# Actions in movies that will never be done again. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700 "2008-09-08T23:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/41 "2008-09-09T20:53:23Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > After 9/11 alot of people were saying that big disaster epics showing American cities being devestated would never be seen again in Hollywood, I think that lasted about six months. Specificially, The Sum of All Fears, which was released in May 2002. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/42 "2008-09-09T20:59:47Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > If I remember correctly, he had the problem that all the phone booths were replaced with those half height, unenclosed public phones. These days even ones like that are as unlikely to be part of a movie scene, unless a cell phone breaks or the characters are in East Bumblefuck and can’t get service. I believe this was a minor plot point (yet driving much larger ones) in one of the seasons of _The Wire_. The pay phones they always used to carry out their deals were getting pretty few and far between, so they had to start using cell phones. Which of course presented more wiretap risk, so they had to develop more elaborate codes, causing the police to invest more effort to get info from wiretaps, and so on. I might be remembering wrong, but I know at the beginning of the show they used a lot of codes with pay phones and pagers, and were forced to adapt as the pay phones disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/43 "2008-09-09T21:02:13Z")
I thinks theres two apects of this… Theres things have become technologically obsolete (pay phones, being unable to call for help with a cellphone, being able to google any bit of possible publicly available knowledge etc.). These are still going to appear in movies for the foresable future, if they are what the storyline requires, simply by setting the movie in the past (or coming up with some other plot device). Then theres stuff that has become socially unacceptable for whatever reason. This is stuff like racially or sexually insensity material. At least stuff that invovles a synmpathetic protagonist, making your bad guy a mysogynist nazi is fine to a degree (there is a scene in early 80s British sitcom The Young Ones invovling a racist policeman, who is clearly meant to be a "bay guy, and not “acceptable”, but its still cut out of the DVD.). ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/44 "2008-09-09T21:02:24Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > [the Parrallax View](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071970/). Warren Beatty stumbles onto a (frankly absurd) plot to control the government by brazenly assassinating anyone they didn’t want holding office as president. > > Anyway, there is a great ironic scene in which Beatty is on the trail of assassins, which leads to an airport. He sees them get on a plane, and simply follows them onboard - no security check, no preboarding ID check, no ticket! The plane takes off, and the stewardess (it’s that old a movie, she’s a ‘stew’ not a flight attendant) only then asks for tickets. Beatty, not having one, buys one from her! What’s more, HE CAN PAY FOR IT IN CASH! (When was the last time you bought a plane ticket for less than $100?) Then, Beatty realizes the assassin plans to blow up the plane - so he goes right up to the cockpit and tells the flight crew! Instead of restraining Beatty, the pilot turns the plane around and lands. As security folks surround the actual assassin, Beatty simply manages to slip away. > > Were someone to remake that movie today, that entire scene would have to be omitted. There is simply no way that the hero could do any of that. I paid cash on board Laker Airlines flights from NYC to DC many times- the cost was about $20. I miss Sir Freddy Laker. (late 70s) ---
**Author:** ![Figaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@Figaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Figaro)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/45 "2008-09-09T21:05:46Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Perhaps [this](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hUZ_qBk26lg) will help jog your memory, Mr. Kaplan. Funny stuff, but nope, it’s been expunged from my memory. This only bothers me because I have an uncommonly good memory for movies and television, right down to specific dialogue and inflections of actors. Failing to recognize a whole scene in a movie I’ve seen multiple times is bizarre. Anyhoo…carry on 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/46 "2008-09-09T21:09:06Z")
> [@Figaro](#): > > Funny stuff, but nope, it’s been expunged from my memory. This only bothers me because I have an uncommonly good memory for movies and television, right down to specific dialogue and inflections of actors. Failing to recognize a whole scene in a movie I’ve seen multiple times is bizarre. > > Anyhoo…carry on 🙂 [James Mason] Has it ever occurred to you, Mr. Kaplan, that you are severely overplaying your hand? [/JM] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/47 "2008-09-09T21:17:54Z")
