Today at work, we were talking movies and whatnot as we often do, and we happened on the topic of teevee edits of movies — specifically, the editing of swear words. My friend and I share a favorite one, from The Breakfast Club. During Brian’s (Anthony Michael Hall) confession, Claire (Molly Ringwald) says something that she intends to be comforting but is really condescending and rude. And when she tries to defend herself, she says, “Brian, you just don’t understand the kind of people I’m friends with, the kind of pressure I’m under!” And Brian responds, “What? I don’t understand pressure? Well, f*** you! F*** YOU!“. But, in the version of the film which is often aired on TBS, this is changed to: “Well, flip you! FLIP YOU!”
So now, we like to invoke the phrase “Flip you!” at opportune moments.
In the course of today’s conversation, I related an experience I had a while back. I’ve always had a soft spot for the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the Burt Reynolds flick. I watched it with my parents years ago for the first time, and since then I’ve only ever seen it on teevee. So, as far as I’m concerned, Sheriff Buford T. Justice throughout the film keeps calling people “You scum-bum!”
But…it turns out that’s not what he says. A while back, we checked the movie out of the library on DVD for a family movie night. It was as fun a flick as ever, but I noticed that Sheriff Justice was not calling everyone a “scum-bum”. He was calling everyone a “sumbitch”.
I suppose that’s the authentic, canonical version and all…but years of watching this movie the other way has made “scum-bum” canonical for me.
“Now where are you, you scum-bum!”
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I had a girlfriend whon was really into Burt Reynolds, so not only did I see Smokey, I saw Gator and The End in the theater. Maybe Semi-Tough too.
Ah, Susan, I should write and say hi. (She married and moved to Virginia around the same time I married Carol, and I haven't had any contact since.)
There was a television show on HBO called "Deadwood" last year, and every other word was Fjuck. It left me wondering about authenticity. I mean did they even say this word back then?
"Zounds" was considered a vulgar term in the time of Shakespeare. If used now would it would be considered laughable. A word made up by a puritanical censor.
Imagine a world in the future where the puritanical use Fjuck all the time.
Now that would be some good sci fi
Heh – try living in an area dominated by Ned Flanders-ish people who abhor true cursing. I hear "flip" and "fetch" as F-word substitutes on an almost daily basis. I used to routinely blow the minds of my younger Mormon friends by pointing out to them that God knows what they're thinking, even if they're using the "naughty" word.
The safe-for-TV editing job on Smokey and the Bandit has always appalled me, to be honest. But then I saw it in a theater with my parents when I was a kid, and my dad has always been one of those salt-of-the-earth working-class types like the Snowman, so harsh language was never a big deal for me.