# Common Held Beliefs or Ignorance about a Film That Drives You Crazy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 13, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524 "2023-08-13T19:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/141 "2023-08-15T13:14:22Z")
We also know that he’s had a fake persona as a two bit crippled con artist long enough that Keaton and the NYPD were convinced that’s who he was. He had to have a reason to fake that physical disability for so long. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/142 "2023-08-15T13:41:12Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > Interesting. How do you feel about Return of the King? I ask because they’re both considered top tennish films, but there’s also an air of populism about their high ranking. If that makes sense. I honestly think “Return of the King” is the worst movie to ever be given Best Picture and I don’t think it’s a close call. That’s not really in the spirit of the thread so I’ll throw in my own. Well, maybe it’s not one most misunderstand, but people often seem confused by what Jerry Lundegaard is up to in “Fargo.” He’s running two scams at once, and four different sums of money are talked out, so I get why it baffles people, but it does make sense. 1. Jerry has scammed the car dealership, owned by his father in law, for $320,000. He has done this by getting car loans from GMAC for non-existent vehicles. Now an auditor is demanding proof the cars actually existed. Presumably, he’s frittered the money away. 2. He comes up with the idea of buying a parking lot and borrowing the money from his father in law. He’s asking for $750,000 to buy the lot, so he likely plans to use some of it to pay off GMAC and figure out a way to buy the lot with only a portion of the purchase price, perhaps using that cash to leverage the rest. 3. It’s apparent by the time the movie starts that he’s been trying for awhile to borrow that money from his father in law. Desperate, he concocts the kidnapping plan. Plan B is to have his wife kidnapped, get a million bucks from his father in law, pay the kidnappers just $40,000 plus a car (why he came up with $40,000 is never explained but it doesn’t matter) and boom, he’s got all the money he needs. 4. He is surprised when he starts the kidnapping plan and then immediately after his father in law’s accountant actually decides the parking lot loan is a good idea. Of course his plans are imbecilic and full of holes, but this is what he was planning. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/143 "2023-08-15T13:44:30Z")
As I recall, that’s why he’s flummoxed when the FIL wants to buy the parking lot by himself - it cuts Jerry out of tbe miney he needs. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/144 "2023-08-15T13:45:26Z")
I would offer a slight correction to point number 4. His father-in-law’s accountant decides that the parking lot _purchase_ is a good idea–for his father-in-law. They’re not going to loan him the $750,000 (“We’re not a bank, Jerry”), just pay him a modest finder’s fee, which is not enough to cover what he owes to GMAC. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/145 "2023-08-15T13:49:37Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > As I recall, that’s why he’s flummoxed when the FIL wants to buy the parking lot by himself - it cuts Jerry out of tbe miney he needs. Yes, that just completely ruins Plan A. Of course, he’s an idiot for not taking what he could get. Had he been able to get the finder’s fee, $75,000 might have at least helped him flee. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > I would offer a slight correction to point number 4. His father-in-law’s accountant decides that the parking lot _purchase_ is a good idea–for his father-in-law. They’re not going to loan him the $750,000 (“We’re not a bank, Jerry”), just pay him a modest finder’s fee, which is not enough to cover what he owes to GMAC. Of course, Jerry doesn’t know that until he gets there. He tries to call off the kidnapping because he assumes Wade actually will lend him the $750,000. I mean, his plans are all stupid. Suppose he actually pulled off the kidnapping plan exactly as he drew it out and manages to end up with $960,000 after he pays Showalter and Grimsrud; now what? You can’t just send $320,000 in cash to GMAC, they’d call the police. You can’t just drop it in a dealership account, the bank will want to know where all that cash came from. Even in 1987, things like that would set off alarm bells, and I don’t think Jerry is an expert in laundering money. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/146 "2023-08-15T14:18:48Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > > [@Pavelb1](#): > > > > You mean to tell me that Dottie drops the ball on purpose, breaking the hearts of her entire team and the entire fanbase? > > I agree completely. The Dottie character simply would not deliberately tank, not for any reason. The movie fully established her drive, determination, and integrity. To suggest that was all a mirage?