I’ve always liked the Tommy Westphall ending just because it has engendered so much conversation. And pretty ballsy to write.
Willy Wonka following the rules of sacrifice for summoning demons from Cabin in the Woods is nonsense, but I like it anyway.
Hate the Ferris Bueller theory, agree that it doesn’t add up.
ETA: my wife taught film classes, and one of the things she noted hearing my voice to text is that the Sherlock Holmes books create a huge fan fiction universe, with people writing alternate explanations/endings after he”died”.
Laugh-In was a variety show. The idea of a separate universe or continuity is kind of tenuous.
Laugh-In blended its real and fictional universes. Gladys Ormsby, played by Ruth Buzzi, could show up anywhere on the show. The continuing skits with Tyrone Horneigh. She would show up at the party. Her own comments breaking the fourth wall. She’d interact with the guest stars, playing themselves, doing the cutaways. Ruth Buzzi, as herself, was also free to do the same. All of the regulars appeared as themselves as well as whatever characters they were playing.
Dick Martin as himself was more obviously a put-on. But that tended to be only in the set routines with Dan Rowan. When they were doing the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate or the news, he didn’t play dumb.
Richard Nixon appeared on the show as himself. But they had an actor, Jack Riley, portray LBJ. I don’t remember a lot of other cases of them using actors to play real people.
That being said, bringing in an outside character was weird, even for Laugh-In. I do think that Klink interacted with a cast member playing themselves. Werner Klemperer never broke character or appeared as himself.
They did have an animatronic version of Mr. Magoo, dressed in an Uncle Sam outfit and voiced by Jim Backus, that appeared in an ep. I think Backus did appear briefly, as himself, in another episode.
With Laugh-In, it’s probably safe to say anything could happen, so Klink showing up wasn’t out of that realm.
Least Favorite - The whole “Indiana Jones literally doesn’t do anything to save the day in Raiders of the Lost Ark” theory. It’s become a staple in movie discussions now, mainly due to that Big Bang Theory episode (I have no idea if it invented it) where that was a running joke. But it’s also demonstrably false, his mission was to retrieve the Ark for the US Government and he does it. If Jones wasn’t there the Nazis would have eventually recaptured it. Jones also kills enough Nazis on his own to make it worth well enough the risk.
I kinda hate the “James Bond is a code name” theory as well. Characters get re-casted, it’s not that big of a deal. Does that mean that Felix Lieter and Moneypenny are code names as well?
If I had to pick the fan theory I hate the most. it would be this one. Although I suppose if you want to pretend the movie took place in “Real Life” it would make sense.
It wasn’t just an in-joke. In the UK, it was traditional for the head of an intelligence organization to sign documents with just an initial. It goes back at least to World War One.
In-joke in that it was a reference to Smith-Cumming signing them with ‘C’. Fleming just used another of the man’s initials. Really a homage. Though I’ve no idea why he didn’t pick, ‘S’.
Strange to think of an internal security service also as an ‘intelligence organization’, though MI-5 does fit the definition. The tradition didn’t extend to Scotland Yard?
Mainly because I consider those internal functions subsets of law enforcement, and I don’t usually think of law enforcement agencies as intelligence services. Though of course, they are. NYPD’s, to pick on them, is one of the larger intelligence services in the entire world, by that definition.
‘Intelligence service’, to me, means foreign intelligence service. Mossad vs Shin Bet. As foreign intelligence is not usually a law enforcement function. But see, things like gathering intelligence on narco-terrorism and their affiliated organizations.
Not a big deal, and my internal horizons have now been broadened. Thanks.
Apparently there was a few lines missing in the final cut of the scene when Indy and Saul take the Head Piece of the Staff of Ra to that old guy for translation. I guess he then warns Indy not to look when the Ark is opened.
That’s the only reason he WAS able to take it to the Americans.
Bear in mind that the Shin Bet - which I presume was based on MI-5 - is also classified as an intelligence organization, and has no law enforcement powers. If they want someone arrested, they need to call the police.
Indy’s biggest contribution to the plot (besides saving Marion) is blowing up the Nazi flying wing that was going to transport the Ark directly to Germany and then smuggling the Ark onto an Allied freighter, forcing the Germans to stop the freighter with a U-Boat and then have to make a refueling stop at a Mediterranean U-Boat base where they decide to take a looksie into the Ark.
The BBT episode makes the claim that “Indiana Jones literally has no bearing on the plot” which is demonstrable false.
[quote=“Asuka, post:59, topic:921378”]Indy’s biggest contribution to the plot (besides saving Marion) is blowing up the Nazi flying wing that was going to transport the Ark directly to Germany…
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Which means he actually made matters worse. Imagine what would have happened if the Ark had been opened in the presence of Hitler and his cronies in the middle of Germany.
I’ve heard of this one for years (practically from the time the movie came out) but I just can’t buy into it, in spite of the (quite conscious) efforts of the filmmakers to set up this theory. For me, far too much of the movie takes place outside of Quaid’s frame of reference (e.g. the scene between Richter and Cohagan in the latter’s office, where he kicks the fishtank over) to make me believe that all of this is just happening in his head.