tropic of cancer ( film )
rip torn, left, with joseph strick and henry miller, on the set of “tropic of cancer, ” in paris in 1970. the film was rated x .
after hours has been a favorite since the 1980s, and i read tropic of cancer sometime in the 1990s, but it wasn' t until last night when i watched the 1970 film adaptation of tropic of cancer that i realized the book' s journey of the main character from woman to woman is loosely paralleled by paul' s. minus the sex. tropic of cancer stars rip torn in the lead and ellen burstyn, uncredited, as his first naked encounter. the director also directed james joyce’s ulysses with admirable results. i can’t remember much of anything about my read of tropic of cancer while ulysses is a favorite, and i presume that accounts for my appreciation of the film version of ulysses but only half - interest in tropic of cancer .
simon reeve makes another trip around the world, like in tropic of capricorn, but now in the northern hemisphere, along the tropic of cancer. simon thus visits mexico, the caribean, ... see full summary »
ulysses wasn’t the only 20th century modernist classic the director would try to wrestle into submission. two years later, strick brought to the screen henry miller ‘s tropic of cancer .
subscribe for more bbc highlights: urltoken urltoken following the tropic of cancer across mexico, presenter simon reeve travels through a an area that doubles for the us in western movies, and spends a night in a film set once owned by john wayne .
with “tropic of cancer” (1970), mr. strick brought to the screen miller’s forthright tale of his escapades, overwhelmingly sexual, in 1930s paris. the film, which mr. strick directed, helped produce and, with betty botley, wrote, starred rip torn as miller .
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conceived by co - director lomi as an effort to exploit connections made while working on jacopetti & prosperi' s goodbye, uncle tom (1971), the film benefits immensely from its exotic location footage. obviously enamored with the island' s culture, tropic of cancer weaves multiple…
mr. strick was even better known for fiction films based on the work of dense, often risqué writers. his most renowned included adaptations of “the balcony, ” by jean genet; “ulysses, ” by james joyce; and henry miller’s “tropic of cancer. ”
tropic of cancer is a trippy amalgamation of the giallo and the mondo movie. the juxtaposition of stylised violence, typical of the giallo with the possibly staged, but very real brutality of the mondo is quite unique. people die beautifully photographed deaths, while beasts are messily slaughtered. the location shooting elevates a rather formulaic plot, yet the latter half of the film features a fantastic psychedelic dream sequence. i' m duty bound to award an extra half star because the film features a character named monsieur peacock .
he had no such luck, losing the case in the early ’70s. “tropic of cancer” retained its x rating until the early 1990s, when, with many other x - rated films, it was awarded the new nc - 17 rating .
simon reeve makes another trip around the world, like in tropic of capricorn, but now in the northern hemisphere, along the tropic of cancer. simon thus visits mexico, the caribean, northern africa, arabia, india, bangla desh, burma, laos, vietnam, taiwan and hawai. local conditions, people, wildlife, history, culture, politics, ecology prove quite varied .
based on the controversial henry miller novel, tropic of cancer stars rip torn as a struggling american writer in paris (named henry, natch). anyway, at the film' s beginning torn is having a splendid time with his wife ellen burstyn, who spends her ten minutes of sceen time naked. burstyn gets pissed that torn is broke, and that the bed in their…
…1970 she also starred in tropic of cancer, an adaptation of henry miller’s autobiographical novel in which she played miller’s wife. she received an academy award nomination for best supporting actress for the last picture show (1971), about life in a small texas town. in the exorcist (1973), burstyn played…
while tropic of cancer had rip torn as miller, a definitely sexy ellyn burstyn as mona, and incorporated generous portions of the novel into its voiceover, the film never had much of a chance to reach an audience. it opened to middling reviews, and, more damaging, with an x rating (it’s since been rated nc - 17). long available, to my knowledge, on bootlegs only, its opening moments follow below :
gli invincibili fratelli maciste. (1964) con claudie lange - anthony steffen _ film completo italiano
his first film, “muscle beach, ” a 1948 study of california bodybuilders directed with irving lerner, remains a cult favorite .
another curiosity wrought by strick is that the setting of the original, which was indelibly stamped with the nineteen‐thirties of expatriate americans, has been so subtly updated to the present as to be hardly noticeable. this becoming touch adds dimen sion, if not real stature, which is where strick' s tow ering transition of joyce' s “ulysses” has it all over “tropic of cancer. ”
yes, good old “tropic of cancer, ” miller' s candid un derground diary‐novel of his rootless, libertine sojourn in france during the early 1930' s, which was long banned in this country, has finally, made it to the screen when anything now goes for sensation or elusive art. the picture is neither .
