IMDb > Porgy and Bess (1959) > Parents Guide
Porgy and Bess
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Parents Guide for
Porgy and Bess (1959) More at IMDbPro »

The content of this page was created directly by users and has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
Since the beliefs that parents want to instill in their children can vary greatly, we ask that, instead of adding your personal opinions about what is right or wrong in a film, you use this feature to help parents make informed viewing decisions by describing the facts of relevant scenes in the title for each one of the different categories: Sex and Nudity, Violence and Gore, Profanity, Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking, and Frightening/Intense Scenes.
Visit our Parents Guide Help to learn more

Sex & Nudity

No actual sex or nudity is shown, but Porgy and Bess clearly live together out of wedlock and are lovers. At the end of each of their big duets, "Bess You Is My Woman Now" and "I Loves You Porgy", they kiss passionately, with Porgy kissing Bess on the neck as well as on the lips.

Crown and Bess are former live-in lovers; Bess is a former prostitute and Crown is her pimp.

On Kittiwah Island, Crown encounters Bess after a long separation and forces her to stay with him, apparently raping her offscreen. She returns to the mainland ill and delirious.

Violence & Gore

There are two important fights, and each one of them leads to a murder.

Profanity

None. The word "damn" has been omitted from the screenplay, and no serious profanity could be used in a 1959 Hollywood film, so the word "bastard" has also been eliminated.

Sportin' Life (played by Sammy Davis, Jr.) is a dope pusher who is seen trying to sell "happy dust" (cocaine) several times. He eventually gets Bess high on cocaine so that she will run off with him to New York.

Crown, the main villain of the story, gets so drunk during the crap game that he starts to think others are cheating when they are not.

The two fights mentioned above; there is also a hurricane scene. Neither scene is truly frightening, however.

Page last updated by critic-2, 1 year ago
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Certification:
West Germany:12 / Netherlands:14 (original rating) (1960) / Finland:K-16

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