The First Batch of X-Rated Movies

The Activist (69)
Adalen 31 (Sweden, 69)
All the Loving Couples (69)
Benjamin (69)
The Best House in London (69)
Birds in Peru (France, 68)
Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (69)
Cherry, Harry & Raquel (69)
The Damned (Italy/W Germany, 69)
Deadly Sweet (Italy/France, 69)
Friends and Lovers aka The Vixens (69)
The Girl on the Motorcycle (68)
Greetings (68)
A House in Naples (69)
I Married You For Fun (Italy, 69)
If... (68)
The Killing of Sister George (68)
Last Summer (69)
Laughter in the Dark (69)
The Love Doctors (69)
Loving Feeling (69)
Make Me a Woman aka The Sisters (Greece, 69)
Medium Cool (69)
Midnight Cowboy (69)
The Miracle of Love (W Germany, 68)
One Swedish Summer (Sweden, 69)
Sex of Angels (Italy/W Germany, 69)
Sin with a Stranger (France, 68)
Sweden: Heaven and Hell (Italy, 69)
To Hex with Sex (69)
Wild Wheels (69)

The MPAA started handing out X's in November 1968. These are the films that got an official X in 1968 and 1969. Producers could also bypass the MPAA and give their film a "self-imposed X" - those films are not included here. Some of the listed films were later re-rated R on appeal, or after edits were made, or even without edits in the case of The Killing of Sister George.

It's interesting how so many of these are not sex films per se, or even particularly strong. Of course, the stigma of the X was to increase over the years until it became pointless to send out a non-porno film with one.

So, how many of these have you seen? Any favorites or hidden gems?

The list comes from the research of Bob DiMucci, who posted it on the message board at filmscoremonthly.com. I've added the country of origin labels wherever it's a non-anglophone country. Some of the European films here were released elsewhere before the year given.

*bookmarks thread*

wasnt there a period in '68-69 when G or X were the only ratings?

if has four dots not three. also it had an "x certificate" in britain, but i had no idea it had an "x" in the u.s.?

googled and found this though.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/02/1968-75-how-x-rated-became-synonymous-with-porn/70655/

I've only seen If... and Midnight Cowboy from that list.

I assume that's where it talks about how they neglected to copyright the ratings?

Forget why "If...." would be rated X. Just for themes of violence? Kids going wild? I can see that going over more poorly in the UK than the USA.

Where does I am Curious ... fit into this? Was it ever rated?

My favorite ratings fuck up was the re-release of "The Wild Bunch." "The Wild Bunch" was originally rated R back in 1969, but got an NC-17 in 1993 for the director's cut, which added 10 minutes of footage, none of which was violent.

there's a stylised sex scene plus nudity plus ultra-violence in If...., plenty for an X in 1968 i'd guess

Beyond If... and MC, Medium Cool is pretty good. Cherry, Harry and Raquel and Vixens are both typical Russ Meyer silliness. The Damned is a late period Visconti gem. The Girl on a Motorcycle is boring (although Faithful and Delon are gorgeous as always). Might have seen some of the Swedish stuff at various grindhouse/softcore movie nights over the years, but honestly none of the titles stick out though.

Hieronymus Merkin the obvious influence for the
Simpsons gag movie The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel, and probably the most 60s title of all time. have never watched it cos i like Tony Newley.

The Killing of Sister George is a great movie btw, must have been given the X maybe for being about lesbians.

I am Curious ... Yellow is one of the most boring movies ever made.

69

rare old batch porn for the discriminating perv

Just three: two great ones, Midnight Cowboy and Medium Cool, and Last Summer. Don't remember the last very well. I can sort of understand Midnight Cowboy's X in the context of the times, but the one for Medium Cool baffles me--some brief nudity and that's it, as far as I remember. (I'm assuming the X wasn't given out for its McLuhan-like insights into the media landscape.)

You haven't seen If... clemenza?

Never have, not sure why--or O Lucky Man! The only Anderson film I've seen is This Sporting Life.

xpost, four dots, not three!!!!

I've never seen the film, but the poster for 'Girl on a Motorcycle' is terrific.

http://www.impawards.com/1968/posters/girl_on_a_motorcycle.jpg

wasnt there a period in '68-69 when G or X were the only ratings?

No, the initial ratings were G, M (evolved into PG), R, and X.

Where does I am Curious ... fit into this? Was it ever rated?

I was Curious about this too. Apparently it was tied up in US courts in 1968 and may have had a self-imposed X when it was finally released in 1969. Some posters show an R rating, but that may have been from a re-release.

Cherry, Harry and Raquel and Vixens are both typical Russ Meyer silliness.

The Vixens is not Russ Meyer - you're thinking of Vixen! which was released in 1968 just days before the ratings went into effect. In 1971 it was submitted to the MPAA and received an X. The Vixens is Hector Elizondo's second movie credit.

"Heironymus Merkin" is not a typo; that's the way it reads on the movie poster.

"The Girl on the Motorcycle" is a typo. It should be "...a Motorcycle"

Has no one seen Greetings? Directed by the unknown Brian De Palma, co-starring the unknown Robert DeNiro. Funny, though maybe not as funny as its semi-sequel, Hi, Mom!

Last Summer I saw recently and thought was very good. Barbara Hershey stars; a plot point in this film inspired her to change her name to Barbara Seagull temporarily.

Trivia question: Midnight Cowboy won the Best Picture Oscar, the only X ever to do so. Can you name the other two movies from this list that got Oscar nominations?

One Swedish Summer and The Love Doctors? Must have been a weak field, with no cheerleader movies.

Missed Greetings--I've seen that too. My guess for the other nominations would be Adalen 31 and The Damned, although Medium Cool might have gotten one for something.

yep, heres hershey billed as barbara segull, god love her

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UeEzdclx0nA/UR9a8suh0PI/AAAAAAAAI5c/E_Gu-8zraVQ/s1600/diamonds+1975.jpg

Resisting a Shelly Winters joke that's just waiting there.

The Damned is correct, nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Still need the other one.

Oh wait, you're right about Adalen 31 also - nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture. I was thinking of another one that got an acting nomination.

Need to watch If... again. The structure of the film (from cold realism to a brief flash of WTF surrealism to wildly violent payoff) threw me when I first encountered it at a much younger age. The fact that at least half (possibly more) of the movie is played completely straight fucked with me way more than if the whole thing had just been off the wall from beginning to end.

(needless to say, I've yet to feel up to tackling a 3 hour Lindsay Anderson musical)

mark s wrote a book about If....

was it Greetings or Hi Mom that had the infamous scene? I don't even remember what its called, lemme look it up

ok it was Hi, Mom with the Be Black, Baby sequence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi,_Mom!#Be_Black.2C_Baby

anyways an irrelevant digression though Hi Mom was an X-rated movie released not long after these ones

Just to tie up a loose end, the other film from this list that got an Oscar nom was Last Summer - Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Burns. It was her movie debut.

have only seen cherry, harry & raquel, the damned, the girl on a motorcycle, if..., last summer, killing of sister george, medium cool, midnight cowboy. curious about greetings and laughter in the dark.