# Describe a movie you saw and liked as a kid but can't remember its title

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 4, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911 "2014-01-04T23:41:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/101 "2014-01-07T11:27:52Z")

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I’ve got one I saw the beginning of on TV, but have never been able to ID…it would have been around 1998 (also right around the cutoff date for considering myself a “kid” at the time. Depressingly enough.), on US TV.

It starts out with some knights trudging through a sandstorm in the desert, lead by a monk who looks rather like Rasputin. (The general look actually reminded me quite a bit of the trailers to [Bungie’s old “Myth” game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5kdAUbOlzE)) They rush to some kind of cave/catacomb with a barred gate, where some evil guy (I think he was a vampire or a demon or something) is inside, about to sacrifice a baby (IIRC, the baby was actually a newborn prince) in some evil ritual, and gloats to the heroes that they won’t get to him in time to stop him.

In response, the leader of the heroes (he might have been a king or something—I think he had fancier armor) orders an archer up to the door, who takes aim, and plugs the evil guy with a couple of arrows, buying the good guys enough time to get the door open, save the baby, and dump the evil guy in a crypt or a well, and have the monk seal him in alive.

The _next_ scene, however, skips ahead in time to…the modern day, in what I think was a New York (LA?) police precinct, with what I’m assuming was to be the movie’s real hero talking with his partner.

I’m kinda assuming that the next major plot point was going to involve a security guard getting mysteriously murdered the night before a major museum exhibit’s opening, but that’s just an educated guess.

After that—not much detail is available on my part. It was in color, in English, and by the general film quality and style, I’d say it was made somewhere between the mid-80s and the mid-90s.

I’d just kinda like to know for certain that I didn’t just hallucinate the damned thing.

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**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/102 "2014-01-07T11:42:36Z")

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> [@terentii](#):
>
> Maybe this film? Mineo would have been 18 when it was released.
> 
> [Tonka (film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonka_(film))

No, that’s not it. The boy was much younger. I don’t think he was much more than 12 or so. He was either American Indian or Indian though, I think.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/103 "2014-01-07T14:40:01Z")

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> [@Wallet](#):
>
> Wow, that must be it! . . .

That’s the first thing I thought of, but there’s no live goose in it. There’s an actress playing a goose. She does a song, “Oh, them golden eggs! Oh, them golden eggs! You can’t break 'em, even if you drop them on the floor. . . .”

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/104 "2014-01-07T16:45:31Z")

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I remember a movie starring Kim Basinger where the very final scene had her in a hospital/morgue setting. The doctor pulled back a sheet to reveal a body - when Kim saw it, her hands rose to her mouth in shock… and froze.

Movie over.

I only saw that one 30-second snippet in the pre-DVR days and was not able to find out the name of the movie. Any help would be appreciated.

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/105 "2014-01-07T16:58:41Z")

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A young incorigable boy about 16 was having problems at home but got hooked up with a dog kennel training bird dogs and found his place in life. About 1948 I would say.

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/106 "2014-01-07T17:35:15Z")

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> [@JohnT](#):
>
> I remember a movie starring Kim Basinger where the very final scene had her in a hospital/morgue setting. The doctor pulled back a sheet to reveal a body - when Kim saw it, her hands rose to her mouth in shock… and froze.
> 
> Movie over.
> 
> I only saw that one 30-second snippet in the pre-DVR days and was not able to find out the name of the movie. Any help would be appreciated.

Well she was in the Tom Petty video [Mary Jane’s Last Dance](http://youtu.be/aowSGxim_O8), where Tom Petty was a morgue assistant and she was a dead body, and at the end it freezes on her floating in the ocean in a wedding dress…

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/107 "2014-01-07T17:36:47Z")

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Naw, that wasn’t it. Researching it and it may have been [Killjoy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082616/). Bonus feature: looks like the DVD box has the shot of Basinger that I remembered… what are the damned odds of that?

