# Famous movie twists you saw coming a mile away **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719 "2006-07-09T10:25:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/61 "2006-07-12T00:08:30Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] Near the beginning of _Silence of the Lambs_ when they’re reviewing information on Buffalo Bill’s victims, they say something like “The first victim wasn’t found until after the other two.” I’ve read enough murder mysteries that, when I heard this, I said right away, “The killer knew the first victim.” Much later on, Clarice realizes this like it’s a big surprise. It always annoyed me that the idea never even occurred to these supposed expert crime investigators before that. . [/QUOTE] That’s what gets me. Isn’t it axiomatic that most murders are committed by somebody that knew the victim!?!?!? hh ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/62 "2006-07-12T05:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] I can’t say whether I’d have guessed the “secret” of “The Crying Game.” [/QUOTE] I can’t either, because it was “ruined” for me before I saw it as well. Thank you, _Simpsons_ (who also ruined _Planet of the Apes_ in not one, but _two_ episodes). Can anyone else think of any other movies that _The Simpsons_ (or anything else, for that matter) has spoiled? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/63 "2006-07-12T08:25:35Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] Terminator 2. You may be wondering what twist. The twist is Arnie is the good guy this time. The idiot producers gave this away in the trailers. Watch the movie and you will see Arnie and the other Terminator are searching for John Connor. The tension builds becuase we are not meant to know which is good and which bad. Except it does not build becuase everyone knew already. I found this really annoying first time I watched T2 [/QUOTE] Oh, hell, the teaser trailer (you know the one which has almost no footage from the movie, and just narration) blew it for me. When I heard, “This time there are two. One sent to kill, one sent to protect.” I _knew_ that Arnie was going to be the “good” guy this time around. If they’d edited the film so that you _didn’t_ know Arnie was the “good” guy until he showed up in the hospital, it might have been an enjoyable movie. I had _Silence of the Lambs_ figured out way early in the film, so needless to say it bored the _crap_ out of me, and I wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Lector. I figured out _The Machinist_ pretty quickly, but didn’t mind since the movie is kind of similar to some of the things I’ve gone through. _A History of Violence_ was fairly easy to figure out, and there was some movie, damned if I can remember what it was, where I leaned over to my friend a few minutes into the film and told him what the twist was, he looked at me with a there’s-no-way-that-could-possibly-be-true expression on his face only to discover that I was, in fact, correct. Oh, and _Basic Instinct_, how _anyone_ could be surprised by that film, or left wondering who the killer was, is beyond me. Lastly, _The Cell_ was such a pale imitation of _Silence of the Lambs_ that it should have been freakin’ obvious to everyone what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/64 "2006-07-12T12:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Oh, hell, the teaser trailer (you know the one which has almost no footage from the movie, and just narration) blew it for me. When I heard, “This time there are two. One sent to kill, one sent to protect.” I _knew_ that Arnie was going to be the “good” guy this time around. If they’d edited the film so that you _didn’t_ know Arnie was the “good” guy until he showed up in the hospital, it might have been an enjoyable movie. I had _Silence of the Lambs_ figured out way early in the film, so needless to say it bored the _crap_ out of me, and I wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Lector. I figured out _The Machinist_ pretty quickly, but didn’t mind since the movie is kind of similar to some of the things I’ve gone through. _A History of Violence_ was fairly easy to figure out, and there was some movie, damned if I can remember what it was, where I leaned over to my friend a few minutes into the film and told him what the twist was, he looked at me with a there’s-no-way-that-could-possibly-be-true expression on his face only to discover that I was, in fact, correct. Oh, and _Basic Instinct_, how _anyone_ could be surprised by that film, or left wondering who the killer was, is beyond me. Lastly, _The Cell_ was such a pale imitation of _Silence of the Lambs_ that it should have been freakin’ obvious to everyone what was going on. [/QUOTE] Your friend probably appreciated that as much as my date did when I accidentally ruined **Malice**. Towards the end I half-jokingly said Watch, the kid’s blind. Just before it was revealed. She was pissed because she thought I had seen it already. So were the few people within earshot of us. I’m lucky I didn’t get my ass kicked. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/65 "2006-07-12T14:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] Basically what you said, but when people asked me how I got the twist, I just told them “Hmm. The kid sees dead people. The guy gets shot. NO ONE in the entire movie talks to the guy \*except \* for the kid. Do the math.” [/QUOTE] but why doesn;t he get scared and cold when he sees Bruce Willis. I fell for it because he didn’t experience him the same way he did the other dead people. I didn’t see \*\*The Crying Game \*\* coming either. I figured out **Derailed** because I had heard there was a Big Twist and decided to suspect the least suspicious person I guessed Jennifer Aniston was in on it, but as a bored rich wife, not as a lowlife con woman. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/66 "2006-07-12T15:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=Cat Jones] For me it was a couple of things - when he was late for their anniversary dinner and she just totally ignored him (cut him dead you could say !) not even a glance; the grown ups at the wedding not noticing him or reacting to his presence, then the piece of furniture in front of the door down to his basement room. The time he broke the window of her shop by jealous thoughts was too obvious. [/QUOTE] Brief hijack–My parents watched this movie at home one night, and halfway through, my father just suddenly shouted “Oh, wow, he’s _dead_!!!” My mother looked over at him and said “Of course he is, you idiot, _we saw this in the theater_.” End hijack. I remember watching _Dead Again_ in high school, and turning to my friend and saying “This only works if he’s her and she’s him.” I am notorious for figuring out a plot twist either five seconds before it happens, or the first time I see the trailer. The only other time I recall someone getting angry with me for knowing the end was during _Scream 3_, when I announced that A reference to _Return of the Jedi_ plus an unexpected Carrie Fisher cameo equals a hitherto unknown sibling. My friend’s mother holds the record, though, for _The Empire Strikes Back_. The moment Luke called out to Leia from the bottom of Bespin, Mom said aloud “Oh, she’s his sister!” And pissed off an entire theater. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/67 "2006-07-12T16:06:32Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] but why doesn;t he get scared and cold when he sees Bruce Willis. I fell for it because he didn’t experience him the same way he did the other dead people. [/QUOTE] He does get scared. He avoids him on sight, recites a litany when Bruce gets near and only calms down when Bruce starts talking to him normally instead of scaring the crap out of him like most ghosts. He doesn’t get cold because as the kid explains in the hospital it only gets cold when ghosts get upset which Bruce wasn’t through most of the movie. I was 90% sure of the ‘twist’ in **Sixth Sense** from the start and it was confirmed to me during a scene early on when the mother walks into a room with both of them and doesn’t say a word to Bruce. I was like “Ok the mom is extremely concerned about her son so she’d clearly say something to his Doctor the guy is a ghost.” **Identity** I knew who the ‘real’ killer was right of the bat (I honestly never took any of the others seriously) and figured out what was really going on pretty early though I don’t remember what tipped it to me. In general I get most movies about 1/4 to 1/2 way through if there’s any clues to get at all. ---
**Author:** ![wnorthr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wnorthr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wnorthr)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/68 "2006-07-12T19:18:20Z")
In “The Sixth Sense” I was never sure the kid knew Bruce Willis was a Ghost. Is there anything that tells us for sure that he does know? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/69 "2006-07-12T19:26:54Z")
[QUOTE=Darkhold] **Identity** I knew who the ‘real’ killer was right of the bat (I honestly never took any of the others seriously) and figured out what was really going on pretty early though I don’t remember what tipped it to me. [/QUOTE] But there was no killer. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/70 "2006-07-12T19:31:52Z")
[QUOTE=wnorthr] In “The Sixth Sense” I was never sure the kid knew Bruce Willis was a Ghost. Is there anything that tells us for sure that he does know? [/QUOTE] Well early on he looks at Bruce and says (slightly aprehensive) “I’ll see you again won’t I?” Plus he as I said seemed pretty scared of Bruce when he first appeared. I’d say the hospital scene would be what really nailed it he was flat out trying to tell Bruce what he was without actually saying “You’re a freaking ghost! Clue in already!” even if the kid himself was unsure (which I’m sure he wasn’t but the theory is interesting) he would have revealed it himself when he upset Bruce and he got cold with no other ghosts around. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/71 "2006-07-12T19:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] But there was no killer. [/QUOTE] Well the serial killer personality personified by the child then. I knew he’d set up his mother and was going after the other personalities one by one. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/72 "2006-07-12T19:39:25Z")
