# "Classic" movies or TV shows with situations or premises basically impossible today **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922 "2020-04-16T13:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/61 "2020-04-17T07:50:39Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Yeah, the core crime at the heart of _Catch Me If You Can_ isn’t about the protagonist impersonating an airline pilot to score free flights, but being an extremely clever and talented “paper hanger”. > > Little of what Frank Abagnale, Jr. does in 1963 would have worked even in 2003, and even less so now. Sure, but it would be kind of irresponsible to make a movie showing how to successfully do some of that stuff. I understand this was an issue with Thomas Harris’s book **Black Sunday** , copies of which are frequently found among the personal effects of active terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/62 "2020-04-17T08:16:25Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > About five years ago, when my two oldest kids were young teenagers, I put on a movie I remembered from my own youth at around the same age: National Lampoon’s “Vacation”. > > . . . > > “WHAT? The place was CLOSED all along? Wouldn’t the website have said so before they left?” What has always puzzled me about that was the the Griswolds drove through an empty parking lot at what was either late morning or early afternoon, and there were absolutely no other cars there. How was it that everybody else in America–except for the Griswolds, and Cousin Eddie and his family–knew that WallyWorld was closed? There wasn’t a website to say so in those days, so it must have been publicized in the media: newspapers, TV, and radio; and it must have been done so much in advance, so everybody could make vacation plans accordingly. How did the Griswolds miss all that? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/63 "2020-04-17T08:26:50Z")
Would “Evening Primrose” be possible today? It’s a play about a secret group of people who live in a department store at night after it closes for business. My retail experience is pretty limited, it seems to me that store security is tighter than it used to be. On the other hand, I worked in a comedy club at a mall and we frequently had homeless people wandering backstage after hours stealing our stuff, so it isn’t impossible… ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/64 "2020-04-17T11:02:21Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Would “Evening Primrose” be possible today? It’s a play about a secret group of people who live in a department store at night after it closes for business. My retail experience is pretty limited, it seems to me that store security is tighter than it used to be. On the other hand, I worked in a comedy club at a mall and we frequently had homeless people wandering backstage after hours stealing our stuff, so it isn’t impossible… I don’t know how common it is but even going way back a lot of stores had plenty of staff around outside of opening hours cleaning, restocking shelves, stocktaking etc Stores may be empty part of the night but not the whole night ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/65 "2020-04-17T11:02:50Z")
This thread makes me wonder about something: when I was a kid, I loved old movies. It started with Universal horror movies when I was about 8, then progressed to all horror/suspense movies, until, by the time I was 11 or 12, as soon as the weekly TV schedule arrived with the newspaper, I’d go through it looking for any movie made before 1950. Even if I had to get up at 3am to watch it, I was there. I had a 13-inch B&W TV in my room, and I’d sit about two feet from in with the volume turned low, and a towel stuffed under the door to block any light, on the odd chance on of my parents came by, and have the best time. I’d be nodding off in school the next day, but eventually I learned about coffee. When I was 14, I discovered silent movies, and fell in love with those too. Now, my son is 13, and he is a huge fan of old movies. It is pretty recent that he is into genuine classics, as in, Golden Age Hollywood films, but now he is having a good time during the lockdown watching lots of films from the 30s and 40s. However, since he was a pretty little kids, he has been open to watching what for him, are old films. The original _Star Wars_, aka, “A New Hope,” has been a favorite of his since he was 4 or 5, and he has also loved the 1967 _Planet of the Apes_ since he was pretty young. FWIW, he has also liked _The Wizard of Oz_, since he was 3 or 4, and the original _King Kong_ for a long time-- albeit, when he was little, he loved fake apes, and also likes the 1976 _King Kong_, and yes, I let him watch it when he was little, but I made an edited version of it on the computer. My point is, the boychik and I both seem to have an instinct for suspending our disbelief through historical differences. He recently saw _Wait Until Dark_ (and LOVED it), and I never said a word to him about “Oh, these were the days before cell phones, and back when phones were hard-wired into homes, and it was normal to have only one phone,” etc., etc. He just got it. I wonder if there is a “family culture” factor, or some genetic ability to assimilate details that allow people to reconstruct an historical period from subtle clues, making suspension of disbelief automatic. You know-- 60s clothes, 60s cars, no TV, turntable stereo-- he’s in the world of the movie, and his brain pulls lots of details from random conversations he’s had, and things he’s read in books