American movies made in 1967, cut and banned before the November 1971 liberalisation of the Australian censorship system.
The Graduate
Directed by Mike Nichols / 1967 / USA / IMDb
In May 1968, 9.44-meters (00:20) was removed from THE GRADUATE for a ‘Suitable only for Adults’ rating.
The censored footage
Shane Harrison reports.
While there may be others, I can attest to two cuts.
Censored at 42:48 by 00:07 – While swimming in a pool, Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) jumps onto a floating air mattress. The scene cuts to him landing on top of Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft), mounting her in bed. Mr Braddock (William Daniels) speaks to him from the poolside and suddenly he is answering from back on the floating air mattress. The jump cut of him mounting Mrs Robinson was removed.
Censored at 60:23 by 00:44 – Benjamin takes Elaine (Katharine Ross) to a San Francisco strip joint. The cut starts as the stripper undoes her bra. In the Australian release as soon as the bra becomes loose Elaine flees from the nightclub with Benjamin in hot pursuit. Missing was the dancer removing her bra and doing an amazing tassel twirl. She eventually focuses on Elaine, who she humiliates by twirling her tassels above her head like helicopter blades.
The massively popular THE GRADUATE was released in Australia during the second half of 1968. It and BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967) heralded a new era for Hollywood films, connecting with the youth in ways the Production Code had not previously permitted.
Post-November 1971 rating
In May 1975, United Artists had a 1138.47-meter (103:45) 16mm print passed with an M-rating.
Despite being resubmitted several times, it has maintained this rating. Only the consumer advice has changed from Adult themes’ in 2004, to ‘Mature themes ‘in 2010 and finally ‘Mature themes, sex scenes, nudity and coarse language’ in 2017.
The Incident
Directed by Larry Peerce / 1967 / USA / IMDb
The Film Censorship Board reportedly banned THE INCIDENT sometime before July 1969.
July 1969
The use of restrictive certificates [in New Zealand] has meant that films which would not be passed for general exhibition may still be passed for an adult audience. Thus THE INCIDENT, banned in Australia, was passed with a restrictive certificate in New Zealand, with only one cut.An outstanding American film by Larry Peerce, it shows the behaviour of a group of people trapped on a subway car by two young hoodlums. The film is a brilliant expose of the roots of violence in American society, and it is tragic that the Australian public have been deprived of the chance to see the film for themselves. I am surprised that more publicity has not been given to the banning of THE INCIDENT, which is a most important social statement.
– snip, snip, snip, snip
– Peter Boyce, Masque magazine
Censored for SOA
In August 1970, THE INCIDENT was resubmitted to the Censorship Board. The 8655-feet (96:10) print was passed with a ‘Suitable only for Adults’ rating.
Shane Harrison reports.
My understanding is that one cut was made in August 1970. This was because a banned film could not be resubmitted in the same version for five years after it was last seen by the Censorship Board. The same version could be appealed, but due to expense most studios preferred censorship.
Post-November 1971 rating
In July 2015, Regency Media received an M (Violence and sustained threat) rating for a 95-minute DVD. It was released by Shock Entertainment as part of their Cinema Cult range.