Among this week's new DVD releases are three made-for-TV "Gunsmoke" movies — late sequels to the legendary TV series that starred James Arness and ran an amazing 20 years on CBS, from 1955-75.
The three films being released by Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD are "Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge" (1987), "Gunsmoke: The Last Apache" (1990) and "Gunsmoke: To the Last Man" (1992). (All are reviewed on Page W6.)
But what's really interesting is that they have been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America for home-video release, and while one received a PG-13, two were rated R!
Say what?
These films were shown on prime-time television in the late '80s and early '90s, with no special warning that they were particularly violent. (Today, there are often such warnings on "24," "Alias," "CSI," "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order," etc.)
And I'm not going to argue that the "Gunsmoke" films aren't violent; they are. There's plenty of gunplay, with bullets hitting and killing people.
But these ratings put the two "Gunsmoke" movies in the same rating category as "Dawn of the Dead," "Kill Bill," "The Punisher" and "Taking Lives," just to use some examples of extremely violent movies in theaters now.
It also suggests that the "Gunsmoke" films are more violent than such current PG-13 fare as "Van Helsing," "Hellboy," "Walking Tall," "Secret Window" and "The Alamo" — which is not the case.
The "Gunsmoke" pictures are all on DVD exactly as they were shown on commercial television 12 to 17 years ago, and the level of mayhem they contain is nothing compared to modern prime-time TV, much less these other films.
Just one more example of how inconsistent and unreliable the movie ratings are.
In the past, I've written about how "airline cuts," or softened versions, of movies can be confusing for those who see them and don't realize they've been edited.
For example, Joe Traveler sees a movie on a plane, decides to share it with his family and heads to the nearest Blockbuster — only to be shocked when he watches it at home with the kids and sees all that R-rated material that had been deleted from the airline cut.
That can also occur when someone sees a watered-down movie or TV show on commercial or basic-cable TV, then rents the video and gets the unexpurgated version that was originally made for theaters or pay-cable.
For example, a reader, David Burt, writes that he is a fan of the sci-fi show "Stargate SG-1," which currently airs on the Sci-Fi Channel. But he was rather distressed when he rented the 1997 pilot at a local video store and saw that it contained a lengthy nude scene. (He didn't notice the R-rated warning on the box.)
That pilot — and the first few years of the series — were made for the Showtime pay-cable channel, which often throws in unnecessary R-rated levels of violence, sex, nudity and/or language in productions it finances.
This prompts me to wonder if the same thing might not happen when "Sex and the City" reruns go into commercial-TV syndication this fall. Those shows will be edited for local channels around the country and probably won't look any worse than "Will & Grace" or "Friends" do in reruns. Which is bad enough.
But unlike "Will & Grace" or "Friends," if someone rents "Sex and the City," they'll find a very different version of the show.
Why can't studios see the profit potential for releasing edited-down versions of some movies? Why not give viewers the same kind of choices between an R-rated movie and a softened PG or PG-13 version, just as many DVDs now offer options for widescreen or full-frame, or for various languages?
There's money to be made. Just ask Clean Flicks or ClearPlay.
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com