What was the first movie to be rated PG-13?

The US film rating system differs significantly from the UK’s. While the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) employs seven age-related categories, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in the US uses just five. Before the 1980s, however, the US system had even fewer classifications, with a notable gap between PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) and R (Restricted—anyone under 17 must be accompanied by an adult). This lack of intermediate ratings left a substantial grey area for films that didn’t fit neatly into either category.

The change was spearheaded by one of Hollywood’s biggest names, and it changed the industry. These days, the conventional wisdom is that movies with high box office expectations must be calibrated to a PG-13 rating in order to be financially successful. Although R-rated hits like Deadpool have changed that narrative to some extent, the introduction of the rating created a whole new set of parameters for many studios and filmmakers.

The first film to earn a PG-13 rating was John Milius’s 1984 dystopian World War III drama Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and Jennifer Grey. Set in a rural mountain town in Colorado, it follows a group of intrepid teens who try to fend off the invading Soviet army.

At the time, the description for the rating was laughably lengthy and contained a strange use of capital letters. For anyone who didn’t grasp the general idea of the 13 age certificate, the description, “Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children” might have helped.

Why was the PG-13 rating introduced?

Although Red Dawn was the first film to earn a PG-13 rating, it was not the film responsible for it. For years, parents complained about the lack of an intermediate age certificate between the child-friendly PG and adult-restricted R ratings. The most controversial case occurred when the MPAA slapped Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with a PG, even though it features more than three dozen deaths, several instances of limb severing, and a man who has his heart ripped out before his body is thrown into a pit of lava.

The fact that there was no restriction aside from the recommendation that parents consider whether their child of any age was old enough to view it became a topic of heated debate. It was only compounded by the fact that the movie was significantly darker and more violent than its predecessor, the kid-friendly Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, which had the same rating. It was reasonable for parents to assume that The Temple of Doom would have a similar level of gore and peril, but it was much worse. The movie wasn’t the first to come under fire for low-balling its violence, but it and Gremlins, which was released two weeks later, helped tip the scales and force the MPAA to take action. 

Was Steven Spielberg responsible for the PG-13 rating?

Considering that Spielberg probably benefited from having The Temple of Doom graced with the permissive PG rating, it’s slightly surprising that he would be the one to spearhead the addition of the PG-13 option. Box office numbers aside, however, he found himself under fire, and it didn’t help that he was also the producer of Gremlins. In a video released in 2008, the director said that he knew a tipping point when he saw one.

“It was sort of a perfect storm of movies that I either produced or directed,” he said, explaining that while he agreed with the backlash from parents, he also didn’t believe that either film deserved an R rating. “I called [MPAA president] Jack Valenti and I said, ‘Let’s get a rating somewhere in between PG and R.’ Jack was proactive about it, completely agreed, and before I knew it there was a PG-13 rating.”

While this is clearly an oversimplification of the process, it was a striking example of the power that Spielberg wielded in Hollywood, even in the mid-80s. Between May 8th, when Temple of Doom was released, and August 10th, when Red Dawn was released, Spielberg and Valenti reshaped the ratings system. 

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