# First Hollywood movie to say the F-word

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-hollywood-movie-to-say-the-f-word/101487>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 2, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-hollywood-movie-to-say-the-f-word/101487 "2002-04-02T22:50:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-hollywood-movie-to-say-the-f-word/101487/1 "2002-04-02T22:50:49Z")

</div>

What was the first mainstream Hollywood movie in which the word `fuck` was used (and got past the censors).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-hollywood-movie-to-say-the-f-word/101487/2 "2002-04-02T22:56:30Z")

</div>

According to Roger Ebert in his book Questions for the Movie Answer Man, it was Robert Altman’s **M.A.S.H.** in 1970.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-hollywood-movie-to-say-the-f-word/101487/3 "2002-04-03T01:29:13Z")

</div>

FYI, [a previous thread on the subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15142&highlight=fuck). Our conclusion there: _M_A_S_H\* is the first “official” usage, as far as big studio films are concerned, but previous instances can be traced back to the 1930’s.