# Common Gaffes in Movies and TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194 "2020-01-29T22:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/61 "2020-01-30T14:52:05Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > In a similar vein, recent analysis of T. Rex anatomy has paleontologists believing that they couldn’t roar but squeaked instead. When I mention this tidbit at the natural history museum I volunteer at, I add that we don’t expect Hollywood to change any time soon. > > And to add to the conversation, how about the “sching” when a sword is drawn from a leather scabbard? This isn’t only recent. As Goldner and Turner relate, the makers of the original _King Kong_ asked paleontologusts at the American Museum of Natural History what a T. rex sounded like. The reported that the technical reply they got translated as “You idiots! It had no vocal chords! It couldn’t roar!” But G & T says that they went ahead and made it roar anyway. An odd thing for them to say. If you watch the original film, the T. rex _doesn’t roar!_ It makes these weird whispery sounds that one of the sound engineers reportedly made: > **[YouTube King Kong 1933 Tyrannosaurus Rex - Yahoo Search Results Video Search...](https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-omr-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=omr&p=YouTube%2BKing%2BKong%2B1933%2BTyrannosaurus%2BRex#id=4&vid=ac827889d35d0cd84367ad25d5cc519d&action=click)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. > **[YouTube King Kong 1933 Tyrannosaurus Rex - Yahoo Search Results Video Search...](https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-omr-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=omr&p=YouTube%2BKing%2BKong%2B1933%2BTyrannosaurus%2BRex#id=1&vid=be4602ca4473d369b80ca2671ef0d7c5&action=click)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. P.S. – speaking of T. rex, have you seen the new US Postal Stamps featuring four depictions of the T. rex? There’s a cute baby T. rex, just hatched and looking hungrily at an insect. Anmother of the images is a double – if you tilt it, it changes from a full-bodied T. rex to a skeleton: [https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/tyrannosaurus-rex-S\_479204](https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/tyrannosaurus-rex-S_479204) > **[Fuzzy Baby T. Rex Is One of 4 New Stamps Featuring the Dinosaur King](https://www.livescience.com/t-rex-stamps.html)** > > The stamps showcase T. rex during various life stages. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/62 "2020-01-30T15:01:08Z")
The old “turn on the radio or TV and instantly get the news story that applies” has been replaced by “turn on the computer and instantly get the web page that applies.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/63 "2020-01-30T15:01:44Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Military uniforms. Most civilians don’t notice or care, but active duty and vets absolutely do, and it’s generally fairly obvious when they mess it up, which they almost always do. > > The [First Cavalry patch](https://img1.etsystatic.com/053/0/10286793/il_fullxfull.751658177_kalo.jpg) is big, loud, and very clear, so Hollywood wardrobe designers _love_ to put it on everyone’s shoulder, regardless of their supposed unit, or even military branch. Whenever you see military uniforms in movies or TV, I can almost guarantee you will see it, especially in things produced before HD was ubiquitous. I was watching a rerun of an early MASH episode last night (“The Novocaine Mutiny”) and noticed that they managed to get both the patches and the ribbons right on both Col. Potter and the JAG officer from 8th Army Headquarters investigating. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/64 "2020-01-30T15:05:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This isn’t only recent. As Goldner and Turner relate, the makers of the original _King Kong_ asked paleontologusts at the American Museum of Natural History what a T. rex sounded like. The reported that the technical reply they got translated as “You idiots! It had no vocal chords! It couldn’t roar!” But G & T says that they went ahead and made it roar anyway. > > An odd thing for them to say. If you watch the original film, the T. rex _doesn’t roar!_ It makes these weird whispery sounds that one of the sound engineers reportedly made: If I recall G & T’s book correctly (I had it as a kid and read it repeatedly until the cover was literally falling off), a different paleontologist told them they could probably get away with various hissing noises for the dinosaurs, which is ultimately what they did. Even that’s a bit outdated, as it relies on the Dinosaurs Are Big Lizards trope, while modern paleontology tends to give greater emphasis to the similarity between dinosaurs and birds. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/65 "2020-01-30T15:28:17Z")
