Now for something completely different

The spanking scene from the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail still makes me laugh.

If - the caning scene

Yesterday I mentioned that the story I posted reminded me of the movie If. It was a movie I went to see with a friend soon after it came out, and I was both shocked and delighted to see such a lengthy caning scene in it. I had been hoping that since it was a school story, there might be a bit of discipline on offer, and I wasn't disappointed. I struggled to conceal my pleasure from my friend, who did not understand why I wanted to stay and see the movie again!

Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method, the new movie about Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and the birth of psychoanalysis, recently opened in US theatres, and I assume will be coming to Canada soon. The dangerous method is, in part, spanking. Keira Knightly, who plays the role of patient Sabina Spielrein, initially turned down the role because of the spanking scenes.

But in a recent article, Knightly revealed that working with David Cronenberg, Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen (who portrays Freud) was too enticing to walk away. It also helped that Cronenberg promised the two spanking scenes would be clinical.

"I phoned him up initially to turn it down because I thought they were incredibly important for the piece. So it wasn't a question of trying to negotiate them out of the film because I thought they were very necessary for the film. But I just thought, 'I don't think I can do that.'

"So, I phoned up David and said, 'I love you, I love your work, but I really don't think that I want to do this.' And he said, 'Well it would be a tragedy if you turned the role down because of that, so if necessary we can take them out.' And I said, 'No, because I understand why they are there'. He said, 'Well look, I don't want it to be sexy, and I don't want it to be voyeuristic. I want it to be clinical.'

"We talked for quite a long time about exactly what it was and trying to understand it psychologically. Once we discussed, I said 'Alright, fine, as long as it is not sexy. That brutal horrible aspect is kept, and it isn't a sexy spanking scene.'"

Sexy or clinical, I want to see that spanking! Watch it here (thanks, Chross.)

Parents Never Do THAT

Recently we watched a comedy called Click. Michael (Adam Sandler) is a workaholic architect, who has been overlooking his family in favor of his career. He meets Morty, (Christopher Walken) a mysterious man who gives him a universal remote that allows Michael to perform TiVo-like functions on his life, such as pausing events or fast-forwarding over them.

In one scene, Michael rewinds to the moment of his conception.  The pair stand in a bedroom with vibrant 60s decor while the blankets on the bed pulsate, and a woman's voice says, "That's the spot!" It is quickly followed by a man's voice saying "Whack my heinie," and the sounds of slapping continue while Morty explains that these are his parents, in the act of conceiving him.

"Change the channel!" shouts Michael.

It's a double shock. Finding out his parents actually had sex and watching them at it, plus the revelation that they enjoy spanking.

Not an implement I would enjoy

The movie McLintock! was on television earlier this week, and was included in the local newspaper's suggestions of the best shows to watch. Here's an abridged version of the synopsis:

The fact that this 1963 western was based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew boggles the imagination. In this version, John Wayne is cast as a wealthy rancher...whose estranged wife suddenly reappears for a proper divorce and to obtain custody of their daughter. After wrangling with corrupt officials and shooting a few bad cowpokes, McLintock wades into the battle of the sexes -- culminating with both his wife and his daughter getting a good spanking.
Different times.

Different times indeed. Sadly, as much as I love the thought of watching a movie with three spankings in it, I can't get past the idea of using a coal shovel as a spanking implement. We passed on the movie.

If...

When Bonnie asked about mainstream movies with spanking scenes at a recent brunch, I realized that I had never told you about If. Released in 1968, it is the story of a group of teenage misfits at an English public school. As one reviewer said, it begins to resemble Lord of the Flies as the plot progresses. As a matter of interest, I read several summaries on the internet, and the caning scene was either ignored or only briefly mentioned.

Although I watched the movie on television fairly recently, I first saw it many years ago. A friend warned me that it was not the sort of movie you'd go to see with your boyfriend. But I didn't have a boyfriend, so that was all right, and a story about a boys' school was bound to have some corporal punishment in it, so off I went. I wasn't disappointed.

Here's the long and (I assume) realistic caning scene from that movie.

Secretary: the Sequel

"Pay attention when I'm talking to you."

Thank you to Office Humour.