Am I the only one who didn't like the F-bomb scene?
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doowopfan — 12 years ago(December 01, 2013 08:53 AM)
Well considering I am right and it is one of the best scenes in the movie, I'll keep on talking.
I'll add that in an interview (you can find it on the DVD features) Steve Martin said it is one of his two favorite scenes in the movie, too.
I did sixty in five minutes once -
FlushingCaps — 12 years ago(November 26, 2013 05:11 AM)
I agree with you cs. I believe the first time I saw this film it was the R-rated version. I thought, like you said, "Was it necessary to use it over and over like that?" In no way did it make me not think this one of the funniest movies ever, but I wasn't fond of the repeated cussing in that scene.
I will say that him cussing would seem like a culmination of all the frustrations he had experienced recently. I do believe it would have been funnier if he had yelled at her and maybe dropped one or two of the F-bombs.
Last night I saw this again, on a recording I made off USA some years ago. (I know what channel it was because they have that annoying logo on the screen most of the show.) The vulgar language is gone. Neal is quite irritated but doesn't use the R-language. Edie McClurg says "You're screwed." It works for me.
Actually, the worst part of that incident was Del tossing away/tearing up his rental agreement. Even though furious at being dropped where there was no car and having a long walk back, he had to know he needed the papers to get his rental car. -
RustyNail80 — 12 years ago(November 26, 2013 09:41 PM)
I know plenty of people that don't like it, so that's ok. I think it's necessary, and so far I haven't seen a movie that compares to it.
I have a one year old - ill probably skip over that scene until he's older. Other than that, the movie might as well be rated G! -
kairingler — 12 years ago(December 27, 2013 08:46 PM)
I thought that it was perfectly fine for the f bombs if I would have been in his situation I would have used 19 f bombs. makes the movie more realistic,, what was he sposed to say,, o crap
are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite -
kairingler — 12 years ago(December 27, 2013 08:47 PM)
I thought that it was perfectly fine for the f bombs if I would have been in his situation I would have used 19 f bombs. makes the movie more realistic,, what was he sposed to say,, o crap
are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite -
PanteraRosado — 12 years ago(February 15, 2014 08:12 PM)
Huh, I never really thought this scene would be such a turn off. It was actually the very first scene I saw when my Dad came across PT&A on cable one evening. Just out of context it had me laughing so hard.
I honestly do not find anything offensive or out of hand with the scene. I find it very genuine as the frustration has come to a boiling point with Neal. Out of that real life anger comes the humour. Obviously Neal was not laughing at that moment but I am sure in retrospect even he would find the humour in the situation.
Dalton and Craig! Accept NO substitutes! -
Rockhound6165 — 12 years ago(March 01, 2014 08:45 AM)
You have to take the scene into context. Neil is a family man and a professional who probably hasn't seen much adversity in his life(this is pure speculation on my part, I know). Then comes his days from hell. Trying to make it home for Thanksgiving, he encounters one pratfall after another and to make things worse, he's in company with a guy who is a total antithesis of himself. Del is an obnoxious, ill mannered, but somewhat likable guy so Neil doesn't mind his company. They finally reach a destination where Neil can split from Del, rent a car, and probably be home in a few hours. He thinks he's home free and as much as I can tell, when they show him on the shuttle, it's probably the first time in a long while he can finally relax. He gets dropped off and then discovers that the car he's just rented is not where it's supposed to be. This is the proverbial rug being pulled out from under him. To further exacerbate the situation, upon his discovery of the missing car, the shuttle leaves before he can re-board to go back to the desk. In his frustration he tosses his rental agreement(bad move but not fatal as we come to find out but they made it fatal for comedic reasons).
Now, leaving aside that all he had to do was wait a few minutes(these shuttles run on a schedule and one would have been alone in probably 30 minutes at the latest), he decides to walk back to the terminal. Now, I've been to Lambert. This walk is no hop, skip, and jump and he has to cross(IIRC) I-70 on foot to do so. Of course he falls and has a heck of a time walking back and when he gets to the rental desk, the woman played brilliantly by Edie McClurg, is chatting on the phone about Thanksgiving dinner and then she tells Neil, the customer, to wait for her and then becomes the target of Neil's built up frustrations. I can tell you that I've been there done that and had a similar(and I'm embarrassed to admit) tirade at a place called Miami Subs in Raleigh, NC where I had called ahead to order a couple of subs only to arrive at the store and couldn't get anyone to help get my order so I can pay to leave and this included 2 managers who blew me off. I just lost it. I didn't go on an F-bomb laden tirade but I went on about poor customer service and how this establishment had the worse customer service I've ever encountered(at the time I was employed by American Airlines as a reservations agent so I knew a thing or 2 about proper customer service). But I digress.
