Valenti Agrees to Talk to Critics of Movie Ratings

Motion Picture Assn. of America President Jack Valenti has agreed to talk to filmmakers who signed a petition protesting the current movie rating system.

Oscar-winning directors Sydney Pollack, Francis Coppola and Barry Levinson were among 31 directors whose names appeared on a petition presented Tuesday to MPAA officials by Silverlight Entertainment, a small New York-based distributor whose soon-to-be-released “Life Is Cheap . . . But Toilet Paper Is Expensive” was recently X-rated by the MPAA.

The petition asks the MPAA to reassess its X rating for adult-themed films and consider creating an “A” category in order to allow such films to be released in the United States without the pornographic stigma of the X rating. Silverlight President Mark Lipsky also requested that Valenti meet with ratings dissenters to discuss the issue. On Wednesday, Valenti said, “I intend to call some of the directors and talk to them.”

In the meantime, Shapiro-Glickenhaus, the distributor of another X-rated film--”Frankenhooker”--has announced that it will release that film with a self-attached “A” label, following the strategy already announced by Silverlight for “Life Is Cheap. . . .”

Shapiro-Glickenhaus has lost two appeals on “Frankenhooker,” a film about a crackpot scientist who tries to bring back his fiancee from the dead, and decided that it would be better to affix its own adult rating on the film rather than go out unrated or bearing the MPAA X. Some newspapers and television stations refuse advertising for unrated or X-rated films and some theater chains refuse to book them.

“Frankenhooker” is already playing in 20 American cities, including Los Angeles, mostly to art-house and midnight audiences.

James Glickenhaus, president of the company, said that the film “deserved an R rating,” meaning that persons under 17 should not be admitted to theaters without an accompanying parent or guardian. He said “Frankenhooker” ads will be changed to reflect the self-imposed rating.

The unhappiness with the MPAA ratings expressed by some directors and independent film distributors has escalated in the last week with the labeling and upholding of X ratings on “Frankenhooker,” “Life Is Cheap . . .” and “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” The filmmakers involved are complaining that adults-only films given an X rating are unfairly considered to be pornographic.

Valenti reiterated Wednesday that he does not believe another rating category is needed. “If you add another category (such as an A), you’re asking the rating board to make judgments about artistic quality.”

He also denied that the X rating puts films at an economic disadvantage. “If I’m to believe the box-office reports I see, most of the X-rated films have done well.” He attributed their success partly to the “publicity scam” surrounding the films once the distributors reject an MPAA X rating and go into the marketplace on their own.