TCM, like every Memorial Day weekend, is running war movies 24/7.

I happen to be watching "Damn Busters", an overlooked but great British film made in 1955, which tells the true story of how the British invented a 1 ton bomb that would skip across water like a stone until it hit a damn, slide down the surface and then detonate.

Anyway, There's a black Labador Retreiver who's the company pet, and as I'm surfing the internet and watching/listening out of one eye/ear, I hear one of the R.A.F. officers say "Come here, Nigger... So my ears perk up; Did he just say Nigger? I thought... no, it must have been Digger or Tigger or something like that.  But no, he says it again.  Definitely Nigger.  Then throughout the movie, It's "Did you hear that Nigger was hit by a truck?"... "Poor Nigger"; they even used the word as one of their code phrases for the bomb attack.

Talk about being non-PC! I'm somewhat suprised that TCM didn't edit it out or dub in a different name for the fuckin' dog!

I was shocked when I found out the original title of "Ten Little Indians" by Agatha Christie was "Ten Little Niggers"... geez louise.

I can't speak for any other African Americans here.. but for me it just depends on who's saying it and what the context is. If Flower Tucci says it (and she has) it's a turn on. If you don't have a fat ass and look like a porn star I might knock your head off lol.

I do understand that the British have a slightly different connotation for the word, at least back when this movie was made. I believe the term was used for many dark-skinned individuals including citizens of India, which had been under British rule for centuries.

Still it was a bit shocking to hear it coming out of my TV while watching a black and white British film from the 50's!

I used to watch John Cleese's hilarious British sit-com "Fawlty Towers", and he frequently used the term Dago regarding his Spanish waiter Manuel, whereas in the U.S. Dago is exclusively a derogatory term for those of Italian heritage, so obviously different cultures put different meanings to certain words and phrases.

The old British movies especially in the 60's when someone asks for a "FAG". Its shaped the same and you put it your mouth and suck on it but ultimately its a smoke.

It's to its credit that TCM refuses to smudge out the minstrel-ish numbers other networks like AMC will edit out.  It's as if the others are trying to obscure history by  making it look like America wasn't a racist country.  One of the greatest musicals of the 1930's is the Al Jolson vehicle WONDERBAR (1934).  That Jolson campaigned tirelessly against racial segregation is beyond dispute, but the grand finale ("Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule") of WONDERBAR directed by Busby Berkeley is the most astounding pageant  of "traditional" Negro stereotypes ever exhibited.  This sequence runs so long that it is impossible to air the film with it cut out, so other networks simply never air it, which, I suppose, is preferrable to the excising of the Linconln's Birthday blackface number "AAbraham" out of HOLIDAY INN (1940).  The worst "whitewashing" of a movie is the finale of Astaire-Rogers classic SWING TIME (1936).  I'm talking about a literal digital white-washing of Fred Astaire's face so that the "black" face in 21st Century airings is now a glowing "grayish" face!

Stuff like that is history and captures the culture of the time.  Editing it out is like putting a fig leaf over the penis in a greek statue. The fact that you were provoked to share this with others shows its value.

Actually the original American edit used "Trigger". These days it seems that UK TV companies screen the US version! Peter Jackson is working on a remake, so it will be interesting to see if the original name remains.

A lot of prints of Dam Busters dub it "Trigger".

Any pornstars in that 'ne?

...because carrying this to its logical extreme would exsanguinate great American works of art such as Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

In educational settings, though, it is almost mandatory to teach the history of this word and why its usage is so inappropriate today.

That movie is playing in the background in part of the movie Pink Floyd the Wall.

I've never seen that movie. But i know exactly the scene you are referring to because Roger Waters or Alan Parker used clips of that in "The Wall". When the character Pink is flipping through "16 channels of shit from the TV to chose from", that is the exact clip they show. I always wondered what old war movie it was from and every one of my friends I have ever watched "The Wall" with (since college) always had the same discussion with me... "Did he just say the N word? No, it's got to be 'Digger'..." But yeah, eventually, I came to the conclusion that's what the soldiers call the dog and hence the reason it's highlighted in "The Wall" b/c of all the political messages Waters & Parker are making about the war and it's negative affect it had on society... at least in their minds. But anyways, just wanted to point out how it's been used in "The Wall" also and it's been the subject of much debate between myself and other stoners for several years! Good catch, Eddie! And thanks for letting me know what movie that was from and confirming that was what was actually said. Been killing me for years!

