# 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:** 4
**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 8, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/61 "2019-08-08T17:04:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Firearm noises that are just wrong. I saw one were there was a racking noise inserted for someone with a double-barreled shotgun. Guns that make cocking/racking noises whenever someone moves the weapon. Revolvers used in conjunction with silencers. You can’t silence a revolver because part of the blast exits through the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. And when a silencer \*does \*work, it doesn’t go _Pffft!_ It sounds more like a champagne bottle popping its cork. ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/62 "2019-08-08T17:06:11Z")
- Street scenes with vintage cars from the 1930s or 40s that always look showroom new, beautifully clean, waxed, and perfect even though the scene is depicting a normal street of that era or a decade later. It always reminds me that these are collector cars they rented for the day and there’s no way the owners are going to let you dirty it up and make it look like an average car of that era. - Obviously empty suitcases. People pick up even large suitcases with ease and swing them around. Just put some bricks or old books in there so the actors handle them realistically. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/63 "2019-08-08T17:06:54Z")
More police things (I went with a cop for ten years): When two cops go up to a suspect’s door marching up the path side by side with no guns drawn. Nothing like giving the suspect a easy way to open the door and blow both your heads off. They go up from opposite sides in a V-formation with guns drawn. Idiots who go off to meet the suspect without telling anyone where they are going, and meeting them alone. I wold call the cops, tell them what I know, and then hide inside with my door locked. ---
**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 8, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/64 "2019-08-08T17:10:02Z")
Lugers or M-1911s with their slides locked back, indicating the gun is empty, but the users never bother to reload them and just keep on firing. ---
**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 8, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/65 "2019-08-08T17:33:11Z")
Battles like Poltava, Monmouth, and Manassas taking less than five minutes before the Swedes, British, and Yankees are completely routed. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/66 "2019-08-08T18:00:25Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Pregnant woman goes into labor and delivers the baby two minutes later, usually in an elevator or some such place. And five minutes later, both she and the baby look “Hollywood fresh.” No sweat or goo on either of them. And no baby fat on the actress, who is totally at her original weight and body look the next day. And suddenly the baby looks 6 months old. Newborns do not look like that. But the new mother is holding a happy, clean, smiling, 6 month old baby! “He’s got your eyes!” ---
**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 8, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/67 "2019-08-08T18:19:12Z")
> [@Dingbang](#): > > - Street scenes with vintage cars from the 1930s or 40s that always look showroom new, beautifully clean, waxed, and perfect even though the scene is depicting a normal street of that era or a decade later. It always reminds me that these are collector cars they rented for the day and there’s no way the owners are going to let you dirty it up and make it look like an average car of that era. One that does it for me is spotting a car that’s obviously too new for the era the piece is set. I know vintage cars can be hard to come by and sometimes the best they can do is try to get “close enough” and assume most people probably won’t notice, but I do notice and I suspect most people who are into cars notice. I noticed this a lot in _The Americans_. While I commend them for the effort they obviously put in to try to get era appropriate cars, there were a few times I spotted late 1980s or early 1990s cars in scenes that were supposed to be taking place in the early 1980s. Another related one is where they get a car that is technically appropriate for the year the movie or TV show is taking place, but they portray it as an old beater when it would actually have been a new or nearly new car at the time the piece is set. _The Wonder Years_ was guilty of that once twice. \*I know, all my examples are from TV shows, but I don’t really watch that many movies so TV shows are what I know. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/68 "2019-08-08T18:22:38Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > It seems as though they hate seatbelts for some reason. It takes me right out because it goes against deeply imprinted habit. Is there a legitimate practical reason for it? Gads, Clint Eastwood’s recent film, The Mule. The plot is he gets to transporting narcotics across the US as he’s never had a traffic ticket, and must be such a safe driver he’s not going to get pulled over. Not once was he ever shown wearing a seatbelt. I don’t think there’s a single state left that won’t pull you over and ticket you for driving without wearing one. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/69 "2019-08-08T18:31:32Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Added sound effects that are 1) predictable and 2) over the top. > > Examples: > > Added whooshing noises, such as when some karate dude is slicing his hands through the air - _whoosh, whoosh_. Also, swords that go “schwing!” when you pull them from their scabbard are dumb. Swords that go “schwing!” when you swing them through the air are inexcusable. My favorite example of the latter was in _Daredevil_’s second season, when the titular blind superhero is fighting undead ninjas, and is defenseless against them because he _can’t hear their heartbeats!_ I’m like, “Dude, just listen for their swords! Every time they swing one, it sounds like they’re operating a leaf blower!” ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/70 "2019-08-08T18:32:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Lugers or M-1911s with their slides locked back, indicating the gun is empty, but the users never bother to reload them and just keep on firing. M1911s (or similar) with the hammer down, and the guy is threatening to shoot someone. Dude, you can pull the trigger all you want – it’s not going off. Military uniforms in combat where they don’t have any spare ammo pouches or other gear on their belts, and their uniforms are pristine clean. Supposedly ‘live’ ammo where you can see the dented primer in the base, or fired cartridges which are obviously crimped blank rounds. This is just so fucking lazy you can tell they didn’t care. A semi-auto or full-auto firearm that goes _click_click_click_ when empty. The slide is locked back – it’s not going to click! And full-autos go _clickclicklclickclickclick_ :smack: Any show where a trained professional has his finger on the trigger and they’re pointing the gun everywhere. You see this in cop shows all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/71 "2019-08-08T18:37:59Z")