Whenever a scene is set near a trolley/elevated/cable-car track, there is always a train going by. I remember that, “The Good Wife”, while set in Chicago, occasionally showed New York subway cars as that is where it was filmed. The almost-exception to this rule was, “Sister Act”, as there were “J” trolley tracks outside the church on Church Street, San Francisco. While we saw the tracks frequently, my recollection is that the movie was half over before we actually saw a “J” trolley. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/66 "2020-01-30T15:53:55Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Lord knows I’m not a computer expert. But I’m going to assume that the computer we saw in that office was just part of a network (because if it was a stand alone computer, the hacker would have had to be in the room with them). It connected them, along with dozens or even hundreds of other computers, to a centralized computer where files were stored. The hacker was trying to break into the central records via one terminal and we saw them trying to stop the hacker getting in by typing in commands on their computer. > > So all Gibbs did by unplugging their computer was cut them off from the central computer and stop their attempts to defend the files. The hacker was still connected and able to finish his work now that he wasn’t being interrupted. My computer at work is hooked up to a network and I can store information that is accessible from any computer in the network on one of several network drives. I also store things just on the computer that can only normally be accessed from that computer. I took that scene to mean the hacker used the network to backdoor into that particular computer where she was storing information. The hacker would still be in the system but isolating that computer from the network would keep them from getting the information that was stored on that computer off the network. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > This is the one that makes me crazy. If the police stopped to question me while I was gardening, I’m pretty sure I’d stand up and take off my dirty gloves. But I guess we’ll have to see when and if the time comes… :rolleyes: > > One that makes me crazy is the apparent inability of some writers to figure out how long it takes to go certain places. I saw and episode of X-Files where the timeline showed one character waking in Baltimore at 8:30 in the morning, and next thing you know, it’s about 4 hours later the same day, and he’s in Rhode Island. Sorry, dude, unless you’ve got a very fast helicopter in your back yard, that ain’t gonna happen. > > Similarly, on NCIS, the agents easily drove from DC to Norfolk and back in a matter of a few hours - because there’s never traffic in DC or on I-95 or around Richmond, or on I-64 to Norfolk, or in Norfolk itself. Not to mention California writers having characters on the east coast referring to highways as “the 495.” Nope, sorry, we don’t say that here. I’ve mentioned this before in similar threads. Often on cop shows they will come to the realization who the bad guy is and that the victim is about to be murdered. They race across town and barely save the victim in the nick of time. This will be in a city like NYC. They would have to go to the elevator, go down to the street, find their car, go through city traffic (lights and sirens don’t move double parked cars or help in gridlock), make it to the building, park, go up to the right floor, and find the killer. Or they could pick up the phone or use the radio to send one of the other 40,000 cops who are probably much closer to go stop the murder. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/67 "2020-01-30T16:27:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Soldiers’ gear doesn’t clack and rattle while they’re marching. This is especially true of their rifles. If they do, they’re either not made well or they’re poorly cared for, which would earn you a reaming from your sergeant. I once took my D&D group to an SCA fighter practice - that ended stupid comments like my knight [in full plate armor] sneaks … =) > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > This is the one that makes me crazy. If the police stopped to question me while I was gardening, I’m pretty sure I’d stand up and take off my dirty gloves. But I guess we’ll have to see when and if the time comes… :rolleyes: I had to go down to the cop shop in New London and give a statement about 15 years back. It was nothing like Law and Order or any other show except for Haven - bunch of guys sitting at desks, wandering around with folders of papers, one or two other non police there for various reasons, and really crappy coffee. Quiet, mainly small conversations going on around and keyboard tapping sounds. