Editing Out ‘You Dumb Dago’
I was watching “Rocky” streaming on AMC in the background while doing work today and was really puzzled — and angered — by an edit.
During the scene where Rocky learns from Mickey that Apollo Creed’s people came by the gym to talk to him and dropped off a card, and then, they go back and forth about possible sparring opportunities, Mickey yells at Rocky, “I said that before,” and then lays into him for basically being a loser.
I stopped typing and said, “Wait a minute, that’s not right …” Did AMC edit out the “you dumb dago” line from the film? Sure enough, they did. And, it’s an important moment in the film.
Rocky asks Mikey, “You got somethin’ for me?” Mickey says, “A guy from Miles Jergens was here. They need sparrin’ partners for Creed.”
“When was he here?,” Rocky asks. “About an hour ago,” Mickey replies.
“Probably lookin’ for sparrin’ partners,” Rocky says.
Mickey, who was training someone at the time yells, “I said that before, you dumb dago!”
They argue and Rocky asks why Mickey has been giving him so much shit all these years … “You don’t wanna know.” He says. But Rocky persists … “I wanna know!”
“OK, I’m gonna tell ya! Cos you had the talent to become a good fighter and instead of that, you became a leg-breaker to some cheap, second-rate loan shark,” he says.
“It’s a livin’,” Rocky counters. “It’s a waste of life,” Mickey adds.
Of course, we all know what happens next: Rocky gets a shot at the title, Mickey goes back with his tail between his legs to help Rocky, after telling him to screw, Rocky realizes that he needs Mickey — and comes within inches of beating the heavyweight champion of the world.
“Rocky” is one of the greatest movies of all time and not just because Sylvester Stallone wrote it and poured his heart and soul into it. It’s an inspirational piece and an unlikely love story, too (“Rocky III” is my favorite of all the movies but that’s just because I think Mr. T is hilarious in it). But “Rocky” is also a moment in time for many people. A lot of people … millions of people … were that poor in 1976. No microwaves, no cellphones, no cars, no EBT cards … no nothing. It was one step above “Grapes of Wrath” poor but many, many steps below of what we think of poor today, for millions, in real terms. There was nothing like the poor of yesterday.
But back to my main point: Yes, “dago” is a slur and it’s wrong. Yes, I should be offended being part Italian. But I’m not and never have been. I say “gumbah” all the time and even use “guinea,” too, which is our n-word. “Rocky,” again, was shot in the 1970s. Times were different. Can you imagine them editing “Roots” that way? There wouldn’t be anything left of the series. One person I know said on Facebook that maybe it was because it was running in the middle of the day. That makes sense. But, frankly, I have no problem letting my ethic mutt children know exactly what was said about part of their ethnicity in the same way others should do the same. It’s OK to know that times were different because we know now to be a little more sensitive about things. But we shouldn’t censor history like this, even in a fictional film.