According to Starpulse:
Veteran comedian Gene Wilder has called on Hollywood to cut back on excessive swearing in films. The Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory star is fed up with hearing curse words in modern movies, and wishes writers would try and pen less predictable dialog that relies more on invention than vulgarity.
Back in his day, they didn’t have to resort to the pottymouth…
Nosirree…
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The two examples you cite are rare moments of crudity used for deliberate comic effect, and come from movies that are rich in the sort of comic invention that Wilder hopes to see restored to movies. In “Young Frankenstein,” the words are among the only vulgarities used in the entire film, and are vital to the gag in which the title character calls for “quiet grace and dignity” in one breath, then behaves like a spoiled child the next. That’s FUNNY, you see — and it’s more than just funny, because it dramatizes how cursing debases anyone who does it.
Compare that to most modern film, in which vulgar words aren’t there for any kind of effect — they’re just there. The common justification, “that’s just how ordinary people talk,” overlooks the reality that movies aren’t SUPPOSED to be about the ordinary, they’re supposed to be about great actors reading great dialog. In the case of “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein,” the dialog is snappy and inventive, and every word — including the rare dirty ones — is used with great skill and purpose.
This is the first page I’ve read on this blog, so maybe I shouldn’t judge yet, but I hope your other examples of hypocrisies rely less upon cherry-picking than this one. The bulk of Gene Wilder’s impressive career underscores the sensible point he made. That’s not hard to see — unless one strains to avoid seeing it.
Dialog in movies today IS predictable and relies on vulgar language. He wasn’t saying that vulgar language should be cut out completely, but that is shouldn’t be relied on for laughs. The wonderful thing about movies like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein is there are so many funny parts that don’t rely on vulgar language. Can you say that about the majority of popular movies these day? No.
Just another example of how things people say are taken out of context.
I didn’t get a harumph outta that guy!
Ha, a whole article owned in just comments!
It doesn’t sound as if you got ANYTHING outta my comment — including the point. I had a hunch I was wasting my time. Thanks for posting it, all the same.
Oh, I did get a kick out of it. I didn’t realize this post was going to make anybody so grouchy. All in good fun.
It didn’t make me grouchy. As you did with the film clips themselves, you’ve seen something you didn’t fully understand and bent over backwards to carry away the wrongest possible message. If that’s good fun for you, enjoy. I’ll stick with Mel Brooks.
…seriously? Are you really this ticked off about it? Dude, they’re two of my favorite movies ever. If I hadn’t seen them 20 times each, I wouldn’t have remembered those lines from them. Young Frankenstein is probably the greatest comedy ever made, and Wilder is brilliant in it. I didn’t say he was Hitler or anything. Relax.
Author – he’s right. You’re missing the point so thoroughly that it appears intentional.
You chose the phrase “to resort to”, not Wilder. You’re distorting what he said – and the intentional shock value you lifted from the Brooks/Wilder collaborations is apparently flying right over your head.
‘MikeB’ said his piece very clearly. I’m not “ticked off about it” either. Your clumsiness isn’t worth the energy. It isn’t clever, and with all of the flagrantly self-parodying targets at your disposal this doesn’t say much about the range of you or this website.
Not once in your examples do I hear the F word, which is the specific word he cites when discussing the issue.
A more pertinent question would be how Gene felt about the vulgar stand-up comedy of his frequent film partner Richard Pryor.
Clearly!
I like Gene Wilder. I just don’t think either one of those movies are funny at all. Maybe for their time or something. Guess I’m weird because just about every one I talk to thinks they’re hysterical.
Eh, I think that I could understand the minor hypocrisy. It was a reach but you don’t really have to go on Simon’s dick about this one. This is a blog. It was an opinion. The internet wins again.
Pastafarian-Not only are you weird,you’re deficient.
I hope Erick O’s suggestion is okay with everybody else. I mean, out of all the stuff I’ve ever written here, I know there’s got to be a dumber post than this one.