In 1968, 19 year old Paul Cohen was sent to prison for “disturbing the peace.” The police didn’t like the fact that he was wearing an “obscene” jacket inside of an LA courthouse.
The jacket said “Fuck the draft” on the back.
Luckily, the conviction was overturned on this day in 1971 because the Supreme Court decided that this was a case about speech and not conduct. The jacket was a protest of words, not action, so it was free speech. Of course, there was dissent, but the 30 day jail term was overturned, 5-4.
Movies have been banned in the US for the same reason as Paul Cohen’s jacket was nearly banned, but not the same way that they’re banned in other countries.
In England, the Video Nasties were banned throughout the country. In America, we tend to ban films in certain cities or states. Then, just like Cohen’s jacket, they’re legalized again because no one can legally ban a film or music. It’s their choice whether they sell or consume it, but they can’t stop others from selling or consuming it…for the most part.
Here are five films that were banned at one time or another by different cities or states in America.
PINK FLAMINGOS (1972)
Written and directed by John Waters
Anyone who has seen this movie can, honestly, understand why it was banned in Orange County, Florida. (Strangely, not until 1990.) It’s vile, disgusting, gross…and absolutely hilarious. No one does offensive like John Waters did in the 70s, for better or worse. The story (what there is of it) concerns a family of slobs vying for the title of “Dirtiest People.” Babs Johnson (Divine, Waters’ 300-pound transvestite muse) leads the family on their quest to beat out the challenging Marble family.
Incest, bestiality, singing orofice and, of course, dung-eating rule the day. Often considered the most offensive movie ever made (although, I’m pretty sure that a LOT of films have surpassed it in the last ten years), Pink Flamingos is not for everyone. In fact, it’s not for very many people at all. But for those of us that it is for, it’s pure gold. This is a movie that was made on the (very) cheap specifically to offend. It achieves that goal and then some. And the world is so much better for it. Definitely my vote for best midnight movie ever made.
THE TIN DRUM (1979)
Directed by Volker Schlondorff
Written by Volker Schlondorff/Jean-Claude Carriere/Franz Seitz
Based on a book by Gunter Grass
In 1997, Oklahoma decided that The Tin Drum was not worthy of seeing because of one scene. The movie is about a boy who never grows up. He is born with an adult mind and vows to stop growing at age three. There’s just too much hatred out there for him. Why grow up if that’s all you have to look forward to?
The scene in question is the scene where young Bennent (played by 16 year old Oskar Matzerath) becomes a man. The girl is supposed to be 16, but is played by 24 year old Katharina Thalbach.
The ransacking of peoples’ homes is a thuggish act and is rarely called for. When that ransacking is done specifically to steal a movie that was thought to be obscene from watching out of context scenes is NEVER called for. The actions of the Oklahoma state government were pretty scary. And they only made this Texan want to see the movie all the more.
The ban was lifted not too long after the tapes were confiscated, and the police were forced to return the tapes. Good for them. The Tin Drum is a great story that deserves to be seen.
LIFE OF BRIAN (1979)
Directed by Terry Jones
Written by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, and John Cleese
A movie starring Monty Python about the guy who was born in the manger next to Jesus? Of course it was banned! Not only does it make fun of organized religion (“He gave us this gourd!”), but it kind of makes some of the stories of The Bible look ridiculous.
Brian (Graham Chapman) is a very naughty boy. He joins the Peoples’ Front of Judaea (or is it the Judaen Peoples’ Front?), he makes a man break his vow of silence and, worst of all, he has sex! (GASP!!) Along the way, he accidentally gets a very large following of people who think he’s the Messiah.
Many people think this is Monty Python’s best movie (I still vote for Holy Grail), but it’s certainly their most controversial. Many (but not all) Christians were offended at the time by it’s flippancy towards the life of Jesus and the idea that just about anyone could have been the Messiah if they had just been in the right place at the wrong time. Fortunately, the controversy has blown over and the movie is pretty mainstream at the point. (Although, I’m sure there are still some Bible Belt towns that aren’t too happy that it’s at their local video store…if those even exist outside of Austin these days.) If, for some reason, you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out…if only because it was produced by George Harrison. (He even makes an appearance in a crowd scene.)
HAXAN (1922)
Written and directed by Benjamin Christensen
The oldest film on the list, this is also the strangest. It’s a silent film about witches that is part documentary and part narrative. It also has some of the most haunting images of the era. Some of them are still a marvel to modern filmmakers.
Basically, Haxan is all about the misdiagnosis of mental illness that caused witch hunts throughout the world and the ages. It’s a beautiful film that still creeps and crawls with its reenactments of witchcraft and “psychoanalysis.”
It was also banned in a few places around the US. This country just wasn’t quite ready for nudity or torture back in the day. Now it’s a surprise when those two elements aren’t included in a movie.
See Haxan. See it now. It’s an amazing film with so many beautiful scenes that, by the end of the 87 minute run time, you’ll be completely entranced and wonder why you had never heard of this movie before.
I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW) (1967)
Written and directed by Vilgot Sjoman
I’m breaking with tradition here and including a film that, honestly, I don’t’ think is particularly good. It just happens to be the last movie that I saw on the banned list.
The I Am Curious films (the other one being Blue), concern a young woman and her sexual awakening. It’s also a crazy amalgam of sex scenes, dream sequences, political “intrigue,” anti-violence and behind the scenes documentary. The movie really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and is, unfortunately, kind of boring.
The influence of the film, on the other hand, is not boring. After many tries, Sjoman was finally able to show his film on American shores. He had included plenty of scenes of graphic nudity and sex (all simulated) and, after the ban was lifted, everybody wanted to do it. Sex was suddenly everywhere.
I really wish that I could say that I liked the I Am Curious films. I will say, however, that they’re interesting if only for their influence on film.