Now looking deeper… it’s a 1981 made-for-TV movie that was put on DVD. But the DVD is hailed as being in widescreen. 😕 Wouldn’t that just f-up the aspect ratios, or is it a way to tell the purchaser “there’s gonna be a lot of black bars on this 'un”?

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**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/108 "2014-01-07T19:10:01Z")

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**When did it come out?** Probably mid to late 80s. I saw it on cable a lot when I was a kid.  
**Who was in it?** Don’t remember any of the actors specifically.  
**What plot if any do you remember?** It was a kind of Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons type knockoff, with at least elves if not also dwarves and orcs and so forth. An elf for sure, though, who, through the magic of cheap editing, seemed to be able to rapid-fire several arrows with almost machine gun rapidity.  
**What was special to you about it?** At the time, pretty much anything like Dungeons and Dragons in a film seemed more awesome than anything in the world.

**Any other clues you can think of?** I know for certain it’s not:  
Any of the Conan movies  
Red Sonya  
Beastmaster

I’m not sure if it’s one of these, as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them:  
Legend  
Willow  
LadyHawke

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**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/109 "2014-01-07T19:16:18Z")

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> [@Cuckoorex](#):
>
> **When did it come out?** Probably mid to late 80s. I saw it on cable a lot when I was a kid.  
> **Who was in it?** Don’t remember any of the actors specifically.  
> **What plot if any do you remember?** It was a kind of Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons type knockoff, with at least elves if not also dwarves and orcs and so forth. An elf for sure, though, who, through the magic of cheap editing, seemed to be able to rapid-fire several arrows with almost machine gun rapidity.  
> **What was special to you about it?** At the time, pretty much anything like Dungeons and Dragons in a film seemed more awesome than anything in the world.
> 
> **Any other clues you can think of?** I know for certain it’s not:  
> Any of the Conan movies  
> Red Sonya  
> Beastmaster
> 
> I’m not sure if it’s one of these, as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them:  
> Legend  
> Willow  
> LadyHawke

Nevermind; I found it! [Hawk the Slayer](http://www.g-pop.net/hawktheslayer.htm). I need to find this again to experience the ultimate in cheese, apparently.

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/110 "2014-01-07T19:18:30Z")

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That would be Hawk The Slayer.

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORXmKxe-iHk)

Example of rapid fire at 1m40s  
Edit - Ninja’d

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**Author:** ![Attila\_the\_Nun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Attila\_the\_Nun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attila_the_Nun)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/111 "2014-01-07T19:23:40Z")

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> [@j666](#):
>
> I remember the scene you describe from the book, and a similar but different scene from the movie. The movie looked nothing like the “poster” on IMDB.

Thank you. I think you are probably right. I just barely remember the movie.

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**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/112 "2014-01-07T22:22:07Z")

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I remember a movie from the 70’s or circa 1980, I saw it on TV in the early 90’s.

It involved a pet turtle that somehow became a monster. The protagonists had it as a pet as kids and they marked their initials on its shell. Years later it was huge and killing folks. I seem to remember the girl’s father was a scientist and he had a laboratory by the ocean. At the end of the movie there was a cheesy “reveal” scene where we see the initials on the monster turtle’s shell.

OMG, found it:

> **[The Bermuda Depths (TV Movie 1978) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077223/)**
>
> The Bermuda Depths: Directed by Tsugunobu Kotani. With Leigh McCloskey, Carl Weathers, Connie Sellecca, Julie Woodson. Scientists investigating the briny deep are threatened by a giant turtle and the spirit of a young brunette swimmer in the Bermuda...

The Bermuda Depths (1978), with Carl Weathers!

Amazing how useful the keyword search on IMDB can be.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/113 "2014-01-08T01:28:34Z")

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> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> Horror movie seen on tv in the 80s.
> 
> Film stock quality pegs it in the 60s-70s.
> 
> The monster is a human-shaped mound of mud…which bursts into flame in contact with salt.

