A Look Back at 11 of Hollywood's Most Dangerous Movies

By Ethan Alter and Gwynne Watkins

There probably isn’t a lot of holiday cheer in the Rogen and Franco households right about now: The actors’ latest collaboration, The Interview, has just been dropped from theatrical release, a day after the Sony hackers threatened violence at any location screening the comedy, which was due to premiere on Dec. 25.

Chief at issue is the film’s premise, which finds Franco and Rogen playing TV journalists who are enlisted by the CIA to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un during a rare trip inside the Hermit Kingdom. Although the scope of the fallout is unprecedented, The Interview is the latest in a long line of movies that have inspired fervent protests and calls for outright bans over the years. Here are some of the biggest movie-related controversies to occur on U.S. soil.

Mohammad, Messenger of God (1977)

Flare-Up: Despite consulting with Muslim clerics and abiding by the ironclad rule to never depict Islam’s chief prophet onscreen during this sweeping historical epic, director Moustapha Akkad encountered protests as he prepared to release the finished film. Many of those decrying Mohammad were under the impression that Mohammad would be portrayed onscreen by either Charlton Heston, Peter O’Toole, or the film’s actual star Anthony Quinn, who instead played Hamza, the prophet’s uncle.

Fall Out: According to a New York Times recap, an extremist Muslim group laid siege to a Washington D.C. office of the Jewish organization B’nai B’rith to protest the film’s release, but no one was injured in the incident. The film never found much traction at the domestic box office afterwards, though.

The Warriors (1979)

Flare-Up: Walter Hill’s ‘70s gang movie inspired some real-life gang violence in the then-present day, with reports of vandalism and killings accompanying its theatrical release in certain markets.

Fall Out: Paramount suspended TV and radio ads for the film and, much like Sony is doing now, allowed theater owners to decline to screen it. (Some of the theaters that continued to program it beefed up security.) But the studio also recognized the value in controversy: After a two-week period elapsed without any peep of violence, Paramount launched a new print ad campaign trumpeting the movie’s great reviews.

Cruising (1980)

Flare-Up: Gay-rights groups protested William Friedkin’s seedy exploration of New York’s leather bar scene before, during, and after production, arguing that it was an inaccurate, exploitative representation of their community. At one point during filming, a thousand protestors staged a march through the East Village with the goal of getting the city to discontinue its assistance to the filmmakers.

Fall Out: After a lengthy battle with the MPAA that required almost forty minutes of deletions to secure an R rating, Cruising was released with a prominent disclaimer stating: “This film is not intended as an indictment of the homosexual world. It is set in one small segment of that world, which is not meant to be representative of the whole.”

The Color Purple (1985)

Flare-Up: Alice Walker’s novel was a flashpoint for controversy within the African-American community the moment it was published in 1982, with some objecting to the book’s frank sexuality and the brutal depiction of the male characters. Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film version was viewed with equal distrust, with one commentator calling it “the most anti-Black family film of the modern film era.”

Fall Out: Despite such strongly-worded opinions, The Color Purple became one of 1985’s biggest hits, earning almost $100 million and receiving 11 Oscar nominations, among them Best Picture. These days, the movie enjoys a more positive reputation and Spielberg admirers recognize it as one of his first successful forays into “serious” (i.e., non-genre) filmmaking.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Flare-Up: Martin Scorsese earned the ire of evangelical Christian groups with his adaption of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, which dared to depict Jesus Christ as having less-than-heavenly desires as he approached his ultimate fate.

Fall Out: The movie was famously picketed by fundamentalist groups across America, with one of the largest — numbering some 600 protestors — happening in front of the offices of MCA, the then-parent company of Universal Studios. One evangelist, Bill Bright, even made a public offer to purchase the film explicitly so that he could destroy it. The movie opened in theaters anyway, but several chains declined to show it.

