RTs in books but omitted when made into a movie

“Will there really be a morning?” This is the title of a book about Frances Farmer.

Frances, An actress Institutionalized in a psyche facility, she related having her rectal temperature taken on admission by male staff. The movie based on the book did not include that. I read the book, saw the movie. Actually very sad. And

Was also the case with One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

In the case of people like Frances Farmer and the (fictional) people in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest who are in mental institutions, the rectal temperature makes sense. People in that state of mind - especially with the type of thermometers before plastic digital ones - could definitely not be trusted to hold a thermometer under their tongue.

I understand the reasoning for it. My question/ point is that in a book it is described. In a movie made about it, that is a scene not included.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. An ME takes the RT of a corpse that’s been killed by a vampire in the book. This is of course omitted from the movie.

It has not been made into a movie yet, but Stephen King’s book The Institute has a fairly graphic rectal temp scene in it.

Also, regarding One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey worked as an orderly at mental hospital, which is where he got ideas for the book. Nurse Rachet is based on a real nurse that worked there, and I’ve been told by others who worked with her that she was even worse in person.

In my late teens and early 20’s, In the mid to late 80’s, I was an ambulance driver there, and at the time I didn’t know that Cuckoo’s nest was based on the place, but it sure made sense once I knew that. The movie was not filmed there, but it may as well have been, because it looked exactly like you’d imagine it would.

@rockinrt In the Institute, I think, it is explicitly said that the rectal temperature is meant to humiliate the patient…

Over the years I have read one or two stories in books with an rt, but you are correct they seem to omit them in films, though there are a very few films with an rt , an example is “courtship of Eddie’s father”.

I remember watching "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (the TV series) starring Bill Bixby when I was a kid. The show was unrelated to the film. But I have seen the film "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" as an adult. The rectal temp scene is very memorable even though you don't see the rt being taken on Ron Howard by Shirley Jones, with her acting so caringly and motherly. But I would give anything to have seen Glenn Ford having his rectal temperature taken!!!

Given the fact that the patients in The Institute are all juveniles, it’s extremely unlikely that rts would be in the movie, even off-screen. I think King has a thing for anal medical treatments. The book he wrote about the guy in a coma for years had the man waking up to a cold thermometer in his butt.

I watched season 4 episode 6 “ Midwife crisis” in the British series “Doc Martin”. There is a rectal temperature taking scene done ( pj bottoms yanked down ) short of showing actual insertion and humorously done using a food ( jam) thermometer . The patient is male. Some of the dialogue is rather funny as well.

There are other temperatures taken in other episodes, some w/ glass (oral) and digital ( underarm).

Last time I saw anything remotely like the RT scene was in “ Carry on nurse!”

I remember Carry on nurse, a British comedy.

Didn’t Carry on Nurse have an infamous rt with a daffodil? It wasn’t shown on screen.

I remember a very exciting, if not grafic, rectal temperature taking scene, in the film ''Myra Breckingridge'' (1970) adapted from a novel by Gore Vidal, I saw a long time ago.

According to my memory, a transsexual nurse played by Raquel Welsh, takes the rectal temperature of a cowboy, ( Was it Burt Reynolds ? ) who considers his manhood is offended by having a thermometer up his ass. I think it was one of the first mainstream films to get an X rating.

Was Friday the 13th ever novelised? That scene at the end, when she's interviewed by the sheriff. In the middle of it, the nurse comes in and takes her rectal temperature. The sheriff watches the RT, the doctor watches the sheriff watch the RT, and ultimately he looks away, embarrassed to have been caught.

Which version of Friday the 13th?

The original, first movie. I assume, no special editions?

In Friday the 13th the 1980 version, it wasnt a rectal temp is was a sedative you see the nurse push the plunger down then you see her put it on the table. It was still a great seen though.

Nope I never saw a book with the temperature in it will be loved to read one

One book I had forgotten about is the "The Tent, the Bucket and Me" by Emma Kennedy. The book is about the Kennedy family's (no relation to the president) misadventures in camping. Towards the end of the book the Kennedy's, who are British, are camping in the south of France. The thirteen-year-old protagonist comes down with a heat illness and her parents place her on a camp bed in front of their tent. A Dutch nurse who was camping with her kids next to the Kennedy's examines her and then flips her over on her stomach, pulls down her bikini and sticks a thermometer in. About 15 kids stood around and watched the procedure. The BBC did a sitcom based on the book, but everything took place in England and of course there was no temperature taking.

@DoctorJohnny2 I've got hold of a digital copy. The girls feels thoroughly humiliated (who wouldn't) and, as she's definitely hot, is taken to a doctor. Her father, who feels sympathetic about her predicament, indicates that her temperature should be taken in the mouth. One of the items on the prescription is a suppository and the father declines it.