“this is not a movie, ” announces rip torn at the beginning and as the au thor‐protagonist of “tropic of cancer. ” he' s wrong. it is a highly interesting one, and definitely not for everybody. produced, directed and co adapted by joseph strick, the paramount release opened yesterdays ever so aptly, at the paris theater .
while miller’s initial hopes for the project ran high (in a letter to the hungarian photographer, brassaï, miller wrote, “the film of tropic of cancer will be definitively produced and directed by joseph strick, who made ulysses. he’ll do it the same way. no castration, no modification. bravo for him, i say! ”), he was ultimately saddened that in no way would the production budget allow for a faithful recreation of paris in the 30’s. hired as a consultant on the film, miller’s visit to the set would be the last time the author set foot in paris .
even with the splendid per formances of the entire cast, with a freshness of compara tively unknown faces in the featured roles, the film suc ceeds best on the level of a comic, sexual adventure of a man obsessed and motivated by one thing .
tropic of cancer, directed by joseph strick; screenplay by mr. strick and betty botley, based on the book by henry miller; photography by alain de robe; music by stanley myers; pro duced by mr. strick; distributed by paramount pictures. at the paris thea ter, 58th street off fifth avenue. running time: 84 minutes. (the mo tion picture association of america' s production code and rating adminis tration classifies this film “x—no one under 17 admitted”. )
don' t be tempted by the naughty sex films of the 70' s, even if it' s for a cheap thrill. movies such as the story of o or i am curious (yellow) just don' t titilate anymore (and really, did they ever ?), they either leave you screaming with laughter or fighting impending unconsciousness. tropic of cancer, unfortunately fits into the second category .
the film depicts the adventures of expatriate american writer henry miller and his friends, as they pursue art, money, food, and sex in paris .
saddened to see last week the passing of underrated film director joseph strick. you might not know the name, but there can be little doubt you’re familiar with some of the books he adapted into films .
this list collects every film from the starting list that became they shoot pictures don' t they' s 1000 greatest films. this…
reviewing the film in the new york times in 1967, bosley crowther wrote, “everything in this brilliant rendering of mr. joyce’s extremely complex book into the medium of motion pictures is forceful and respectable cinema art. ”
you just know you' re in for some serious racism going into an early' 70s giallo filmed in haiti, and
tropic of cancer
exceeds on that front. just look at the poster! the plot involves a bunch of characters jockeying for some sort of hallucinogenic aphrodisiac, but it makes precious little sense by the end of the film. thankfully there' s some gorgeous cinematography of the country and the eccentric characters, trippy dream sequences and daffy dialogue that make gialli so entertaining. a couple of the murders - a spear gunning and a character getting their face burned off - were brutal and memorable. it' s far from the best example of the genre, but there' s an undeniable trashy charm if you can look past gratuitous slaughterhouse footage and gross racism .
simon reeves makes another
round the world
trip following the tropic of capricorn which is parallel (but shorter) to the equator in the southern hemisphere. again each episode is a rapid... see full summary »
the film’s success (mr. strick and mr. haines received oscar nominations for their screenplay) did not always mollify the censors. britain demanded 29 separate cuts, though they later backed down. in ireland, the film was banned outright, a ban not lifted until 2000 .
in this film, rip torn plays an american expatriate author living - - and loving - - in 1920s paris. the much - vaunted sex scenes were hot enough in 1970 to earn the film an
x
rating, even though they' re likely not to raise an eyebrow today .
in march 1970, mr. strick filed suit in federal district court, seeking to overturn the x rating awarded to the film by the motion picture association of america. as he told the new york times, “i’m hoping the suit will lead to the abolition of the entire system of classification. ”
readers found it shocking and scandalous! and now for anyone over 17, it is a movie !
