The most infamous scene in the movie occurs when a gang member casually shoots a little girl (Kathy) standing near an ice-cream truck, with her death being shown in graphic, bloody detail. The MPAA, headed by Richard Heffner at the time, threatened to give the film an X rating if the scene were not cut. Following the advice of his distributor, Carpenter gave the appearance of complying by cutting the scene from the copy he gave to the MPAA, but he distributed the film with the "ice-cream truck" scene intact, a common practice among low-budget films. Carpenter regrets shooting the ice-cream scene in such an explicit fashion: "…it was pretty horrible at the time … I don't think I'd do it again, but I was young and stupid.""John Carpenter (Director) - Interview". Sci-fi Online. August 10, 2008. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
