In one scene, (I cannot recall which specific one), Miller says: "I don't give a hoot!" Sidney Poitier's lips do not match the word: "hoot." I wonder if he originally said: "I don't give a damn!", and the "Legion of Decency" made the film-makers change it to "hoot?"
What does everybody else think?
Cheers!
Sincerely, Steve B.
Good question - I'll have to watch it again to see that part.
sharei just now saw that...and thought the same thing.
edit--it was the scene with glenn ford and sidney poitier at the auto shop, and the line is delivered when poitier is changing sparkplugs.
Yes, I just saw it again and Sidney clearly says "damn", but you hear "hoot", and the logical answer for this seems to be -- that since the year was 1955, the producers didn't want to use the word "damn" too many times in the movie ---
Because that same word is used before in the scene in the street where Vic Morrow's character tells Glenn Ford "I don't give a damn what you think."
And since Vic said it once in that scene and the producers most likely didn't want to use it more than once--and if they had to choose whether Sidney or Vic would say that word--it made more sense for Vic to say it since it suited his character more.
Also, I believe that back then, filmmakers had to pay a certain amount of money for however many times they used the word "damn" in a movie.
I don't think the film-makers had to pay money for usage of profanity in movies back then. The movie censorship organizations set up guidelines known as the "Production Code", also known as the "Hayes Code", telling film-makers what they could, and could not display, in their films. Profanity was not allowed at all during the 1930's and 1940's. By the time the 1950's and 1960's arrived, the "censors" relaxed a little, and allowed "hell" and "damn" to be used very sparingly in films. You are right about the second "damn" being "covered up" with the word: "hoot." There probably was a quota regarding how many "damns" could be used per film in the year 1955, the year "Blackboard Jungle" came out, or perhaps the film-makers felt two "damns" in this film would have created controversy. Since the character of West already said "damn" once, having Miller say it a second time would have given the "censors" more reason to hassle the people who made "Blackboard Jungle." They over-dubbed the word: "hoot" to avoid trouble, and controversy, (thus ensuring the chances of the film's box office success in order to make as much money as possible).
Did anybody notice that the word: "hoot" was voiced by a different actor? It was NOT supplied by Sidney Poitier. Here is a link that gives more info about movie censorship, and the "Hayes Code."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Code
Cheers!
Sincerely, Steve B.
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Yes, there are definitely two versions of the film in circulation, one with the word "damn" overdubbed.
The VHS tape issued in the mid-1990s by Turner's "Vintage Classics" line includes the original dialogue, but the version shown on TCM is overdubbed.
Another moment that I first noticed was toward the beginning, when some kids speed by in a car and a man says "it's those damn kids", or something to that effect. The line is intact on the VHS version, but is overdubbed on the version shown on TCM.
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I thought Miller's line looked "over-dubbed." Now, I know I wasn't imagining things. I will have to re-watch the film, and catch the man saying: "it's those damn kids!"
Cheers!
Sincerely, Steve B.
I just watched it on TCM, and Poitier doesn't even say "hoot" in the version I just watched: he's changing the sparkplugs and when he says "damn", you hear a "passing" car honk its horn and mute him out! I burst out laughing, it was so funny.
In all honesty, I think they let Morrow say it and NOT Poitier b/c of the racial tension preceding that scene, and b/c of the racial tension of the time. Think about the way Poitier was speaking to Ford on the school stairs, when Ford starts to call him a "black" something (he stops himself before finishing his slur and apologizes profusely). I'm willing to bet they dubbed Poitier out to make his character more sympathetic as a young black man in a white man's classroom -- correction: as an *educated* young black man who doesn't take any sh!t from his white male teacher. Very interesting, that tension in the film. Really surprised to have liked it so much.
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Yeah, I saw that too, and said to myself "What the f@ck?" But all I heard was a car horn.
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Just watched on TCM. There is actually the car horn AND the "obviously not Sydney Poitier 'hoot'". Both occur at the same time. Terrible.
Even more amusing considering the earlier scene with all of the racial slurs. We can let those in easily, but one more "damn"? NEVER!
Watched this last night and was also amazed. I thought maybe he said *beep* and the car horn was used to cover it up. Had to re-watch it several times to try and tell what was going on.
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