- time movie fans know of writer henry miller from henry and june. but that controversial film about the passionate parisian triangle formed by henry, wife june and anais nin was not the only time miller' s story came to the screen. tropic of cancer, the bold film version of miller' s semi - autobiographical underground classic, was released some two decades earlier. and it, too, broke new ground .
never has sex been made more blatant, obsessive and, at the same time, as naively innocent as stamp collecting .
- the new york times rip torn (the larry sanders show) portrays miller as he bed - hops and bar - hops through paris. and miller himself makes a brief appearance in this ribald tale that updates the setting but retains the libertine spirit of the book that was banned in the usa for 27 years .
several of mr. strick’s films were known for their grittiness. the most notable was “the savage eye” (1960), a documentary - style fiction film he wrote, produced and directed in collaboration with mr. maddow and sidney meyers. the film, whose style and subject matter — unusual for the time — attracted wide attention in the news media, starred barbara baxley as a divorced woman navigating the seamy underside of los angeles .
in order to appreciate henry miller' s style, it is essential to get a feel for the juxtaposition of his elegant, often heartfelt prose, and the profane nature of his subject matter. he is the modern catullus, the poet not of
lovemaking
but of the joys of flat - out * * * * * ing. the movie had difficulty synthesizing this sense of sacred and profane in harmony. it tried now with a rip torn overvoice reading from miller' s work, then with some poetic shots of the beauty of paris. it never really seemed to succeed. the movie could never find anything to focus on. it represents a string of vignettes, and they don' t seem to lead to any common goal. many scenes seem to concentrate on the minor characters for much too long, and without apparent purpose. such picaresque efforts rely on the charm of characterization for impact, and this film has some of that, but not enough. it' s structured as if somebody said
let' s make a film of tropic of cancer
without actually feeling any passion for why they wanted to do that. it was certainly interesting to see rip torn so young and so good - looking, and to see ellen burstyn in such a flagrant display of nudity. some of the locales are accurately evocative, and torn is reasonably credible in the lead. it is fairly explicit in the sexual scenes, and extremely explicit in its use of language. you could watch it and not feel you' ve wasted your time, but be advised that you won' t feel much rewarded, either .
“ulysses” was an everest on which no filmmaker dared make an assault. mr. strick did, directing and helping produce the film version, whose screenplay he wrote with fred haines .
this lurid and surreal italian film has no relations to both the henry miller novel and the rip torn starring 1970 henry miller film of the same name, as it depicts a couple (anita strindberg [ who saw her die, murder obsession ], anthony steffen [ an angel for satan, killer fish ]) who are on vacation in haiti, where they witness various traditional haiti rituals while there is a chase that is going on regarding a new drug that steffen has created, with a handful of people that are after it while a series of murders are occurring in the area. directors gianpaolo lomi and edoardo mulargia (escape from hell, hotel paradise) handle the film in allowing the storyline to move along slowly as the viewers is not sure knowing upon what type of…
the colors of henry miller' s worlds coupled with his colorful expressions of desire make the experience a timeless one .
a very unconvincing mess of a film, mainly due to the weak, convoluted script and the equally weak direction. the only scenes of any consequence are the apparently unstaged voodoo ritual, and the scene where anita strindberg' s character is hallucinating and is walking through a red painted corridor filled with naked black guys. otherwise, this film is filled with ugly, grotesque characters who die in rapid succession in a plot that does not make any sense at all. i fail to see any charm in this .
an independent filmmaker, mr. strick won the oscar for best documentary short subject in 1970 for “interviews with my lai veterans, ” which he wrote, produced and directed. the film featured conversations with united states army veterans who had been present at the massacre of hundreds of south vietnamese civilians on march 16, 1968 .
joseph strick' s
re - work
of henry miller' s infamous novel is one giant fail of a movie .
