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The smaller distributors are not bound by the X rating. They can even be helped by its notoriety; The Cook the Thief earned a surprising $7 million in its first four months of release. But even the independents can suffer. Most newspapers and TV stations refuse to run advertising for an X-rated film, because the scarlet letter is popularly, and incorrectly, thought synonymous with pornography. Most theaters will not book an X; some have clauses in their building leases that prohibit it. For the distributor of an independent action movie like The Killer or Hardware, an X can mean the difference between opening in 400 theaters and opening in only 40. As with so many other battles, the ratings wrangle is ultimately about real estate.
Early this year, as the cultural right wing campaigned against 2 Live Crew and Robert Mapplethorpe, the Heffner board began handing out Xs as if they were parking tickets. The National Society of Film Critics objected, and last month 31 directors (including Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Spike Lee and Barry Levinson) petitioned Jack Valenti, head of the M.P.A.A., to designate "a new rating of A (for adult) or M (for mature) . . . to indicate a film contains strong adult themes or images and that minors are not to view them." Two weeks ago, Valenti met with writers and directors to discuss the problem. All participants are mum on the meeting, but there are hints that Valenti was less opposed to change. "There isn't anything in the world," he reportedly said, "that can't be made better."
Industry apologists are worried that any change could make things worse. The current system, they believe, is courtproof; an amended system might not be, especially in today's unstable political climate. "It is not an easy problem," says Glenn Gumpel, executive director of the Directors Guild of America. "There will not be an easy solution. If there is a way to allow parents to make a more informed choice and, at the same time, take some movies out of the X category, then we should explore that."
One possibility -- replacing the X with an A or M -- would remove some toxicity from the rating. But even if the M.P.A.A. accepted it, theater owners might not -- and there's no point in making a product if you can't market it. Another proposal is to release a film in both its X and R versions, as is sometimes done when a controversial movie appears on video. "That may be usable occasionally," says an industry insider. "But it is unclear if it would solve all the problems." He means that Hollywood is an industry posing as an art -- and only a fool would propose any rating that excludes the all- important teen audience.
But pandering to teens is precisely the problem. Under the R-or-nothing system, every film must be designed only for those under 17. That leaves adults without their own ambitious movie entertainment. Now there's an idea that should be rated X.
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CAPTION: X MARKS THE PLOT