# Little things that briefly take you out of a movie: **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319 "2019-08-07T22:04:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/241 "2019-08-21T18:27:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Sets that turn up in work after work with (or without) the slightest modification. I’m thinking specifically about the diner in _ **Pulp Fiction** _. Also, the courtyard on Cestus III in the _ **Star Trek** _ episode “Arena” somehow became that of a Latin American prison on _ **Mission: Impossible** _ (the two series were filmed at Desilu/Paramount studios). In another episode of _ **M:I** _, \*Enterprise \*corridors served as the interior of a secret laboratory behind the Iron Curtain. In both cases, the effect was jarring. There’s this set with a brick wall with arches in it that seems to show up whenever a TV show needs a basement or warehouse type setting. I first noticed it in _Perfect Strangers_ when I was a kid, where it was their apartment building’s basement (the episode where they get trapped in the slowly flooding basement). Then it showed up again a few years later as the basement of the Winslow house in _Family Matters_. Then years later I noticed it again in _The King of Queens_, a show I didn’t even watch that much but just happened to see this particular episode. Now it was the warehouse / distribution center for the fictional delivery company Kevin James’s character worked for. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/242 "2019-08-21T20:45:05Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > To be fair, Los Angeles is not where you would go for ‘the waters’. This is true, but LA, like Casablanca, is still not in the middle of the desert. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/243 "2019-08-21T21:00:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Sets that turn up in work after work with (or without) the slightest modification. I’m thinking specifically about the diner in _ **Pulp Fiction** _. Also, the courtyard on Cestus III in the _ **Star Trek** _ episode “Arena” somehow became that of a Latin American prison on _ **Mission: Impossible** _ (the two series were filmed at Desilu/Paramount studios). In another episode of _ **M:I** _, \*Enterprise \*corridors served as the interior of a secret laboratory behind the Iron Curtain. In both cases, the effect was jarring. You know, I assume, about Star Trek’s use of the [Mayberry](https://www.metv.com/stories/when-star-trek-visited-mayberry) set. The streets from Mayberry turn up in four different episodes. Most notably, in “City on the Edge of Forever,” Kirk and Edith Keeler walk right past Floyd’s Barber Shop. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/244 "2019-08-21T21:44:46Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > You know, I assume, about Star Trek’s use of the [Mayberry](https://www.metv.com/stories/when-star-trek-visited-mayberry) set. The streets from Mayberry turn up in four different episodes. Most notably, in “City on the Edge of Forever,” Kirk and Edith Keeler walk right past Floyd’s Barber Shop. Oh, yeah. I think it was used in the original _ **The Untouchables** _ too. In the '60s, Desilu was renting space to a lot of different series, and they often swapped sets. IIRC, Gomer Pyle’s barracks turned up in _ **I Spy** _ (or maybe _ **The Man from UNCLE** _; I don’t remember exactly), and the ones in _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _ were used in an episode of _ **Mission: Impossible** _. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/245 "2019-08-21T21:54:04Z")
In John Wick 2, he’s fighting through The Oculus in Lower Manhattan and the fight ends up on a NJ PATH train. That’s fine, until the train starts moving and the loudspeaker starts announcing “Canal Street” and other stops not on the NJ Path network. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/246 "2019-08-22T01:13:45Z")
I don’t know the real name, but I call them **The Paramount Back-lot Mountain Range**. _Star Trek: TOS_ fans will instantly know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/247 "2019-08-22T01:21:37Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I don’t know the real name, but I call them **The Paramount Back-lot Mountain Range**. _Star Trek: TOS_ fans will instantly know what I mean. You mean _[Vasquez Rocks?](http://www.fullmoon88chan.extra.hu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/maxresdefault.jpg)_ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/248 "2019-08-22T01:28:18Z")
