# Inaccuracies that bother you most and least **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050 "2022-06-28T16:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/61 "2022-06-29T13:02:58Z")
Real burglars empty the drawers onto the bed rather than trying to root through them. Reports of burglaries often mention the terrible mess left behind. Cereal packets emptied onto the floor - _(They will never think to look in there for my jewellery)_, and all the other dry containers. Modern burglars want small, negotiable loot. They don’t want a TV or video, but they do want your identity, credit cards, cash, jewellery, and the car on thdrive that you left the keys for hanging in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/62 "2022-06-29T13:13:05Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Then there is the neighing. Horses don’t just neigh because they want to let the audience know that they are approaching. They only neigh when calling out to other horses who are at a distance (sometimes these horses are only wishful thinking, as when a lonely horse feels abandoned). Neighing is fairly rare. They never neigh when moving fast, anyway. They stop, to call out with a full breath. Also it is always the same neigh, like the Wilhelm Scream. Maybe someone mentioned Frau Blücher. Corn and potatoes and other pre-Columbian exchange foods in pre -1492 Europe irritate me no end. On the other hand, due to my conviction that child labor laws are a **good thing** , oversized newborns in movies and on TV don’t bother me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/63 "2022-06-29T13:14:31Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > and if the person recovers they are almost always back to normal like they didn’t just die and miraculously come back. In particular, in the real world, chest compressions alone never bring about a recovery. They delay death, hopefully long enough that you can get to a defibrillator or something else that can actually lead to recovery. That said, while I recognize that common inaccuracy, I can disregard it for the sake of the plot (possibly because that’s not an area of special focus for me). ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/64 "2022-06-29T13:27:16Z")
I’ve been watching the show _Mistresses_ on Hulu. In the first season, there’s a plot line regarding someone with lung cancer who was on hospice and ended up dying. He had been prescribed morphine, and there was apparently concerns that this was somehow inappropriate and that he had died after OD’ing. The prescribing doctor behaves as though having done this was wrong, and tries to hide what she did by not documenting it in the medical record, conspiring with the patient’s designated caregiver to lie about what happened, etc. The thing is, prescribing morphine in that situation and leaving it with the patient / their designated caregiver isn’t something illegal or outside the normal scope of medical practice, that’s just how it’s done. As a hospice physician, I can tell you that’s just another day at the office, which includes discussing the care being provided with an entire team (nurses, social workers, chaplains, CNAs) at biweekly meetings, not some huge scandal. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/65 "2022-06-29T13:28:55Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > if their superpowers include flight) like cars; just jump on and go. It technically doesn’t take me out of the film, but if I think about it this does bother me, How long it actually takes to get anywhere. So, Iron Man goes to fly to Vulnavia or whatever. Does he spend the five, six hours of flight stretched out like Superman? That’s got to be hard on the muscles, locked in one position that long. Even on the SHIELD jets, there’s a lot of downtime. I bet they have a bathroom on the plane, though. And some snacks. Honey roasted peanuts. Yes yes you SD contrarians. I don’t want to see five hours of Nat and Cap playing cards while the jet flies. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/66 "2022-06-29T13:45:27Z")
As one who knows Pop music of the last 60 or so years inside and out, it bothers me when music is used out of date, especially if it’s used to illustrate a plot point. In **The Queen’s Gambit** , “Venus” by Dutch group Shocking Blue was used during a segment that was to take place at least 2 or 3 years before that song was released. I see this all the time. I was impressed by **Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.** Tarantino used music on the soundtrack accurate to the time period, along with authentic airchecks of KHJ, L.A.'s reigning Top 40 station of the day. He used many songs that in 1969 would have been “Oldies,” but nothing a KHJ listener would not have heard on Boss Radio at the time. I’m impressed when someone puts a record on a turntable in a movie or TV show and it’s on the right label. It shows me they have respect for the little details. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/67 "2022-06-29T13:57:23Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I never had an issue with this at all. As I recall, Jayne said that Vera needed to be in an atmosphere to fire. I always assumed that the auto-loader or trigger mechanism used air pressure to cycle, not that the ammunition needed air to burn. In this specific case, they actually did try to get it right - they asked the guy in charge of their guns if a gun would fire in a vacuum, and he told them it wouldn’t. So they came up with the spacesuit idea. The one inaccuracy I don’t care about, that I see a lot of _other_ people complaining about, is historical stories in which the actors all have perfect teeth. Sure, modern dental work is completely wrong, but _come on_, the actors are all products of modern American dental care and its obsessions with Perfect White Teeth. I’m not going to expect my actors to all take a hammer to their mouths just to look “accurate” for a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/68 "2022-06-29T14:06:17Z")
I don’t think it would be that hard to give an actor temporarily crooked, yellow teeth. Missing teeth is a bigger challenge, but they do manage it sometimes when 1) it’s important to the plot, and 2) the character doesn’t need to be attractive. I think the bigger hurdle is modern, and especially American audiences’ tastes. It’s hard to sell a beautiful princess or handsome knight with imperfect teeth, even if that wouldn’t have been much of an obstacle back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/69 "2022-06-29T14:16:58Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > It’s hard to sell a beautiful princess or handsome knight with imperfect teeth, even if that wouldn’t have been much of an obstacle back in the day. That is another factor. Even if it’s not an historical piece, bad teeth can be distracting. I’m watching “Outer Range” now, and there’s one character who I can barely watch, because all I see in close-ups of her is these fucked up teeth she’s got. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/70 "2022-06-29T14:18:33Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > It’s hard to sell a beautiful princess or handsome knight with imperfect teeth, even if that wouldn’t have been much of an obstacle back in the day. We’re watching Get Back right now, and it’s kind of shocking how bad the Beatles’ teeth were, especially George. Mrs. Kensington: Darling, you have top understand, in Britain, in the 60’s, you could be a sex symbol and still have bad teeth. It didn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/71 "2022-06-29T14:19:57Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Daryl Poniscan’s realistic depictions of sailors’ lives in _The Last Detail_ As a retired Navy guy, I can say that this movie is the most accurate portrayal of Navy life I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched it several times and have yet to spot an off note. As for inaccuracies, firearm handling and usage are my biggest peeve. Repeatedly cocking an automatic weapon, the sound of a pump shotgun being racked for a non-pump weapon, weird clacking and clicking noises every time someone handles a gun, all soldiers firing on full automatic all the time (fire discipline) are just a few. Lack of body hair and filth doesn’t bother me for period pieces all that much. I can laugh off most of it if the story is good. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/72 "2022-06-29T14:22:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > _Stranger Things_ is one show that actually does a good job avoiding these problems. It’s set in the mid-80s, characters with lower socioeconomic status drive 1970s era cars that plausibly would have still been on the road during that time, and those cars actually look old. Not only look old, but look _older_ between seasons. On rewatching the series recently, I was noticing that Jonathan’s Gran Torino or whatever sort of old land barge he drives was looking rustier on the hood than I recall from the first season. Not the sort of thing you’d notice watching them 3 seasons apart, but watching them all in the span of a week or two makes you notice that sort of thing. (in reality, I bet they just parked that thing outside and let nature do its thing between seasons) I’m actually pretty impressed with just how on point the _Stranger Things_ 80s nostalgia is- the songs on the radio were the ones playing at that point in history. Same with the clothes, etc… As for the OP, I think the inaccuracies that bother me the absolute most are when they film somewhere that looks NOTHING like the real-life area they’re trying to portray. I only got about half an episode into _Texas Rising_ some years back, because they had an early scene that said something like “Somewhere near Goliad” (or maybe Gonzales), and then depicted some sort of mountainous desert. There is very little of Texas that is mountainous desert, and it’s in the far western part in Big Bend. Far West Texas is pretty barren and has sparse vegetation, but it’s not where anything of note in Texas independence took place. All that stuff basically took place between San Antonio and Houston somewhere, and that area is mostly flat coastal plain and is pretty green the vast majority of the time. Or in the movie “Uncommon Valor” with Gene Hackman, they had a scene that said “Somewhere near Galveston Texas” when they were training for their rescue mission. Complete with mountains in the background. There aren’t any mountains within probably 500 miles of Galveston, and the immediate area is super-flat. It just sort of wrecks my suspension of disbelief when I’m watching something like that, and they have the terrain all wrong and I know it. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/73 "2022-06-29T14:28:21Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > So, Iron Man goes to fly to Vulnavia or whatever. Does he spend the five, six hours of flight stretched out like Superman? That’s got to be hard on the muscles, locked in one position that long. In Iron Man 3 he actually sleeps (or was knocked out) while flying cross-country. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/74 "2022-06-29T14:32:55Z")
Ever see _ **Elizabeth R** _? Glenda Jackson’s teeth were made up to look like she really _had_ been binging on marzipan for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/75 "2022-06-29T14:36:48Z")
While we’re on long distance flights, I’m reminded of a comic book in which the group of superheroes were casually discussing something while all of them were individually flying and approaching a city. The group included The Hulk. While moving long distance in the air is possible via jumping, it breaks credulity to believe that the actual fliers could all be casually together with the Hulk for more than a brief moment since he is constantly bouncing up and down. It bothered me even at the time as a child because if he didn’t fly, they should have shown him bouncing up and down. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/76 "2022-06-29T14:45:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think the inaccuracies that bother me the absolute most are when they film somewhere that looks NOTHING like the real-life area they’re trying to portray. I Oh yes, especially when they have to go out of their way to film it wrong. Doubly so when the movie is high budget. One of the worst offenders is The Deer Hunter. They’re supposed to be, well, deer hunting in Appalachia, and they film it in the Rockies?? Not even close. Did the director want a Colorado vacation? And to western movie viewers: despite what John Ford would have you believe, the entirety of the west from St Louis to California does not look like Monument Valley. Not even much of Arizona looks like Monument Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/77 "2022-06-29T14:50:59Z")
See, this is actually a _complaint_ I hear often that annoys the crap out of me. The thing is — and this may or may not apply to your post; I don’t know — lots of music that we the audience hear is not heard by the characters. If someone in a movie set in 1960 turns on the radio and hears a Lady Gaga song, obviously that’s messed up. But if a character in a movie set in 1960 is, say, involved in a trying-on-clothes-and-coming-out-of-the-dressing-room montage and we hear a Lady Gaga song playing, the visuals make frequent time jumps while the song plays smoothly through without a break, so it’s clearly not something the characters are hearing. Ergo, it’s not something that is actually present in 1960, so the director can use whatever damn song they like (and can get the rights to). On a cool note, my 15-year-old taught me that this is called _diagesis_. Music (or anything else) that is supposed to be in the scene is diagetic, while stuff that is part of the film but not actually present in the scene is non-diagetic. I love it when my kid teaches me things. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/78 "2022-06-29T14:54:06Z")
In the second Harry Potter book, _Chamber of Secrets_, Harry and Ron miss the Hogwarts Express, and so they use Mr. Weasley’s flying car to follow the train to Hogwarts. A trip that takes a few hours. A nice touch is that, while being in a flying car is exciting at first, before long they’re bored out of their minds because they have nothing to do but sit there. The movie glossed over that, but I appreciated that the book included this detail. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/79 "2022-06-29T15:06:22Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > On a cool note, my 15-year-old taught me that this is called _diagesis_. Music (or anything else) that is supposed to be in the scene is diagetic, while stuff that is part of the film but not actually present in the scene is non-diagetic. That _is_ cool. Where did she learn that? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/80 "2022-06-29T15:10:57Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > The most flagrant offense, the one that caused the most yelling by both of them, was any radio transmission ending with “Over and out.” Over and out, roger wilco, and yelling “Repeat! Repeat!” into a radio are the three protocol errors that moviemakers use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=5)