X rating

For example, some countries may ban or restrict the sale or rental of X-rated films, while others may allow them only in specific theaters or with special taxes.

[4][5] 1100 movies were X-rated in France, with the last classification occurring in 1996, as pornography went from theaters to video, which doesn't undergo as much control as cinema.

[6][7][8] Only ten movies were X-rated for violence: Open Season by Collinson, Lola by José María Forqué, Pique Nique (short film) by Gérard Bienfait, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre by Tobe Hooper, Hitch-Hike by Pasquale Festa Campanile, Return of the 38 Gang by Giuseppe Vari, The Warriors by Walter Hill, Frauengefängnis 3 by Jesús Franco, Mad Max by George Miller and Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero; most of these subsequently received lower ratings.

In 2000, some conservative associations sued the government for granting the movie Baise-moi (Fuck me), which contained graphic, realistic scenes of sex and violence, a non-X classification.

[9][10][11][12] In 2009, Histoires de sexe(s) by Ovidie and Jack Tyler was ordered by the Classification Board to be X-rated; the directors then withdrew their demand for a cinema certificate and released their movie direct-to-video.

Battleship Potemkin was refused a certificate for "inflammatory subtitles and Bolshevik propaganda" in 1926, passed X in 1954, and finally rated PG in 1987.

[17] In the United States, the X rating was applied to a film that contained content judged unsuitable for children, such as extreme violence, strongly implied sex, and graphic language.

From the late 1960s to about the mid-1980s, many mainstream films were released with an X rating, such as Midnight Cowboy, Medium Cool, The Girl on a Motorcycle, Last Summer, Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, The Street Fighter, A Clockwork Orange, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Fritz the Cat, Flesh Gordon, Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy, Last Tango in Paris and The Evil Dead.

Films that achieved critical and commercial success were later re-rated R after minor cuts, including Midnight Cowboy and A Clockwork Orange.

As pornography began to become more popular and more legally and commercially tolerated, pornographers placed an X rating on their films to emphasize the adult content.