A Phony R?
Last weekend I rented a video of a 1985 version of “Quo Vadis” starring Frederic Forrest, Max von Sydow and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The cover art and text promised an exciting, mature story of pagan Rome.
The movie I saw could have been made by Billy Graham or Oral Roberts. Half of it consisted of religious figures reading Bible passages to each other. The film is pure religious propaganda.
What amazes me is the R rating: There’s no nudity, no profanity, only wimpy, mostly off-screen violence. Possibilities: (1) the ratings board made a mistake; (2) I got an edited version; (3) someone deliberately and misleadingly slapped on an R rating to entice unsuspecting “degenerates” like myself into renting a disgustingly wholesome family film.
This is not the first time I’ve rented a movie because of its description and rating, only to find myself stuck with something as titillating and erotic as cold oatmeal. What’s going on here?
CRAIG L. THOMAS, Riverside
The film was made for Italian television and was first shown in the United States on cable TV.
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