The 1978 film Pretty Baby , starring a then-12-year-old Brooke Shields
: The film ignited a "culture war" upon release due to its depiction of child prostitution and scenes featuring a nude 12-year-old Shields. It was banned in several Canadian provinces and received restrictive ratings in the US (R) and UK (X). Modern Availability & "Portable" Access pretty baby 1978 starring brooke shields portable
The controversy was immediate and deafening. The MPAA gave it an R rating, but many called for an X. Critics were split. Roger Ebert gave it four stars, calling it "one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen." Others decried it as child pornography disguised as art. The flashpoint was the nude scenes of Brooke Shields—scenes that were filmed with meticulous care and a female chaperone present, but scenes that nonetheless placed a pre-teen girl in an impossibly adult context. The 1978 film Pretty Baby , starring a
DVD or Blu-ray: If you prefer a physical copy, you can purchase the DVD or Blu-ray disc of "Pretty Baby". This option provides high-quality video and audio, and you can watch the movie on a DVD or Blu-ray player. The MPAA gave it an R rating, but many called for an X
Set in 1917, the film follows Violet (Brooke Shields), a young girl raised in a high-class brothel in Storyville, the notorious red-light district of New Orleans. The story captures a pivotal moment in time: the final months before the district was shuttered by the U.S. Navy.
In the pantheon of controversial cinema, few films have maintained a stranglehold on public discourse quite like Louis Malle’s 1978 art-house drama, Pretty Baby. For decades, the film has existed in a strange purgatory: celebrated by auteur theorists for its lush photography and haunting score, yet scrutinized for its uncomfortable subject matter—specifically the performance of its young star, Brooke Shields.
Critics are famously divided on the film's artistic merit versus its ethical implications: