What was the first ‘Hollywood’ movie to use the word fuck? I recall being almost giddy when I heard it uttered in MASH in 1970. Could that be the first?
Not only does God play dice, he cheats!
If I recall correctly, the word “fuck” was first used in the 1968 film Petulia. Of course, this assumes you ignore independent, porno, and pre-Hayes films.
The IMDB hedges its bet by saying that “I’ll Never Forget What’s 'is Name” (1967) is considered to be the first film to use the f-word. They also throw in “Ulysses”, released the same year.
Marianne Faithful did the deed in “What’s…”; I don’t know about “Ulysses.”
Actually, Guy, now that you mention the title, I think I was confusing the two movies. I’ll Never Forget What’s 'is name sounds correct and not Petulia. What can I say? I was only six years old at the time. The only psychedelic sixties film I really remember well is Austin Powers.
Ok, so it’s off question, but it isn’t off-topic:
What was the first movie to…run all those credits at the end? All the old movies I’ve seen end with “The End”. When did they start sticking “Mr. Big Star’s assistant” in there?
Movies? I dunno, but MASH was probably the first big mainstream Hollywood movie to use “fuck”. The first rock song was probably “We Can Be Together” by the Jefferson Airplane in 1969, if you discount what Jim Morrison probably used to sing in concert in “The End”, though it was censored on the 1967 record. The first legal novel…who knows? “Fuck” and “cunt” are in “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, which I believe was written at the end of the Thirties though I’m not sure when its publication became legal. Same with Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer”, which was late '30s. Norman Mailer was forced to use “fug” as a euphemism in “The Naked and the Dead” (1948). The earliest for-sure legal book that used “fuck” and “cock” that I know of was MacKinlay Kantor’s “Andersonville”, which came out in 1955 and won the Pulitzer, though he’d started working on the book back in the Twenties. I’m not sure whether James Jones used “fuck” in “From Here to Eternity”, which came out in '53, though he definitely used it in “The Thin Red Line”, which came out in the late Fifties.
Lawrence: re–your MASH comment; please see previous posts.
As to the credits, that’s a tough one. Credits at the end is a fairly recent invention. The Director’s Guild of America tried to force George Lucas to run the credits for “Star Wars” before the film, but he refused.
I think the practice of credits first happened because theatres used to run trailers for upcoming features after the film was over, not before. Running the credits first gave movie goers a chance to get some popcorn, find a seat, etc.
Only when Hollywood unions started getting some power did the tradespeople start getting credit on films. That would have been sometime in the 50’s.
I don’t know if it’s still true, but at the time of it’s release, Who Framed Rodger Rabbit? held the record for most screen credits. Four hundred and seventy one, if I recall correctly (although my IIRC record on this thread isn’t looking too good).
Funny enough, Roger Ebert addressed this very question in his “Ask the Answer Man” column earlier this year.
Here’s the initial query, and his response: http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/ebert19.html
Then somebody else wrote in with more information, and Ebert published a clarification in which early uses actually go back to the 1930’s: http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/ebert02.html
As far as stuff at the beginning or end of movies, the assertion about “trailers” is correct – the previews used to run after the movie, back when there were newsreels and/or a cartoon or other short at the top, and there wasn’t a ten-minute credits crawl at the end. That is, in fact, why they’re called trailers: because they used to trail the movie. It didn’t take very long, though, before they were tagged to the end of the newsreel or opening short, sandwiched in effect between the opening act and the main event. The term “trailer” stuck, though, because they were, after all, still on the trailing end of something. The strip of film comprising the preview was often glued/attached directly to the end of the newsreel/short, so as to minimize reel changes by the projectionist.
Regarding when credits were switched to the end, I’d have to go and do some pretty detailed research. Just off the top of my head, as I visualize back through The Godfather and The Sting and Once Upon a Time in the West and Lawrence of Arabia, I’d point to the mid-to-late 60’s as the probable time of major transition, although it’s quite possible that some maverick director or producer did it as a one-off much earlier than that.
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Thanks, Cervaise. So it does sound like MASH was the first “Hollywood” picture to include the mythical ‘F’ word.
IIRC, the actual usage was “I’m going to tear your f…ing head off”. It was uttered in the football scene by either the ringer, Spearchucker Jones, or the racist who was haranguing him. I can’t recall which.
When did The Who’s “Who Are You” come out? Every time that plays on the radio, I can’t help but listen especially close when Daltrey belts out, “Ahh, whothefuckareyou?”
That wasn’t till about '76.
…ebius sig. This is a moebius sig. This is a mo…
(sig line courtesy of WallyM7)
“Who Are You” was released in August of 1978–a month before drummer Keith Moon died.
As for the credits question, I remember seeing the original “Frankenstein” and noticing the credits ran at the beginning AND the end, with one exception: The beginning credits listed “The Monster… ?” and the end had “The Monster… Boris Karloff”. Just FYI.
Neither, actually, IIRC…it was uttered by the dentist, the Painless Pole (John Schuck)…“allright, bub, this time your f…ing head’s comin’ right off”