—nope, nope, nope! Except she has also decided that baseball wasn’t the most important thing, family was. She was giving all of it up for her husband. Why not also give her sister the win? At the very least her drive and determination weren’t so important to her anymore. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/147 "2023-08-15T14:38:57Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > BOLDING mine. This always bothered me too! And IFIR the Bugs Bunny WC doppleganger _spoke_ to us! It violated a natural order of things or something. There is the cartoon where there are two kids watching Road Runner, and one asks why the coyote wants to catch the Road Runner. Wile E. stops and answers him (“a legitimate question, young man…”). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/148 "2023-08-15T14:52:34Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Well, we see Vito whack Fanucci so he can continue to build his dirty business in New York in peace. Fanucci was portrayed as a terrible person preying on his own people. i.e. He had it coming. (Just like that damned horse! He knows what he did.) > [@zbuzz](#): > > We see Vito extorting the landlord so that Signora Colombo can stay in her apartment. And Michael extorting Senator Geary pays dividends all over the place. Vito helped an old widow keep her home from a greedy landlord, so he’s the benevolent force in that scenario. And Senator Geary was a corrupt politican with a penchant for hookers. He had it coming. The point is that we don’t see the regular people who are victimized by the Corleone crime family. And it was a deliberate choice to ensure the audience would be able to sympathize with them. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/149 "2023-08-15T15:00:18Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Because he is smart enough to assume Vizzini is smart enough to notice if he wasn’t tensing up Vizzini would assume it’s in both glasses. He _clearly_ can’t fake the poison in his own cup, because that’s too obvious, and Vizzini would spot that easy feint. But he _clearly_ can’t fake having the poison in Vizzini’s cup, because that’s an obvious double-feint. And he _clearly_ can’t fake it being in “neither” cup, because a man of true wisdom would realize it was actually in both. Truly a staggering intellect. Speaking of AI, the belief or ignorance there that I find is that viewers think the mechas actually brought David’s mother back. “The tech is stupid: how can they bring her back, but for only a day? Stupid!” The truth is, they faked it. For however advanced a machine David is, he’s really not that sophisticated. His programming can’t be altered. He loves his mom, and short of wiping his brain, nothing can be done. But the advanced mechas have compassion. They won’t brain wipe him. But, they give him a version of what he wants. He gets his mother, for a day. He’s truly happy. He’s too simple to realize that it’s a lie. Like a kid who was told his dog “went to live on a farm upstate”, he is content. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/150 "2023-08-15T16:11:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Except she has also decided that baseball wasn’t the most important thing, family was. She was giving all of it up for her husband. Why not also give her sister the win? At the very least her drive and determination weren’t so important to her anymore. A poster addressed this in post 128. Rather brilliantly, I think… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/151 "2023-08-15T17:09:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Speaking of AI, the belief or ignorance there that I find is that viewers think the mechas actually brought David’s mother back. “The tech is stupid: how can they bring her back, but for only a day? Stupid!” The truth is, they faked it. For however advanced a machine David is, he’s really not that sophisticated. His programming can’t be altered. He loves his mom, and short of wiping his brain, nothing can be done. But the advanced mechas have compassion. They won’t brain wipe him. But, they give him a version of what he wants. He gets his mother, for a day. He’s truly happy. He’s too simple to realize that it’s a lie. Like a kid who was told his dog “went to live on a farm upstate”, he is content. Yeah, that makes sense. That never really sat well with me that they could “magically” bring his mom back to life but just for a day. It seems much more likely they could simulate his mom in some sort of VR environment. And maybe it only lasts a day because the act of pulling all the data out of David’s brain ends up destroying it. David just experiences it as a pleasant day with his mom. