Freedom and Entertainment Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media

Cambridge University Press 0521676541 - Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media Stephen Vaughn Frontmatter More information

Here is a story that Jack Valenti has long triedto keep secret. Freedom and Entertainment is the ﬁrst book to offer a behind-the-scenes account of the motion picture rating system andthe Motion Picture Association of America under Valenti’s leadership. The book is based on the private papers andoral history of RichardD. Heffner, who headedthe Classiﬁcation and Rating Administration for two decades, from 1974 to 1994, andwas once called“the least-known most powerful person in Hollywood.” The story chronicles the often tense working relationship between Heffner andValenti andthe sometimes bruising encounters Heffner hadwith Hollywoodheavyweights such as Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Michael Douglas, George C. Scott, Lew Wasserman, Arthur Krim, Jerry Weintraub, andmany others.

Stephen Vaughn has taught the history of communication at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin–Madison since 1981. He has been a past Vilas Asso- ciate Scholar at Wisconsin andis the recipient of two Fulbright awards. His previous books include Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics, The Vital Past: Writings on the Uses of History, and Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism and the Committee on Public Information.

Freedom and Entertainment

Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media

STEPHEN VAUGHN University of Wisconsin

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo

Cambridge University Press 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521852586

c Stephen Vaughn 2006

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception andto the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2006

Printedin the UnitedStates of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Vaughn, Stephen, 1947– Freedom and entertainment : rating the movies in an age of new media / Stephen Vaughn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-521-85258-7 (hardback) – isbn 0-521-67654-1 (pbk.) 1. Motion pictures – Ratings – UnitedStates. 2. Sex in motion pictures. 3. Violence in motion pictures. I. Title. pn1993.5.u6v38 2006 384.84–dc22 2005001236

isbn-13 978-0-521-85258-6 hardback isbn-10 0-521-85258-7 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-67654-0 paperback isbn-10 0-521-67654-1 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication anddoesnot guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In Memory of Louise Mullen (1924–2004) and for E. Eugene Mullen

Contents

Acknowledgments page ix List of Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1 1 New Leaders and a New System 12 2 Sex, Profanity, andViolence 42 3 The X Rating andthe Home Entertainment Revolution 64 4 The Technology of Special Effects andthe Effects of Screen Violence 92 5 Pornography 122 6 The Antipornography Crusade 147 7 Hollywood, Drugs, and Religion 169 8 NC-17 194 9 Television 222 10 The Digital Future 251

Archives 267 Government Hearings and Publications 269 Motion Pictures 273 Bibliography 281 Index 315

vii

Acknowledgments

In the course of writing this book, I have been helpedandencouragedby many people, andI wish to thank them for their support. Freedom and Entertainment deals with the years since 1968, but in many respects the context for the book depends on research about the history of cinema and motion picture censorship that for me began more than two decades ago andthat initially focusedon the first half of the twentieth century. Some of that work culminatedin a 1990 article appearing in the Journal of American History andsubsequently in my book Ronald Reagan in Hollywood: Movies and Politics (1994), andthere I have attemptedto thank many people who contributed so generously to my understanding of movies andtheir place in American culture. For several years, though, efforts to study the years after 1968 were frustratedby the lack of primary sources. Then, in 1999, I hadthe good fortune to meet RichardD. Heffner, who hadrecently retiredfrom the Classification andRating Administrationthat he hadheadedbetween 1974 and 1994. I am indebted to Professor Heffner, who on several occa- sions was willing to discuss his work with the rating system. More important, Heffner’s oral history andrelateddocuments,which are now open to researchers at Columbia University, provided one of the most important sources for this book. In fact, without this collection, Freedom and Enter- tainment wouldnot have been possible. All studentsof American cinema duringthe latter part of the twentieth century shouldfindHeffner’s papers of great value. I also wish to thank Mary Marshall Clark, director of the Columbia Oral History Collection in Butler Library, Columbia University, andher staff, for their help in using this collection.

