# Hiding in Plain Sight in the Movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 19, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971 "2017-05-19T00:20:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/41 "2017-05-22T16:41:53Z")
I’ve posted this one before in a thread about horror films: in \*Insidious \*(2010), Rose Byrne’s character is doing some housework and taking the kitchen trash outside when [she sees a ghost dancing to “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQxV7ojsk9M) in her house – much spookiness ensues (that continues after that clip).
When I first saw the movie in the theater, I thought I saw something that really freaked me out. I went to see it again in a day or two, and my suspicions were confirmed:
Byrne’s character walks right by the ghost earlier in the scene, at about 35 seconds into that clip.
\*Insidious \*went wildly off the rails for me by the end, but I absolutely love the effectiveness of some of its parts.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/42 "2017-05-23T20:20:04Z")
At the very beginning of _ **Pulp Fiction** _, you can see Vincent walking toward the coffee shop’s toilet over Yolanda’s shoulder. All that’s visible for a couple of seconds is the back of his head and the collar of his blue T-shirt, but it’s a definite continuity marker.
I swear, I must have seen that movie at least ten times before I noticed Vincent in the background. I see something new every time I watch it.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/43 "2017-05-23T21:04:04Z")
In the final scene in _Cloverfield_, the cameraman sees Snookums fall to Earth, but doesn’t comment on it.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/44 "2017-05-23T22:07:18Z")
In _The Hunger Games,_ Peeta had an unrealistically-effective ability to paint himself so as to hide in plain sight, as a rock or a tree.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2017, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/45 "2017-05-23T23:09:07Z")
In _Copycat_, you meet the killer about halfway through the movie. He’s actually in two earlier scenes, (attending Sigourney Weaver’s lecture, and later just hanging out in the Police station for reasons never explained - Ed Harris even says hello to him), but since you don’t know who he is it’s only noticeable when you watch it again.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/46 "2017-05-24T02:19:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Just remembered another one: In _Labyrinth_, there’s a shot in the middle of a stone corridor, stretching off as far as the eye can see to the left and right. The correct direction to take is [Straight forward](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0K5T0AqVlY), into the corridor that’s _right there_ in front of you, and impossible to see
A similar setup shows up in _The Book of Life_: What looks like a blank wall is the entrance to a secret chamber.
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### Author:  [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/47 "2017-05-24T10:55:03Z")
The first time I saw _Coming To America_, I had no idea that the old Jewish guy in the barber shop was Eddie Murphy until the end credits.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/48 "2017-05-24T11:25:19Z")
> [@Morbo](#):
>
> In _Copycat_, you meet the killer about halfway through the movie. He’s actually in two earlier scenes, (attending Sigourney Weaver’s lecture, and later just hanging out in the Police station for reasons never explained - Ed Harris even says hello to him), but since you don’t know who he is it’s only noticeable when you watch it again.
In her first appearance on _ **The Big Bang Theory** _, Ramona Nowitzky can be seen in Sheldon’s lecture group at the beginning of the show.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/49 "2017-05-24T11:27:12Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#):
>
> The first time I saw _Coming To America_, I had no idea that the old Jewish guy in the barber shop was Eddie Murphy until the end credits.
Is he the one who says “Oy! Is that velour?” :dubious:
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/50 "2017-05-24T11:47:42Z")
One example not mentioned yet (I think) – Boba Fett’s clothes-iron-shaped starship tumbling and drifting among the garbage released by Darth Vader’s ship in order to look for the _Millennium Falcon_ in **The Empire Strikes Back** , dramatically revealed when it rights itself and takes off after Han Solo.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/51 "2017-05-24T21:54:29Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> In her first appearance on _ **The Big Bang Theory** _, Ramona Nowitzky can be seen in Sheldon’s lecture group at the beginning of the show.
The introduction of [Frazier Crane on “Cheers”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXUH3E2exuk) was handled in a similar way. Diane is pleading with Sam to seek professional help for his drinking, and Sam spends a good 10 minutes mocking the idea. All the while, Frazier (at the time an unknown character played by a not-famous actor) is sitting there at the bar with the regulars.
Going back to “Aliens”, there are two things I noticed after numerous repeat viewings.
1. The infamous chest-burster scene: The oblivious crew are at ease, joking and relaxing in the mess hall when Cain starts coughing and gagging. Initially, none of the seem to realize anything very serious is wrong – except one: Ash (the evil robot). There is a quickee reaction shot showing him growing quietly alarmed before anyone else, apparently aware of what was happening. After the alien has burst out of Cain, Parker raises a knife as if to stab it, but Ash (who is secretly on a mission to bring the alien back to Earth) yells at him to back off. When you watch it for the first time, it appears that Ash is warning him Parker to stay away because he fears for Parker’s safety. Upon re-watching, it’s clear he is protecting the (possibly) vulnerable alien from Parker!
