Top 20 X-Rated and NC-17 Movies: Pushing Boundaries And Masterpieces

The best X-rated and NC-17-rated movies show that some great movies have pushed the boundaries of decency. When the MPAA film rating system was introduced in 1968, the X rating was used to restrict movies that were too extreme for the R rating, and meant no children could be admitted to the theater.

This was changed to the NC-17 rating in 1990. Although there are numerous controversies surrounding the rating, the best X-rated movies showcase masterpieces that are branded in this way. The categories that cause a movie to earn such a rating include graphic violence, sex, or language, and there have been notable movies falling into these categories.

These range from well-known realistic romance dramas such as Blue Valentine to violence-laden films, like Bad Lieutenant. Whether or not the Rated-X and NC-17 ratings were justified for all these movies can be up for debate, but there is no denying the greatness of these movies.

Last Tango In Paris (1972)

The same year that Marlon Brando earned an Oscar win for his role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, he also appeared in an erotic drama that received an X-rating. However, this wasn’t an average erotic thriller because it was directed by master Italian auteur filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci.

Last Tango in Paris received an X-rating for a very good reason. This movie has a raw portrayal of rape and sexual assault. The film follows a recently widowed American (Brando) who starts a relationship with a young Parisian woman (Schneider).

The rape scene was clearly the reason for the rating, and it was also very controversial at the time, as actress Maria Schneider (who was only 20 when the movie was shot, while Brando was 48) said the scene traumatized her for years after making the film (via New Yorker).

Henry & June (1990)

Henry & June has a place in history as the first movie ever to receive an NC-17 rating when it was introduced in 1990. The film is based on a book written by Anaïs Nin about his relationship with Henry Miller and his wife, June. The NC-17 rating comes thanks to the threesome and swinger relationships of the characters.

Anaïs (Maria de Medeiros) is in a stable relationship with her husband Ian (Richard E. Grant). However, she becomes infatuated with novelist Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and his Bohemian lifestyle with his wife, June (Uma Thurman). She ends up having an affair with Henry while also pursuing June.

According to the rating, this was for “non-pornographic” movies with sexual content that is more than an R rating. There is a postcard that Nin looks at during the film’s start (with The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife), and scenes from Le Bal des Beaux that led to the NC-17 rating.

Inside Deep Throat (2005)

Inside Deep Throat is one of the most interesting cases of a movie receiving an NC-17 rating, mostly because this is a documentary. Inside Deep Throat looks at the Golden Age of Porn and the iconic porn film Deep Throat’s effects on American society. However, since the film is discussing porn, it quickly received an NC-17 rating.

This documentary shows some scenes from the film and also interviews everyone from Deep Throat director Gerald Damiano and actors Harry Reems and Linda Lovelace. The documentary also features interviews with notable figures such as Gore Vidal, Larry Flynt, Hugh Hefner, John Waters, and others.

The movie received its rating thanks mostly to the excerpts from the original film. It was the first movie with that rating since Henry & June to get a Universal Studios release.

Bad Education (2004)

Pedro Almodóvar is no stranger to the NC-17 rating. Despite his reputation as one of the most acclaimed Spanish-language filmmakers working today, he has been tagged with four NC-17 ratings. These movies include Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Bad Education, Law of Desire, and Matador.

Of these films, Bad Education is the best. The film stars Gael García Bernal as Ángel Andrade, who also plays a fictional character in a story within the movie named Zahara, a transgender drag queen.

The movie was rated NC-17 because of one scene early in the film with the depiction of gay fellatio. While Almodóvar resubmitted the movie for an R rating, it was upheld and ended up being released theatrically with the NC-17 rating.

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was a movie written by iconic film critic Roger Ebert. However, even more important, it was a film by acclaimed filmmaker Russ Meyer, known for a career where he used excessive nudity and sexual situations in his movies, as he uses satire to lampoon American conservative values.

The movie was a parody of the original Valley of the Dolls, which, although critically panned, was commercially successful. The same thing happened to this film, but it has since become a beloved cult classic.

As expected for a Russ Meyer movie, it received an X rating by the MPAA and was changed to an NC-17 in 1990. Humorously, when Meyer learned the film was getting an X rating, he wanted to re-edit it to add more nudity and sex, but it was released in its original form.

Crash (1996)

Director David Cronenberg has always had a fascination with mixing sex and violence in a disturbing way. Perhaps the best example of this from his filmography is Crash. Cronenberg’s Crash stars James Spader as a man who survives a near-fatal car crash and finds himself mixing the violence of the moment with his sexual fantasies.

He eventually discovers an underground society of like-minded individuals. Sex and violence are two things the MPAA has strong feelings about, and the movie nearly didn’t get released after the MC-17 rating and controversy surrounding its subject matter.

Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986)

Michael Rooker got his first starring role as the titular character in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. The movie doesn’t have much of a story to speak of, as it simply follows Rooker’s dark protagonist around as he murders various victims in brutal and merciless fashion.

While there are plenty of serial killer movies that receive R ratings from the MPAA, there is a relentlessness to Henry’s violence, as there seems to be no other purpose to the movie beyond his acts of violence. Yet Rooker’s chilling performance and the unsettlingly realistic feel of the horror movie have helped to make it a cult classic.

Shame (2011)

Shame happens to be one of the highest-grossing NC-17 films to be released yet, following a man whose life is disrupted by his extreme sex addiction. Not surprisingly, it is the sexual content that earned the movie its MC-17 rating, which includes full-frontal nudity of males and females, something that is generally a guarantee to get such a rating.

Shame isn’t for those who are turned off by adult-oriented content, since the movie displays it in all ways possible. But the toll on the character’s mentality over how he’s unable to have legitimate relationships makes it a fascinating watch that viewers with a capacity for mature themes will appreciate.

Killer Joe (2011)

Matthew McConaughey is one of the actors who relaunched their careers successfully by taking on grittier roles, and Killer Joe marked this turn. Killer Joe is about a dysfunctional family that hires the titular hitman, only for the plan to backfire when Joe’s involvement destroys their schemes with one of his own.

The movie’s violence and explicit sexuality contributed to the rating it received, although it may have already been necessary given the film’s premise. It remains one of the great movies from the late William Friedkin, who showed he was still able to shock audiences later in his career.

Blue Valentine (2010)

Blue Valentine is a romantic drama set over several years, detailing the struggles of a dysfunctional couple to make their marriage work. With the couple’s initial courtship and attempts to stay together filled with amorous moments, the film was branded with an explicit rating.

The film was seen as another example of how the MPAA’s views on sex in movies is troubling. Of course, the emotional content of the movie is perhaps more devastating than anything else. Nevertheless, Blue Valentine will connect to viewers who aren’t shy of unfiltered depictions of love, as the film doesn’t hold back on the raw details.