Stephen Arnell

The art of the insult in movies

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Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford in The Women, 1939 (Alamy)
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As Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson trade insults, here’s a look at some of the best – and most wounding – barbs in film.

Full Metal Jacket (1987) Amazon Rent/Buy

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the master of full-on, spittle-flecked abuse, eventually gets his comeuppance for belittling conscripted recruits in Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam war classic.

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