WASHINGTON -- After months of bluster about Hollywood's coarsening of the culture, Congress adjourned Friday without producing a single bill concerning entertainment violence -- a testament to the power of the industry's lobby, government gridlock and the complexity of a problem that may be beyond the reach of legislation.

But even while every congressional attempt to regulate music, movie and video-game content met with fierce resistance, some believe a defiant industry got at least part of the message. In its rather clumsy way, Washington helped prod a debate over gratuitous violence that, at the very least, has set Hollywood to thinking, several producers, writers and other industry representatives insist."Inadvertently, Congress ended up doing the American public an enormous favor by calling attention to the issue of entertainment media culpability," said Thom Mount, president of the Producers Guild of America.

"Everything in Hollywood takes three years to make, and in three years I think you will see a noticeable push toward eliminating gratuitous violence. No one I talk to here thinks we don't bear some responsibility."

Six months ago, it appeared Congress was on the verge of raising more than the industry's consciousness following the shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School.

Then, legislation to bridle Hollywood was churning out of congressional committees faster than lawmakers could read it: a ban on the use of public land for violent films, incentives for resurrecting old codes of conduct, cigarette-style warning labels on violent entertainment, a ban on selling violent or sexual books and materials to minors.

Yet, despite unprecedented momentum from the nation's worst school shooting and growing public concern over the quality of children's entertainment, the frenzied campaign in Congress to take Hollywood to task fizzled.

Washington's only concrete action occurred in June when President Clinton ordered a Federal Trade Commission study of the marketing of entertainment violence to children. GOP leaders, some of whom accused the president of stealing their show, ultimately could not muster the votes to broaden the probe.

"We lucked out," said one film studio executive. "I don't think we've won forever. But we've prevented the inevitable for now."

Indeed, many industry officials believe some sort of legislation regarding Hollywood violence will pass before the November 2000 elections. Presidential candidates from both parties continue to raise it as an issue. And the FTC is expected to report its findings at the end of next year, which could prompt congressional hearings.

But how far any future legislation will ultimately go is questionable, given the political gyrations in the seven months since Columbine. Lawmakers spent much of the time warring over which to blame -- guns or Hollywood -- for the shootings that claimed 15 lives. In the end, they didn't do much about either.

Gun-control legislation was recently declared dead for the year, and minor entertainment-related provisions passed by the Senate are stuck in a conference committee.

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Still, there has been some change since Columbine.

This week, the Motion Picture Association of America announced a new policy calling for all movie print advertising to include an explanation of why a film received a particular rating. The move -- a response to criticism that its current rating system does not give parents sufficient information -- will mean that billboards, newspaper ads and posters will not just have a letter rating (G, PG, PG-13, R or NC-17) but will list the elements that earned it (language, nudity, drug use, etc.).

The nation's largest theater owners, meanwhile, say they are more tightly enforcing the rating system, requiring since June that young viewers show photo identification for admission to R-rated films.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board in New York this month launched a national campaign to make parents aware of the computer and video game rating system, including a public service announcement featuring golfer Tiger Woods.

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