13 Movies You Didn't Know Were Responsible For Weird Cinematic Milestones
Because one movie had to be the first to make a fart joke.
When it comes to the motion picture business, progression is everything. Which is why, year after year, cinema has continued to grow, expand, change, transform and innovate what it means, exactly, to sit down and watch a movie. Nowadays, of course, the advancement of cinematic technique appears to be moving slower than it did in, say, the '30s and '40s, but it would be obtuse to suggest that the recent rise of digital filmmaking - and the death of celluloid - is not one of the most significant milestones to have occurred in the history of the medium, if ever.
But not all movie milestones are of the "technique variety" - some movies set other milestones that aren't akin to the likes of "it was the first movie to feature sound!" or "it was the first full-length animated feature," but more along the lines of "it was the first movie to feature a fart joke!" And though that might not seem at all worthy of the advancements made by The Jazz Singer or Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, a fart joke is still progressive in its own special way - after all, one by one, even the most unlikely of milestones break down the cinematic boundaries.
Join us, then, as long back across the span of cinema at 13 movies you might not have known were responsible for putting setting weird cinematic milestones - milestones that include flushing toilets, swear words, the sunshine, naff websites, CGI fur and, uh, more toilets...
13. In Cold Blood Was The First Picture To Use The Word "Bullsh*t"
By 1967, a human being was yet to utter the word "bullsh*t" in a major motion picture - that is until In Cold Blood, the movie adaptation of Truman Capote's seminal true crime book, came along and decided to break the taboo once and for all. It's weird to think that - somewhere along the line - all swear words had to be uttered for the first time on the silver screen, but "bullsh*t" is the sort of word you thought would've been uttered at least once before 1967.
The reason this is even more interesting, though? In Cold Blood was released before there was a big emphasis on rating systems, and movies were generally considered to be viewable by "everyone" - for cinema-goers who had gotten used to the standard practices of the day, hearing a character uttering this word must've been downright shocking.
Oddly, this milestone is often attributed to Bullitt with Steve McQueen, but In Cold Blood got there first.