# Finish the Movie Cliche! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988 "2008-11-10T04:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/221 "2008-11-23T17:50:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The fussy school official with the clipboard and stopwatch is invariably… …knocked face-first into a huge mud puddle. Whenever Christopher Walken appears onscreen… ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/222 "2008-11-23T17:54:01Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The fussy school official with the clipboard and stopwatch is invariably… …given his or her comeuppance by the supposedly by-the-book superintendant who has gone by the book and found a loophole. We’ll go from here with **Superman** ’s: Whenever Christopher Walken appears onscreen… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/223 "2008-12-05T06:13:32Z")
…he will play a key but oddly disconcerting part in the unfolding of the plot. Whenever a car pulls up at an intersection next to our hero, its windows rolled down and Latino music pounding out a steady beat… ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/224 "2008-12-05T06:41:22Z")
… the young men within can not be ordinary and ignore the hero - they must either be eeeevil gangbangers out to shoot our hero, or friendly, upright minorities willing to help our hero buck The Man[sup]TM[/sup]. Our hero is backed up against the edge of a high place, the edge of a cliff or the highest ultra-tech skyscraper in a cyberpunk Hong Kong, so he… ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/225 "2008-12-05T06:48:17Z")
…Jumps. He’ll be fine, of course, but the villain will be convinced the hero’s dead. That is, until he bursts into the secret headquarters 15 minutes later. Anytime a character falls into a box, no matter how silly or unrealistic, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, thus increasing the drama. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/226 "2008-12-05T14:39:17Z")
Anytime a character falls into a box, no matter how silly or unrealistic, the box lid closes on him and he begins having difficulty breathing, thus increasing the drama. If a character has to hop a fence and cross a field in a rural area, there will always be… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988.md?page=11)