# In the credits of a film, what are guards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228 "2019-06-28T17:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/1 "2019-06-28T17:46:55Z")
I just watched The Divine Enforcer, an old movie about a psychic vigilante priest, on Youtube. I won’t link because I’m sure it’s not entirely legal for it to be there. At the end there is the cast, then a section with dozens of names headed “GUARDS”, then the crew. I’ve never seen anything like that in any other movie, so now I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/2 "2019-06-28T18:02:30Z")
I don’t _know_, but it is probably the simplest explanation–they were guards, as in security for the crew or sets. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/3 "2019-06-28T18:03:54Z")
Wait–dozens of them? Sounds like too much for real guards. There wasn’t a scene or scenes with lots of guards in the background? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/4 "2019-06-28T18:06:00Z")
Without watching it (with a cast like that, it had to stink!) and just checking IMDB, they are all cast members played by paid up real actors. I have no idea what they did in the film, but they weren’t site security or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/5 "2019-06-28T18:26:39Z")
Moved to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/6 "2019-06-28T18:30:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Without watching it (with a cast like that, it had to stink!) and just checking IMDB, they are all cast members played by paid up real actors. I have no idea what they did in the film, but they weren’t site security or anything like that. Sounds like it was just a idiosyncrasy of formatting in the cast credits. One sometimes sees large groups of cast members credited as a group, especially for stunt performers. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/7 "2019-06-28T18:30:41Z")
Those were actors who portrayed some sort of guard. Was there a scene in a prison or other secure facility? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/8 "2019-06-28T18:31:10Z")
[Here is the cast list for that movie.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101740/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) “Guards” refers to actors playing security guards. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/9 "2019-06-29T14:20:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Without watching it (with a cast like that, it had to stink!) and just checking IMDB, they are all cast members played by paid up real actors. I have no idea what they did in the film, but they weren’t site security or anything like that. It’s one of those so bad it’s good movies, it’s excellent. I mean, a psychic vigilante priest. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Those were actors who portrayed some sort of guard. Was there a scene in a prison or other secure facility? No, nothing even remotely like that. There’s a crime gang who have a warehouse, but all of those henchmen are credited in the cast. The entire cast list in the credits has 37 names. The GUARDS section has 32 names. These aren’t people in the film. > [@Colibri](#): > > Sounds like it was just a idiosyncrasy of formatting in the cast credits. One sometimes sees large groups of cast members credited as a group, especially for stunt performers. The credits are certainly idiosyncratic. It starts with “Cast of Characters”, then there’s a separator before “GUARDS”, then there’s a separator before the crew, but that section doesn’t have a header. Then there’s a separator followed by “2ND UNIT”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/10 "2019-06-29T14:41:09Z")
It could have been a remnant from a scene that was cut. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/11 "2019-06-29T14:52:07Z")
Where are you getting these separators from? We’re looking at the cast list in the IMDb. Are you looking at the cast list when you play the DVD of the movie (or videotape or streaming or download or whatever)? There are no separators in IMDb cast list. The guards are just at the bottom of the cast list (apparently because they are the least important actors in the movie). There is no separate section for the second unit in the IMDb crew list. The people listed as guards are actors, possibly in a cut scene. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/12 "2019-06-29T15:02:16Z")
_Watch_ the credits. They roll actors - divider - guards - divider - 2nd Unit, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/13 "2019-06-29T15:52:14Z")
O.K., I didn’t realize that _The Divine Enforcer_ was available to watch for free on YouTube. I just watched the credits there. I see what you mean by separators. I still suspect that the people listed as guards are just actors in a (possibly cut) scene. Here is the link to the movie: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vnBciJ7f5hQ/hqdefault.jpg "The Divine Enforcer (1992) [Full]") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnBciJ7f5hQ) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/14 "2019-06-30T01:31:09Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > I just watched The Divine Enforcer, an old movie about a psychic vigilante priest, on Youtube. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > O.K., I didn’t realize that _The Divine Enforcer_ was available to watch for free on YouTube. Uh huh. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/15 "2019-06-30T01:38:13Z")
…adding to the mystery, most of the people credited as guards only have a single credit: this movie. The ones that don’t all appear to be credited with variations on their real name, ie Edwin Neal (as Ed Neil). And some of those bios look like self promotional peices like this: > [@Bio for Mike Nyman](#): > > Mike Nyman (aka Michael Robert Nyman or Michael Nyman) has been an actor since the age of twenty-two. The thinly athletic Long Beach, Ca. native is familiar with all aspects of acting…film, television, theatre, improv, background work, producing, directing, and casting. In his acting he ranges from handsome leading man to extreme character actor. He has studied under the late character actor/coach Cliff Osmond, the late character actor/coach Jeff Conaway, character actor/coach and psychologist Doug Warhit, Yale Theatre Arts graduate/coach Gregory Berger-Sobeck (known as “The Berg”), and Circus Theatricals director Jack Stehlin. Mike performed with The Zeitgeist Theatre Company for five years, then formed The First Stage Alert Theatre Company with friend and fellow actor Lonnie Schuyler. He produced the 35mm feature film “Bottom Feeders”(1997) with Lonnie who wrote and directed the film. They used most of the actors from First Stage Alert to be in the film. Mike was also featured in the Johnny Depp film “Blow”, but like Kevin Costner in “The Big Chill”, ended up on the cutting room floor. Mike also once had a brief but funny conversation with Marlon Brando while doing background work as a paramedic on the film “Don Juan De Marco”. Brando walked up to Mike pointed at the rampart prop phone Mike had and asked him, “Excuse me, but could you dial out on that thing?” Mike responded with his cool dry wit and replied to Brando, “I suppose you could if there were batteries in it.” Brando thought on this for a minute and then said, “Oh, you’re not the real thing, are you?” Mike said, “Nope.” Brando was pleased with his cleverness and ambled off to where he was being called to rehearse a scene. > **[Mike Nyman - Biography - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638789/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm)** > > Mike Nyman. Actor: Meltdown: Three Mile Island. Mike Nyman (aka Michael Robert Nyman or Michael Nyman) has been an actor since the age of twenty-two. The athletic Long Beach, Ca. native is familiar with all aspects of acting...film, television,... Adding even more to the mystery is this note from the review: > **[The Divine Enforcer](https://ew.com/article/1992/06/05/divine-enforcer/)** > > The Divine Enforcer > [@](#): > > The deliriously awful Divine Enforcer, which actually spells (Erik Estrada’s) **his name wrong in the credits** , Plenty of weird going on here 😃 Maybe some sort of “inside joke” going on, but definitely a mystery worth pursuing! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-credits-of-a-film-what-are-guards/836228/16 "2019-07-03T17:43:23Z")
I find it particularly unhelpful that they don’t even bother telling us whether they’re point guards or shooting guards. I need someone who can pass the rock!