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Film Reviews

F**K Reviewed & A Profanisaurus Of Cinema's Best Swearing
David Moats , February 13th, 2009 07:23

F**K, a documentary by the creators of The Aristocrats, mixes puerile humour with provocative questions to mixed results. David Moats puts the film, released this week by the ICA, in the context of the culture wars. Plus: we look at how cinema has best made use of cussin'.

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Son Of A Bitch

Etymology:
As with nearly everything else in life, there is a strong gender bias in swearing unfortunately. For example compare the approving ‘dirty dog’, ‘strong as a bull’ and ‘sly fox’ to the less flattering ‘bitch’, ‘cow’ or ‘vixen’.

Essential use in cinema: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
'Son of a bitch' sounds really satisfying when delivered with a western accent. This all time classic western famously ends with the line: "Hey Blondie! You know what you are?! Just a dirty son of a b..", the word itself being drowned out by the Ennio Morriccone score. In Deadwood of course, they only use minor cuss words like 'bitch' in conjunction with 'fuck', like they're trying to set a fucking record.