that make him ready for other things that happen in the movie, like phone booths, and a refrigerator that needs defrosting. FWIW, while they’re not among his most favorite shows, he can watch, understand, and relate to old TV shows. He actually did like _Leave It to Beaver_ when he was about 6, and he’s watched _The Dick Van Dyke Show_, and _I Love Lucy_. I remember he once said _I Love Lucy_ was “sexist”; (he probably heard his father say it) but he did “get” it, and the fact was, it was a little sexist even for its time. Compare it to something like _The Donna Reed Show_. Lucy is stupid, and Ricky is mean. Fer cripes’ sake, Donna Reed and her husband have their roles, which are sexist by today’s standards, and once in a while, Donna is manipulative because it isn’t “correct” for her to come out and ask for what she wants, but she and her husband at least respect one another. You sometimes get the feeling Lucy and Ricky don’t even really LIKE each other. But that’s beside the point. The boychik has also read some books from other eras, and liked them, although I think for him, they were more like “historical fiction,” but he still enjoyed them. He loved Encyclopedia Brown, and he read some Judy Blume, some Beverly Cleary, and some 3 Investigators. I’m just saying, my mother was always a big fan of old movies, and yes, she was closer to them than I was, but she was born in 1940, and still loved 30s film, and silents, not to mention, she loved literature from the 18th & 19th centuries-- \*Pride & Prejudice \*was one of her favorite books. So does the ability to look at stuff from another time through its own lens get passed down through families? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/66 "2020-04-17T11:08:09Z")
> [@steepone](#): > > I don’t know how common it is but even going way back a lot of stores had plenty of staff around outside of opening hours cleaning, restocking shelves, stocktaking etc > Stores may be empty part of the night but not the whole night It was more possible once upon a time than it is now. Stores that close overnight usually have a couple of people on all-night security-- they often are contracted from security companies, rather than being employees of the store. I know this, because when DH returned from Iraq, he had a lot of trouble finding work, and the one job that welcomed him with open arms was a security company, but he had to do lots of overnight shifts. FWIW, he had a lot of trouble finding work as long as he was still in the active reserves. As soon as he was moved to inactive (no longer doing one weekend a month and two weeks a year, and highly unlikely to be called up again), he found a great job. So much for supporting the troops. ---
**Author:** ![flip-68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@flip-68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flip-68)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/67 "2020-04-17T11:40:06Z")
getting personal information about other people over the phone happens a lot in old movies. my wife and I watched Midnight Run last night and Deniro’s character has his credit card cancelled by a rival who calls up the help line to find out where it was last used - no security questions asked. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/68 "2020-04-17T11:49:56Z")
I was talking about something similar the other day. How would some of Peter Sellers’ stereotypical ethnic characters be received today? Steve Martin made out ok with Clouseau in the remakes but could you make something like [The Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_(1968_film)) today? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/69 "2020-04-17T12:46:19Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I was talking about something similar the other day. How would some of Peter Sellers’ stereotypical ethnic characters be received today? > > Steve Martin made out ok with Clouseau in the remakes but could you make something like [The Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_(1968_film)) today? You sure as hell couldn’t do Mickey Rooney’s character in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/70 "2020-04-17T13:08:52Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I was talking about something similar the other day. How would some of Peter Sellers’ stereotypical ethnic characters be received today? > > Steve Martin made out ok with Clouseau in the remakes but could you make something like [The Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_(1968_film)) today? > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > You sure as hell couldn’t do Mickey Rooney’s character in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. AMC showed _The Good Earth_ last night. I wonder what modern Asian Americans would think about a Pearl Buck story. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/71 "2020-04-17T13:45:00Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > A whole new genre might be “Death by GPS” (and/or trusting technology too much). > > “It’s what I’m beginning to call death by GPS,” said Death Valley wilderness coordinator Charlie Callagan. "People are renting vehicles with GPS and they have no idea how it works and they are willing to trust the GPS to lead them into the middle of nowhere. > > "[https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article2573180.html](https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article2573180.html) > > Husband died just SIX miles from help after he and wife got lost in wild because of GPS … he died trying to raise alarm but she survived for seven weeks by staying put > > [Albert Chretien: Remains of Canadian lost in Nevada wilderness found six miles from town 18 months later | Daily Mail Online](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211532/Albert-Chretien-Remains-Canadian-lost-Nevada-wilderness-miles-town-18-months-later.html) I live in Vegas and my best friend lived in Elko for several years. It was horrifying that he would have gotten off the highway, especially in that weather- there is nothing but wilderness for that top half of the state and they were no where near anything that would have been a short cut around Vegas (which was still over 400 miles away) There is no way he should have gotten more than a mile off that road without realizing he was in deep trouble, I never understood not turning back. I have used back roads around Elko but well known ones and even those can feel dodgy (and flat tire inducing if not prepared). ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/72 "2020-04-17T13:54:55Z")
I was reading some old (80s) Len Deighton thrillers recently. These are classic cold war spy stories, with our hero working within his faction-riven and borderline dysfunctional agency to discover the mole or double-agent, often while coming under suspicion himself. Obviously this is a world where contacting people urgently is critical. At various points reference is made to the common procedure for this - intelligence officers of whatever rank will let the switchboard know of their movements and the best number to contact them on. At one point the hero is reprimanded for not passing on the number of the restaurant he and his wife go out to one evening, as there was literally no other way to contact him. That was just atmospheric detail, but it becomes plot critical when he acts somewhat out of bounds and covers himself giving notification of his plans on Friday evening - in the cosy British establishment world of the Secret Service, this all but guarantees all the big wigs will be unreachable as they will be driving to their or their friends country homes, staying in hotels withe their mistress or otherwise away from the phone. The latter in particular guarantees that any messages left will be short of information as its considered a bad idea to let hotel staff know about major security breaches. Even when they get the message, they will have to all return to the office to get anything done which will be so conspicuous that it will likely make the papers. I can only guess, but I assume that nowadays MI6 can both send confidential messages to its officers and even arrange secure conference calls if need be. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/73 "2020-04-17T14:01:33Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > First, it was usually a landline phone in the apartment of Woody Allen’s character, not a pay phone, that Tony Robert’s character used. Second, it’s not necessary for that character to be using a landline at all. I’ve seen a version of the play in which the character used a cell phone in all the cases where he was on the phone. I also just searched YouTube and found another version doing the same thing. It only took a little rewriting of the play to turn that character into one who was always using his cell phone. The problems that that character had with his wife (Diane Keaton’s character) weren’t really about him being on the phone all the time. His problem was that although he loved his wife very much, he spent so much of his time handling his business that he had little time to interact with her. He frequently went on out of town trips for his work. > > … > > So modern productions of the play can either be period productions with landline phones or ones set in the present with cell phones. But the running gag has a punchline! Woody fantasizes that Robert’s character is taking off to Alaska. His final line: “If you need me I’ll be at Frozen Tundra 69290.” Maximum absurdity. Good running gags finish like this. Remaking something as a period piece, btw, pretty much negates the premise of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/74 "2020-04-17T14:05:34Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > _Man About the House_ or _Three’s Company_. Today, the landlord would be sued for discrimination I think you’re right about _Three’s Company_, since marital status is now considered a protected class in California for the purposes of housing. But according to [Shelter](https://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/courts_and_legal_action/equality_law/equality_act_2010_discrimination_in_relation_to_premises#_edn1) (the UK tenants’ rights association), “protected characteristic does not include ‘age’ or ‘marriage and civil partnership’”. So I think Mr. Roper would still be free to reject Robin as a tenant on the grounds that he’s not married to Jo or Chrissy. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/75 "2020-04-17T14:18:53Z")