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Flare-Up: Spike Lee’s incendiary classic about a hot summer day in Brooklyn had a hugely successful premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, but many mainstream critics in America criticized the film’s message and ending, and even went so far as to predict violence after screenings. Wrote David Denby in New York, “The end of this movie is a shambles, and if some audiences go wild, he’s partly responsible.”

Fall Out: Despite the ominous warnings, there were no riots associated with the movie, and ever since, Lee has quite rightly called the writers to account. “To me, it was pure, uncut, unfiltered racism,” Lee told Deadline earlier this year. “Those articles basically said to white moviegoers, ‘Please don’t go. If you are in the same theater with black people, it’s not going to end well.’”

Basic Instinct (1992)

Flare-Up: Just as New York-based gay rights groups mobilized to protest Cruising a decade earlier, members of the San Francisco LGBT community were vocally displeased with this Joe Eszterhas-written, Paul Verhoeven-directed thriller. Unhappy with the way the film painted gay and bisexual characters as villains, activists disrupted filming and also protested the film after its release, turning up at theaters with signs bearing such slogans as, “Kiss My Ice Pick.”

Fall Out: The film’s off-the-charts titillation factor (as evidenced by Sharon Stone’s infamous interrogation scene) got audiences hot under the collar and helped drive the movie to an almost $120 million haul. As for the criticisms about how the film treated its gay characters, Roger Ebert, as usual, summed it up best by writing: “The movie’s protesters might take note of the fact that this film’s heterosexuals…are equally offensive.”

Priest (1994)

Flare-Up: Catholic groups strenuously objected to Antonia Bird’s riveting drama, which explored the psychology of a closeted priest, as well as the turmoil he experiences after hearing two of his parishioners admit to sexual abuse in confessional. Catholic League head William Donohue led the charge, arguing, “What offended me most was the fact that [the priest’s] depravity was portrayed as a direct consequence of the Catholic Church’s teachings.”

Fall Out: Protestors took their case directly to Miramax’s new owners at Disney, promising to boycott the Mouse House if Priest proceeded with a national release. Eventually, the film’s release date was pushed back from Good Friday to early April in limited markets with a slightly larger expansion to follow.

Kids (1995)

Flare-Up: Larry Clark’s unnerving drama followed a group of young New York City teenagers — among them Chloë Sevigny and Rosario Dawson — whose social life included using drugs, assaulting strangers, and having unprotected (sometimes non-consensual) sex. The movie was acquired by Miramax, but was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, meaning that their parent company Disney could not distribute it.

Fall Out: Miramax created a one-off production company, Shining Excaliber Films, in order to distance themselves from Disney and release the film unrated in theaters. Reviews were mixed, with some critics accusing Clark of making “child pornography.” However, the controversy didn’t hurt Kids at the box office, where the low-budget indie earned $7.4 million.

Dogma (1999)

Flare-Up: Self-identified Catholic filmmaker Kevin Smith took great liberties with religious tradition in his comic fantasia, which includes a forgotten thirteenth apostle played by Chris Rock, a female God played by Alanis Morissette, and a virgin birth bestowed upon an abortion-clinic employee.

Fall Out: The anti-defamation organization the Catholic League launched a massive campaign against Dogma, sight-unseen, distributing leaflets and staging protests. At one point, one thousand demonstrators prayed outside a Dogma screening in New York City. Smith, who infiltrated at least one protest, continued to insist that Dogma was a Christian film, “intended as a love letter to both faith and God almighty.”

The Love Guru (2008)

Flare-Up: It was supposed to be Mike Myers’ big comeback,but his title character – who speaks with an exaggerated Indian accent and espouses a nonsensical pop spirituality – was seen as a mocking insult by some practitioners of the Hindu faith.

Fall Out: Hindu organizationswidely criticized the film prior to its release, with some Indian groups calling for a ban on screenings. Ultimately, however, it was the absence of laughs that brought down The Love Guru. 

Image credit: Everett, Miramax