Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Extra ID Checks for V for Vendetta

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Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 03-20-2006, 07:55 AM:

I heard from several customers that went to see V for Vendetta that ID's were checked several times for age verification. In fact at one theatre the local police came in during the movie and escorted a 17-year-old girl out. The extra ID checks were going on at both Carmike and Regal theatres. Since we were not running the move at our place I was wondering if the movie company sent any notices regarding ID's for this particular movie.

Posted by Dan Suomi (Member # 2585) on 03-20-2006, 09:19 AM:

I thought Rated R was restricted to under 17. I think that is a little extreme to have someone escorted out by police. I don't see what the big deal is, I have seen worse stuff on prime time TV than I did in Vendetta. Hell, the premier of Doctor Who on Sci fi was more violent than Vendetta. I think the US rating system is a crock of [bs]

anyways.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 03-20-2006, 10:21 AM:

I thought the MPAA ratings were just advisory unlike the BBFC ratings in the UK where, theoretically, theatres can be prosecuted if they allow underage admissions.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 03-20-2006, 10:32 AM:

Very creepy for such a thing to happen during that film [uhoh]

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 03-20-2006, 10:43 AM:

I don't know if it's the case here but sometimes extra ID checks will be used for crowd behavior control. Basically more to keep out the bad apples than having anything to do with the content of a particular movie. If a rowdy crowd was expected for whatever reason maybe that's why they did it.

Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 03-20-2006, 02:17 PM:

State of Tennessee has 18 as the minimum age for R rated material. We are also the state that let's you take road kill home for dinner...

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-20-2006, 03:28 PM:

I wouldn't read much into having the police escort someone out. Sometimes you get a knucklehead that just doesn't get it and refuses to leave. What do you do? Let them sit there? I'd get the police. They're usually right outside anyway.

Posted by Justin West (Member # 920) on 03-20-2006, 04:33 PM:

quote: Dick Vaughan
I thought the MPAA ratings were just advisory unlike the BBFC ratings in the UK where, theoretically, theatres can be prosecuted if they allow underage admissions.

That's true...but the threat to make them (or similar guidelines) the law in the US has been made by extremists in Congress like John McCain...and they have backed off. I heard John Fithian encourage all theatre owners to enforce the ratings restrictions. FYI

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 03-21-2006, 01:10 AM:

but wait, what's up with tennessee then? have they incorporated the ratings into a law now? or does r mean noone under eighteen in tennessee, 17 otherwise?

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 03-21-2006, 01:14 AM:

To make it clear, the US ratings system is volountary and is 'enforced' by the Motion Picture Association of America with the co-operation of individual theatres. If they follow 'the rules' the G, PG, and PG-13 ratings are only advisories; that is, if a 12 year old wishes to purchase a ticket to a PG-13 movie (PG-13 meaning 'Parental guidance suggested for children under 13) the theatre is not supposed to stop them by the MPAA's rules. The R rating-R for 'restricted'-is supposed to denote that no children under 17 should be allowed to see the movie without a parent or gaurdian attending the movie with them. Many theatres relax this and allow the parent to purchase the ticket for the child and not actually watch the movie with them. The NC-17 and X ratings are supposed to be absolute. Most mainstream theatres don't show NC-17 or X features so the enforcement of those ratings isn't such an issue and besides that often times local laws would prohibit children from seeing such movies anyway considering that with rare exception they are usually of a pornographic nature.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 03-21-2006, 08:44 AM:

Unfortunately some states(under pressure from Fundamentalists) have enacted laws prohibiting "R" attendance by under 18. More unfortunately, some theatres fear more states will enact a similar law, so they ridigly enforce a "law."

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 03-21-2006, 02:18 PM:

I rigidly enforce the ratings code, not because I want to control what kids see, but, rather, to keep obnoxious groups of teens away from the adult crowds. Overall, denying kids admission to those films has seemed to help the grosses of those films.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 03-24-2006, 10:58 AM:

We find it EXTREMELY hard to enforce the ratings in a "drive-in" setting.

Good example was last weekend. We had "Date Movie"(PG-13), paired up with "The Hills Have Eyes"(R) as a double feature on the same screen.

