The 10 least politically correct movies ever

Many believe political correctness is good. It keeps us in line. It reminds us that almost all segments of society should be treated with dignity and respect. A joke at the expense of someone’s gender, race or ethnic background has no place in movies today.

Of course, there are those who disagree, who believe political correctness is wrong, who feel that it only creates resentment toward the offended parties. A PC world is a world of oppression, they say, where freedom of speech is allowed in theory, but not in practice.

Personally, I’m not sure how I feel. Ideally, I’d like to straddle the line between both so as not to offend anyone.

But it’s safe to say that comedies are the targets of most PC discussions when it comes to movies. That’s because comedies have to make fun of something, and many times that something has to do with the differences in people. The movie business has a rich history of creating humor from the very essences of who people are, for better or worse.

That trend has slowed down considerably in recent years. They just don’t make racial, ethnic or sex jokes like they used to in motion pictures, although occasionally they still try. Again, some feel that’s the way it should be. Others disagree. But it’s undeniable that these are different times — PC times — and students of comedy surely can appreciate the evolution of the genre to today’s more sanitized state.

The following is a list of 10 comedies that really went to the precipice of good taste and decorum in the quest for laughs. Most are older, but a few were made fairly recently. Viewed now, many will still create laughter while others might meet with disgust. Of course, in most cases that was the reaction when they were first released:

“Blazing Saddles”
The granddaddy of them all when it comes to language and situations that wouldn’t fly today. Mel Brooks’ Western spoof came out in 1974, when certain indelicate references to race and womanhood could still elicit guffaws rather than protests. Cleavon Little plays Bart, an African-American who is assigned by evil politician Hedley Lamaar (Harvey Korman) to serve as the new sheriff of a town in the hopes his presence will so offend the citizens that he’ll drive them out so Lamaar can grab their land. Because the townspeople apparently were expecting a white man, Bart isn’t exactly embraced. A particular slur that starts with the letter that comes after “M” is sprinkled liberally throughout, but there are also plenty of sexual references as well, including the scene soon after Bart arrives and the folks dive for cover when he reaches into his pants to retrieve a document and says, “Excuse me while I whip this out.” Since Brooks is an equal-opportunity offender, he assaults the sensibilities of Native-Americans, Jews, Chinese, Irish, women, horses, the handicapped and others. If “Blazing Saddles” were pitched in Hollywood today, Brooks would have been hastily escorted off the lot, and executives would quickly issue a statement that the move had nothing to do with him being short and Jewish.

“Airplane!”
Directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker skewered the disaster genre in this 1980 release that hurled one gag after another at audiences without the slightest regard to whether it rubbed anyone the wrong way. There was the bit with the two black gentlemen seated together whose speech is incomprehensible to the flight attendant until Barbara Billingsley of “Leave It To Beaver” fame offers to translate, explaining, “I speak jive.” There was Peter Graves’ Captain Oveur, who makes suggestive remarks to a young boy visiting the cockpit including, “Do you like gladiator movies?” There was the little boy who asks a little girl seated next to him how she likes her coffee: “Black, like my men.” There were the repeated drug references by Lloyd Bridges (“Looks like I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue.”) There was the Air Israel plane wearing a yarmulke. And on and on. Today the PC police would have to hire extra help in order to monitor this one picture.

“There’s Something About Mary”
An argument can be made that brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly should be honored in the politically incorrect category for their entire body of work rather than just one picture. But “Mary” is not only the brothers at their tasteless best, but also at their funniest. The hair gel scene is probably the one Farrelly brothers moment that is most famous, and the one that generated enough good word of mouth to make this a big hit. But they also create laughter with men surprised at a rest area pursuing their feelings for each other. And when Matt Dillon jump-starts a dead dog. And when Ben Stiller gets his zipper caught in an area where no man should get his zipper caught. And when Dillon tries to impress Cameron Diaz by boasting about his “work with retards.” The film is a sweet romantic comedy that is drenched in crude humor, creating a rare and hilarious subgenre.

“Caddyshack”
Probably more in the gross-out category than politically incorrect, this 1980 laugher starring Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight nevertheless had enough moments that would make a censor cringe to qualify here. For instance, early in the film Rodney shows up at Bushwood Country Club with an older Asian gentleman who has a camera around his neck and is taking pictures of everything. Dangerfield implores, “Hey Wang, c’mon. It’s a parking lot!” He also tells Wang: “This place is restricted, Wang, so don’t tell ’em you’re Jewish.” The nephew of Knight’s Judge Smails explains that his marijuana must be good because “I bought it off a Negro.” Chase’s Ty Webb asks young Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe) whether he takes drugs. “Every day,” answers Danny. “Good,” replies Ty, although that was later cleaned up for some TV showings. Don’t forget Murray undressing the female golfers with his eyes and mumbling dirty talk to himself. And of course, there’s the Baby Ruth at the bottom of the swimming pool, which Murray chomps on. Enough non-PC moments mixed with revolting jokes to satisfy anyone’s inner slob.

“Love and Death”
This 1975 historical romp is a takeoff on epic Russian novels and explores the deeper questions of life via slapstick humor and pseudo-intellectual mumbo jumbo. It was Woody Allen’s last film done strictly for yuks, until he segued into more serious fare with “Annie Hall” two years later. It has unforgettable moments of offensiveness, like when Diane Keaton’s character Sonja explains to Father Andre that Woody’s Boris had contemplated committing suicide “by inhaling next to an Armenian.” In the same scene, the holy man tells Sonja that he has discovered over many years that the secret to life is “blond 12-year-old girls. Two of them, whenever possible.” Woody also slips in a Polish joke with this line: “My brother was killed in the line of duty, bayoneted to death by a Polish conscientious objector.” In most of Woody’s earlier funny films, he managed to poke fun at just about everybody, but “Love and Death” is one of his more potent efforts.

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