Six Films That Turn Profanity Into a Fucking Art Form

by Matt Prigge

The Last Detail (1973): M*A*S*H was the first to sneak the F-word into a major studio film. But it was Hal Ashby’s wildly profane romp—in which loose-lipped career soldiers Jack Nicholson and Otis Young escort Randy Quaid to an eight-year stint in naval prison—that really paved the way for flicks like Scarface, GoodFellas and State Property 2. Execs initially balked at Robert Towne’s salty script and demanded a decussification. Two years of rapidly loosening standards later, it went into production uncut. Nearly 35 years later, no one has topped Jack’s, “I am the motherfucking shore patrol, motherfucker!”

Blue Collar (1978): Cinema notoriously and tragically couldn’t contain Richard Pryor—except when it came to Paul Schrader’s blue-languaged auteurial debut. Teamed with Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel as three Detroit auto workers violated by bosses and the union alike, Pryor is only slightly toned down, unleashing the cadences, rhythms and artful blasphemes otherwise found only in his standup. On Sherman Helmsley in The Jeffersons: “Now, that shit is pitiful. I dunno how in the fuck a nigga like that gets some money anyway. Look at this muthafucka. Look like a muthafuckin’ ostrich.”

Die Hard (1988): Hey, it’s even in the catchphrase. For the first three, anyway.

Nil by Mouth (1997): According to Wikipedia, only the documentary Fuck deploys more F-bombs than Gary Oldman’s brilliant, searing portrait of an imploding South East London family. The “fuck” count? 428. Fucks per minute? 3.34. Fuck me.

Sexy Beast (2001): Jonathan Glazer’s British crime pic treats cursing as a weapon, in this case a tommy gun as wielded by Gandhi himself. When Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan really lets loose a torrent—as when he refers to one character as a “fucking Dr. White honkin’ jam-rag fucking spunk-bubble”—it’s near impossible to breathe.

Superbad (2007): Someone needs to clean George Michael Bluth’s mouth out with soap.