Criticism Greets Mahony’s Plan for Movie Code : Hollywood: Writers’ and filmmakers’ organizations say that freedom of expression would be limited and that the current system is working.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony’s call for a new code to govern motion pictures and television programs touched a nerve in Hollywood on Wednesday, with a writers group raising fears about limits on free expression and the movie industry defending its ratings system.

“When the tastes of what is proper and what isn’t becomes a set of formally articulated guidelines that . . . affect the content of movies at the point of their making, then I think we’re throwing away a precious thing: freedom of expression,” said Del Reisman, president of the Writers Guild of America West. “The marketplace will take care of ideas that people simply don’t want. . . . Writers share the cardinal’s concern about what’s happening in our streets. But restricting filmmakers’ ability to portray it is not going to solve the problem.”

Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, issued a statement saying that Hollywood’s movie rating system has retained the support of Protestant, Jewish and Catholic groups “as the best and most trustworthy way” to give parents warnings about films their children see.

“A proliferation of the rating systems would only confuse the very people we are all trying to serve, the parents of America,” Valenti said.

Mahony this week proposed an update of the old Hollywood production code, which governed the making of movies from 1933 to 1966 and was replaced by the current G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 rating system. The code, often called the Hays Code after executive Will H. Hays, set forth general standards of good taste in movies. The code barred the portrayal of illegal drug activity and “excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embracing, suggestive postures and gestures.”

Mahony, who has engendered controversy in recent years on issues ranging from abortion to the use of condoms, said the entertainment industry “must stop glorifying evil” through gratuitous violence, promiscuity, nudity and profanity.

The cardinal is expected to discuss the proposed production code Saturday at a public forum held by the Knights of Columbus and the Archdiocesan Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.

Mahony’s plan also drew a defensive reaction Wednesday from a TV broadcasters group, which blamed cable TV for airing sexually explicit programs.

“Many of the things (Mahony is) complaining about aren’t available through traditional broadcast television stations and the networks,” said Doug Wills, a spokesman for the National Assn. of Broadcasters. “Most of the programs where you see gratuitous sex and violence are on cable.”

While major studios and TV broadcasters were cautious in their response to Mahony, people connected to the pornography industry said they plan to infiltrate Saturday’s meeting to protest Mahony’s speech.

“They’ve decided that Hollywood is the new evil empire and they are going to stamp it out,” said Mark Schwed, a publicist representing the Free Speech Legal Defense Fund, which is made up of 100 organizations whose primary business is in adult entertainment.

Schwed said that members of the fund recently tried to purchase tickets in bulk for Saturday’s event, but were turned down by the Knights of Columbus, which became suspicious at heir request for 50 tickets.

“But we have secured tickets and we will have people inside,” Schwed said. “We do not intend to take away their First Amendment rights as they take away ours. We will not scream and yell, but we will let them know that we are there.”

Meanwhile, security measures will be tightened for Mahony’s appearance, a Knights of Columbus spokesman said.

Mahony’s call for a new production code for Hollywood is the brainchild of Ted Baehr, 45, chairman of an Atlanta-based group called the Christian Film and Television Commission. He is scheduled to speak at Saturday’s meeting.

Baehr is also publisher of Good News Communications’ MovieGuide, a biweekly publication that describes itself as a “biblical guide” to movies that is “dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media.”

Last year, in its Oscar recommendations, MovieGuide asked its readers to “pray for the Academy Awards.”

In an interview Wednesday, Baehr said his organization’s goal is to better articulate family values he says are lacking in most films today and to prompt filmmakers to be more creative.

“The goal is to have another dawn of the Golden Age of Hollywood,” he said.

Arthur Kropp, president of People for the American Way, a constitutional liberties organization opposed to attempts by the religious right to impose curbs on movies and TV shows, acknowledged that there is gratuitous violence and sex in movies, but adding, “we really need to be careful where we are going on this.

“There is a political movement out there that thinks censorship is a valid weapon,” he said.

Kropp said he believes Mahony and several other prominent Catholic clergymen in America are beginning to align themselves with groups such as the American Family Assn., headed by the Rev. Donald Wildmon of Tupelo, Miss. For years, Wildmon has fought what he views as indecency and anti-Christian views in the entertainment media.

“Some of these bishops have engaged in an unholy alliance (with Wildmon),” Kropp said. “ . . . Mahony isn’t political as such, but he has made an alliance with political people.”

A spokesman for the archdiocese said Wednesday that Mahony is not connected with Wildmon’s organization.

Times staff writer Daniel Cerone contributed to this story.