# Dealbreaker screenplay clichés **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 14, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002 "2022-03-14T02:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/61 "2022-03-15T15:40:06Z")
“Either _you_ tell him … or I will.” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/62 "2022-03-15T17:12:56Z")
Let’s walk two feet away from the character we are talking about and use our normal voices - they can’t hear us now. ---
**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:** [March 15, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/63 "2022-03-15T17:51:40Z")
“A hunch, Steve?” “A hunch, Danno.” (Nothing on television is as sure as a hunch.) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/64 "2022-03-16T01:42:18Z")
Tripping/knocking the bad guy down causing him/her to drop their weapon, and running away rather than keeping them away from the weapon or kicking them so that they stay down. Pulling a gun on someone from across the room, then marching up to arms length so they can disarm you. The hero tied up, helpless and told that their loved one(s) will be harmed, issuing steely-eyed threats that they can’t _possibly_ make good on. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/65 "2022-03-16T17:28:54Z")
Anyone mentioned the enraging stupidity that is the “humans only use 10% of their brains” trope? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/66 "2022-03-16T20:09:11Z")
Even worse and more pervasive is: > _The definition of insanity is doing thr the same thing over and over but expecting different results._ ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/67 "2022-03-16T20:11:10Z")
“I know how you feel.” _“You can’t possibly know how I feel!”_ ---
**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:** [March 17, 2022, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/68 "2022-03-17T16:18:54Z")
> [@solost](#): > > forcing good guy to whip around and kill him in self-defense. Thus good guy gets to keep his virtuousness, and audience is spared an anticlimactic ending. This was like the end of every episode of Fred Dryer’s Hunter. It got to be so predictable I actually thought he should be prosecuted for murder for deliberately setting up the situation so he could just kill the perp in “self-defense”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/69 "2022-03-17T16:40:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > This was like the end of every episode of Fred Dryer’s Hunter. It got to be so predictable I actually thought he should be prosecuted for murder for deliberately setting up the situation so he could just kill the perp in “self-defense”. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuPb16jRjY) ---
**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:** [March 17, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/70 "2022-03-17T17:25:38Z")
“So long as the paperwork is clean, you boys can do what you like out there.” [![](https://www.madmaxcostumes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mfp15-300x212.jpg) ](https://www.madmaxcostumes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mfp15-300x212.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/71 "2022-03-18T20:31:08Z")
Nobody ever seems to keep their phone locked ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/72 "2022-03-18T22:13:46Z")
Corollary to that one–on doctor shows, apparently those flimsy curtains are soundproof if you go by the way everyone thinks they can pull the curtain then YELL AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS but nobody ever hears what they say. So dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/73 "2022-03-18T23:45:21Z")
“What kind of show is this?” “A drama.” “What’s up with that guy?” “He’s dying from a terminal illness, but doesn’t want anybody to know.” “How do you know?” “He coughed in a handkerchief. Looked at the handkerchief and saw blood. Then he immediately crumpled it in his hand and looked around to see if anyone noticed.” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/74 "2022-03-19T00:17:21Z")
So at this stage of our technology, is the “looks at cell phone and sees ‘No Service’ on its screen” scene a dealbreaker screenplay cliché --or a necessary mean of keeping the plot going? Alternate: more than one character is present and all look at their phones and say “no bars.” Either way: it’s an annoying contrivance. Can’t they have dropped their phones and broken them so badly they no longer work? Can’t they have forgotten their phone in their other pants? Can’t they be dedicated Luddites? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/75 "2022-03-19T15:10:36Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > Corollary to that one–on doctor shows Mention of doctor shows reminded me of a medical procedure that shows almost always get wrong. A patient’s heart stops so the doctor attending to them says “we don’t have a pulse- get out the paddles!” Then makes a big show of lubing them up with conductive gel and rubbing them together, yelling “CLEAR!” and giving the patient a shock. After a couple jolts the monitor usually goes from a flatline to a normal heartbeat. Thing is, those paddle thingies are called defibrillators for a reason— they’re not meant to start a heart that’s not beating, they’re meant to _ **stop** _ a fibrillating heart, so it can restart itself (hopefully) in a normal rhythm. You almost never see defibrillators used in shows and movies for their actual purpose. > [@Hampshire](#): > > “He’s dying from a terminal illness, but doesn’t want anybody to know.” > “How do you know?” > “He coughed in a handkerchief. Yep, the “cough of death”. I don’t think any character has ever coughed in a movie or TV show without it being a harbinger of doom. See also “young woman who throws up: if it’s not made obviously clear that it’s due to being hung over she’s definitely pregnant”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/76 "2022-03-19T15:27:53Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I don’t think any character has ever coughed in a movie or TV show without it being a harbinger of doom With the notable exception of this guy: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNJ5Krj7SQ) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/77 "2022-03-19T15:29:52Z")
“Do it!!!” This said by the bad guy when, after a massive struggle, the good guy finally has him at gun point. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/78 "2022-03-19T15:34:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > “She was **brutally murdered**!” > (What, not _gently_ ? 🤨 ) If you’re a person who has seen a lot of murders, such as a coroner or a detective, there are murders that are more brutal than others. Think of the difference between a victim who was shot twice at close range and another who was beaten to death after 30+ blows with a hammer. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/79 "2022-03-19T15:38:43Z")
So you’re doing the guy who gets plugged a favor by shooting him? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002/80 "2022-03-19T15:50:48Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > So you’re doing the guy who gets plugged a favor by shooting him? “Tell me what I need to know right now and I’ll do you a favor and give you a quick death by shooting you. Otherwise…” (menacingly brandishes scary-looking sharp pointy things). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dealbreaker-screenplay-cliches/961002.md?page=5)