The MPAA Battle Scarface
The MPAA gave Scarface an X rating three times — and De Palma refused to submit
In October 1983, less than two months before the film's scheduled release on December 9, the MPAA Classification and Rating Administration rated Scarface X for "excessive and cumulative violence and for language." The rating would have been commercially fatal: most television and radio stations refused to air advertisements for X-rated films, newspapers would not print their listings, and major theater chains would not book them. With over $23 million invested in the production, an X rating would have made it nearly impossible for Universal to recoup its costs. (collider, cbr)
De Palma submitted four edited versions — the board rejected all of them
De Palma cut the film four times, each version removing or softening violent content. The MPAA board rejected every submission. The primary objection centered on The Chainsaw Scene, but the board also cited the cumulative effect of violence and the film's approximately 200 uses of the word "fuck." De Palma reached his limit and refused to make further changes, declaring he would accept being fired rather than compromise the film. (collider)
"We're gonna put the movie exactly the way I originally cut it... We beat the censor board." — Brian De Palma, Cinema Scholars (2023)
Universal president Robert Rehme backed De Palma, declaring the studio would not release the picture with an X rating. The standoff moved to formal appeal.
The appeal hearing brought a narcotics investigator, Roger Ebert, and a theater chain executive
Producer Martin Bregman assembled the appeal with strategic precision. He brought the head of the Broward County, Florida Organized Crime Division, who testified to the accuracy of the film's depiction of drug violence — arguing that the real cocaine trade was worse than anything De Palma showed. Film critic Jay Cocks read a letter of support from Roger Ebert. The head of a major theater chain testified that the film was appropriate for an R rating. (collider, cbr)
MPAA president Jack Valenti presided over the hearing. Ratings board chairman Richard Heffner later acknowledged that he could have fought harder for the X but sensed that Valenti did not support the original decision. The appeal board overturned the X rating 18-2, granting Scarface an R.
De Palma released the original uncut version and admitted it months later
After winning the appeal on a slightly edited cut, De Palma made a calculation: the differences between the approved version and his original cut were minor enough to be unnoticeable. He released the original uncut film with the R rating, reasoning that no one would detect the discrepancy. He was right — the MPAA did not flag it. De Palma admitted what he had done only months after the film's release. (collider)
The maneuver was characteristic. De Palma had fought the MPAA on Dressed to Kill (1980) and would fight them again on Body Double (1984). His relationship with the ratings board was adversarial throughout his career, but Scarface was the case where he won by outmaneuvering them rather than capitulating.
The battle set a precedent for how filmmakers challenged the MPAA
The Scarface X-rating battle became one of the most cited examples of a filmmaker successfully fighting the MPAA ratings system. It demonstrated that the appeal process could work when a studio backed its director with institutional resources, expert testimony, and the willingness to escalate. The case is regularly invoked in discussions of the MPAA's inconsistent standards — critics noted that the board was far more sensitive to sustained violence and profanity than to sexual content, applying different thresholds to different kinds of transgression. (cbr)