# Movies where a well-known actor uses the "c" word **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214 "2006-06-18T22:16:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Logan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/1 "2006-06-18T22:16:33Z")
Inspired by a current thread about profanities, I was trying to come up with major films (not small budget indies, as they are more daring) where a well known actor (not a bit player) uses the word cunt. Is it really that rare or is my meomory that bad? The only one I can recall is Mena Suvari saying it in American Beauty- I remember finding it very sexy indeed. Can anyone provide other examples, and perhaps the earliest example? I would guess it would have to be late 1960’s at the earliest. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/2 "2006-06-18T22:52:46Z")
You stupid fuckin’ cunt. You, Williamson; I’m talkin’ to you, shithead. You just cost me six thousand dollars. Six thousand dollars…and one Cadillac. That’s right. What are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it, asshole, you fuckin’ shit? _Where did ya learn your trade, ya stupid fuckin’ cunt, you idiot?_ Who ever told you that you could work with \*men? \* - Al Pacino, in Glengarry Glen Ross. Amazing monolog. Just mind-blowing. By the way, **Don Logan,** is your username a reference to Sexy Beast? If it is, good, I like that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Logan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/3 "2006-06-18T23:19:22Z")
**Argent Towers** , \*\*Sexy Beast \*\* it is,- Ben Kingsley was ROBBED of the Oscar that year 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/4 "2006-06-18T23:23:36Z")
Paul Newman in **Slapshot**? I’m just guessing; I recall he does say “pussy.” ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/5 "2006-06-18T23:28:16Z")
I just (finally) saw _Trainspotting_ last night, and the word was used very regularly. Apparently, in Scotland, it’s quite common to call a man that word. And I still can’t get the image of that baby out of my head. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Logan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/6 "2006-06-18T23:34:48Z")
good point **trublmkr** , I should have specified US films, as in the UK and other places it is used differently and does not have the level of offensiveness it has in the US\> ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/7 "2006-06-18T23:35:15Z")
Tuesday Weld used it in _Serial_ way back in the late 70s. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/8 "2006-06-18T23:35:52Z")
**trublmakr** , there have been big rows on the boards about the transatlantic usage differences of that word. Over here in the UK, it has a totally different cachet to the States. It’s rude as hell, but very common, and a guy thing - like calling someone a prick or a cock - and is almost never used to insult a woman. I totally agree about Ben Kingsley’s missing Oscar. That was one of the most intense ‘supporting role’ performances I’ve ever seen. My contribution, though it contravenes the “no indy” rule - but then again so do the other movies mentioned - is _Withnail & I_, with Richard E. Grant’s classic: “Monty you TERRIBLE CUNT!” Some of our friends use “TC” as a term of endearmnt now. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/9 "2006-06-18T23:36:16Z")
Tom Cruise, **Magnolia**. ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/10 "2006-06-18T23:40:51Z")
Anthony Hopkins, as Hannibal Lechter, to Claire in _Silence of the Lambs_: “I can smell your cunt.” ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/11 "2006-06-18T23:43:20Z")
I seem to recall cunt being used in _Snatch_ and/or _Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels_, but I could be wrong. ---
**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:** [June 18, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/12 "2006-06-18T23:44:36Z")
**Silence of the Lambs** “He said I can smell your cunt.” “I see. I myself cannot.” * * * **One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest** “She’s somethin’ of a cunt, ain’t she doc?” * * * **Barfly** “Your mother’s cunt stinks…like carpet cleaner.” ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/13 "2006-06-18T23:46:34Z")
> [@mikeargo](#): > > Anthony Hopkins, as Hannibal Lechter, to Claire in _Silence of the Lambs_: “I can smell your cunt.” Lecter didn’t say it, Miggs did. He was in the next cell over from Lecter, I believe. Clarice (Jodie Foster) repeated it to Lecter, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/14 "2006-06-18T23:55:36Z")
> [@Millit the Frail](#): > > Lecter didn’t say it, Miggs did. He was in the next cell over from Lecter, I believe. Clarice (Jodie Foster) repeated it to Lecter, I think. This is correct. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/15 "2006-06-19T00:27:51Z")
So far, if correct, the earliest would be 1975, _One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest_ ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/16 "2006-06-19T00:33:38Z")
DeNiro in **casino** called his wife a cunt after he discovered she tied their daughter to the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/17 "2006-06-19T00:49:05Z")
I believe “cunt” is in the process of becoming an archaic term in the US. It’s not so much that it’s terrible, it’s just kinda old-fashioned nowadays. I believe the “in-term” as the young people call it is, “lovely lady lumps.” ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/18 "2006-06-19T01:00:53Z")
Jack Nicholson (again) in **Carnal Knowledge** , 1971. _Is this an ultimatum? Answer me, you ball-busting, castrating, son of a cunt bitch! Is this an ultimatum or not?_ Dunno if that would count or not. But it is sooner. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/19 "2006-06-19T02:07:51Z")
It’s used several times in “Saturday Night Fever.” A sample quote by Travolta is on the page given below. The main difference between the “R” and “PG” versions is the inclusion of this word. > **[Quotes from "Saturday Night Fever"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076666/quotes)** > > Connie: So tell me, are you as good in bed as you are on that dance floor? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214/20 "2006-06-19T03:42:18Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I believe “cunt” is in the process of becoming an archaic term in the US. It’s not so much that it’s terrible, it’s just kinda old-fashioned nowadays. I believe the “in-term” as the young people call it is, “lovely lady lumps.” Anybody calls mine that, I’m getting dressed and going home. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-well-known-actor-uses-the-c-word/361214.md?page=2)