Spotlight: The "f-word" in movies

One thing I think is interesting but rarely is talked about is what an effect the use of ***** can have in movies. And I'm not saying this because I swear a lot (although on the internet I certainly do), but because it's worth talking about from an analytical viewpoint.

People feel differently about this, but I'm never bothered about much swearing in movies. At its best it adds something to the movie's personality, at its worst it's just words that are there.

There are many swears used in movies, but the one which seems to hold the most power is still "*****". If people yell at each other it sounds a lot more serious if the word is used, if it's a comedy it can be used for creative dialogue based humor (like The Big Lebowski), if it takes place at a certain place where people swear a lot it adds authenticity.

Now what counts as authenticity? Well, with comedies that can be a grey area, since not every friend group curse back and forth. But with dramas it's a bit of a different case.
In period dramas you don't really need a lot or even anything at all since it wasn't common back then. But in say, a movie like Freedom Writers which was about unruly students, the tame language used in the film felt a bit... off. How, may I explain? Well, if these students are so unruly, would it really be a stretch if they freely cursed at the teacher, including the word "*****"? But it's only used once, and not even by one of the students either. It was still a good movie, so I'm not saying it made it worse. It's just that I was reminded it's just a movie and this is not really how it goes in real life.
Another case is Courageous. I'm aware that Christian made movies rarely have any swearing at all, but there were parts during this movie where I was even amused not a single character cursed at all. Were all the street criminals hardcore Christians since they didn't say a single word resembling cursing? You'd think at least one of them would say something in line with "Don't ***** with me, you hear?".
Then again though, this is a case where it wouldn't improve the movie (it was very mediocre), just add a bit of realism.

Feel free to share your thoughts. I'll accept any point of view as long as you don't fight with each other. Because believe me, I know from imdb how exactly it can turn out.

This likely has more to do with appeasing the MPAA to get a PG-13 rating than it does with any sort of artistic decision.

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I've seen the F bomb dropped several times in PG movies and even in PG-13 movies, sometimes more than I thought was allowed. Take The Right Stuff for example. At least 4 F words in that PG film.

As Good as it Gets - PG-13. Plenty of Fux. Should have been R. Loved that movie. Long walks on beach..blonde women.

Anyway, ...the F word can be funny or overkill.

Overkill in an otherwise funny film, the F word is abused in "Made" with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn.

Used to good affect, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" as a frustrated comedy routine. Colorful.

Saying F for the sake of saying F?

Night of the Comet (still experimenting with boundaries of an early PG-13 rating system)

I don't mind the F word, either. It can really make a scene jump to life if used with the right inflection, tone and energy.

That's all I've got though.

I think it's used to excess in the remake of Scarface and when they try to run the movie on network television, they substitute the word with something else and it sounds really stupid.

You have to consider the time, though. Freedom Writers is from 2007, The Right Stuff is from 1983. The MPAA ruled differently then and PG-13 didn't exist as a rating yet. Some PG movies from the early 80s and before even contained some nudity as well as profanity.

The MPAA is notoriously inconsistent.

I've never heard of Freedom Writers. Yeah, I remember Airplane showing breasts and that was PG. Same with Sixteen Candles. Rating system is very inconsistent. When I was younger I thought there was an art form to ratings post PG-13 implementation.

IE- PG - one F, quick shots of breasts, bare bottom, all the shts and asses you want.
PG13 - Two F's, shot of breasts, all the shts, asses you want, and maybe even a very
brief shot of vagina (The Woman in Red)
R - Everything except penetration and actual murder. All the profanity you can dream of.

I actually had a trust in the MPAA to adhere to those rules.

Unfortunately this is not always the case. Back in the 80's several of the Friday The 13th movies were heavily censored, especially The Final Chapter. My Bloody Valentine had a LOT of violence cut, almost like they tried to make it PG-13 or something. American Psycho was almost rated NC-17 because of a scene where Patrick Bateman had a threesome (even though the scenes he killed were a lot more disturbing). The first Saw movie is the least violent of the series (compared to the other entries at least), and yet had to be censored before it got approved with an R rating.

The MPAA system is f'ucked. It was probably a little better in the 80's, but even then it wasn't perfect.
Speaking of As Good As It Gets, they actually don't swear that much in it. "*****" is used thrice, which is more than usual for a PG-13 movie, but they also got away with it in 1408 and Philomena.

Good to know you're paying attention! Why is it so interesting to keep note of the MPAA methods? I wonder if it dates back to childhood where one might equate a film's worthiness by the amount of sex, profanity and violence afforded, indicated by the rating system.

I've noticed a lot of R rated drama/action movies in the last 10 years (or so) are not really R rated at all, but are PG-13 movies with a dozen F bombs thrown in to deliberately earn an R rating...as many people believe a R rated film is more intense/better than a PG film.

