I've had many conversations and learned a great deal about the evolution of the entertainment industry and more specifically motion pictures over the years but the sea change for me was driving home and stopped in my car at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Ocean Avenue in 1970's.. much like this photo...
stopped at the light waiting and day dreaming about the fact that I was going to be attending the Academy Awards for the first time (but more about that night later)
The real changes in my lifetime began with the films being produced starting in 1967... The Hays Code and the administration that censored content for movies lasted from from 1930 until 1967; If you ever watch older films the codes principles were---
- No picture will be made that will lower the moral standard of it's audience.
- Correct standards of morals and life will be presented.
- No law will be ridiculed or sympathy placed on violators
The list seems endless... but boiled down it included absolutely no nudity, discussion of sex or hygiene, venereal disease or abortion, no obscenities or profanities were uttered, lust and race relations were forbidden topics and the use of narcotics or sacrilege to any religion was not allowed... The code and it's extremely strict rules started to get broken down in the early 60's with such film titles as "Sex And The Single Girl" a script adapted from a book by Helen Gurley Brown... that was very tame and good clean fun by today's standards but could have never been made during the height of the code years.
One of the movies that I most remember seeing in the 1967-68 season was Bonnie And Clyde...
OK I have to pause here for a minute... Bonnie And Clyde was the first movie I ever saw with really over the top violence and bloodshed and when I left the theatre I was somewhat obsessed with the actual people and the story so I went to the library to do a little research (there was no internet in those days... you had to go to the library if you wanted to find out about something)... Well all I can say is... the writers and producers took some liberties with some issues and stretched or bended the truth here and there but the biggest thing for me is Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow would have loved to have been as beautiful and handsome as Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty...
But such is Hollywood... I was one of the people who were a little bit slow to accept and embrace the changes going on... I longed for the MGM spectacles with singing and dancing and beaded gowns where everyone lives happily ever after... but I slowly started to emerge from my initial misgivings and realized that there are stories that need to be told and lessons to be learned from them and it was during this period that one of my favorite sub genres of film really evolved "The Spaghetti Western" nobody filmed and told the old west story better than Sergio Leone and his crew.... The movies that most stick in my memory from that year are "Up The Down Staircase"
and "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"... (I own both and can recite from memory most all of the good monologues )...
this was a time when the entertainment industry started to have a social conscious with domestic and international issues with issues that really mattered and you could often understand where people stood on those issues just by how they reacted to certain movies. (truth be told you still can)... but I also saw Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (which was favored to win at the Academy Awards in 1970 by just about everyone) in addition to getting to look at Robert Redford and Paul Newman and their performances... it was wildly entertaining.
In 1968 the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) created the rating system that replaced the moral guidelines of the Hays Code and implemented the Classification & Ratings Administrators (CARA) that is an independent group working in cooperation with the MPAA... the focus was not to approve or disapprove of what movie audiences should see but to give a guideline of content to make movie going decisions for families ... it's evolved over the years but when it started...
The ratings used from 1970 to 1972 were:
Rated G: All Ages Admitted – General Audiences
Rated GP: All Ages Admitted – Parental Guidance Suggested [Sometimes a disclaimer would say "This film contains material which may not be suitable for pre-teenagers"
Rated R: Restricted – Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Rated X: No one under 17 admitted
There was also a brief period when there was a Rated M: Intended for Mature Audiences
The ratings used from 1972 to 1984 were:
Rated G: General Audiences – All ages admitted
Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested – Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers
Rated R: Restricted – Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Rated X: No one under 17 admitted
In 1984 was the addition of PG-13 that essentially was a note of caution to parents to investigate content before allowing children under age 13 to view.
NC-17 replaced the X rating as it was synonymous with pornography as it became more readily available in the 80's.
The MPAA also rates trailers print advertising, posters, and other media used to promote a film. Green, yellow, or red title cards displayed before the start of a trailer indicate the trailer's rating.
Green: When the trailer accompanies another rated feature, the wording on the green title card states "The following preview has been approved to accompany this feature." For trailers hosted on the internet, the wording has been slightly altered to "The following preview has been approved for appropriate audiences."
