Between 1933 to 1980, the Catholic Legion of Decency gave a “condemned” rating to a total of 148 movies. Some are hardly uprising (A Clockwork Orange wasn’t exactly family film), while others … well.
See for yourself and please let us know what you think! And definitely let us know which other films you think deserve to be on this list!
Well, yeah, the National Catholic Legion of Decency spoke up many years ago, providing guidance to Catholics concerning the content of the movies that were released. Catholics wanted guidance, about a film’s portrayal of a story before allowing their children to see it, as it was obvious how much of an impact films had on American behavior. We laugh now, as behavior and moral acceptance has changed, but I’m sure had the Hayes group and the Legion not been involved, things would have changed that much sooner in the 20th century! I bought TCM’s Forbidden Hollywood series, and I find them delightfully tame, which is kind of sad…
With regards to The Odd Couple, maybe the Legion of Decency thought something was going on between Oscar and Felix! I’ve read in multiple sources (and I believe it was backed up by Garry Mashall, Jack Klugman, and Tony Randall) that ABC execs were convinced that on the TV show Oscar and Felix were gay. Why they were convinced of that I don’t know, but ABC’s censors kept a careful eye on the show because of that.
To mercurie80 – Well, yeah, everyone knew back then that men didn’t show emotion or really know the intimate details of another guy friend without being gay – sheesh. Intolerance and non-acceptance of human beings. Hmmmmm.