Jeopardy! Informed Me Red Dawn Was The First PG-13 Movie. Why So Many Fans Think It Was Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
When you are forced to make a snap decision on Jeopardy! sometimes you get caught in a trap as you try to quickly come up with the answer. In this case, the question at hand was regarding the first movie to get a PG-13 rating, and while it makes sense that many would believe Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was the first, it was actually one of the causes for PG-13, while Red Dawn was the first movie to don the rating.
The Jeopardy! Question That Had People Thinking About Indiana Jones Rather Than Red Dawn
The question, which aired during the May 10 episode of Jeopardy! during a Masters game, was the $400 answer in the category “Tough Movie Stuff” during Double Jeopardy, and it read:
The first movie to get a PG-13 rating was this 1984 one where the teens call themselves 'Wolverines.'
Now, based on the second half of that question, it can be assumed that Temple of Doom isn’t the obvious answer. However, the second Indiana Jones movie is so synonymous with the PG-13 rating, that it makes sense that fans would get confused.
While Red Dawn was the first movie to don the PG-13 ranking, it was because of movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as well as Gremlins that caused filmmakers and the MPA to gather and come up with a solution after dealing with a fair amount of outrage from viewers.
Why Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom Is So Closely Linked To PG-13
In the summer of 1984 Steven Spielberg was involved with the release of two movies that famously caused outrage for being rated PG -- Temple of Doom and Gremlins. People were angry that movies that included a fair amount of violence and gore or had intense scenes were allowed to be rated at a level where it’d be OK for a young child to see it by themselves. He explained that he thought it was unfair that movies were "falling into a netherworld" that was between PG and R, and he thought that there really needed to be a middle ground. So, the legendary director went to the MPA and its president at the time Jack Valenti to discuss a solution to this problem, telling Vanity Fair in a 2008 interview:
[It's] unfair that certain kids were exposed to Jaws, but also unfair that certain films were restricted, that kids who were 13, 14, 15 should be allowed to see. I suggested, ‘Let’s call it PG-13 or PG-14, depending on how you want to design the slide rule,’ and Jack came back to me and said, ‘We’ve determined that PG-13 would be the right age for that temperature of movie.’ So I’ve always been very proud that I had something to do with that rating.
Both Gremlins and Temple of Doom feature gory and scary scenes, that viewers were shocked (and not in a good way) by. Despite both movies being beloved, especially now, their PG rating really bothered people. So, the way Spielberg reacted was not only reasonable, but logical, because now, there is a whole other field of movies that aren't necessarily good for a young child to see, but are also not necessarily only made for an adult.
For the Indiana Jones movie, the part that was too much for the censors was when a heart got ripped out of a living man's body. It was explained that this scene was actually cut to make the movie less gory, however, you still see the heart get ripped out of the body, and there are other scenes, like that dinner scene that made audiences squeamish. These days, one of Temple of Doom’s best-known BTS facts is how it and it's borderline scary scenes partially impacted the rating system forever. So, it makes sense that it would get confused for the first movie to get a PG-13 rating.
Now, it seems like a no-brainer that an Indy movie would get a PG-13 rating. However, in 1984 it was either PG or R, and as Spielberg proved, having something between would allow for a much better viewing experience for everyone involved.
You can stream Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with a Paramount+ subscription, and make sure to stay up to date with the 2023 movie schedule so you are ready to head to the theater when Indy’s next adventure The Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30. As for the actual first PG-13 movie, you can stream Red Dawn with an Amazon Prime subscription.
