# Little things you wonder about from old movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885 "2009-04-21T19:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/21 "2009-04-23T18:54:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Yes. “Pay the two dollars” was still current as a phrase in 1959, and beyond. It basically means, “Shut up and take your punishment.” I…did not know that. /ignorance ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/22 "2009-04-23T18:56:32Z")
> [@choie](#): > > I can believe it. If I shot a gun out of my window, you can bet that at least one of my next door, upstairs and downstairs neighbors would be calling the cops. If one of their patrol cars were in the vicinity, it wouldn’t take long before they were on their way. Things are speeded up a bit in the movie, but really, do you want to wait for five minutes in utter silence while waiting for the sirens to blast? The film’s all but over at this point, there’s not much purpose in drawing things out further. Really? If I heard a gunshot, I doubt I would even know that’s what it was, and there’s no way I’d call the police without knowing for sure. Still ti seemed a strange way to end it - why not just call the cops? > [@](#): > > Considering the evidence consists of: a dead body right in the middle of the young men’s living room, together with the rope used to kill him? How much more would they need to convict? Ain’t like they can claim self-defense or other mitigating circumstances. Yes, but it seems rather optomistic to say they’re going to “die” - surely there would be other possible outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/23 "2009-04-23T19:07:50Z")
Can I really be the first to mention the letters of transit from _Casablanca_? Or Louis saying he was with the Americans “when they blundered into Berlin in 1918” when U.S. troops didn’t make it that far east? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/24 "2009-04-23T19:50:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Can I really be the first to mention the letters of transit from _Casablanca_? Or Louis saying he was with the Americans “when they blundered into Berlin in 1918” when U.S. troops didn’t make it that far east? Again, we are speaking of Humphrey Bogart. If he says there was an American tank unit in North Africa, there was an American tank unit in North Africa. Pay attention, there will be a test on Tuesday. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/25 "2009-04-23T19:57:18Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > At the end of **Rear Window** , > > why did the bad guy keep walking slowly after being blinded by the camera flash? After the first flash, he could’ve just tried to mask his eyes while waiting to regain his vision. It’s more dramatic that way. Hitchcock was smart – he didn’t let small nitpicks get in the way of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/26 "2009-04-23T20:33:18Z")
One of my favorite Hitchcockisms: when he was once asked why his movie characters didn’t just call the police when things went awry, he said, “My characters do not call the police because that would be no fun.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/27 "2009-04-23T20:42:18Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > At the end of **Rear Window** , > > why did the bad guy keep walking slowly after being blinded by the camera flash? After the first flash, he could’ve just tried to mask his eyes while waiting to regain his vision. Frankly, he didn’t seem too bright; he should have just made a run for it instead of killing Stewart, which wasn’t going to stop his secret from being revealed to the police. (And do we really need to spoiler a movie that is older than the majority of the posters on this board?) > [@teela\_brown](#): > > In _Sunset Boulevard_, > > why doesn’t William Holden just take the hell off, when (1) he first discovers that Norma Desmond is a loony intent on making him her gigolo, or (2) when his new girlfriend shows up and invites him to just walk out with her and leave it all behind? It’s obvious she knows by now the nature of his living situation and it doesn’t matter to her. _Any_ degree of being penniless would be better than staying there. He made a stupid decision and as a result got shot in the back. Dumbass! Well, that’s the essential story of any _film noir_; if the guy were smart and/or not being driven by his lust and/or desperation, he wouldn’t be in this situation. See _Double Indemnity_, _Body Heat_, _Out Of The Past_, _The Asphalt Jungle_, _The Maltese Falcon_, _The Grifters_, et cetera. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Can I really be the first to mention the letters of transit from _Casablanca_? Or Louis saying he was with the Americans “when they blundered into Berlin in 1918” when U.S. troops didn’t make it that far east? The letters of transit are one of a number of gaping plot holes in _Casablanca_. The film, in fact, makes very little sense, although if you assume that Ilsa is not, in fact, the guileless bimbo that she appears to be but in fact a scheming, manipulative goldbricker who is using Rick and setting him up to take the fall while she runs off to America with her meal ticket, it turns into a pretty decent Mamet-esque confidence game rather than the doubtful purported romance it is generally billed and reviewed as. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/28 "2009-04-23T21:58:19Z")
On MALTESE FALCON: It’s clear (certainly in the book, but also in the movie) that “justice” is not spelled with a capital J. The ACLU appeals and so forth that we’re used to were not available in that universe. What would happen in reality in LA in the 1940s, I don’t know, but in the world of film noir and the world that we see, the cops will see to it that the frame is airtight. Remember that a critical plot discussion during the climax is “someone has to take the fall, it doesn’t matter who.” The implication is that the cops and DA will see to it that there’s enough evidence to convict, and that judge and jury are probably corrupt as well. On SUNSET BOULEVARD: The whole point is that he’s seduced by greed and money. It’s not so easy to walk away from comfort when you’ve been struggling all your life, and he is unable to. > [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > One of my favorite Hitchcockisms: when he was once asked why his movie characters didn’t just call the police when things went awry, he said, “My characters do not call the police because that would be no fun.” One wonderful and fun problem with analyzing Hitchcock is that he often had cute, glib quotes (often ones that he’d worked on to smooth perfection) that seem to answer the question but really avoid it with a wink. The reality is that, in his movies, he always has worked very hard to provide some explanation of why they don’t call the police. Typically, either (a) the police will certainly think they’re guilty (e.g., FRENZY or SABOTEUR or NORTH BY NORTHWEST (after the UN murder)); or (b) they don’t realize the severity of the difficulty and want to keep things quiet/in the family or they want to keep the money for themselves (e.g., PSYCHO or MARNIE or FAMILY PLOT); or (c) they actually do call the police, who are no help whatsoever (like in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (before the UN) or THE BIRDS.) But there’s almost always a scene that answers (usually in advance) the audience’s question of why don’t they call the cops? Hitchcock always planned his movies very carefully, anticipating audience reactions. (Personal aside: I met him in the spring of 1966, spent a couple of hours with him.) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/29 "2009-04-23T22:10:18Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > On MALTESE FALCON: It’s clear (certainly in the book, but also in the movie) that “justice” is not spelled with a capital J. The ACLU appeals and so forth that we’re used to were not available in that universe. What would happen in reality in LA in the 1940s, I don’t know, _ **LA?!?!?** _ Sam Spade is a San Francisco resident, thankyouverymuch. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/30 "2009-04-23T22:15:54Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > _ **LA?!?!?** _ Sam Spade is a San Francisco resident, thankyouverymuch. :mad: He was clearly confusing Sam with the far superior Philip Marlowe. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. Spade was not half the shamus Marlowe was. And less than one-quarter the man Marlowe was. Wanna make something of it? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/31 "2009-04-24T15:01:14Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > Apparently this was a catch phrase from a Depression era vaudeville sketch by Willie Howard. In it a man who has been fined two dollars for spitting on the sidewalk has a lawyer who insists on fighting the case, leading to an escalation of sentences, and the client keeps on begging the lawyer to “Pay the two dollars!” > > (Source:imdb) I had seen this movie any number of times while growing up, but never understood that particular line (didn’t give it much thought, either, but just let it go). Last year my daughter and I watched _Ziegfield Follies_, which includes the “Two Dollars” sketch. _Then_ we watched _North by Northwest_. When Mrs. Thornhill makes the “Pay the two dollars” wisecrack, my daughter and I looked at each other and collapsed with laughter. We also broke into simultaneous grins when we recognized the music playing in the lobby of the hotel where Cary Grant’s character stops for a drink at the beginning: _It’s a Most Unusual Day_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/32 "2009-04-24T15:28:59Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > …(Personal aside: I met him in the spring of 1966, spent a couple of hours with him.) VERY cool! Tell us more, here, or start a new thread, please! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885/33 "2009-04-24T15:33:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > VERY cool! Tell us more, here, or start a new thread, please! What Isildur said! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-you-wonder-about-from-old-movies/493885.md?page=1)