The World Beyond

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RzjM40LU8XI/hqdefault.jpg "The World Beyond (1978)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjM40LU8XI)

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**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/114 "2014-01-08T08:02:13Z")

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I remember an Afterschool Special sometime during the mid 80s. It was a dramatization of the the true story of a man on death row for murdering a gun store owner. He made a video to try to sway young people from making the same mistakes he made. His time on the video is interspersed with the film of the actors recreating points of his life, and how he ended up murdering a family man who owned a gun store. When he shoots the guy goes down. He approaches and takes aim and pumps another bullet into the man who cries out in pain. Then his children start running into the store area screaming “DADDY DADDY WHAT HAPPENED!?” The trigger man and his partner flee but are eventually apprehended, and yes he does get executed.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/115 "2014-01-08T17:09:05Z")

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In case anyone’s interested, some movie buffs put together [a listing of the frequently asked movie questions.](http://actwon.com/imdb/GlennME_FAQ/default.htm) Possibly you might have had some of the same questions. Enjoy!

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/116 "2014-01-08T17:21:55Z")

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> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> In case anyone’s interested, some movie buffs put together [a listing of the frequently asked movie questions.](http://actwon.com/imdb/GlennME_FAQ/default.htm) Possibly you might have had some of the same questions. Enjoy!

And it cites Cecil Adams for the Loony Tunes/ Merrie Melody question

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**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/117 "2014-01-08T18:40:20Z")

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> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> When did it come out?  
> Who was in it?  
> What plot if any do you remember?  
> What was special to you about it?
> 
> Any other clues you can think of?

Mid to late 70’s…saw it in the movie theater.

No clue on any of the actors

A family in a flying saucer crashes on Earth. Hide their flying saucer at the bottom of a lake. Can’t remember if only the father leaves or the entire family leaves. Kinda remember at least one person staying behind on the ship. Seem to remember them being chased back to the lake and ending with the flying saucer coming out of the lake.

I seem to remember more about the movie poster than the movie itself…the movie poster was the earth with a flying saucer stuck in the side.

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**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/118 "2014-01-08T20:00:06Z")

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> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> The World Beyond  
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjM40LU8XI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjM40LU8XI)

Is this the one where the Mud Man reaches a hand inside a door and gets it cut off (either by a hatchet or knife or the door itself)? If it is, it’s the first movie I ever remember watching and then running to my room in fear at the point that the arm gets cut off!

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**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/119 "2014-01-08T20:03:21Z")

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> [@Cuckoorex](#):
>
> Is this the one where the Mud Man reaches a hand inside a door and gets it cut off (either by a hatchet or knife or the door itself)? If it is, it’s the first movie I ever remember watching and then running to my room in fear at the point that the arm gets cut off!

Nevermind, I found the scene that nearly scarred me for life!!!

[Mud Man Loses Arm in Door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlFJawQwZI4)

(I was 5 years old when this first came out)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/120 "2014-01-08T20:50:47Z")

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> [@edwards\_beard](#):
>
> Mid to late 70’s…saw it in the movie theater.
> 
> No clue on any of the actors
> 
> A family in a flying saucer crashes on Earth. Hide their flying saucer at the bottom of a lake. Can’t remember if only the father leaves or the entire family leaves. Kinda remember at least one person staying behind on the ship. Seem to remember them being chased back to the lake and ending with the flying saucer coming out of the lake.
> 
> I seem to remember more about the movie poster than the movie itself…the movie poster was the earth with a flying saucer stuck in the side.

Was it _UFO: Target Earth_?

> **[UFO: Target Earth](http://classicscifi.blogspot.com/2013/09/ufo-target-earth.html?m=1)**
>
> This is another of those films written, produced and directed by the same man. Michael A. DeGaetano's UFO: Target Earth (UTE) is a very l...

> **[UFO: Target Earth (1974) ⭐ 2.7 | Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131624/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)**
>
> 1h 20m | G

https://www.youtube.com/embed/HFh-3yA2qag?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque

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