x Acknowledgments

I appreciate the insights of friends and colleagues who either read and commentedon all or parts of this book, or who sharedtheir knowledge about topics related to it. I am in the debt of several people who shared their knowledge about social science research on mass media. Joanne Cantor readthe entire manuscript andmadeseveral suggestions for improvement. She was helpful in pointing to important research that has been done on media effects. Jack McLeod also read chapters that dealt with media effects and was helpful in explaining the political context of these studies and the strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches usedby researchers. I profitedfrom discussionswith Robert Hawkins about catharsis theory andabout such studiesas the Surgeon General’s Report of 1972 andthe National Institute of Mental Health’s report on Television and Behavior ten years later. Sharon Dunwoody read and commented on two chapters that dealt with media effects, and Doug McLeodwas helpful in suggesting research that has been doneon the significance of color in mass communication. Friendsandcolleagues also sharedtheir expertise on other topics. Paul Boyer, who read the entire work, drew on his vast knowledge of American intellectual life to make valuable suggestions about censorship, religion, andpolitical culture. Bruce Evensen, at DePaul University, readmost of the chapters andwas helpful with context by sharing his great knowledge about film history andreligion in the UnitedStates. Michele Hilmes read the entire manuscript and made many helpful recommendations, especially relating to broadcasting and regulation. I benefited from talking with DonaldDowns andRobert Drechsel about the legal framework of censorship, andwith James L. Baughman about television. Greg Downey andJeremi Suri readsections that dealtwith new mediatechnologies and sharedtheir knowledgeon this subject. Along the way, Deborah Blum, Lewis Friedland, Jack Mitchell, and Hemant Shah made helpful com- ments. I wish to thank, too, Sharon Blum, Chin-I Wang, andRob Rabe for their contributions to this work. The impact of new communication technologies on cinema andAmer- ican history is a central theme in this book. I am especially grateful to the staff of the University of Wisconsin Library Systems for their support help- ing to publish on-line my annotatedbibliography New Communication Technologies: Their History and Social Influence (2003), which provides a context for Freedom and Entertainment. Director Kenneth Frazier was particularly helpful, as were Sue Dentinger, DonaldJohnson, Nolan Pope, andPeter Gorman.

Acknowledgments xi

I wish to thank other archivists andlibrarians who have been helpful in my research. These people include: James Danky, Harry Miller, andPeter Gottlieb at the Wisconsin Historical Society; Maxine Fleckner- Ducey at the Wisconsin Center for Film andTheater Research; Angela N. Stockwell, secretary to Senator Margaret Chase Smith, at the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine; Mary K. Knill, Archivist at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas; Glenn Mason (director), Karen Deseve, andLaura Arksey at the Research Library andArchives, Cheney Cowles Museum, Eastern Washington State Historical Society in Spokane, Washington; Shawn C. Wilson, User Services Coordinator, Kinsey Institute Library andArchives at IndianaUniversity, Bloomington; James D’Arc andRuss Taylor, Department of Archives andManuscripts, HaroldB. Lee Library, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; Kristen Wilhelm, Archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration I, Washington, D.C.; Mary Ronon, FredRomanski, Steve Tilly, Eliza- beth Lockwood,andDavidPainter at the National Archives andRecords Administration II at College Park, Maryland; and Anne Coco at the Mar- garet Herrick Library, Beverly Hills, California. My thanks go to the people at the University of Wisconsin who helped with the preparation of this manuscript. These include Lynn Schroeder, Nancy Massey, Janet Buechner,andCorinne Ahrens. The GraduateSchool at the University of Wisconsin–Madison helped move this work toward publication with a subvention grant to Cambridge University Press. At Cambridge University Press, I beneﬁted greatly from the assistance of several people. Senior Editor Lewis Bateman was a constant source of good advice. I am also indebted to Ciara McLaughlin, Helen Wheeler, andBarbara Folsom for their editorialassistance. Finally, as always, I owe a special thank you to two people. Once more Robert Ferrell has been unfailing in his willingness to discuss this manuscript at almost every stage of its preparation. My wife, Beverly, has been my most demanding and supportive critic. She was also my best editor, taking time out from her work at the Modern Language Journal to edit carefully the entire manuscript. The wise counsel of these two people improvedthis work in many ways.

