Dealbreaker screenplay clichés

I mean, I’d certainly rather be shot than burned alive or skinned to death or some other slow and painful method. “Brutally murdered” has a very different connotation than just simply “murdered.”

Ha. And they almost never say “Bye”, or somesuch when ending the call. : ) This drives the DH nuts.

I’ll keep that in mind the next time I feel like whacking someone. God forbid I should be merciful.

Haha, that’s a pretty funny example of turning a trope on its ear. What’s that from?

I just thought of a very common dumb trope I just saw somewhere on a show recently— someone is being chased, doesn’t matter if it’s a car chase or a foot pursuit, the chasee rounds a corner or something and is temporarily out of view of their pursuer, and they take evasive action. If in a car, they find hidden spot in a full parking lot or a dark alley, turn off their lights, and their pursuers drIve past.

If on foot in a house, they may run into a room, open a window and hide under the bed. Pursuers think they went out the window and run outside.

If in the snowy woods, they backtrack in their footsteps for several yards and hide behind a tree. You get the idea.

But, in the previous scene the pursuers were mere seconds behind them. All the evasive maneuvers took a good minute or so.

In fairness, this was done very well in Mr. and Mrs. Smith - the car chase scene.

“I can’t believe I brought my real parents to our wedding.”

“That Mitchell and Webb Look.” Here’s the full sketch:

When I was a graduate student, one of my research projects was on the lynching of John Carter in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1927. During the manhunt, Carter suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound before being hanged from his neck until he was dead. And I actually thought to myself, “Wow, he got off kind of lightly.” Because when it came to lynching, the victims were often tortured prior to the murder.

Let’s take Mary Turner, 8 months pregnant, who was lynched in Georgia in 1918. I’m going to put this is spoilers because it’s absolutely brutal. Ms. Turner was hung upside down from a tree, gasoline was thrown on her, and she was burned. While Turner was still alive, the mob cut the unborn child from her abdomen and when it fell to the ground someone crushed its skull. Only then did the crowd open fire on Turner killing her.

So when someone says a particular murder was brutal I tend to think they just mean it was worse than normal. It’s not that those other murder were gentle, just that this one was worse.

It’s probably not fair to bring Community into this since they very openly lean into all these cliches (and the characters are usually very aware of it). But the ‘let me explain’ scene is one certainly near the top of my favorite Community moments.

Well, you can also poison someone who subsequently dies peacefully in their sleep as a result. Not brutal. Still murder.

“Let’s get outta here.”

You wanna get outta here?

“OK, what’s the plan?”

Which really means:

“OK, what’s the plot point?”

Dying people spitting out blood.

Cliche Thread of the Future: “Man, why can’t anyone in a movie ever hold on to their damn phones? Are they made from Teflon and grease, or something?!?”

Per Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, “Secure the perimeter.”

In techno thriller or science fiction movies/shows.

“These readings are off the chart!”

What exactly are they measuring? Usually some vaguely described energy field-whatsit. What are the units? Who cares, it’s just shorthand for “this is a REALLY serious situation”.

It was said a lot in DS9, a show I actually like quite a lot. Usually by Bashir or O’Brien, who would say it with gusto, or Jadzia, who wouldn’t.

“There’s only one solution…we need a bigger chart!

We’re(you’re) only going one chance at this thing, so (let’s) make it count.

I’m enjoying this thread so much I’ve given myself a headache from passionate nodding.

Oh, yes… the cough. In a third world country, it’s TB. Everywhere else: lung cancer.

If a woman of child-bearing age feels nauseous or throws up at any time, but especially in the morning, she’s preggers.

If anyone, but especially a middle-aged man, has a pain in their left arm: heart attack.

Anyone who runs away from a bad guy ALWAYS falls down at some point. At least now men fall down, too, not just women so that’s progress, I guess.

Cars blow up at the drop of a hat-- going over a cliff, or flipping upside down, or crashing into concrete barriers. Are cars really that explosive?

Then there’s “Not Believing the Kid” (or other naive character) who Saw Something Important, so the plot goes round and round in circles until – oh yeah, The Kid really saw The Thing, so we shoulda believed him before 17 more people got killed. Oh well.

“I can’t talk about it over the phone… you’ve got to meet me!” Right. That person is toast.