[QUOTE=handsomeharry] That’s what gets me. Isn’t it axiomatic that most murders are committed by somebody that knew the victim!?!?!? hh [/QUOTE] Which is why (I presume) the killer hid the first body so that it wouldn’t be found until after the other two. If that woman had been found first, the police would’ve started out looking at possible suspects who knew her, as Clarice does towards the end, and found Jame Gumm much earlier. By the time the first woman’s body was found, she was taken to be just one of the victims of a serial killer–who are supposed to hunt for victims more anonymously (not that I really know anything about it; that’s just what I pick up from crime shows and movies). I can only guess that Starling et al. were so focused on the serial killer idea that it never occured them to look at the victims individually until Lector pointed it out–which is idiotic for professional crime investigators, but there we are. And I’ve never even read Marcus Aurelius! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/73 "2006-07-12T23:12:07Z")
_Fight Club_, about 5 minutes before the revelation. [spoiler]From the time I saw their identical briefcases on the plane I was waiting for Wacky Briefcase Mixup Cliche #6. It didn’t happen. When they formed the Fight Club I noticed that they never fought each other. When the girl came into the picture I thought, Aha, they fight over her — Love Triangle Settled In Title Bout — but one of them hates her, so that didn’t happen. Then when he started to follow “Tyler’s” movements and was recognized everywhere, I figured he must have done it himself.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/74 "2006-07-13T03:06:11Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] _Fight Club_, about 5 minutes before the revelation. [/QUOTE] You are a better movie spoiler figurer-outer than I, then, for I didn’t see it coming. The things you pointed out, of course, make perfect sense in hindsight, but when I first saw the movie, I wasn’t expecting anything. Or maybe I was just too engrossed in watching the movie that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. ---
**Author:** ![Erik\_the\_Viking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Erik\_the\_Viking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erik_the_Viking)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/75 "2006-07-18T14:25:54Z")
[QUOTE=Othersider] Can anyone else think of any other movies that _The Simpsons_ (or anything else, for that matter) has spoiled? [/QUOTE] While walking out of _The Empire Strikes Back_ and past the line of people waiting to get in, Homer says very loudly, “Can you believe that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father?” So he spoiled the movie for the people \*in \* the episode plus the people _watching_ the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/76 "2006-07-18T15:32:19Z")
[QUOTE=Draelin] My friend’s mother holds the record, though, for _The Empire Strikes Back_. The moment Luke called out to Leia from the bottom of Bespin, Mom said aloud “Oh, she’s his sister!” And pissed off an entire theater. 😃 [/QUOTE] Got you beat on this one, **Drae**. I had a teacher in high school who accurately predicted not only that Luke and Leia were siblings, but that Darth Vader was their father - right after the first movie came out. She broke down some symbolic things in the movie, and from them figured it out. She was kinda spooky, that one. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/77 "2006-07-18T16:14:57Z")
“Flightplan.” I really pissed off Razorette because she really did not want to believe the federal agent was the kidnapper. I can’t brag about that one too much, though, because the hijacker’s use of Kyle’s husband’s casket caught me flat-footed. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/78 "2006-07-18T16:46:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] Got you beat on this one, **Drae**. I had a teacher in high school who accurately predicted not only that Luke and Leia were siblings, but that Darth Vader was their father - right after the first movie came out. She broke down some symbolic things in the movie, and from them figured it out. She was kinda spooky, that one. [/QUOTE] I believe that George Lucas based a lot of stuff on the writings of Joseph Campbell, he was going for a mythological story. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/79 "2006-07-18T16:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Talon Karrde] I believe that George Lucas based a lot of stuff on the writings of Joseph Campbell, he was going for a mythological story. [/QUOTE] Absolutely, he did. I had just never heard of anybody calling that before seeing _Jedi_. Obviously, **Sean’s** teacher is smarter than my friend’s mother. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719/80 "2006-07-18T17:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=Draelin] Brief hijack–My parents watched this movie at home one night, and halfway through, my father just suddenly shouted “Oh, wow, he’s _dead_!!!” My mother looked over at him and said “Of course he is, you idiot, _we saw this in the theater_.” [/QUOTE] That’s freakin’ hilarious! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-movie-twists-you-saw-coming-a-mile-away/363719.md?page=5)