On the subject of consuming alcoholic beverages while driving, in **Five Easy Pieces** there’s a scene where Jack Nicholson’s character drives from Bakersfield to LA to visit his sister. During the whole drive, he’s nursing a can of Lucky Beer. I guess there were no “open container” laws in California in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/48 "2008-09-09T21:26:42Z")
Oh, Lucky Lager. That’s some bad, bad beer. Far better than “Sessions” though, it’s illegitimate, 11oz., surprise-under-the-cap stepchild. I’m ashamed to note I’ve had both within the last month. They’re bad, even for “bad” beer. Give me a Tecate any day. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/49 "2008-09-09T21:31:56Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Not a movie, but still. > > The very first new Jack-In-The-Box commercial featuring the hydrocephalic “Jack” clown character was very funny at the time, but not now. > > He was portrayed as the new go-get-em yuppie who was out to shake up the old business establishment. The commercial showed the old JITB board members assembling in a conference room, while Jack emerged from the room in his smug yuppie suit and a remote device in his hand. He then pressed the button and triggered a bomb which blew up the conference room and everyone in it. > > I don’t think the JITB franchise would benefit from that kind of imagery nowadays. That commercial was a reference to a 1980 ad campaign for the chain where they blew up a bunch of clowns, announcing a more mature image. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/50 "2008-09-09T22:25:14Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > A lot of the action in older Hong Kong movies… I immediately thought of the Michelle Yeoh motorcycle jump in Supercop. I think especially vehicular-based stunts are going to disappear, both due to cost and the “lost arts” as the old stuntmen and coordinators retire without replacement. The Mad Max and Road Warrior car wrecks, the James Bond ramp jumps, the Rambo destruction…all will fade away into Michael Bay edits and CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/51 "2008-09-09T22:38:26Z")
I disagree that great stunts performed with skill and panache will go away entirely. Certainly, they will dwindle, but upthread somebody noted that, as they inevitably fade away, the mere presence of these stunts will be a selling point for the film itself. Take the last Tarintino flick, **Death Proof** , for example. The entire premise of the movie is stuntmen doing stuntman things (or, more accurately, stuntpersons doing stuntperson things, as there’s the ridiculously dangerous ending with a woman belted to the hood of a car). When you couple that with the negative visceral reaction most folks had to the Matrix sequels (as opposed to the original), with their video-game fight scenes, I just don’t see the bogeyman of computerized effects ever fully usurping the role of stuntmen in Hollywood. Nor will there ever really be a _lack_ of qualified stuntmen—as I understand it, most are either brought up in a family of professionals or are collegiate athletes who couldn’t quite crack into professional sports. They’ll _always_ be around. This isn’t to say we’ll won’t be seeing LESS high-quality stuntwork—indeed, we already do. But I just don’t see it going extinct, which is what the OP was requesting. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/52 "2008-09-09T22:52:27Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Cell phones have prevented a looooot of movie scenarios from ever happening again. Remember the first couple years they were ubiqitous in real life but hadn’t been written into movies and tv shows yet? Every 5 minutes in a movie or tv show the viewers would be going COME ON! USE YOUR CELL PHONE! WHAT? HE DOESN’T HAVE ONE? WHO DOESN’T HAVE A CELL PHONE??? Unfortunately they didn’t prevent the movie “Cellular” from happening. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/53 "2008-09-10T00:22:59Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > [Here ya go…](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sexorcist/) > > Joe Good gods. Reminds me of the game the local DJ used to have sometimes on his morning show: Porno or Not. He’d read porno versions of real movie titles and people would phone in to guess if that was a real porno movie or one he made up. ---
**Author:** ![Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f1d935/32.png) [@Dilton\_Doiley\_Philosopher\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dilton_Doiley_Philosopher_King)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700/54 "2008-09-10T00:37:32Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Unfortunately they didn’t prevent the movie “Cellular” from happening. Although “Cellular” wasn’t a very good movie, the prevalence of cell phones would allow for filmmakers to produce a higher level of tension in portraying why characters can’t get together or communicate, as opposed to an artificial plot device like not being able to find a phone. (not that it stops them from throwing in similarly lame plot devices like dead batteries or no signal on a cell phone :rolleyes:) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actions-in-movies-that-will-never-be-done-again/462700.md?page=2)