starting his journey in south africa, simon travels around the coast of the indian ocean, heading up the east coast of africa, around india and back down the western coast of indonesia to... see full summary »
on this level of lust, for about two‐thirds of the way, the picture is brazenly sly, boldly fatalistic and often hilarious, all of it mirrored in the face of the curly haired torn, with his bland drawl and piercing eyes. in a mercurical rhythm of tight sparse images the camera lets torn rip, as he wheedles cash and lodging from a group of friends, seducing and re seducing, eyeing wives, mis tresses and new quarries, and lending a friendly, lascivious ear to the sexual hang‐ups of his pals .
if you’ve never seen his take on james joyce’s ulysses, it’s definitely worth checking out—if only for the rather graceful way strick handles the closing monologue of molly bloom. it was banned in ireland for 33 years, but now, thanks to chinese video site, youku, you can stream the entire ‘67 film here .
mr. strick’s other films include “ring of bright water” (1969), which he helped produce, and “a portrait of the artist as a young man” (1977), an adaptation of another joyce novel, which he directed and helped produce .
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rip torn is reduced to being nothing more than a broke scamp out to score with every woman who crosses his path. think
looney tunes
goest soft porn. the whole film plays like a bad soft - porn comedy .
soft
is key here. not sure why the…
the only thing i enjoyed about this was seeing a young rip torn. other than that, i struggled with the book so much so that i couldn' t finish it, and the film even though it' s only under an hour and a half, i struggled with that too .
i realize this reviews amounts to
the book was better ,
but to be fair it doesn' t work much as a film. after the lively new wave - inspired opening it dips off and strick falls back on to shooting generic scenes of dialogue. much like the characters, boredom sets in and i find myself not caring what happens or who gets the clap or what .
his next adaptation was his most celebrated and most daunting: a screen version of “ulysses, ” joyce’s earthy stream - of - consciousness novel about a day in the life of the dubliner leopold bloom. first serialized in 1918, it was banned in the united states from 1921 to 1933 .
simon reeve travels around the edge of the caribbean sea in a stunning new 3 - part series .
this excellent mini series of 3 episodes visits a sacred river in each episode, simon is really adept at presenting in a relaxed manner as he explains many of the traditions, difficulties and cultures along each river .
there' s really no way to film a henry miller novel because all his books are basically just his poetic rambling and rantings (and i say that loving the guy) so i put off watching this even though i' m a big fan of rip torn from this era (payday, coming apart) well, rip is the best thing about the movie as others have said, he nails the voice and persona as well the readings / narration .
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the way it started i was thoroughly convinced i would despise it. while i' m not sure i would go as far as saying that it' s a very good film, i sort of liked it. a bit. even though it' s about nothing (which is fitting) and is just rip torn bumming around france shagging women, sleeping on his mates' couches and generally being an extremely misogynistic twat, it was also quite funny in places .
though shorter than the book, the script left intact joyce’s original language, including much of molly bloom’s soliloquy, a ribald reverie unquotable here with the possible exception of the words “yes, ” “i, ” “said” and “yes. ”
within the course of one night, woody harrelson finds himself in a misadventure in london that winds him up in jail .
an incredibly tedious adaptation of henry miller' s incredibly tedious novel. with the action transposed to contemporary paris, america' s famous lost generation of the' 30s are stranded like fish out of water, scrabbling ludicrously for sexual satisfaction from prostitutes when all they need to do is ask any nice, permissive girl passing by. bereft of its context, miller' s overheated prose - intoned, voice - off, by rip torn as miller in the intervals between his breathless sexual encounters - is revealed as a mixture of bad poetry and bad travelogue. four - letter words and female pubic hair have themselves a field day .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
in contemporary paris, expat american writer henry miller works his way through a series of amorous encounters while trying to find his literary voice .
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a couple on holiday in haiti become involved in a series of savage murders linked to a doctors a new invention, a drug with extreme side effects .
with extraordinary alac rity, technical skill and plain common sense, strick (and betty botley, his colleague) has lifted miller' s rambling, sizzling narrative off the printed page and shaped a vibrantly blunt and lifelike eyeful that either follows or suggests the original, retain ing most of the key charac ters and situations. add a brilliantly right personifica tion of miller by rip torn, whose labyrinthine wander ings about paris are superbly evoked by the beautiful color photography of alain de robe .
travel writer simon reeve embarks upon two long - distance journeys across turkey, exploring this dramatic and beautiful country that now finds itself at the centre of world events .
