9. Trouble With The Censors
When Total Recall was cut together, it was given an X certificate due to what the American censors believed was excessive violence, not to mention all the swearing and nudity on top of that. Then as now, studios were reluctant to push for the highest possible rating, fearing that it would damage the films box office, just as Showgirls later suffered with its (thoroughly deserved) NC-17 rating. The MPAA took particular exception to a sequence on the subway, where Quaid uses the body of a dead civilian to shield himself from the bad guys bullets. Verhoeven was forced to heavily recut the film for an R rating, using alternative camera angles, shortening scenes like the one described and toning down the scenes in the strip club.