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > About the traffic thing. I really like _Bosch_ because of all the recognizable locations in Southern California they shoot in, but it drives me crazy, the way they just jump in a car in Hollywood and hop on up to Ventura or pop on over to Alhambra, or zip on down to Seal Beach like it’s a trip to the corner 7-Eleven. Any of those trips should take half a day in mid-day LA traffic. US Navy Seals with Charlie Sheen … nobody would drive from the southern end of Virginia Beach strip to Portsmouth to go over the James River Bridge, to jump into the James River to swim around to the Va Beach shore to get to the Joint Operations Base [called generally the Amphib Base back then] Just like there is no way in hell at a military wedding they would get bride and groom down the aisle just to have them called out … they would have a basic ‘do you … do you… kiss the bride and sign here’ as they have 30 minutes to get back to base, and they were in the base chapel at the time …_sigh_ > [@DCnDC](#): > > Military uniforms. Most civilians don’t notice or care, but active duty and vets absolutely do, and it’s generally fairly obvious when they mess it up, which they almost always do. > . Or really anything military - mrAru was on the Miami, and a bunch went to see The Hunt for the Red October when they did a revival on the sub base in New London, the commentary was _brutal_ and hysterically funny =) I actually met Tom Clancy at the sub base library when he was doing some research or anther and he dissed me when the librarian pointed me [fat, 40s at the time, female me =)] as the person he should ask about some detail or another. Psh. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/68 "2020-01-30T16:42:37Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Military uniforms. Most civilians don’t notice or care, but active duty and vets absolutely do, and it’s generally fairly obvious when they mess it up, which they almost always do. > > The [First Cavalry patch](https://img1.etsystatic.com/053/0/10286793/il_fullxfull.751658177_kalo.jpg) is big, loud, and very clear, so Hollywood wardrobe designers _love_ to put it on everyone’s shoulder, regardless of their supposed unit, or even military branch. Whenever you see military uniforms in movies or TV, I can almost guarantee you will see it, especially in things produced before HD was ubiquitous. I’ve noticed the 8th Infantry Division patch showing up a lot. It’s my old unit so I’m tuned into it. The unit was deactivated in 1992. It’s probably the same uniforms used over and over in different productions. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/69 "2020-01-30T16:51:53Z")
The police do not ask little old snoopy ladies, private investigators, reporters, librarians, or any other group to help them solve murders. After reading a few of these series, Ed McBain told his wife “If I get murdered, don’t call Miss Marple. Call the cops.” Then he invented the modern police detective novel. ETA: And most criminals get caught because they are stupid. That goes triple in this day of cell pones and video cameras. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/70 "2020-01-30T17:13:00Z")
Cops who put their gun down on the ground at the demand of the bad guy who is holding a gun to a hostages head. If that happened In real life, once the officer put his gun down the criminal would blow his brains out as well as the hostages and then take off running, laughing in morbid disbelief at the stupidity of the cop. Cops who have been on the force 20 years work 18 hour days, every day, but don’t get any vacation days, sick time, personal days, comp time, etc., and only seem to make minimum wage, if that. TV cops are almost always detectives, contrary to real life. TV cops who only have to work on one case at a time. Cops looking for the bad guy holding their pistol pointed straight up in the air. And the all time champion: cops reading people their Miranda rights immediately, before they even have handcuffs on them. Sometimes while they are fighting with the suspect. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/71 "2020-01-30T17:17:33Z")
a lot of movies and shows have ex military advisers. Don’t they ask them about uniforms? Or do they ask and just not care what the guy says? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/72 "2020-01-30T17:29:04Z")
Cowboys back in the day who are exclusively white. Census estimates are that at least 25% were Mexican, black or Native American. Especially in Texas. Cowboys back in the day wearing modern styles of cowboy hats that weren’t developed until this century. Don’t even get us started on things like the “Pioneer Woman’s Rifle,” which when fired into the air with eyes closed will kill a brave on a fast pony 400 yards away. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/73 "2020-01-30T17:33:12Z")
Have you ever noticed that when a SWAT or Special Ops team is conducting a raid they all wearing full gear including helmets/face mask except for the main character? The Law & Order franchise is notorious for this; they have a squad of police officers ready to raid an apartment in tactical gear except for the two main detectives who are just wearing their regular business suits. I guess there were just paying Jerry Orbach and Vincent D’onofrio too much money to cover their faces. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/74 "2020-01-30T17:33:17Z")
And the deadly bow and arrows. If one hits any part of your anatomy, you are dead. And nobody ever bleeds when hit by a gun and/or a bullet. The just drop dead. Unless they are a regular cast member, whereupon there is minimal damage done and they are back on their feet and working next episode. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/75 "2020-01-30T17:51:15Z")