Abbreviations

AAAPSS Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science AAP American Academy of Pediatrics AC American Cinematographer AJOG American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology AMA American Medical Association APA American Psychological Association CARA Classiﬁcation andRating Administration (originally Code and Rating Administration) COHC-BL Columbia Oral History Collection, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York CST Chicago Sun-Times CT Chicago Tribune Final Report UnitedStates Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, Final Report of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1986) IFIDA International Film Importers andDistributors Association IJCP International Journal of Criminology and Penology JAH Journal of American History JBEM Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media JMCQ Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly KIA-IUB Kinsey Institute Archives, Indiana University, Bloomington

xiii

xiv Abbreviations

LAT Los Angeles Times MCSP-NISM Margaret Chase Smith Papers, Margaret Chase Smith Library, The NorthwoodInstitute, Skowhegan, ME Meese Commission Hearings before the Attorney General’s Hearings, Commission on Pornography, 1985–1986, 1985–1986 Records of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, RG 60 (Justice Dept. Records), NARA 2, College Park, MD MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MHL Margaret Herrick Library, Beverly Hills, CA Minneapolis “Public Hearings on Ordinances to Add Hearings, 1983 Pornography as Discrimination against Women,” Session I, Minneapolis, MN, Dec. 12, 1983, Box 69, Records of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, RG 60 (Justice Dept. Records), NARA 2, College Park, MD MPAA Motion Picture Association of America (before 1945, MPPDA) MPPDA Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (after 1945, MPAA) MPTRR-LC Motion Picture andTelevision ReadingRoom, Library of Congress, Washington, DC NARA 1 National Archives and Records Administration I, Washington, DC NARA 2 National Archives and Records Administration II, College Park, MD NATO National Association of Theatre Owners NATOR-BYU Records of the National Association of Theatre Owners, Special Collections andManuscripts, HaroldB. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 1970 Report Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Ofﬁce, 1970) (also citedas RCOP) NYT New York Times OHC-LBJ Oral History Collection, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, TX OTA Ofﬁce of Technology Assessment

Abbreviations xv

PCA Production Code Administration POQ Public Opinion Quarterly PT Poetics Today: International Journal for Theory and Analysis of Literature and Communication RAGCP-NARA 2 Records of Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, RG 60, National Archives 2, College Park, MD RCOP Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970) RDH-COHC-BL RichardD. Heffner Papers, Columbia Oral History Collection, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York RDHPP Private Papers of RichardD. Heffner, Heffner residence, New York RKO Radio-Keith-Orpheum TRCOP Technical Report of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970) TRSGSACTSB A Technical Report to the Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior TSBRP Television and Social Behavior: Reports and Papers UA UnitedArtists USCC UnitedStates Catholic Conference U.S. House “Movie Ratings and the Independent Producer,” Hearings, 1977 Hearings before Subcommittee on Special Small Business Problems, Committee on Small Business, U.S. House of Representatives, 95th Cong., 1st sess., March 24, April 14, May 12, June 15, July 21, 1977 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1977) U.S. Senate “Juvenile Delinquency (Television Programs),” Hearings [TV], Hearings, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile 1954–1955 Delinquency, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 84th Cong., 1st sess., S. Res. 62 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1955)

xvi Abbreviations

U.S. Senate “Juvenile Delinquency (Motion Pictures),” Hearings Hearings, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile [Motion Delinquency, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Pictures], 1955 Senate, 84th Cong., 1st sess., S. Res. 62 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1955) U.S. Senate “The Committee on Film Classification,” Hearings Hearings, before the Committee on Commerce, 1968 U.S. Senate, S. Res. 9, June 11, 1968 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1968) U.S. Senate “Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Hearings, Recorders),” Hearings before the Committee on 1981–1982 the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 97th Cong., 1st and 2nd sessions on S. 1758, Nov. 30, 1981 andApril 21, 1982 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1982) U.S. Senate “Role of the Feature Film Industry in a National Hearings, 1985 Effort to Diminish Drug Use among Young People,” Hearings before Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, 99th Cong., 1st sess., Oct. 24, 1985 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1985) U.S. Senate “Television Ratings System,” Hearings before Hearings, 1997 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate, 105th Cong., 1st sess., Feb. 27, 1997 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1997) USSCCP-NARA 1 U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce Papers, S. 90A-E6,RG46, National Archives I, Washington, DC VCQ Visual Communication Quarterly WP Washington Post WSJ Wall Street Journal