Taken to the logical extreme what you are advocating is editing every copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn available for circulation in public libraries or for sale in book stores.  

Please let me know if this is your position because I believe that argument has been settled.

You need to know the past to know how far we have come and have to go.

Corey Booker, the Mayor of Newark, NJ and one of the rising stars in the latest generation of African American leaders, has spoken about the deficit in knowledge of the history of the civil rights movement among African American youth.  I don't think you can educate the young about the past by hiding it from view.

That certain channels will edit out the usual four-letter words along with even "God-damn" or SOB.  But those same channels will leave in nigger or spic or chink or kike, presumably because those terms are less offensive or go to the verisimilitude of the show.  As a black man I scratch my head at this and wonder--do the censors reall think I'm more offended by someone saying sh*t than by someone saying nigger?  Do they even bother to think this through?  I'm not about to demand that my cable channels edit out certain words but I do wonder at the judgment call these channels make.

Peter Jackson (Lord of Rings) is working on a remake.  What to call the dog is one of the problems.  Supposedly "Nigsy" is what they are thinking of calling the dog.

Try watching "Blazing Saddles" with all the non-PC words dropped out.

I've seen that movie a half dozen times or more, and never noticed the use of the word nigger; I was suprised that I had missed it on previous viewings, but that explains it.  Thanks.

Also good to see that there are some obvious movie buffs here, which is also good to see.  I didn't think many people would even know about that movie.

BTW, I caught Star Trek today.  Great film!  I appreciated the way that they integrated a lot of the history of the original show into the film; and I thought the actor who played "Bones" was better the DeForest Kelly!

Blazing Saddles is unwatchable on AMC.  I don't know why the bother to even air it.

I remember when it was first shown on broadcast TV, they even cut the fart sounds out of the bean-eating scene, which made Slim Pickin's reaction when he came into the frame unfathomable.

And how can you even think about cutting the best line in the movie... "We'll take the niggers and the chinks, but we DON'T WANT THE IRISH!"

Too bad Mel's movies for the most part went downhill from there.

Yeah, the edited version of Blazing Saddles is like a flat tire.  Also edited was this funny exchange in the original:

Cleavon Little: “Well, Jim, since you are my guest and I am your host, what's your pleasure? What do you like to do?”
Gene Wilder: “Oh, I don't know. Play chess... screw...”
Cleavon Little: ”Well, let's play chess.”.

I would dispute your saying that Mel Brooks’ work quality went down after Blazing Saddles.  The IMO funnier film Young Frakenstein came later.  This is also out there in original and edited versions.  In the original:

Teri Garr: “His veins, his feet, his hands, his organs, would all have to be increased in size.”
Gene Wilder: “Exactly.”
Teri Garr: “He would have an enormous schwanzstucker.”
Gene Wilder: “That goes without saying.”
Teri Garr: “Voof!”
Marty Feldman: “He's going to be very popular.”

Edited for content:
Teri Garr: “He would have an enormous personality.”

WTF!  That’s why whenever I see the disclaimer “Edited for content” I think: ‘Aw shit’

Seriously though with regard to edits made for political correctness to literature, film, whatever, who are we, who is anybody that has the right to alter and edit someone else’s creative work?  

Actually, Young Frankenstein was the reason I added the disclaimer "for the most part".  I agree that it may have been his funniest movie, and "High Anxiety" had it's moments.

Blazing Saddles, no matter how funny, showed Mel that audiences went for low-brow humor.  His two previous films, "The Producers" (for which he won an academy award for best original screenplay) and his little known but touching and hilarious film "The Twelve Chairs" with Ron Moody and Frank Langella, were both, in my humble opinion, far superior to anything he did later.