MovieChat Forums > Hardware (1990) Discussion > Is it true that this film was really X-R...

Is it true that this film was really X-Rated and then they made it R?


I remember that back in the day when this movie had first come out, there was some kind of controversy about it that had some people complaining that the movie was originally a hardcore, triple-X-rated sci-fi/horror movie and then they toned it down to Rated R when it came to the U.S. The original British version apparently was supposed to have the sex scene different from the American version. I don't know what they were talking about because when I watched the movie the sex scene was not hardcore, XXX-Rated. A sci-fi/horror porno flick this was not.

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keep in mind that it was the early 90s & how it was then


Things were different back & when in the mindset, the uncensored gore in Hardware is definitely nasty for a movie released in 1990




I warned you not to go out tonight

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There simply was a very prudent ratings board membership at the time. Whoever the 1990 MPAA ratings board was comprised of were very strict.

There were a record number of films being originally given the 'X' rating by the MPAA that year, and most Hollywood studios had a strict policy not to release X-Rated films. So, the films would have to be released without a rating at all or with cuts made to secure an R-Rating.

Finally, the MPAA invented a whole new rating, called the NC-17, in the fall of that year, so that there would be an alternative rating to the X. Unfortunately, this turned out to be pointless, because within two years, most Hollywood studios adopted policies against the NC-17 also.

Like I said, the MPAA ratings board was NOT playing around in 1990. There were SO many art house, genre, AND studio films given the X that year. Some of tem are surprising to some people.

They were, as follows:

March,1990: MPAA gives 'X' ratings to three films in one month, which makes the news. Two foreign film acquisitions for Miramax Films, Peter Greenaway's British film "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover", and Pedro Almodovar's Spanish film "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!", are given the 'X', plus American indie film "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is also. All three films will ultimately surrender their ratings completely, and go out Unrated/Uncut, with special warnings, to the credit of their indie distributors.

May,1990: David Lynch's film "Wild at Heart" wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Lynch will already self-censor a sequence which reportedly caused a lot of people at Cannes some discomfort, before he even submits the film to the MPAA. Nevertheless, the MPAA still issues the film an X. Lynch cuts a nasty line of dialogue, shortens a sex scene (it isn't any less explicit, just of shorter duration), and most memorably he brilliantly uses an optical effect ( a blue cloud of smoke) to mask a very brief, but very violent, shot of gore near the end. In the end, he barely obtains an R-rating.

June,1990: In an unusual move, the MPAA gives a HUGE summer popcorn movie an X. The Paul Verhoeven directed, Arnold Schwarzenegger starring, "Total Recall", is given an X. The studio requires it to be trimmed slightly. Verhoeven removes a shot of a drill boaring through a man's side, spilling his intestines, and shortens a sequence of a dead man's body being used as a shield while it is riddled with bullets. An R-rating is given.

August,1990: Alejandro Jodorowsky's "Santa Sangre" is given an X. The distributor issues it not rated. Later, on video, it is released on tape in two versions: the Uncut theatrical version which is then re-rated the new NC-17, and an R version exclusively for video, which is trimmed slightly of some extreme violence.

September,1990: Richard Stanley's "Hardware" is given an X. After debating releasing it unrated, the distributor decided to cut it. It NEVER had a triple-X rated sex scene. EVER. Although there are a couple of different versions, most of the cuts are just differences to minor details/ running times. There is only one sequence that was actually cut to avoid the X-rating, and it involves a man cut in half and his disemboweled body shown, graphically spurting blood and quivering around. Also in September, Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" is considered for an X. Scorsese is warned of the pending X, and appeals, and argues his case, in writing, to the MPAA, claiming that the violence in "Goodfellas" is absolutely necessary in the film (to counter the luxuries crime is shown to provide), and that it is not gratuitous. Amazingly, the MPAA agrees, and is swayed. This is the only time that year that a filmmaker argues his way out of an X, without one cut being made!

October,1990: Finally, after a year of unrated releases and censored films, the MPAA finally creates the new NC-17 rating. The very first film to be released with an NC-17 is Philip Kaufman's "Henry and June". Released by Universal Pictures, with the NC-17, it looks like a new era of filmmaking has arrived. Unfortunately, that period is short lived, and soon the NC-17 will be treated just like the X.

(Note: For later video releases, "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" is re-rated NC-17, as is "Santa Sangre". )

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A film scholar you are indeed sir! Good reporting!

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[deleted]

Die Hard 2 also had to be edit to get an R rating. From the Alternative version section:

The shootout between the airport SWAT team and the terrorists was severely edited before the film received an "R" rating. Among the scenes trimmed down was when the first SWAT member is shot in the head by the character played by Robert Patrick. When the SWAT guy is shot in the head in the "R" rated version, it is shown from a distance. In the work print shown to exhibitors in the summer of 1990, the man is shot in the forehead but is shown in a graphic closeup. A lot of the bloodier shots were also trimmed down in this section as were a couple of extended scenes of the people on the plane that Col. Stewart crashes on purpose.

Argue on internet is like competing in the Special Olympics, even if you win you're still retarded

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[deleted]

Cliffhanger was also cut for violence to get an R rating.

Also Robert Rodriguez cut a whole action scene at the end of Deseperado because he had to re-cut most of it to get an R rating, and he decided he had enough shoot outs, so he just deleted it and it just faded to white after the first kill. I wonder why Rodriguez never has released an Unrated cut.

Argue on internet is like competing in the Special Olympics, even if you win you're still retarded

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So what this all tells us, is that MPAA has been ruining many movies for a looong time and still noone has the guts to get rid of it.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

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1987's "Robocop" also initially received an X rating. The scene where Murphy is killed I believe was shortened as well as the scene where one of the executives was shot by the big robot ED-209. I seem to recall he was suppose to be shot at for something like 30 seconds. Or some ridiculous amount of time like that. lol

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You can watch the X rated Robocop if you can find the Criterion Collection version of it.



"We are not the same. I'm an American and you're a sick @sshole."

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