That’s them. Much obliged. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/249 "2019-08-22T03:20:58Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Unless it’s the protagonist who needs to staunch the blood, stagger a little and wince a lot. Then, thanks to gritty determination and having truth on his side, dispatch the stabber. > > This is one thing that takes me out of a movie: the **Plot** - **Specific Event**. > > Knives kill instantly \*if \*the plot needs that, or a mild inconvenience if that’s what the script says. Bad guys are laughably terrible shots and good guys can dodge and weave through an assortment of randomly-aimed bullets… until the plot says it’s time to take out the Plucky Sidekick. Then suddenly it’s time for one shot with surgical precision. I just mentioned Red Dawn in another thread…fun thing about the show is the lack of insta-kill. And when it does happen its certainly warranted given the armament. And the final shootout between Swayze and William Smith should happen a lot more in movies. “IM shot!! You’re shot!! We’re still shooting the shit out of each other!!” A LOT of the combat (especially early on) seems realistic with all the chaos of a firefight. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2019, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/250 "2019-08-25T22:24:29Z")
Someone puts a record on a turntable… but it’s the wrong type (an LP on an old Victrola)… or playing at the wrong speed (a 78 turning at 33 1/3)… or turning counterclockwise… or the music skips so that one bit of a song plays over and over, but with a frequency that no actual record would do. Ooooooh! That makes me mad! (Yosemite Sam voice) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/251 "2019-08-26T18:18:18Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I don’t know the real name, but I call them **The Paramount Back-lot Mountain Range**. _Star Trek: TOS_ fans will instantly know what I mean. The “backlot” I get tired of seeing is the hills where they filmed outdoor scenes for _M_A_S_H\*, which I presume to be the Fox backlot. There are an _astonishing_ number of places in the universe that look like South Korea. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/252 "2019-08-26T18:26:38Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > The “backlot” I get tired of seeing is the hills where they filmed outdoor scenes for _M_A_S_H\*, which I presume to be the Fox backlot. > > There are an _astonishing_ number of places in the universe that look like South Korea. It was Malibu State Park. I don’t think there are any fixed structures surviving, but it’s instantly recognizable if you’re at the right place in the park. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/253 "2019-08-26T18:36:23Z")
\*\*\*Combat! \*\*\*was filmed on the MGM lot. I never noticed it back in 1962–67, but every damned town in France looked exactly the same because they used the same set every week. Another thing I never noticed between second and sixth grade was that on occasion, you could see traffic going by in the background on the road that ran along one side of the lot. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/254 "2019-08-26T19:23:31Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*\*\*Combat! \*\*\*was filmed on the MGM lot. I never noticed it back in 1962–67, but every damned town in France looked exactly the same because they used the same set every week. Another thing I never noticed between second and sixth grade was that on occasion, you could see traffic going by in the background on the road that ran along one side of the lot. I grew up in Culver City, and when I was a kid you could hear gunfire from the _Combat_ set (backlot) from my house. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/255 "2019-08-26T20:23:49Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > It was Malibu State Park. I don’t think there are any fixed structures surviving, but it’s instantly recognizable if you’re at the right place in the park. The Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire used to take place right over the hill from the MASH set. Makes watching reruns a little more amusing, knowing what was going on down the road and to the right. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/256 "2019-08-26T23:26:49Z")
I haven’t seen them in a long time, but those 20th Century Fox/Irwin Allen “computers” (Lost in Space/Time Tunnel/Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) used to drive me bugfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/257 "2019-08-27T00:45:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \*\*\*Combat! \*\*\*was filmed on the MGM lot. I never noticed it back in 1962–67, but every damned town in France looked exactly the same because they used the same set every week … **Mrs R** and I watched a bunch of Maverick episodes a while back, and darned if every little hick town he rode into didn’t look exactly the same. I told her it was the director’s subtle comment on the jaded attitude a professional gambler got after prolonged travel. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/258 "2019-08-27T02:50:15Z")
^ Now, Jim Garner could actually pull that off, IMHO. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/259 "2019-08-27T02:57:45Z")
When I saw _[Primer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_HHnXeMWT0)_, I almost gave up at the 1-minute mark when I saw that they hadn’t bothered to ask anyone how to actually solder… ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/260 "2019-08-27T15:18:39Z")
‘Back to the Future II’. I imagine the film makers guessing that the multiple plot arcs were confusing, and so there was a scene where Dr Brown had to explain the concept of a parallel universe to the audience, masked as dialogue to Marty. Just my take on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319.md?page=14)