# Game: Describe two different works of fiction with the exact same sentence
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [November 17, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144 "2013-11-17T21:35:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/41 "2013-11-19T02:57:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#):
>
> Not specific enough. Now, if you’d said “A boy of unknown lineage finds himself thrust into a war against a black-armored, undefeatble evil who commands unending legions of unquestioning minions, falls in love with a princess, acquires a weapon of ancient lineage which can only be wielded by a select few, lives to see his mentor die, and struggles with his own doubts about his parentage before ultimately triumphing over the forces of evil”, then you’d be describing both the Star Wars trilogy, and the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. 🙂
_Memory, Sorrow and Thorn_ by Tad Williams, too. And _The Belgariad_ by David Eddings only falls short by the fact that the mentor makes it through the tale.
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### Author:  [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/42 "2013-11-19T05:43:14Z")
Heck, subtract the enemy wearing armor and make the love interest non-royalty and you’ve described Harry Potter.
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### Author:  [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/43 "2013-11-19T14:21:45Z")
After a murderer kills the pilot, a stewardess has to land a passenger plane – and succeeds.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/44 "2013-11-19T14:55:33Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Yes, that’s it.
>
> A banker, well loved in his town because he’s willing to lend to the little guy, is faced with a crisis that could cause his bank to fail and would destroy his reputation. When his friends hear of his troubles, though, they help out, giving him enough money to save the bank.
It’s a Wonderful Life and…something else.
And here’s mine:
A fatherless girl who loves poetry and has spent most of her life caring for younger children is taken in by older people with no children of their own who send her to first the local school and then a high school quite a distance away, where she performs brilliantly scholastically and eventually earns a degree that allows her to become a teacher.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/45 "2013-11-19T23:55:26Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> It’s a Wonderful Life and…something else.
>
> And here’s mine:
>
> A fatherless girl who loves poetry and has spent most of her life caring for younger children is taken in by older people with no children of their own who send her to first the local school and then a high school quite a distance away, where she performs brilliantly scholastically and eventually earns a degree that allows her to become a teacher.
Anne of Green Gables, and…something else.
---
### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/46 "2013-11-20T00:12:56Z")
Movies: A group of aging baby boomers who were close friends in college get together for a weekend and try to rationalize their current comfortable lives with their more radical 60s era ideals. A few get a pick up game going somewhere in the middle.
Not sure if that is enough info.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/47 "2013-11-20T01:02:01Z")
A woman loves two men, one with a shady past who has come into possession of a valuable; she leaves on an airplane with the valuable and one of the men, the shady-past man left behind at the airport.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/48 "2013-11-20T01:26:05Z")
> [@mcgato](#):
>
> Movies: A group of aging baby boomers who were close friends in college get together for a weekend and try to rationalize their current comfortable lives with their more radical 60s era ideals. A few get a pick up game going somewhere in the middle.
>
> Not sure if that is enough info.
**The Big Chill** and **Return of the Secaucus Seven**
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### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/49 "2013-11-20T03:01:48Z")
RealityChuck was correct for my clue. I’m still amazed that John Sayles did not sue for getting his movie ripped off.
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### Author:  [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/50 "2013-11-20T05:15:53Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> A woman loves two men, one with a shady past who has come into possession of a valuable; she leaves on an airplane with the valuable and one of the men, the shady-past man left behind at the airport.
Casablanca and A Fish Called Wanda?
(OK, “Wanda” kinda has to be forced into the hole…)
---
### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/51 "2013-11-20T06:43:19Z")
> [@turtlescanfly](#):
>
> A hotshot, self-absorbed city slicker finds himself stranded in a small town, sentenced to a short term of labor he considers beneath him as punishment for some property damage he inflicted; while at first he can’t wait to get out, he slowly learns to appreciate the small town life, even falling in love with a girl and learning the importance of friendship and having people you can count on. When he finally returns to his former life, he suddenly realizes how shallow it is and returns to the small town and the life he fell in love with.
> [@astorian](#):
>
> _ **Doc Hollywood** _ and Pixar’s _ **Cars** _.
Groundhog Day, too, sort of. (A short term of one day!)
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/52 "2013-11-20T10:13:44Z")
> [@42fish](#):
>
> Casablanca and A Fish Called Wanda?
Yes, this was my intended solution.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/53 "2013-11-20T13:44:02Z")
A hardworking man who’s been pretending to be of the opposite sexual orientation ends the story by coming up with a simple plan to foil the opportunist out to exploit compromising information about a Senator’s wife.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/54 "2013-11-20T15:48:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> The second is **Angel and the Badman** with John Wayne
Sorry I took so long to say, yes- _ **Witness** _ was essentially an updated version of John Wayne’s _ **Angel and the Bad Man** _.
The difference being that cop Harrison Ford must leave the AMish and go back to fight crime in Philly, while John Wayne gives up his life as a gunfighter and becomes a Quaker farmer.
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### Author:  [@Dioptre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dioptre)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/55 "2013-11-20T16:13:55Z")
A socially disfunctional but skilled pilot is unexpectedly selected for a role in an elite fighter pilot program. After a dramatic death he becomes afraid to fly in combat. The story comes to a head with a desperate battle, where the enemy has the upper hand until our hero, previously kept away by his fear, enters the fray and defeats the enemy. He returns to a hero’s welcome, and then assumes a role teaching future pilots.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/56 "2013-11-20T20:08:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> A banker, well loved in his town because he’s willing to lend to the little guy, is faced with a crisis that could cause his bank to fail and would destroy his reputation. When his friends hear of his troubles, though, they help out, giving him enough money to save the bank.
Here’s a hint: both films had the same director.
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/57 "2013-11-20T20:26:12Z")
> [@turtlescanfly](#):
>
> _For the Love of the Game_ and _Bull Durham._
You only got one of them. “For Love of the Game” doesn’t exactly involve a \*new \*woman.
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### Author:  [@Parthol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parthol)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/58 "2013-11-20T21:10:15Z")
A mysterious man with magical powers convinces some utterly normal folk to embark on a world-saving quest. En route they meet a man who turns out to be a king, a king who must ultimately wrest his kingdom from its current insane ruler. They journey across a land populated by humans, dwarves and elves (and there are all of these in their company) but alas, part way through the tale, the mysterious magician falls from a high bridge while doing battle with an evil servant of the Big Bad Evil Enemy who threatens the world. Said magician is presumed dead, but comes back to the story later, very much alive.
As the unlikely heroes press on into the dark, forbidding country where dwells the BBEE, they are vexed by a small insane creature who once possessed the powerful artifact upon which hinges the fate of the world.
The good guys win in the end, destroying the supposedly immortal BBEE.
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### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/59 "2013-11-20T21:28:35Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> You only got one of them. “For Love of the Game” doesn’t exactly involve a \*new \*woman.
Tin Cup?
---
### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-describe-two-different-works-of-fiction-with-the-exact-same-sentence/674144/60 "2013-11-20T21:37:22Z")
A scientifically inclined protagonist acquires superhuman powers after a lab accident involving an arthropod, which greatly complicates his incipient romance with the girl he loves.
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