sort of visual joke about royals, and that it's less gross to see a man naked man in a tub bleed blue blood than realistic red blood.

[–] BurningSun (717) 5 years ago

I made a thread asking for the softest R-rated movies like a month ago, maybe two months ago. It had a lot of responses. Some of the best answers included:

Stand By Me
Terminator sequels
Army Of Darkness
Gladiator

Not sure about hard PG-13’s, they usually don’t happen. I recall Rampage being shockingly violent with its brutal death scenes. Also, Titanic has some f-bombs and full nudity, plus the sinking scene is probably disturbing enough.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Thor: Ragnarok was pretty brutal. While having no blood splatters it has a lot of stabbing and impaling, eye slashing and a guy melted alive while screaming in agony. Death by pew pew is pretty tame, but death by stabbing looks more violent.

[–] MaximRecoil (4762) 5 years ago

Airplane II (1982) is rated PG and shows at least 3 pairs of tits if I remember right.

The "softest" R-ratings probably come from the late 1980s. Friday the 13th Part VII (1988) is notorious for being cut to shreds due to the MPAA, for example.

[–] Sandman81 (1510) 5 years ago

Temple of Doom and Gremlins are both very heavy PG movies, and were the reason for the creation of PG-13. I think both are kind of heavy even for that rating.

The Matrix is a great example of a light R. I wonder what they could have toned down to get down to a PG-13, and if it would have been an even bigger hit?

Major League is a light R. Handful of F-bombs, and cardboard cutout of a topless woman.
Tombstone could have been PG-13.

Forest Gump is kind of a heavy PG-13.