Bloody PG-13

Lots of critics took shots at the latest James Bond pic, “Licence to Kill,” for its violence. We counted some 22 visibly dead on screen, some in pretty gruesome fashion.

There’s death by electric eel, shark--and hungry maggots. One bad guy is decompressurized. Another is sent via conveyor belt to some sharp-edged machinery. There’s an impaling and an incineration, along with your more traditional shootings, stranglings and falls from planes.

So how did all this manage a PG-13?

Richard Heffner, chairman of the MPAA ratings board, would only respond: “The rating reflects the majority opinion of the board. . . . Our decisions aren’t made by doing a body count.”

By the way, Heffner revealed, it’s been an “established tradition” for United Artists to fly several MPAA board members first class to London to view and rate the Bond films. But this year, they saw “Licence to Kill” here.