: this, then, this is not a movie. this is a libel, slander, defamation of character, a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of art, a kick in the pants to god, man, destiny, time, love, beauty, what you will. i' m going to sing for you. a little off - key perhaps, but i will sing. i will sing while you croak. i will dance over your dirty corpse .
henry is an ex - pat in paris, cadging drinks and meals and places to sleep, giving advice about women to clueless men, flirting with the wives of acquaintances, burning bridges, and making philosophical observations. in vignettes we see his wife mona come to paris and leave immediately when she tastes henry' s vagabond life; he tries teaching english at a school in dijon, takes the son of a wealthy indian to a bordello, gets a job as a proofreader at the herald tribune, and helps out a pal who' s in and out of an asylum and deeply in love with a whore. can henry make his own discovery of ecstasy ?
when the movie runs out of steam, it leaves only a shiftless, conventionally cyn ical and foul‐mouthed bucko who couldn' t matter less, even with mouth closed .
enjoyable performance from rip torn in a freewheeling, episodic and splendidly potty - mouthed adaptation of the henry miller novel (miller himself turns up in a little cameo) .
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a trivial but entertaining sex comedy derived from the henry miller novel about expatriates in paris. this series of vignettes and fantasies, with bits of miller' s language rolling out, may be closer to russ meyer' s the immoral mr. teas than to its source, but at least it isn' t fusty. it makes you laugh. with rip torn, ellen burstyn, james callahan, david bauer, magali noel, and ginette leclerc. there' s a glimpse of henry miller standing in front of a church. directed by joseph strick; written by strick and betty botley. (the story is updated .) released by paramount. see deeper into movies .
not entirely sure what to make of this, i guess it might have helped to have known anything about henry miller beforehand. but i didn' t, so there you go .
one certainly can' t blame rip torn. he seems more than eager to capture what is available to him in this odd push of a long gone 1930' s paris into a similarly long gone late 1960' s paris. the change of date makes no sense. strick doesn' t even attempt to establish why he has brought our angry ranter to the late 1960' s .
simon leaves india by river boat to bangla desh, the independent muslim eastern half of bengal, over the patna all the way to capital dhacca. on the way he witnesses traditional fishing with' tame' ...
as much as i love young rip torn i am not much for his performance here. his narration of miller' s prose is flat and snarky, without highlighting the crude beauty that is miller' s strongest trait. on screen it feels false .
joseph strick, an academy award - winning director, screenwriter and producer known for filming the unfilmable — in particular weighty, bawdy literary works whose screen adaptations often ran afoul of censors worldwide — died on june 1 in paris. he was 86 and had made his home in paris since the 1970s .
joseph ezekiel strick was born on july 6, 1923, in braddock, pa. , and reared in philadelphia. he studied physics at the university of california, los angeles, before enlisting in the military in world war ii. during the war he served stateside as an aerial photographer for the army air forces .
this closing chapter also was in a summary philos ophy, from miller' s mouth piece, an exuberantly defi ant stream‐of‐consciousness about a lone man against the world. torn speaks it at the fade‐out, standing in an open taxi, in a retreating camera shot that suggests a suspend ed head crossing the seine on a straight level .
intended or not, this is the definitive image of miller' s high life that strick has transplanted with such sur prising, practical fidelity. it is all effect, not substance, a soulless business anchored to the groin, with no simple warmth or feeling and no real body, although torn states his case clearly enough: “above all—the ec stasy. ”
add (straight from the book) the frankest and the filthiest flow of expletives, anglo‐saxon and otherwise, ever to spew forth from a contnercial, publicly, shown movie feature, on these shores, at least. wearying as the barrage becomes, the shock is acoustical, not visu al. for all the blistering lan guage, in a movie whose hero' s primary concern is sew there is only a smattering or semi‐clad, amorous intertwin ing and some casual, frontal female nudity .
the acting, and acting it is, remains unflawed by cast that includes ellen burstyn, david bauer, phil brown, ginette leclerc, dom? ? delpierre, giselle? / magali noel and oth miller himself appears or a second inside a crowded? ?? ?. but the picture loses rowting toward the end, when? ? casually but purposefully involves the hero in the plight of a homesick, neurotic pal, memorably played by james callahan, and his fiery mis tress, a comely brunette named laurence ligneres .
