The Motion Picture Production Code, or Hays Code, was built to keep Hollywood in line. So how did it collapse? In Part II of our deep dive into the Hays Code, we trace the slow-motion demolition of Hollywood's moral rulebook, one act of defiance at a time. A push-up bra Howard Hughes designed himself. An Otto Preminger comedy that said the quiet part out loud. A Frank Sinatra picture that put addiction front and center. A cross-dressing classic nobody rioted over. And the "damn" heard 'round the world.
From "The Outlaw" and "The Moon is Blue" to "Gone with the Wind," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," this is the story of the directors, the lawsuits, and the imported film about a "miracle" that quietly tightened the lid on the Code's coffin. But the reasons the Code fell, and the warning it leaves behind, are more relevant than you might think...