People on TV almost always use defibrillators incorrectly. Shocking a patient _stops_ their heart. The idea, as is my understanding, is that you are stopping the heart in the hopes that it will “reboot” itself and beat normally; it is NOT to “jump start” the patient back to life like you would do with a dead car battery. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/76 "2020-01-30T17:52:56Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The job of a foley artist is to make things sound the way an audience thinks they should sound; not the way they actually sound. 99% of the audience “knows” the sound a dropped gun makes from film and TV; not real life, so THAT is the sound that needs to be used. Yeah, I don’t really mind those sounds. But like the OP, I dislike it when everyone remembers exactly where they were. Some TV shows have moved away from that without dragging out the scene in a boring way at all. It’s not hard, is it? They sometimes show that they’ve already asked the questions and the suspect has looked them up (one example I can think of is in the British TV show Vera where Vera simply sends a junior officer in to get dates from the suspect or witness while allowing them supervised access to their phone to check the dates, off screen, while Vera does something else), or they have the suspect be unsure, and it all makes it feel much more realistic. It also enables more avenues for characterisation. Some people don’t remember where they are ever, showing them as either really busy or really forgetful or just normal depending on how long ago it was, and that could affect how reliable the other stuff they remember is. Someone else might be pretty sure where they were at a specific time because they always went to ballroom dancing classes from 7-9pm on Thursdays in 2003 and don’t think they missed any, and it can be checked later off screen. Someone else might suspiciously recall eating a specific restaurant in a specific location at that time several years earlier even though they’re not known for having amazing memory skills. Better than having everyone except homeless drug addicts have the same level of recall. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/77 "2020-01-30T18:04:45Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > How do they get tires to squeal on dirt roads? Driving with ‘enthusiasm’. I will assure you, you\* can\* get tires to squeal on dirt roads. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/78 "2020-01-30T18:15:26Z")
I understand that sword fights in movies/TV shows are not going to be exactly like actual historical combat. They’re going to last longer and look flashier, not to mention everything they do to keep the actors safe. That’s fine, it’s more fun to watch than, say, HEMA sparring. But I’ve seen two annoying things lately. First is the underhand/reverse grip on swords. Just hold your sword the right way, you look like an idiot. Second is that “stance” where the fighter seems to steady the flat of the sword against their forearm, like [this shot](https://twitter.com/witchernetflxtv/status/1210487465821249536/photo/3) (bottom left) from _The Witcher_. I like to call it the please-kill-me guard, because all it does is leave most of your body open and undefended. > [@dorvann](#): > > Have you ever noticed that when a SWAT or Special Ops team is conducting a raid they all wearing full gear including helmets/face mask except for the main character? Similarly, main characters in medieval/fantasy battle scenes never wear helmets. I get it, anything with full face coverage will obscure the actors faces and make it muffle their speech, but you could at least give them an open faced helmet. While I’m thinking about it, most armor in medieval settings is either wildly anachronistic or overly fantasy-looking. Especially nowadays, when all it takes is a few hours (at most) on YouTube to figure out how it should look. ETA: “Everyone was always dirty in the middle ages” No, people have known how to bathe forever. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/79 "2020-01-30T18:17:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not entirely impossible. Leather scabbards typically have a metal fixture at their top. The sword can drag along that to make the noise. Not in real life, they didn’t. Some fancier scabbards might have had some metal work decoration on the outside, but never in a place where you’d be dragging a sword over it - you’d be blunting the blade every time you drew it. Along the same lines, [nobody ever wore a sword slung over their shoulder](https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/768x433/2018/10/witcher.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194/80 "2020-01-30T18:17:19Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Driving with ‘enthusiasm’. I will assure you, you\* can\* get tires to squeal on dirt roads. You must be joking and that is pretty funny. You are joking, aren’t you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-gaffes-in-movies-and-tv/847194.md?page=5)