Yellow: A yellow title card exists solely for trailers hosted on the internet, with the wording stipulating "The following preview has been approved only for age-appropriate internet users." The MPAA defines "age-appropriate internet users" as visitors to sites either frequented mainly by adults or accessible only between 9:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. The yellow card is reserved for trailers previewing films rated PG-13
Red: A red title card indicates that the trailer is restricted and when it accompanies another feature, the wording states "The following restricted preview has been approved to accompany this feature only." For trailers hosted on the internet, the wording is tweaked to "The following restricted preview has been approved for appropriate audiences." The red title card is reserved for trailers previewing R and NC-17 rated films. Trailers hosted on the internet carrying a red title card require viewers to pass an age verification test which entails users aged 17 and older to match personal information of public records on file.
But let's go back to the movies of 1969 that were nominated for Academy Awards... That year I saw Easy Rider (boy was I not prepared for the ending and the final twist), Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brody, They Shoot Horses Don't They, True Grit, Hello Dolly (I'm a sucker for movies with dance numbers, singing and beaded costumes... always have been always will be).., and Midnight Cowboy... Midnight Cowboy was the first (mainstream studio produced) movie with an X rating for content (paving the way for A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango In Paris) and United Artists refused to edit it... Thank God because it gave the world ground breaking performances by Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voigt...
... as well as Brenda Vaccaro and Sylvia Miles... but more importantly it dealt with dark taboo material (for the era) people either loved or hated this movie and when I went several people walked out grumbling and incensed ( I remember thinking... take your self-righteous provincial ass home and JO to to your National Geographic behind a locked door since you can't handle what happens outside your squeaky clean suburban world)... in spite of all that... people were lined up for blocks to see it and the night I went it got a standing ovation and thunderous cheers at the end... but from the summer when I saw it until the Academy Award winner was announced I was skeptical if it could win Best Picture... But it did.
Now let's talk about my first time at the Academy Awards... The 42nd Annual Academy Awards 7, April 1970... OK I have to make a little confession I was just getting started and I worked as a filler that year and for many years that followed ( a filler is someone who fills in empty seats unoccupied by people either presenting, performing or the winners... so that when the camera pans the audience the seats are all full.... it's a fairly dramatic production getting in and out of seats during commercial breaks)... but I really loved doing it because I actually got to be there and made a few connections over the years... you have to dress "Black Tie" and you can't harass (and are not supposed to talk to) any of the people you are seated next to or nearby(unless they address you first).... if you are young and friendly and play your cards right... you can usually get invited to the after parties by someone or another. I have subsequently in the following years either performed or been a guest of someone or been given a ticket for one reason or another... although it's swell to have your own ticket... truth be told I think I had more fun those four years when I was flying by the seat of my pants filling in seats...
But back to that night... Quincy Jones was host that year...Awards were presented by: Bob Hope, John Wayne, Barbra Streisand, Fred Astaire, Jon Voight, Myrna Loy, Clint Eastwood, Raquel Welch, Candice Bergen, James Earl Jones, Katharine Ross, Cliff Robertson, Ali MacGraw, Barbara McNair, Elliott Gould, Claudia Cardinale, and Elizabeth Taylor... The audience was a mix of the "Old Guard" and the "New Generation"...I saw Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra..and the cast and crew of Easy Rider and Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice...
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| Cary Grant won an honorary lifetime achievement award |
And because of that night I became lifelong friends with Rod McKuen who was nominated for the music and lyrics for "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie" and lost to Burt Bacharach & Hal David who wrote "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" from Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.... Among the other award recipients that evening were John Wayne (True Grit), Maggie Smith (The Prime Of Miss Jean /Brodie), Gig Young (They Shoot Horses Don't They), Goldie Hawn (Cactus Flower), But...The big surprise was... Best Director went to John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy), Best Picture (Midnight Cowboy-Jerome Hellman---Producer), Best Adapted Screenplay (Midnight Cowboy---Waldo Salt)
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| Jon Voight accepted for John Schlesinger who was in London directing another film... |
The topic of many discussions that evening and the years to follow was Midnight Cowboy helped to pave the way to give other people the nerve to write, produce and perform in stories that deserve to be told and not only sometimes entertain us but help us to understand ourselves and the world a little better... and that's what the new era of Hollywood is all about to me.
... One year I did not get home from the awards until about 7:00 am the following morning... it's the first time I did the 'Walk Of Shame" in a tuxedo... I'll be finishing up my thoughts on Hollywood next week. See you then.
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