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/152 "2023-08-15T17:40:18Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > He drops broad suggestions as to what he would like to have happen, his sons and Hagen and Tessio pick up the suggestion, and they invariably know a guy who knows a guy. \*“Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > How would the Gestapo have found Marion if they hadn’t followed Indy to Nepal? Do they? Or do they get there first? Next- the Nazis may have been “digging in the wrong place” to start, that doesnt mean with unlimited manpower they wouldnt have found it. > [@dorvann](#): > > Speaking of _Signs_ and whether or not the creatures are aliens… IMHO, all that water in glasses turned into Holy Water. Of course, I could be wrong… > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Kevin Spacey’s character is _definitely_ Keyser Soze. Incidentally, that isnt the way Police interrogations go. Spin a lovely story\*- they check it\* before they let you go. > [@RickJay](#): > > Jerry has scammed the car dealership, owned by his father in law, for $320,000. He has done this by getting car loans from GMAC for non-existent vehicles. Now an auditor is demanding proof the cars actually existed. Presumably, he’s frittered the money away. I do not think “non-existent”. I think he did sell the cars, then pocketed the $$. Incidentally, does anyone know if the first two Fargo spin off mini-series are available anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/153 "2023-08-15T17:56:55Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As I recall from reading the script, the crew of the bomber (called the “Leper Colony”) was meant to be multi-ethnic/-religious as something of a parody of the same trope in classic war movies. Sounds like the pilot of the _ **12 O’Clock High** _ TV series (with Robert Lansing and Paul Burke), except the crew of _The Leper Colony_ were just misfits and ne’er-do-wells. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/154 "2023-08-15T18:15:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Incidentally, does anyone know if the first two Fargo spin off mini-series are available anywhere? Looks like they’re streaming on Hulu, or you can purchase them at Apple/Vudu/Amazon ($20/$15/$15 per season, respectively). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/155 "2023-08-15T18:17:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Spin a lovely story\*- they check it\* before they let you go. IIRC, they didn’t let him go, they were told to let him go, from up on high. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2023, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/156 "2023-08-15T18:20:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > > As I recall from reading the script, the crew of the bomber (called the “Leper Colony”) was meant to be multi-ethnic/-religious as something of a parody of the same trope in classic war movies. > > Sounds like the pilot of the _ **12 O’Clock High** _ TV series (with Robert Lansing and Paul Burke), except the crew of _The Leper Colony_ were just misfits and ne’er-do-wells. Which comes directly from the movie. Hugh Marlowe’s character is demoted from executive officer and ordered to fly every mission with a crew of the worse in the unit. At the end when Savage can’t fly he takes over and leads the mission. It was a good series but I think the movie may be the best post WWII war movie. Done while showing very little combat. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/157 "2023-08-15T18:43:02Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > There is the cartoon where there are two kids watching Road Runner, and one asks why the coyote wants to catch the Road Runner. Wile E. stops and answers him (“a legitimate question, young man…”). I referenced that in my post. The Coyote breaks character, and the fourth wall, to talk to the two children. Since this is a cartoon in which he’s chasing the Road Runner, the character that he is stepping out of is The Coyote, not Wile E. Coyote. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/158 "2023-08-15T18:56:59Z")
Thought of a small one: _U-571_ “That didn’t happen!!! Americans didnt do it!!! It was the British !! REEEEEEE” No one ever said _U-571_ wasn’t fiction. No more then _The Bedford Incident_ is a documentary. Ficcctiooonnnnn. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/159 "2023-08-15T19:23:30Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > Ficcctiooonnnnn. Fantassssyyyyyyyyyyyy! ---
**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:** [August 15, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524/160 "2023-08-15T19:25:39Z")
> [@Pavelb1](#): > > No one ever said _U-571_ wasn’t fiction. I’m with you! Was The Dirty Dozen attacked for not being “real”? Killing all those natzees that never existed? How about The Longest Day? Hell, Imitation Game took more liberties with actual fact than U571 did with fiction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-held-beliefs-or-ignorance-about-a-film-that-drives-you-crazy/988524.md?page=9)