With modern automobiles, they virtually never fail to start right up no matter how hot or how cold the weather might be. My car started every single time for 3 1/2 years until it didn’t, and that’s because the battery went bad. I replaced it, and it has started every single time over the last year. So, why then, when terrified people are fleeing someone or something totally horrid, do the cars in Hollywood movies invariably FAIL to start?! That is so old, so hackneyed, and so outdated, that it makes one wonder why it is still used in any movie at all. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/72 "2019-08-08T18:38:10Z")
The thing that frosts my gourd the most (sorry, I can’t help it, I’m an aviation buff) is when a movie set in the WWI time frame tries to show either German or Allied aircraft by making a few cosmetic changes to a DeHaviland Tiger Moth biplane, and then applying the appropriate insignia to the plane. The problem is that there is no way in God’s green earth that a Tiger Moth can be made to look like anything except a Tiger Moth. Even as good a movie as “Lawrence of Arabia” fell into that trap. And another is showing a WWII movie in the 1941 time frame, and hoping that the viewers will not notice that they are using a movie clip of a Grumman Hellcat to portray a Grumman Wildcat. Maybe with the improvements in CGI this will become less of a problem. And I remember in “Flyboys”, they even got the CGI wrong. They showed all the WWI fighters as powered by a radial engines, while most of them in fact used rotary engines. Vast difference. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/73 "2019-08-08T18:46:54Z")
Oddly, it’s when a movie/TV show has too much vintage merchandise on store shelves, or they have too much vintage TV/radio. I find myself trying to recall if it’s accurate or not. _Stranger Things_ is notorious about this, but so far, everything they show has been just about spot-on with my memories of being about the same age (I think I’m a year or two younger than the main kid characters). But I end up watching the store shelves/stuff on the kitchen counter more than listening to the characters. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/74 "2019-08-08T18:49:25Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Sound related things for some reason tend to take me out of movies more than visual things. A poor choice on the part of a music editor leaves me feeling like, okay, _I guess I’m supposed to be feeling sad right now_. Abrupt changes in sound levels will take me out quickly as well. Heh. Watching Preacher the other day, and two cars are playing chicken, ya know, squealing tires as the jump off the line towards each other…in a dirt quarry. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/75 "2019-08-08T19:56:26Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Another one is when our hero is supposed to be a college professor who has been at their university for years, or even decades. We see them in the classroom, and they are teaching My Subject 101. It doesn’t work that way in real life. Adjuncts and graduate teaching assistants teach most lower-division classes; professors rarely do. Indiana Jones is guilty of this one as well, but I give those movies a pass because maybe back in the 1930s, that’s the way it was. Speaking of adjuncts, in _Bull Durham_, Crash Davis asks Annie Savoy what she does for a living. She replies that she’s a part-time professor at a community college. An actual adjunct professor at a community college in NC might’ve made about $1000 per course back then. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/76 "2019-08-08T20:00:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > When people go to a computer, google something, and instantly find the webpage they need with the exact information they are looking for at the top. > > “How many dingos were accused of eating babies in countries other than Australia prior to 1975?” Five seconds later “23.” Sort of similar is when someone calls up a character to tell them, “Turn on the TV!” and they do to find a news report about them or their situation starting at that exact moment (as opposed to having missed most of the story). ---
**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 8, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/77 "2019-08-08T20:03:47Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Also, swords that go “schwing!” when you pull them from their scabbard are dumb. Swords that go “schwing!” when you swing them through the air are inexcusable. So are rifles (or any other piece of military equipment) that rattle when soldiers march. _“What’s that noise, **maggot**? You not takin’ proper care of your gear, **maggot**? Drop and give me 200 pushups NOW, **maggot**!”_ ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/78 "2019-08-08T20:06:52Z")
When “doctors,” “EMTs,” and other “medical personnel” who should know better shock flatlined patients. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/79 "2019-08-08T20:13:13Z")
“Captain! Here come the Panzer tanks!!” Except they’re Sherman tanks with German crosses. Yeah, I know. They didn’t spend the money to make 10 Panzers. And this was probably in the '50s or '60s. But, I’m briefly taken out of the movie. ---
**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 8, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319/80 "2019-08-08T20:22:46Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > “Captain! Here come the Panzer tanks!!” > > Except they’re Sherman tanks with German crosses. > > Yeah, I know. They didn’t spend the money to make 10 Panzers. > And this was probably in the '50s or '60s. > > But, I’m briefly taken out of the movie. They at least could have done something else to alter their appearance. I mean, I saw _ **Kelly’s Heroes** _ three times before I realized the Tiger tanks were cleverly disguised T-34s. I understand the same tanks were used twenty-some years later in _ **Saving Private Ryan** _. They’re very convincing until you see them from the side, when it’s obvious the proportions are all wrong. Or, they could just make dummies out of wood and canvas. Most of the planes parked on the runway in _ **Tora, Tora, Tora** _ were mockups like this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-briefly-take-you-out-of-a-movie/838319.md?page=5)