So what the viewer gets then, is watered down violence and little to no nudity, but a lot of F bombs.

I'll agree there. I get sickened by a lot of transparent tactics used by film makers nowadays. They'll purposely use "creative" ways to cut out profanity (The Martian), and all I can think is why?

Oh, that's right. Because PG-13 is insurance to sell more tickets. It becomes a castrated film and in the process is publicly begging for money with no pocket left undug.

Sometimes, regardless of many well written G or PG films, you just need a straight up R rated film. It allows freedom. You go into production with less limits in mind, make your story and then throw away what doesn't work.

Today seems to be not the same mentality. It's almost as if the film makers totally know it's gonna be PG-13 before they shoot 1 digital frame. Not as adventurous in my eyes. You're thinking money first. I know it's a business and I know people need to eat..a lot. So I try and choose my poisons carefully. I'm wary of PG-13 now. I used to love PG-13 and what I thought it stood for.

Anyway, I kind of got off base here of the OP, sorry.

Joel you said you agreed with my post but I think you might have misinterpreted what I was trying to say:

IMO, R rated is insurance to sell more tickets. And so it's the R rated movie that is castrated, because all it takes to make a R these days is a dozen F bombs. The PG-13 films tend to be what one would expect, it's the R rated films that seem watered down.

I should elaborate on PG-13 real quick. I used to think PG-13 was a flirt. It flirted with the F word, nudity, violence almost like, I dunno, a risque first date? You get to give some smooches, maybe a little thermometer action, but nothing that's going to put you into the throes of pleasurable insanity.

I thought PG-13 was almost challenging the R rated film. I found PG-13 more intriguing. What can they do in a film that's almost rated R?

Now, if you smoke a cigarette, not only does it get a PG-13 rating, but you have the MPAA rating box listing all of the content, ie - profanity, smoking, mature themes, etc.

It's funny, too. Movies have gotten so sadistic and sick and MPAA rating systems have been so careful to cover any possible offense. It's completely mixed up out there. Hollywood is dead. Charisma has been replaced mostly with syrup and innovators have been filtered into the new sickly sweet sauce. Tarantino and Mamet-esque snappy and faux edgy dialog peoppere dinto the latest CGI cartoon PG-13 family film. Oh, how exciting.

Nothing is special anymore. It's been homogenized, just like L.A., NYC, Texas, Boston and overseas music production studios are all aping each other's compression uniformity to make the loudest song possible with the worst writing imaginable, lacking invention and sustainability. There really is a science to a good piece of entertainment. Apparently the rules have been changed, with PG-13 being a catalyst.

Now if they release Beverly Hills Cop IV..you know it's gonna be PG-13.

Brett ******** Ratner, Oh my God!

I did understand, Citizen. I think what you said reminded me of a dissimilar but relatable issue of PG-13'ing films to death.

No worries Joel

To me, it seems like all the newer movies I watch are usually R rated....and it seems that PG-13 films are being made less these days. And PG seems to only exist in the children's movie market.

I do agree with you that mainstream Hollywood films are becoming homogenized and formulaic.

Yes, "mainstream" being the operative word. There is still plenty of independent talent and originality to be had. It's always been like this, more or less - I'm guessing.

It really annoys me how every kids movie gets the PG rating today. Whatever happened to the G rating?

The people involved with making the film maybe thought it wouldn't be the Christian way to write a swear on the screenplay.

Debra Morgan says Hello!


But seriously, imagine this show (Dexter) without Debra's foul mouth, it would have been very different.

the F words adds something that I can't describe to movies and characters and I'm all for it

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"Beliefs don't change facts. Facts, if you're rational, should change your beliefs" Ricky Gervais

Does anyone know what the record is? I did a search, and for Goodfellas:


The word "****" and its other tenses are used 321 times, for an average of 2.04 per minute. About half of them are said by Joe Pesci. At the time of the films' release, this was the most profanity of any movie in history. It is currently the twelfth most f-bomb laden film ever released. The script only called for the word to be used seventy times, but much of the dialogue was improvised during shooting, where the expletives piled up.

And Casino:


The word "****" is said 435 times, including in the narration - 2.4 times per minute on average. The film held the record for the most uses of the word until the release of Summer of Sam (1999), which also has a reported 435 uses. The recorded was later broken by The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which has close to 600 uses.

Is there anything more f* up than The Wolf of Wall Street?

Swearing, particularly the f word since this is what is being discussed, I'm all for as long as it feels natural. Too many movies inject it or other vulgarity into the script just for edginess and if it's not natural it will stand out every time, just not in the way they want. There are people that do swear a lot in real life but usually if you're using it like a comma in your sentences it's just forced.