slow moving but unsettling and terrifically weird, basically a mondo movie disguised as a giallo, about an american doctor who travels to haiti looking for some voodoo - enhanced sex potion. co - directed by a production manager on goodbye uncle tom and similarly shot on location. so, like the kids say, problematic. this is undeniably racist (not to mention filled with unsimulated animal cruelty) but it nevertheless locates some genuine delirium in its relentless objectification of black bodies, obsession with
exotic
rituals, and sticky violence. anita strindberg' s fuck - panic drug - trip freakouts in this are really something. quite an artifact .
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mr. strick’s “balcony” (1963), which he directed and helped produce, was based on genet’s allegorical play about a brothel. with a screenplay by ben maddow, it starred shelley winters .
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mr. strick’s first marriage, to the former anne laskin, ended in divorce. he is survived by his second wife, martine rossignol strick; three children from his first marriage, david, jeremy and betsy strick; two children from his second marriage, terence and helene strick - marchand; a brother, jack; a sister, maida gordon; and six grandchildren .
mr. strick also helped produce “never cry wolf” (1983) for walt disney pictures .
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is the movie like henry miller' s book? yes, in es sence, spirit and flavor. re markably so .
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anita strindberg tags along on a haitian vacation with hubbie gabriele tinti, but eventually learns his ulterior motivations are a bit more suspect. his old friend, noted chemist anthony steffen, has cracked the formula for a hallucinogenic aphrodisiac, and the prospective buyers have all converged in town - - where someone' s violently eliminating the competition. will this little tropical getaway be their last ?
underhållande. mycket bar hud, svarta handskar och lite våld. kan det bli bättre ?
this list uses kyle fleischfresser' s giallo list to rank the top 150 films according to their letterboxd ratings .
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tropic of cancer is a 1970 american drama film directed by joseph strick and written by betty botley and joseph strick . it is based on henry miller 's autobiographical novel tropic of cancer . the film stars rip torn , james t. callahan , david baur , laurence lignères , phil brown and dominique delpierre . the film was released on february 27 , 1970 , by paramount pictures . filming took place on location in paris , produced by joseph strick with some help from the author , whose persona was portrayed by rip torn and his wife mona by ellen burstyn . the novel had provided a test for american laws on pornography in the early 1960s , and the film was rated x in the united states , which was later changed to an nc-17 rating . in the uk the film was refused a theatrical ' x ' certificate by the bbfc . strick had previously adapted other works of literature - jean genet 's the balcony and james joyce 's ulysses . 
tropic of cancer is a 1970 american drama film directed by joseph strick and written by betty botley and joseph strick. it is based on henry miller's autobiographical novel tropic of cancer. the film stars rip torn, james t. callahan, david baur, laurence lignères, phil brown and dominique delpierre. the film was released on february 27, 1970, by paramount pictures. filming took place on location in paris, produced by joseph strick with some help from the author, whose persona was portrayed by rip torn and his wife mona by ellen burstyn. the novel had provided a test for american laws on pornography in the early 1960s, and the film was rated x in the united states, which was later changed to an nc-17 rating. in the uk the film was refused a theatrical' x' certificate by the bbfc. strick had previously adapted other works of literature - jean genet's the balcony and james joyce's ulysses.
tropic of cancer is a 1970 american drama film directed by joseph strick and written by betty botley and joseph strick. it is based on henry miller's autobiographical novel tropic of cancer. the film stars rip torn, james t. callahan, david baur, laurence lignères, phil brown and dominique delpierre. the film was released on february 27, 1970, by paramount pictures. filming took place on location in paris, produced by joseph strick with some help from the author, whose persona was portrayed by rip torn and his wife mona by ellen burstyn. the novel had provided a test for american laws on pornography in the early 1960s, and the film was rated x in the united states, which was later changed to an nc-17 rating. in the uk the film was refused a theatrical' x' certificate by the bbfc. strick had previously adapted other works of literature - jean genet's the balcony and james joyce's ulysses.