The History of spanking in film

The History of spanking in film

A brief overview of spanking scenes as depicted in mainstream movies, with additional notes on television and underground film genres. A basic chronological list of films and TV shows is provided at the Spanking in mainstream films and Spanking on television pages. Information on television ads can be found at Spanking and BDSM in TV commercials.

The early years

From the first silent features until the violent exploitation films of the mid-Sixties, spanking scenes in films have fallen into two basic categories: the punishment of misbehaving children, and the humorous taming of troublesome women.

The victim was always fully clothed, the position nearly always over the knee (OTK), and the "implement" of choice was an open hand or hairbrush - sometimes a rolled-up newspaper. The punishment scenes were typically brief, brisk, and lighthearted without any malice or cruelty. And although adult spanking scenes might carry a subtle, sexual undertone, the context was always comedic without a hint of eroticism.

Chastised children

In the case of children, punishments were almost always in comedies. Quite often this would be the punchline to an extended comedic set-up. Bratty boys and girls got "what was coming to them" in the Our Gang and Little Rascals comedies of the 1920s-1930s, and films such as She Married Her Boss (1935), The Captain's Kid (1936), God's Step-children (1938), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and Frontier Gal (1945) in which a teenage girl is spanked.

The Bad Seed (1956) is a dark, serious drama about an evil little girl. The closing credits includes a peculiar "curtain call" with the actors taking a final bow before the camera. At the end of this, as if to appease the audience, the girl is given a brisk but lighthearted over-the-knee spanking.

In the sentimental Australian film Smiley (1957), a young boy deliberately misbehaves so he is caned in order to win a bet. A sympathetic headmaster gives him just three strokes.

The lyrical fantasy film The Curse of the Cat People (1944) takes a different approach. Here, an adorable little girl falsely accused of lying is threatened and then punished off-camera. A curious scene that only serves to make the adults look like misguided and unsympathetic martinets.

Another one-of-a-kind British film is Lord of the Flies (1963), adapted from the famous novel. A group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island gradually degenerate into tribal savages who turn on each other. In one scene a naked boy is severely switched while the others laugh, showing the cruelty of children without authority figures. This may be the earliest mainstream film to show corporal punishment as an act of pure sadistic abuse.

By the late 1960s, the once-common theme of children and teens being punished in domestic comedies faded away. A change in attitude can be seen in the 1969 western True Grit. Glen Campbell gives a bossy, headstrong 14-year-old girl (played by 21-year-old Kim Darby) a rapid-fire switching. The scene begins in traditional comedic fashion before an unsettling (and unprecedented) element of sadism creeps in. Campbell's character clearly enjoys beating the girl and is forced to stop, at gunpoint, by John Wayne. The ambiguity of the scene is also a bit disturbing. Are we supposed to gloat over the harsh punishment of a petulant girl or feel sympathy for her?

Another film from 1969, Midnight Cowboy, includes a flashback scene where Joe Buck (Jon Voight) recalls being spanked and given an enema by his cruel grandmother when he was around 8 years old. This may be the first film to depict spanking (and enemas) as a form of child abuse.

From this point on, child chastisement was no longer presented as being funny or deserved. And there are few examples of bad kids being disciplined by well-meaning parents. Since the Seventies, the handful of films showing juvenile punishments have mainly been in serious dramas or horror films where the children are innocent victims of overly strict or abusive authority figures.

The Romance of discipline

In the first six decades of cinema, sexuality was a taboo subject, particularly in films made in America and Britain. Even mildly suggestive content was censored before a film could be released. In romantic scenes, sexual foreplay was restricted to verbal banter peppered with racy double-entendres. Scenes of kissing and embracing were carefully monitored and held to a rigid set of standards. And yet, a male actor could playfully smack a woman's backside or force her over his knee for a brisk paddling so long as it was played for laughs in a romantic comedy or western.

By avoiding any hint of overt sexuality, mean-spirited sadism or (God forbid) masochism, the movie studios could have it both ways. They created a type of visual double-entendre. It is left to the audience to laugh or leer according to their interpretation of the scene (and its subtext).

