There have been quite a few non-kid, non-animated movies with G ratings in the past 3 years. Here's the list AFAIK with US distributor and release date:

Gone with the Wind (re-release), New Line, 6/98
The Winslow Boy, Sony Classics, 5/99
Buena Vista Social Club, Artisan, 6/99
The Straight Story, Disney/BV, 10/99
The Cup, Fine Line, 2/2000
Not One Less, Sony Classics, 3/2000
Calle 54, Miramax, 10/2000
A Hard Day's Night (re-release), Miramax, 12/2000
The Road Home, Sony Classics, 4/2001
The Princess Diaries, Disney/BV, 8/2001

Not One Less and The Road Home are from Sony's China studio (the same one that filmed Crouching Tiger). Buena Vista Social Club and Calle 54 are documentaries. Gone with the Wind had a highly publicized re-release and got megaplex bookings as a result.

Anyone willing to come up with other non-kid G-rated features?

You call this a 'non-kid/family' picture? it has 'Lets pack up the kids and check it out' written all over it, ala 'Parent Trap'!...

Another G-rated non-family title would be '2001: A Space Odyssey' (which probably even got its 'G' in its initial release in '68)
I also believe that the latest (several years ago) reissue of 'Casablanca' carried a G rating.

Aaron

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It features:

Adultery
Blackmail
Illegit children, etc.

But no violence!

One of the problems with the MPAA system is that films are never re-rated. There's no question that Blazing Saddles would not receive an R rating today but I wonder if it would be rated PG-13 by today's standards or an even more mild PG.

Because films like Gone with the Wind were made at a time when all films were supposed to be safe for everyone to watch, perhaps the MPAA members didn't think twice about giving those films G ratings in the late 1960s (when the ratings system came into being). And, since those films have remained unchanged for more than 30 years, the MPAA feels no need to re-rate them to conform to more current sensibilities. It seems that the PG-13 rating was invented specifically because of complaints that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins were too intense for a PG rating. The new rating was invented within weeks of when those two films were released. Yet, those films continue to carry PG ratings because they've never been altered from their original versions for a theatrical re-release.

According to the rumors I heard, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was resubmitted for an MPAA rating because it has been re-cut for a new release this year. This seems unnecessary because, aparently, the new version will only be released on home video formats and not in theatres. At any rate, the new version (according to rumor) is, indeed, rated PG.

I remember a few years back when The Wild Bunch was restored and the MPAA wanted to give it an NC-17 rating because of the violence. But there was a question as to whether the "restored" version was exactly the same as a version which had originally received an R rating... and if that were true then the filmmakers would not be required to run their film past the MPAA again.

AFAIK, movies can be, and have been, resubmitted to the MPAA Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) for re-rating:
http://www.filmratings.com/

Here are the symbols used on their website:

#
Production Company
+
Appeal
-
Re-rating
=
Rating Revoked
s
Rating Surrendered
*
Re-issue
**
Edited Version
***
Edited for Re-rating
o
Rating Symbol
Changed

I recall that Bob Maar once wrote that he served as a CARA evaluator. Perhaps he can provide some insight into the process.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

So it's Easter Sunday and we're playing "The Cup" for an afternoon show. Just before showtime, about half a dozen cars pull up in front of the theater. All these people in their Sunday best of all ages unload from the cars. Being a little suspicious that the local paper, once again, managed to screw up the ad, I asked the first customer, "You're here to see The Cup?"

"Yep."

"You know this is a subtitled Tibetian film?"

"Yep."

"You know it deals with life in a Bhuddist monistary?"

"Yep. It happens to be the only G rated film in town."

Too cool. I sell them tickets and they do a fair amount of grazing at the snack bar. Show time! Now, the print I recived looked like it was made out of pieces of, say, 900 other prints: Colours changed between reels, subtitles were dropped from some places, slicing sometimes looked a little like "Requim for a Dream." So, with everything comfortably on the screen (and a few minutes before the next splice-ridden reel rolls), I wander into the auditorium to ck out audience reaction. Everyone was really enjoying it. So, I look at the screen and there is the phrase, " . . . . because the Americans are scard shitless of China . . . ." Oddly enough, I never noticed that when I screened the film. Silly me.

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quote:

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Aaron S: Seen the trailer and poster for The Princess Diaries? Trailer gives no hint that the movie is rated G -- and Julie Andrews is prominent

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