Jesse Sheidlower quoted by Ebert

[Bruce Dykes]

In his movie answer column:

Q. Now that it supplies roughly 5 percent of all the dialogue in R-rated
movies, can you tell me when the f-word was first heard from the screen?
Ronnie Barzell, Los Angeles


A. The last time a reader asked that, neither the MPAA Code and Ratings
Administration nor the Motion Picture Academy was able to supply the answer.
Now we know. According to The F-Word, a new British reference edited by
Jesse Sheidlower, the first movie to utter the word was Robert Altman's
"MASH," released Jan. 25, 1970. Second place: Michael Sarne's "Myra
Breckinridge," from June 1970. Both were rated R.