![The Best NC-17 Movies in History](https://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2019/03/crash-111.jpg?w=980&q=75)
The Best NC-17 Movies in History
By the end of the 1980s, the X rating — originally created by the Motion Picture Association of America to simply denote any film for a purely adult audience — was broken. It had become completely associated with pornography, which had essentially coopted the real X to its own purposes, inventing the non-existent “XXX” as a marketing ploy, and basically making X synonymous with “sex.” (To be fair, you can’t spell sex without it).
In an attempt to create a new adult rating that wasn’t automatically linked with porn, the MPAA introduced the NC-17 rating in 1990 as the replacement for X. While the MPAA succeeded in creating an adult rating apart from pornography, they never quite divorced the idea of adult movies from the stigma of sensational sex and violence. Some theaters wouldn’t exhibit NC-17 films, and some stores wouldn’t sell them on home video.
These days, NC-17 are very uncommon. Before it was essentially abandoned, though, the NC-17 did get applied to some very good films. Here are ten of the best.
Gallery — 18 Crazy Actor Transformations:
More From Banana 101.5
![Steven Spielberg and George Lucas Predicted the World of Streaming Movies in 1990](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2021/06/attachment-lucas-spielberg-predict-the-future-img-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Watch Siskel and Ebert’s Review of the Original ‘Star Wars‘](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2021/03/siskel-and-ebert-review.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Meanest Movie Reviews on the Internet](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2019/11/meanest-movie-reviews.png?w=980&q=75)
![The 10 Best Films of 2018](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2018/12/best-of-2018-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Sylvester Stallone’s Original Concept for ‘Rocky III’ Was Crazy And Amazing](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2018/11/rocky-iii1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Amazon Prime Is Streaming the Original X-Rated Cut of ‘RoboCop’](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2018/10/robocop.png?w=980&q=75)
![Two Michigan Cities Have the Lowest Quality of Life in the U.S.](http://townsquare.media/site/84/files/2024/07/attachment-Untitled-design-241.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Discover Michigan’s Largest IMAX Theater Here](http://townsquare.media/site/84/files/2024/07/attachment-Untitled-design-2024-07-02T133225.911.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Will Michigan Taxpayer Dollars go Toward Making Movies?](http://townsquare.media/site/84/files/2024/06/attachment-Untitled-design-63.jpg?w=980&q=75)