Badmovies.org Forum

There again this topic comes about because of another thread on another board, but with all the profanity used in today's films, how little of it is used effectively. But here are three films in which I think it is used effectively.

"Lair of the White Worm"
Lady Sylvia Marsh's (Amanda Donohoe's) "S***!" when her speech to Kevin (Chris Pitt), who is sitting there--paralyzed--in the tub, after she has bit him on his penis, when performing oral sex on him, is interrupted by the front door bell ringing.

"True Grit"
Rooster Cogburn's (John Wayne's) "Fill yer hands you s.o.b.!" to "Lucky" Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall). Except he didn't say s.o.b.

"The 25th Hour"
What I call Edward Norton's "F-word" speech in the film, as he cusses out jive-talkin' Afro-Americans, Asian store owners, Hindi cab drivers, Russian mafiosos in Brighton Beach, corrupt white cops, rich white ladies on Park Avenue, etc. I think the only reason he could get away with it, is because he is non-partial in his cussing, and he cusses out himself the most.

And the most surprising use of profanity . . .
"Don Donald"
Where Donald Duck says "S.o.b.!" Except he doesn't say s.o.b. My sister once had a friend who worked for Disney Studios, so they could get any animated film made by Disney. Thus, they would constantly get this one, just to watch Donald Duck curse.

And what are your best examples of profanity used in a film?

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." is the Number 1 movie line EVER according to AFI. I believe it is the first time a profanity was used in a main stream film.

Anything that comes out of Gunnery Sgt. Hartman's mouth in "Full Metal Jacket".

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: "Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy fu**ing walrus-looking piece of s**t! Get the f**k off of my obstacle! Get the f**k down off of my obstacle! NOW! MOVE IT! I'm going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you, Private Pyle, IF IT SHORT-DICKS EVERY CANNIBAL ON THE CONGO!"

The Thing: "You've gotta be f**king kidding."

I won't list specifics (theres too many) but here are some the sources of some of my favorite swears in movie. 
Scarface
The Big Lebowski
Total Recall
Pulp Fiction
Clerks

I didn't think much of Fargo, but when the Indian guy was beating Steve Buscemi, I though this line was well-used:

"F*** you, you f***ing motherf***er!"

About every line spoken by Drayton or Chop-Top in Texas Chainsaw Part 2 :bouncegiggle: "Hog-b***h fudgepackers!"

Blade Trinity

When Ryan Reynolds sees the vampire Rottweiler dogs come around the corner and the teeny little Pomeranian has huge Predator like jaws growling at him.

"F**k me!  F**k me sideways!

I enjoyed Clive Owen's retort in the recent Shoot 'Em Up: "f**k you, you f**king f**kers."

Here's something tangentially related, before Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol went for mature readers he had the best workaround for swearing I've ever seen. One of the antagonists was a character who could only speak in anagrams. At some point during the story, somebody gets the drop on him leading to a panel where he turns around and shouts, "This!"

I thought it was funny.

Also from The Thing:  "Yeah!?  Well, f**k you too!"

Pulp Fiction made good use of profanity....And Shoot 'Em Up.

Just like Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford made a career out of their smirk, Samuel L. Jackson made his career out of the word motherf**ker.

I quite liked this one particular scene in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.  It's a showdown between Eric Cartman and Saddam Hussein, and it's a parody of the Dragonball Z/Pokemon craze of the time.  Cartman's "V-Chip" is backfiring and everytime he curses, he can shoot electricity.  So he goes on this long rant saying every curse word he can think of, and culminates with a big yell of "Barbara Streisand" as his "ultimate" curse word.

In general i agree with Ash.  Full metal jacket has some of the best swearing ever.


also Blue Vlevet "heinekin?  f**k that s**t! pabst blue Ribbon!"

I think every line recited by Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" could count, especially the long, drawn out joke that he tells at the beginning of the infamous "Am I funny?!" scene with Ray Liotta.

On T.V it has to be Basil Fawlty's (John Cleese) violent attack on his malfunctioning car including calling it a
"Vicious B!$%*^!". However, the episode where he lambasts the fake 'toff' who has been conning him rigid with repeated usage of the same profane epithet is actually just as effective.

Ralphie in A CHRISTMAS STORY: "Ooooh, fuuuuudggge."

(Only he didn't say "fudge")

Darren McGavin's classic unintelligible cussing is pretty funny, too.

