Not to be confused with the undeserved Best Picture Academy Award winner of the same name (which also drew its fair share of controversy), David Cronenberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's novel raised the ire of purists for very different reasons. Although British censors the BBFC gave the film a clean bill of health for its cinematic release, it was still banned by Westminster Council, who found the film's conflation of sex with death (and the graphic way in which it went about it) abhorrent. The press, who were increasingly being wound up by the film's existence, launched a (failed) attempt to boycott Sony. In America, the film was released in two versions (NC-17 and R), while over in Australia, Crash was only given a very limited release due to the controversy surrounding it (those clever distributors marketed the film as the 'most controversial in years'). Everywhere Crash went, it struggled with ratings boards and/or press smear campaigns.