2. During the searching-the-interiors-of-the-ship sequence. The cat gets away and Harry Dean Stanton is walking around the refinery looking for it. There is an overhead shot showing the enormity of the refinery and several large chains swinging above him. The now-grown alien is clutching on of the chains and is clearly visible in the shot, but as in the scene the OP references, it just blends in so well with the mechanical background, you would never notice it (if you hadn’t watched this movie 100 times.)
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/52 "2017-05-24T23:58:14Z")
That’s _Alien_, not _Aliens_.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/53 "2017-05-25T04:14:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> That’s _Alien_, not _Aliens_.
:smack:
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/54 "2017-05-25T12:17:39Z")
The recently late Roger Moore did the Pris thing in Golden Gun, replacing a wax double of himself with himself so as to ambush Scaramanga the villian.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/55 "2017-05-25T17:10:15Z")
Eddie Murphy did it at the end of **Beverley Hills Cop** , when he was being stalked by the 2nd-in-command henchman [Mike Ehrmantraut](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0052186/).
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/56 "2017-05-25T17:34:38Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#):
>
> During the searching-the-interiors-of-the-ship sequence. The cat gets away and Harry Dean Stanton is walking around the refinery looking for it. There is an overhead shot showing the enormity of the refinery and several large chains swinging above him. The now-grown alien is clutching on of the chains and is clearly visible in the shot, but as in the scene the OP references, it just blends in so well with the mechanical background, you would never notice it (if you hadn’t watched this movie 100 times.)
The shot(s) you refer to don’t appear in the 1979 original theatrical release of **Alien**. They were added in 2003 for the Director’s Cut theater and DVD versions. Which explains how one could not notice it during the first 99 viewings.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/57 "2017-05-25T17:40:53Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#):
>
> The first time I saw _Coming To America_, I had no idea that the old Jewish guy in the barber shop was Eddie Murphy until the end credits.
If you count actors in heavy makeup in this category, then the winner has to be **the List of Adrian Messenger** , which features cameos by four famous actors who appear unrecognizable in makeup during the film, and aren’t identified until the end. Kirk Douglas, who appears in the film, also wears several heavy disguises.\*
> **[The List of Adrian Messenger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_List_of_Adrian_Messenger)**
>
> The List of Adrian Messenger is a 1963 American mystery film directed by John Huston starring Kirk Douglas, George C. Scott, Dana Wynter, Clive Brook, Gladys Cooper and Herbert Marshall. It is based on a 1959 novel of the same name written by Philip MacDonald.
> A writer named Adrian Messenger believes a series of apparently unrelated "accidental" deaths are actually linked murders. He asks his friend Anthony Gethryn, recently retired from MI5, to help clear up the mystery, and provides him with a...
I don’t myself. If you’re heavily made up, you’re “in plain sight” Things like the James Bond substitution in _Man with the Golden Gun_, cited above, however, do count.
In that vein, the idea was used much earlier in the Sherlock Holmes story **The Mazarin Stone** , which started out as a stage play. It’s been adapted , at least in part, for the movies and TV, but I don’t think anyone retained this “hidden in plain sight” ploy.
\*iMDB claims that three of the actors weren’t actually in the film in their cameos, but someone else took their place. This doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. It can’t be because the actors refused to get made up – they had to be made up for the final “unmasking” scenes. The cameos look just like the unmasking scenes. It would make sense to film them both at the same time. Besides, if it wasn’t the famous faces hidden by the makeup, it obliterates the point.
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### Author:  [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/58 "2017-05-25T19:13:54Z")
Many times in **Arrested Development**. Buster and Tobias both come to mind, I think Papa Bluth did also.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/59 "2017-05-27T03:25:31Z")
In “The Shining”, as the various employees are prepping The Overlook Hotel for the winter months, Jack sees the REAL caretaker…wearing the burgundy top Jack starts wearing later on.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V4TYCn2qZg)
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/60 "2017-05-27T03:44:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> It’s on TV right now. I assume you’re watching.
>
> In a similar vein, _Sleuth_; Inspector Doppler is on screen for quite a while before it’s revealed that he’s Milo in disguise. I’ve only seen the original, but I didn’t recognize Michael Caine until just before he revealed himself.
Saw _Sleuth_ in the theater, long before it was a movie so very unspoiled. But since this is already spoiled here, I get to say that I thought it was so clever the way they listed the actor who played Inspector Doppler, complete with headshot and bio and a plug for the other plays he’s been in.
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