How do you ID for a situation like that?
It hasn't been much of an issue for us since we really haven't played that many R rated movies. Now that we have two screens, we're playing more R's and this will become an issue for us.

Steve, talk about "backwoods roadkill thinking" here in Tennessee. The town our theatre is in has only allowed the sale of beer since last summer. A new video rental store opened up in town that has a "21 & Up" backroom for adults only. The room makes up less than 4% of the total square footage of the storage - it's basically a big closet. The store owner has not violated any local laws, but the town council and the mayor is in the process of drafting a letter to the new business owner to basically "cease and decist" the rental of adult movies to adults based solely on "moral implications".

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 03-24-2006, 11:43 AM:

Most drive-ins won't double up an R with anything but another R.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 03-24-2006, 12:23 PM:

There isn't much R rated stuff in V for Vendetta. I'm baffled that it did not get a PG13 rating. The only real violence came at the near end of the film. We card for R rated films, but haven't had a problem with this title.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 03-24-2006, 07:33 PM:

Louis, what states have made this law?

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 03-27-2006, 08:02 PM:

Isn't it for language, the 'f' and 'c' word for instance. It got a '15' rating here.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 03-30-2006, 03:00 PM:

I love it when ten year olds come up to buy tickets for a PG-13 movie. When we ask them how old they are, they answer "13" - because they think they have to be 13 to see it.

So, then, naturally, we charge them for an adult ticket.

[evil]

Posted by Jason Winn (Member # 3568) on 03-30-2006, 04:06 PM:

quote: Don Anderson
There isn't much R rated stuff in V for Vendetta. I'm baffled that it did not get a PG13 rating. The only real violence came at the near end of the film.

V for Vendetta wasn't rated R because of the violence. It was rated R because of the language. They say the f-word a few times. I might be wrong about this, but I think, if you say the f-word once, you can get away with a PG-13 rating. But, if you say it more than once, you automatically get an R rating.

Even to this day, I'm still baffled that The Matrix was rated R. It should've been PG-13.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 03-30-2006, 04:28 PM:

I know that directors or studios or someone sometimes request a rating for their movie and the MPAA either approves their request or tells them what they need to change. I can't see why someone would request an R when they could get a PG-13, except maybe to try and gain adult interest?

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 03-31-2006, 01:49 PM:

possible spoilers...

um... also a mass grave with naked corpses being bulldozed ... they would have a tough time trying to pass that as PG-13.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 04-01-2006, 03:43 AM:

quote: Jason Winn
I might be wrong about this, but I think, if you say the f-word once, you can get away with a PG-13 rating. But, if you say it more than once, you automatically get an R rating.

i've heard that too. but then, 16 blocks was rated pg13 yet it had 2 fucks in it. they were kind of muddled though and might have been another word. also <SPOILER?> since the second instance was a tape playback of the first instance, maybe it counts as just one usage. anyways, fuck the mpaa.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 04-02-2006, 06:53 PM:

The MPAA publishes rating reasons. See www.cara.org.(*)
It says:

quote:

Title: V For Vendetta (2005)
Rating: R
Rating Reason: Rated R for strong violence and some language.
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.

--jhawk

(*) link is through my perl script that proxies an http GET into an http POST so you can link to it.

Posted by Luci Reeve (Member # 3651) on 04-03-2006, 06:45 PM:

Go watch the documentary THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED. The ratings system makes very little sense anyway. The only reason I could see that VENDETTA got an R is that actual red stuff spurted when "V" slashed anyone. It was the tamest R movie I ever saw.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-04-2006, 12:24 AM:

The tamest R-rated film in history is "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" which would have been rated PG if not for Steve Martin's f-bomb-laced rant at the rental car lady:

"...I want my fucking car. Right. Fucking. Now."

"Do you have your rental agreement?"

"No. I threw it away."

"You're fucked."

The movie "Tootsie" has Dustin Hoffman saying "Fuck you" sort of under his breath two or three times and it's rated PG.

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 04-08-2006, 03:05 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
The tamest R-rated film in history is "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"

or 'Billy Elliot'