Valenti Rated R for Retiring

Hollywood's losing its frontman.

Jack Valenti, the man who helped devise the movie-ratings system, plans to step down as head of the Motion Picture Association of America, the group that lobbies on behalf of Hollywood's major movie studios in Washington, D.C.--a job he's had for nearly four decades.

"I look at this with mixed emotions, because when you've done something so long, it's difficult to tear yourself away. But also, in any job, you want to leave before people ask you leave," said Valenti, whose long run has not been without controversy.

The loquacious, silver-haired, beetle-browed 82-year-old, probably most familiar to the general public for his annual appearances at the Oscars, made his long-anticipated retirement announcement Tuesday to an audience of 1,200 theater owners gathered in Las Vegas for their annual ShoWest convention. His remarks were met with a standing ovation.

"Jack Valenti has been a consummate leader of this industry for 38 years," said John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theatre Owners. "And we're not sure what we're going to do without him."

Texas-born Valenti, an advertising and political consultant, was speechwriter and congressional liaison for Lyndon Johnson. (In 1963, on the plane carrying assassinated President John Kennedy's coffin, he stood next to Johnson when he was sworn in as U.S. President.) Valenti became head of the MPAA in 1966. Comfortable in both political and showbiz circles, he has been an energetic lobbyist for entertainment and media issues. Under his leadership in 1968, the MPAA created the ratings system to replace government boards that censored movie content.

Although long criticized--generally for being soft on violence and too tough on sexual content--the MPAA ratings have worked fairly well as a measure of self-censorship by the Industry. The letters G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 (which in the 1990s replaced the X, which had become associated with porn) have become part of the pop culture lexicon. Valenti says that last year, a poll of 2,600 moviegoers revealed 76 percent of parents with children younger than 13 found the ratings useful.

Long a champion of free speech, Valenti believes this type of self-regulation is the way to keep at bay legislative attacks on entertainment content, particularly virulent at the moment in the wake of the Janet Jackson's Super Bowl boob incident.

The First Amendment, he told ShoWest attendees, "is the one [part] of the Constitution that guarantees all others. If you don't have freedom of speech, what do you have?"

Valenti has also been a strong advocate for the studios' efforts to counteract piracy, which he says costs the Industry about $3.5 billion a year. But he came under fire last year when he championed the major studios' ban on sending out videos and DVDs for home viewing by Oscar voters. Independents, outraged by what they saw as a benefit to big movies with big marketing campaigns, sued, and a federal judge lifted the ban. Valenti now says it should be up to individual studios and distributors to decide if they want to send out screeners.

Valenti's 38-year anniversary at the MPAA occurs in May. He will stay on until a suitable successor is found. The leading candidate, U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican, has already declined the job.

Even in retirement Valenti's voice will undoubtedly still be heard on the issues that concern him. "I've been blessed with some genetic energy, so I'm not going to fade away," says Valenti, stressing he plans to keep an "umbilical relationship" with the MPAA and the industry it represents.