Oh, it occurs to me that Mr. Roper _might_ be liable to a discrimination claim if, as in the pilot, he first refuses to rent to the putatively heterosexual Robin on the grounds that he’s single, and then changes his mind one he’s led to believe that Robin is gay. That perhaps opens him up to a claim of discrimination on the grounds of sex and sexual orientation, which _are_ protected characteristics under English law. Robin could argue that he was denied housing for the sole reason that he was a heterosexual male. But the situation is not so clear cut, as Roper could always counter-argue that he has no prejudice against heterosexual males in general (since he has no problem renting a separate apartment to Robin’s heterosexual male friend Larry); he is simply (legally) discriminating against Robin on the sole grounds of his (nonexistent) marital relationship to the other two roommates. (Then again, the other two roommates aren’t married to each other either…) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/76 "2020-04-17T14:19:32Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I watched an old Columbo a few years ago in which he tailed his suspect to the airport to see if he actually got on the plane. There was no line at the metal detector. Columbo breezed through, set it off, and just flashed his badge to the guard and kept going. I doubt that would fly with the TSA. (I’m not sure if that would have worked in the 1970s either or if the writers took some artistic license there). But either way the whole plot line about following the suspect to the airport without being noticed wouldn’t work, because they’d both end up stuck in line at the security checkpoint for like 10 minutes, where the suspect would likely notice Columbo in line behind him. You as a passenger could actually take guns onto planes up until…sometime in the 70s?. Google searching is failing, because all the top matches are about the TSA and idiots who are trying to take their guns on planes now. Also note Die Hard where John is carrying his weapon in regular seating: “It’s OK, I’m a cop.” I’m not convinced that was even true then, but, hey, it’s Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/77 "2020-04-17T14:31:04Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I live in Vegas and my best friend lived in Elko for several years. It was horrifying that he would have gotten off the highway, especially in that weather- there is nothing but wilderness for that top half of the state and they were no where near anything that would have been a short cut around Vegas (which was still over 400 miles away) There is no way he should have gotten more than a mile off that road without realizing he was in deep trouble, I never understood not turning back. I have used back roads around Elko but well known ones and even those can feel dodgy (and flat tire inducing if not prepared). We flew out to Reno for a vacay a few years ago to see Bodie CA but naturally we had to check out the Donner thing in Truckee…and being mindful of what had happened there, we were very careful about where we would and wouldn’t drive the rental car. I was kind of researching for that reason. IIRC another article said sometimes the problem is night time. The GPS tells you to take a turn and you can’t see that this road is gradually climbing. Or narrowing. And you get to a point where you can’t safely turn around so…keep going, something has to be up here. The problem just compounds as you go. > **[10 Times GPS Failed With Terrible Consequences - Listverse](https://listverse.com/2018/11/27/10-times-gps-failed-with-terrible-consequences/)** > > Since the introduction of GPS satellite navigation systems, drivers have become increasingly reliant on the devices to get from A to B. The days of We’ll be driving through a state park and GPS is so complete shows the ranger’s driveway, fer cry eye! But another time it was convinced I was off-road, driving across a lake when I was on a four lane road. Programming glitches sure but wow. Mark Twain said something about not getting medical advice from a book because you might die of a misprint. Similar thing here. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/78 "2020-04-17T14:52:36Z")
All I can say is that I’ve seen a version of _Play It Again, Sam_ with Tony Robert’s character using a cell phone and I thought it was fine. The Frozen Tundra 69290 scene is only in the movie, I believe. Anyway, I think that the point of Tony Robert’s character constantly being on the phone works just as well with cell phones as with nothing but landline phones. If anything, it’s more common today for people to spend too much time on their phones than it was back during the first run of the play, so messing up your marriage by ignoring your spouse for your work is probably more common now than before cell phones. Moving on to another matter, I find it a little strange to assume that kids today can’t understand what technology is available when they watch old movies. I don’t remember ever having problems with figuring out the earlier technology when I watched old movies. I just made unconscious mental notes about the history of technology and applied them to any further movies I saw. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/79 "2020-04-17T14:58:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > You as a passenger could actually take guns onto planes up until…sometime in the 70s?. Google searching is failing, because all the top matches are about the TSA and idiots who are trying to take their guns on planes now. Right up until 9/11, it was perfectly legal to have a disassembled firearm in your checked luggage. Not ammo, but the firearm was fine. At least, in the US, in domestic luggage. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922/80 "2020-04-17T15:27:25Z")
I feel like everyone saying “cell phones would ruin this plot” haven’t watched a movie released in the last ten years. Having someone’s phone battery die, or get lost, or not have any signal is a pretty common plot device. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-movies-or-tv-shows-with-situations-or-premises-basically-impossible-today/851922.md?page=5)