Spanking in films became a substitute for the sexual passion that could not be shown. The explosive, almost orgasmic, paddlings that occurred at the climax of so many films was an acceptable and tasteful way to show the release of sexual tension that had been building throughout the story.

The censors never bothered with the deeper implications of a grown woman being overpowered and publicly humiliated with a backside beating as if she were a naughty little girl. The obvious elements of age play eroticism and S&M domination went unnoticed.

Greatest hits

John Wayne spanking Maureen O'Hara in "McClintock"

Some of the most energetic and memorable cinema swats include North West Mounted Police (1940) with Paulette Goddard, Frontier Gal (1945) with Yvonne deCarlo, Clark Gable tanning the hide of an Indian maiden in Across the Wide Missouri (1951), and the famous finale to Kiss Me, Kate (1953).

These films generally involve a tempestuous, albeit chaste, romance between a difficult, demanding woman and a put-upon man who ultimately loses his temper and gives her a sound thrashing. The more noteworthy films ending with a vigorous smackdown are Blue Hawaii (1961) with Elvis Presley, and two rambunctious John Wayne comedies: Donovan's Reef and McLintock! (both from 1963). In McLintock!, Stefanie Powers gets a good licking with a fireplace shovel. In the finale, the firey Maureen O'Hara gets the same treatment over Wayne's lap.

The French film Gervaise (1956), a period-piece drama based on a 19th-century novel, has an especially violent cat-fight-and-spanking scene between two women. They use large wooden laundry beaters to hit and paddle each other with great severity.

The western TV series Wagon Train delivered one of television's most explosive spankings in "The Maggie Hamilton Story" (1960). In typical fashion, a spoiled young woman (Susan Oliver) is transformed into a good girl after the man asserts his dominance by pulling up her skirt and giving her a well-deserved OTK whupping on her exposed bloomers.

Among the countless films with playful, single-swat scenes, the only one worth mentioning is Adam's Rib (1949) with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Tracy gives Hepburn a massage while they argue. He finishes with a strong backside smack. She is outraged and recites a detailed analysis of the psychology behind the hard slap. To this, a bemused Tracy quips: "What do you have back there, radar?"

Intentional or not, one of the kinkiest punishment scenes in a mainstream film appears in the romantic comedy Bachelor Flat (1962). Terry-Thomas dreams that Tuesday Weld is an inmate in a cruel prison. "They beat me here", she pleads. We see her shadow as she bends forward and gets six hard strokes with a leather strap. (This scene can be viewed on YouTube.)

Three exceptions

Prostitutes cavorting in Slaves in Bondage.

Three highly unusual films, Slaves in Bondage (1937), The Roots of Heaven (1958), and The Misfits (1961), dared to show other aspects of corporal punishment (CP).

Slaves in Bondage is an obscure, low-budget exploitation film about prostitution. This turgid expose has one astonishing and unique moment. As a brothel madam shows her "specialty" rooms to a new girl, we see two lingerie-clad hookers playfully wresting on a bed and taking turns spanking each other. This is the first (and only) known mainstream film of this era to show corporal punishment as a sexual turn on (in a brothel, no less). Plus, the implied lesbianism and hint of masochism in the scene enhances its forbidden allure. (The complete film can be watched at the Internet Archive.)

In The Roots of Heaven, a band of militant environmentalists in Africa raid an elegant soiree of smug, elephant-hunting aristocrats. They punish the matronly hostess for her elephant-hunting by giving her an embarrassing bare-bottom spanking in front of her guests. The hostess' cries of pain, outrage and humiliation ("This is really awful!") are priceless. This is a unique example of CP used as a tool of social protest.

The Misfits, directed by John Huston, presents a memorable non-punishment hand-smacking that combines eroticism with humiliation. Marilyn Monroe, in her final role, plays a troubled exotic dancer who longs for a new life and respectability. At a rowdy cowboy bar, she finds a child's paddle with a ball attached on a rubber string. Showing off her skills, she whacks the ball continuously while the excited crowd places bets on how long she can keep going. Her technique involves a sexy hip-shaking movement that over-stimulates one of the leering patrons. He reaches out and smacks her voluptuous behind about a dozen times before the scene ends in a scuffle. So much for respectability. (This scene can be watched at YouTube.)