"Sickening, Utterly Worthless, Shameful Trash" Finally Gets British Release*
Almost thirty years after its release, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will allow Britons to view the crappy historical epic/porn film Caligula—not because it is wrong to censor the works of Malcolm MacDowell, but because the film is now deemed of "historical interest." The Telegraph has details:
It received a short run in the US but was never shown in Britain, after being banned by the BBFC. The film was also derided by some as "insanely pornographic".
Now it will finally be sold in DVD format on shop shelves after the official censor changed its mind.
Sue Clark from the BBFC said: "Given that Caligula is a film of historical interest, we felt we could pass it uncut."
Alex Agran, from the film's distributors Arrow Films, responded: "When it came back uncut, we were stunned."
Malcolm McDowell, who played the emporer in the film, said four years ago he was "outraged" by Guccione's decision to lace the film with hard porn.
He said: "I'm proud of the work I did in Caligula, there's no question about that. But there's all the raunchy stuff, the blatant, modern-day porn that Bob introduced into the film after we'd finished shooting.
"That to me was an absolutely outrageous betrayal and quite unprecedented. Frankly, it showed that Bob had no class whatsoever."
Full story.
Horrifying, though safe for work, clips from Caligula.
*Film critic Roger Ebert's judgment of the the original, uncut version.
