Movie Rated NC-17 Creates Scuffle Outside

A small demonstration against the new NC-17 film rating erupted into a scuffle Friday night when a man who had come to see the movie “Henry and June,” the first film to receive the new rating, got into a fight with a demonstrator.

The two men fell to the sidewalk, wrestling and shouting, outside the Edwards Bristol Street Cinemas on the 3700 block of South Bristol about 7:25 p.m. The fight was over by the time two police cars arrived a few minutes later. Neither man was hurt and no one was arrested.

About a dozen picketers, a few with children in tow, resumed their back-and-forth stroll in front of the theater on the opening night of “Henry and June,” a steamy film that chronicles the love triangle of American writer Henry Miller, his wife, June, and French author Anais Nin.

Casey Carrigan, 39, of Costa Mesa, whose friend and fellow picketer got into the scuffle, said the NC-17 rating is “just another name for pornography.” Films rated NC-17 are restricted to adults.

Carrigan said he is worried that the new rating will permit children to see graphic sex and violence because the theaters are lax about admitting minors and policing unauthorized switching of theaters in multiscreen complexes.

Bill Hays, 40, who came to see the film while visiting Orange County, said he became angry when Carrigan accused him of having been paid to “cause trouble” by patronizing the film. He crumpled up one of the flyers distributed by picketers and threw it at Carrigan, prompting Carrigan’s unidentified friend to tackle Hays, both men said.

Hays did get the chance to buy a ticket to the movie. But he said he was still glad he came.

“I came partly to show these people they can’t get away with restricting my right to free expression, my right to see a film I want to see,” he said. “If they want to protect their children, fine. But why should that slop over onto my rights?”

Carrigan said he regretted the scuffle, adding: “It’s not really the image we wanted to present.”