MovieChat Forums > The Fortune Cookie (1966) Discussion > Bitchy?

Bitchy?

posted 14 years ago by steveze1
12 replies | jump to latest

When Sandy and Harry are watching the linoleum commercial, she turns to him and says "I don't want to sound bitchy but..."

Is it just me or is that line surprising for a 1966 movie?

[–] Blondfashionisto 14 years ago

Yes, I think it was a bit 'forward' - Also, the use of 'buddy'...That word was used by Boom Boom dozens of times.

The other risque item that stood out for me is the guy in the shower when Harry is talking to Sandy and she's at her apartment.

‘Six inches is perfectly adequate; more is vulgar!' (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Re: An open window).

[–] practicepiano 14 years ago

When Harry first speaks to her on the phone, he yells:

"Listen, you bitch, if it's
the alimony you're worried about...

Come off it, Sandy.
Why else would you call me?"

That's an even stronger use of the word. I don't remember hearing it in earlier films (not that I've seen *every* earlier film!). :-)

-------------

Editing this post -- Otto Preminger used it in two films that pre-date 1966:

Anatomy of a Murder -- 1959
Advise and Consent -- 1962

[–] MissSugarKane 13 years ago

And Harry later says: "Son of a bitch" at that private investigator guy. Quite surprising for a movie rated U on the DVD cover. Well it is on the version I have. At least a PG I would have thought.

And yes I agree with the use of the word 'bitch' in this film. I always raise an eyebrow when Judi West says it at that commercial.

Marilyn Monroe: I don't want to be rich. I just want to be wonderful.

[–] bradford-1 12 years ago

I just watched TFC over the weekend and never heard Matthau use that term. Please tell us what scene it occurs in. I don't think it's a word Wilder & Diamond would've used, because it still had the "old" connotation back in '65. Yes, I was alive and aware of language in 1965.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

[–] hillcountrylens 13 years ago

I think you're exactly right. One of my pet peeves is anachronistic dialogue, especially when carried to extremes as it is in a lot of war movies (circa WWII)(see "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan" for some horrible examples of anachronistic cursing).

Here--early on, and for instance--Matthau calls someone a "douchebag." As with "bitchy", it's obviously comprehensible but an example of sloppy writing.

Hear this Wilder and Diamond?

[–] gribfritz2 12 years ago

Matthau calls someone a "douchebag."

On what version of the film does THAT happen?

Why would the use of "bitchy" be anachronistic? Or the use of any word that's used in this film. Are you suggesting the writers went into a time machine, traveled to the future, picked up some new-fangled cuss words, went back to their time and inserted them in the film? Or is the story not set in the present day at the time it was filmed?

[–] TongueFu 11 years ago

What did you find anachronistic about the dialog in Private Ryan? My dad was there at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He says the language is quite representative.

[–] IceboxMovies 12 years ago

Lemmon says "bitch" so fast during the telephone scene I bet the censors didn't even notice it.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."

[–] txfilmfan 12 years ago

The Production Code had already started to crack by then. MPAA ratings wouldn't come out until 1968. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf came out the same year, and was considerably more shocking because of the hatred and frankness behind the dialogue. The language here is more of a throwaway, almost casual use - but still unusual for the time.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] stanleyhetz 8 years ago

When Sandy and Harry are watching the linoleum commercial, she turns to him and says "I don't want to sound bitchy but..."

Is it just me or is that line surprising for a 1966 movie?

I wasn't surprised by the line. Mainstream movies were beginning to change again around that time.