# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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 12, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/101 "2008-11-12T19:21:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > will be spectacularly destroyed, usually by accidental fire. > > When we get a look at the apartment of the NYPD “cop on the edge,” it is always… A seedy, dingy dump in a tenement building. (The sound of a baby crying can clearly heard through the paper-thin walls from an adjacent apartment.) In a horror movie, the hapless teens driving up to the isolated cabin-in-the-woods will invariably include at least three character archetypes, including… ---
**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:** [November 12, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/102 "2008-11-12T20:27:58Z")
the dumb bimbo, the slacker, and the jock, all of whom must die horribly. The pirate who leaps onto the deck of a hapless merchant ship must always… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/103 "2008-11-12T23:37:06Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also, > **Any young woman who just moved to NYC…** Is an aspiring artist of some kind, who lives in an apartment you’d have to be a gazillionaire to afford… but we know she’s NOT a gazillionaire, because she has empty Chinese restaurant take-out boxes everywhere. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/104 "2008-11-13T01:05:45Z")
…toss off a pithy one-liner before anything else. After the musical intro to a romantic comedy, we will find our hero and heroine are both doing what? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/105 "2008-11-13T01:39:10Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > After the musical intro to a romantic comedy, we will find our hero and heroine are both doing what? Going about their (separate) lives, usually interacting with a best friend or coworker. Any time a scene features a western landscape, you will hear… ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/106 "2008-11-13T01:52:20Z")
…a hawk’s cry. Unless necessary for a plot point, parking spaces are always… ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/107 "2008-11-13T02:37:44Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > …a hawk’s cry. > > Unless necessary for a plot point, parking spaces are always… …empty. The villian has succeeded. The planet is vaporized. A hero gasps. The camera fades, and… ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/108 "2008-11-13T02:40:43Z")
…the hero wakes up from a terrible nightmare. Name the 5 distinct ethnic groups represented in EVERY American infantry squad in a World War 2 picture. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/109 "2008-11-13T05:02:31Z")
> [@Wargamer](#): > > …the hero wakes up from a terrible nightmare. > > Name the 5 distinct ethnic groups represented in EVERY American infantry squad in a World War 2 picture. One white guy from Brooklyn, a Southern white redneck, a Jew, an African-American (who slowly wins the admiration of the redneck) and an Asian guy for comic relief. When a macho veteran cop expresses the slightest doubts about his new female partner’s ability to handle herself in a rough neighborhood… ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/110 "2008-11-13T05:09:39Z")
…she’ll end up saving his life by way of her amazonian cajones. Whenever there is a scene with more than one man in a men’s bathroom at a wall of urinals… ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/111 "2008-11-13T05:15:33Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > One white guy from Brooklyn, a Southern white redneck, a Jew, an African-American (who slowly wins the admiration of the redneck) and an Asian guy for comic relief… During WW2? I don’t think so. The Army wasn’t integrated yet (even by Hollywood). I’d agree with the Brooklyn white guy, the Southern redneck and the Jew, but for the latter two I’d substitute the Midwestern hayseed farm kid, and the preppy from the wealthy family who was too much of a screwup to become an officer. Whenever there is a scene with more than one man in a men’s bathroom at a wall of urinals… one of them will be whistling. A beautiful woman in a spacesuit in a scifi movie, of course, must… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/112 "2008-11-13T05:37:43Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > A beautiful woman in a spacesuit in a scifi movie, of course, must… Have the NASA/Starfleet/Whatever’s only skin-tight spacesuit while the men look like Buzz Aldrin. When the hero/heroine tells their hopeless dilemma to the kind old stranger sitting next to them it will turn out… ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/113 "2008-11-13T05:41:08Z")
…that he just so happens to have the means to solve the dilemma/is intimately connected with the issue/is the hero/heroine’s childhood hero and of course they can help. If a plot crucial letter is being delivered by parcel/mailbag, and the carrier is one of the characters, then… ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/114 "2008-11-13T05:47:32Z")
The kind old stranger has a story to tell, that at first seems totally random and irellevant, but gradually starts to make sense. You see he had a buddy back in the day who had exactly the same problem. “And here’s how he dealt with it…[explanation]… Matter-of-fact, I do believe I still have the [widget] that will allow you to [save the day] back at home in the back of mah closet”. “You’re welcome to it if ya wan it.” Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/115 "2008-11-13T05:50:52Z")
The letter is going to get caught in the wind, snatched by a dog, or swapped with a similar looking letter. Either way, that letter is toast. If a character demonstrates an appreciation for classical music, that character is either… or … ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/116 "2008-11-13T05:55:25Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > If a character demonstrates an appreciation for classical music, that character is either… or … gay or a total snob. Whenever you drive to a house in a poor black section of any southern city or rural county you will know you’re getting near when you hear… ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/117 "2008-11-13T05:58:11Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The letter is going to get caught in the wind, snatched by a dog, or swapped with a similar looking letter. Either way, that letter is toast. > > If a character demonstrates an appreciation for classical music, that character is either… or … … old or a square. Name the different type of aliens and how they interact with the government ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/118 "2008-11-13T06:25:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > gay or a total snob. > Whenever you drive to a house in a poor black section of any southern city or rural county you will know you’re getting near when you hear… Gunfire. If you’re a female superhero in Gotham City, even though you would expect it, and the men seem to, you don’t seem to have any… ---
**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:** [November 13, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/119 "2008-11-13T16:50:28Z")
problem hitting on handsome, wealthy Bruce Wayne while not realizing who his alter ego is. Any very speedy superhero will not be able to resist… ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988/120 "2008-11-13T18:29:21Z")
running on top of water to show off. The very BEST supervillians will never… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finish-the-movie-cliche/471988.md?page=7)