Near the ending of GET SHORTY, HARVEY KEITEL makes a cameo with one line, whirling to face the camera, pointing a pistol, he exclaims:
"F*ck you, f*ck ball." 

That is a good use of profanity.  It was more or less unexpected which I think made it better.
 

The f**k speech in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  The only reason it couldn't get away with a PG-13, but it was well worth it.

Pretty much all of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. That movie leaves me rolling on the floor, laughing, and hardly a line goes by without profanity. And there's even more in the Deleted Scenes in the Extras section!

The classic "Yippy kayay, mother f***er". 

Tame by today's standards, but I like the way the Last Supper scene in History of the World Part I actually made the joke revolve around the swearing.

"Jesus!"
"What?"

"Word, b***h, Phantoms like a motherf**ker."

JASBSB owns all.

In Boondock Saints where Rocco uses the F-word NINE times in a fairly incomplete sentence.

In Donnie Darko where his younger sister asks (after an f-word triade between Donnie and his OLDER sister), "What's a F**kass?"

In History of the World Part I, where the Senate is in session, and is asked "Should we continue to build palace after palace for the rich, or build houses for the poor". The Senate's unamous answer was "F*** THE POOR!"

Not exactly swearing, although even more offensive, is the whole "The Sherrif is near" scene in Blazing Saddles.

History of the World had a few effective moments of profanity, come to think of it. I also like the arrival of the Roman Empress. Trumpets blaring, the centurion marches out in front of the procession, looking very official, and shrieks "Move that miserable piece of sh!t", referring to the horse and cart parked in their path.

Mel Brooks just had a way with that stuff, at least he did in the 70s.

Two words: the EXORCIST. Not only was the profanity said by a child....it was also blashphomas. "LET JESUS F---K YOU!!!"  Back in 1973-even today,by most standerds-this is some heavy duty sh!t.

I blurted that out a few times in high school, got me into trouble more than once.

In Return Of The Living Dead when that new wavish looking girl says something to Suicide and he respnds:

""f*uk you ballbuster"

"Hey baby!  Ever had your a***ole licked by a fat man in an overcoat?"

That is far and away the best line in any movie - ever!    :bouncegiggle:

Saigon? Sh!t, I'm still only in Saigon. . .

There was quite a bit of swearing in Sexy Beast, some of it was very effective and suited Ben Kingsley's character to a tee. There were times in the film however that it just seemed a bit over the top.

I love that movie. The language didn't seem over the top to me, , but, , 7-1/2 years in the Army, another 6-1/2 working in a shipyard, and then 7 Years of working in a maximum-security prison MAY have dulled my senses.

Spaceballs-one of the desert scenes. 
darth Helmut is told to comb the desert  So he does-literataly with giant combs.
DH:Found anything?
Squad 1: Nothing sir,
DH: Did you find something?
Squad 2: Not a thing sir.
DH: How about you?
Squad 3 (the other two were using combs, Sqaud 3 had an afro pick)
Squad 3: WE AINT FOUND SH*T!

Still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Mel Brooks knew his crude humour. Made me think of the town meeting in Blazing Saddles.

Reverend Johnson: "Order. Order. Goddammit, I said order!"
Howard Johnson: "Nietsche says, out of chaos comes order."
Olson Johnson: "Oh, blow it out your a$$ Howard."

Two spring to mind for me. The first is in Bruce Almighty when Jim Carey wigs out on live TV after learning he was passed over for promotion. He ends his live in the field report by looking in the camera, clenching his fist and saying, "Back to you, f*ckers!" I now find myself repeating that line when watching the news and they go to any reporter out in the field.

The second is from the crappy John Candy and Eugene Levy film, Armed and Dangerous. The guy briefing them and preparing them for a career in private security begins his speech with, "The world is a sh*thole, filled with sh*tty little sh*ts who are scared sh*tless."  I often repeat that line whenever confronted with the world's inherent crappiness.

that part kills me!  :bouncegiggle:  also this part although it contains hardly any profanity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jedM7XBiLU

In Star Trek V, when dealing with a recalcitrant Klingon general, Spock says, "Damn you sir, you WILL try!"  First time I saw that, I thought, OK, he's finally gotten the hang of those colorful metaphors!

A memorable speech, and what made it more memorable, was that it was delivered by Edward Norton as a monologue, while he was standing in front of a mirror. And we have Oscar's failure to recognize Norton's acting and Spike Lee's directing.

in temple of doom when indy is on the bridge and he is surrounded and he just says
"oh s**t"

I like the South Park movie, just goes completely over the top but it is hilarious.