Neil didn't present to me the kind of person who drops F-bombs often but he was, as Jules Winfield so eloquently put it in
Pulp Fiction
, Neil was a mushroom cloud layin MFer, MFer. He probably thought he was speaking in tongues. But to that point it was all he can stands and he can't stands no more and simply went off. It was understandable. However, he wasn't as screwed as the clerk put it because even in 1987 there were sophisticated, working computers and she could have easily looked him up by name or CC number but since she didn't appreciate his tirade she chose to inform him that he was ass out as it may. -
denham — 11 years ago(November 07, 2014 11:26 AM)
I believe Steve Martin's character says the word beep 18 times in the space of one minute. An amount of beep is perfectly fine, but beep can be overdone. 18 times, for beep's sake! If you're going to beep then you should beep with some beep discretion, I feel. In this case, beep beep 15 beep times beep beep beep more beep reasonable, beep.
I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken. -
JohnD61 — 11 years ago(December 15, 2014 08:54 PM)
If we follow your logic, the scene about playing with his balls was not necessary. The comment about those not being pillows was not necessary. Where would you draw the line? Just at the place you would draw it. Why not take out everything that might offend someone?
If the film had been "meant" to be a PG/PG-13 rating, the fimmakers would have changed the F word to something else. That they did not means they did not mean it to be anything other than it was. -
directorscut — 11 years ago(December 18, 2014 01:29 PM)
Honestly the edited version if funnier. Martin vents his frustrations just as well and you're not left with the uncomfortable feeling that he has just verbally abused somebody who is just doing their job.
Proud member of the Pro-film Anti-digital Society (PFADS). -
Eve_of_Destruction — 11 years ago(January 04, 2015 10:58 AM)
you're not left with the uncomfortable feeling that he has just verbally abused somebody who is just doing their job.
Wellll. she had a long line and was chatting on the phone so technically she wasn't doing her job. I agree it was unecessary though to reem her out to that degree. -
tonychappell — 10 years ago(June 09, 2015 01:43 PM)
i think the last straw was when he wiped out walking by the bridge and the truck ran over his favourite hat lolafter that i don't think it mattered,it could of been the biggest,nastiest meanist looking mofo working behind the counter,Neil was gonna go into an f-bomb laced tirade!!
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zee944 — 10 years ago(January 01, 2016 11:38 PM)
you're not left with the uncomfortable feeling that he has just verbally abused somebody who is just doing their job.
What? She was not doing her job. We were supposed to see a lazy, fat, obnoxious woman with a factitious smile, and I saw exactly that. Did you listen what she said on the telephone, and how she motioned with her hand without looking up?
And even if we say Martin was too rude (I don't), a person behind the desk, who does her work well, has to understand the anger her company caused even if she is not personally responsible for that. An intelligent man (like Martin's character) will very soon realize he's being rude to someone who doesn't deserve it, if he gets the helpful and emphatic response he's supposed to get. That wasn't the case here. -
rikkirat — 10 years ago(August 25, 2015 01:06 PM)
I think that scene gave the movie that extra bit of oomf Sure it makes you feel uncomfortable but you had to feel for Steve Martin's character at that point. Just thinking about Steve Martin ranting to Edie McClurg and that Minnesota/Wisconsin accent of hers "How may I help you?" still makes me laugh out loud.
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shadowangel-599-184270 — 10 years ago(February 06, 2016 01:06 PM)
Sure it makes you feel uncomfortable
How the hell does a simple word make on "uncomfortable"?
What is it with you pathetic americans and your deep fear of the "f-bomb" that you have to censor it everywhere, cut it out everywhere and avoid it like the plague?
Being afraid of words is sad, extremely sad.
The scene is funny, that is all. It's meant to be funny and i bet everybody outside the United States of Bitches will understand it that way and not feel "uncomfortable".