I'd have to say my favorite is Ryan Dunn and his line "Son of a... F*ck you!", from Jackass Number 2, right after being hit with the Riot Control Gun. I laugh just thinking about it.

I remember that. :bouncegiggle:

Also, I believe "You c--k-jugglin' thunderc--t!" (or something like that) is also said, when Reynolds in chained up; quite interesting.


Oh, yeah.  :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: "Shut your f--king face unclef--ker!" Saddam's voice was awesome. "C'mon, Satan, let's f--k!" Oh, goodness...

Two teleprompter moments:

- In "Anchorman," when Will Ferrel nonchalantly says, "F--k you, San Diego!" without realizing it.

- In "Scary Movie 3" (or 4, but I'm pretty sure it was 3), when the janitor takes over the keyboard for the teleprompter   
  and starts typing stuff, including the n-word. Pretty funny. (But only in the right context, of course.)


Epic.  :wink:

In "Hot Fuzz", when Angel is confronted by Reverend Shooter:
Shooter "Surely you're a man of peace seargent Angel"
Angel "I may not be a religious man Reverend, but I know right and I know wrong and I have the good grace to know which is which."
Shooter "OH F--K OFF GRASSHOPPER !"
No matter how many times I see it, it always makes me laugh.

"In Bruges" -- Colin Farrell is sitting next to Brendan Gleason in a bar, and Gleason promises that the day will be divided between culture and fun.  Farrell replies that he believes that the balance will "tip in favor of culture, like a huge (unprintable) retarded black girl jumping on a see-saw opposite a (string of profanity) dwarf" -- The line is funny and repulsive and unnecessarily crude, but fits perfectly into the flow of the storyline at that point.  The film is full of moments like these -- The entire film has some of the filthiest language I've ever heard in a movie, including "Glengarry Glen Ross", but it all makes perfect sense to the storyline.
If you get the DVD, watch the extra segment "F* * *ing Bruges!", in which they make fun of their own profane excesses.
peter johnson/denny crane

I don't remember the exact line, but in Amadeus I believe it's the only cuss word in the movie.

Mozart says something to the effect ...

Who you not rather listen to your barber? Who wants to listen to Socrates or Plato? People so lofty they sh!t marble. 

The instant I read your question, I immediately thought of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.  The profanity was constant, violent, and oddly horrible in its intensity.  I mention it because it truly disturbed me, while most profanity in films seems merely banal, or typical.  Hopper with that creepy nitrous mask saying, "Baby wants to f*ck!"  Ewww!  And juxtaposed with Isabella's timelessly gorgeous face, it was beyond strange.  (She reminds me of the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin, sort of a beauty beyond beauty.)  I rather think David out-Lynched himself with that one.

The only other instance I can think of where profanity takes on such a visceral power is in a book: (are we allowed to talk about those here?) Steven King's It.  The scene, (i'll try to write it tactfully) is when Beverly's stepfather says: "I wanted your c*nt, Beverly, I wanted your PLUMP C*NT!"  TOTALLY unexpected and thus all the more horrifying.

Interesting topic, thanks for posting.

A couple of my favs:

"Oh Lord. Do we have the strength to carry on this mighty task in one night? Or are we just jerking off?"
Blazing Saddles.
Not exactly SWEARING, but close enough and twice as funny.

In the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie", MC Pee-Pants (Voiced my MC Chris), uses the f-word 3 times in about 8 seconds:"M.F. changed me again? That M.F., Satan is a M.F."

I have to say, the Crackhead Cobra in Fabulous Female Freedom Fighters is near the top of my list right now.

In "Cannonball Run", when discussing his fee, the doctor, asking for $2000, gets a counter-offer of $200, he starts to say the f-word, and transitions into "F-ortunately my practice allows a certain flexability. .

And of course, in "Hollywood Knights" (great movie BTW), the good old "F-You Newbomb" always makes me laugh. .

You've got a point there.  On the other hand, to me the most memorable profanity in BLUE VELVET was "Heineken!  F--- that sh--!  Pabst Blue Ribbon!", a line that my friends and I repeated endlessly throughout college.  This comic relief line, which comes at a point of almost unbearable tension when Jeffery is helpless completely within Frank's control, really sticks in the mind.