# Minor Movie Cliches
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 10, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985 "2011-06-10T16:15:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/1 "2011-06-10T16:15:39Z")
These cliches turn up in movies (and TV shows) so often that I’m thinking there’s numbers for them to make it easy for the film crew.
Before a dinosaur or other huge man-eater attacks, it thrusts its head forward, cocks it sideways at about a 45 degree angle, and lets out a big roar.
A character walks nonchalantly toward the camera and displays no reaction as a huge fireball explodes behind him.
Whenever the hero takes his first flight or experiences his superpower for the first time, he has to let out a loud Homeresque “woo-hoo!”
A character stands center screen, then Bam!, he’s knocked out of the screen by someone from stage left.
I hate cliches 🙂
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### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/2 "2011-06-10T16:54:09Z")
Go have a look at [TV tropes](http://tvtropes.org/).
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/3 "2011-06-10T16:55:14Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#):
>
> Go have a look at [TV tropes](http://tvtropes.org/).
Yes, but also please continue to participate in this thread so that I may entertain myself with your postings while putting off doing any actual work this afternoon. I thank you in advance.
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### Author:  [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/4 "2011-06-10T16:58:29Z")
The one that bugs me are villains that are disgruntled ex- goodguys, where nobody in their organization has ANY IDEA that fired/disgraced megagenius has been amassing an army/fortune to exact revenge. Then they are shocked/scared when hes back to wreck havoc. If I was a CEO, i’d be like,
“Better contact the.CIA about that scientist we fired last week for making super nanomachine monsters during his lunch breaks and stealing staplers. Just in case he decides to hijack an aircraft carrier or something” 😛
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/5 "2011-06-10T17:00:32Z")
Just about every horror movie has the scene where suspense builds, and builds and then just when you expect it … a cat jumps out, or something equally innocuous. So the audience breathes a sigh of relief, only to be followed in about 2 seconds by the real killer, or whatever! Very clichéd.
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### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/6 "2011-06-10T17:07:49Z")
Cool guys don’t look at explosions: [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnflinchingWalk](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnflinchingWalk)
It’s the monster’s way of saying hello! [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoarBeforeBeating](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoarBeforeBeating)
The left of the frame is deadly: [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LookBothWays](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LookBothWays)
I’ll let you find the last one yourself.
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### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/7 "2011-06-10T17:09:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> a cat jumps out.
> **[Cat Scare - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CatScare)**
>
> A Cat Scare is a strong buildup of high tension, followed by a fright that turns out to be something harmless (say, a startled cat) to release that tension. For example, a heroine may be tiptoeing down a dark hallway to escape the serial killer …
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### Author:  [@Premislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Premislaus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/8 "2011-06-10T17:14:51Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#):
>
> [Cat Scare - TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CatScare)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvxDs7jGBHM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvxDs7jGBHM)
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/9 "2011-06-10T17:15:34Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#):
>
> [Cat Scare - TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CatScare)
Lampshaded so beautifully by _Community_:
[spoiler]The Halloween episode of Community lampshades Ebert’s comments on the trope, with a side scene of a cat jumping across the shot at chest level.
Jeff: Dude, what is UP with that cat?
Troy: Is someone throwing it?
```
It eventually gets to the point where Jeff is actually more worried about the manic flying cat than he is about the Zombie Apocalypse waiting outside. [/spoiler]
```
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/10 "2011-06-10T17:22:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> Just about every horror movie has the scene where suspense builds, and builds and then just when you expect it … a cat jumps out, or something equally innocuous. So the audience breathes a sigh of relief, only to be followed in about 2 seconds by the real killer, or whatever! Very clichéd.
Yeah, but the alternative is that it’s quiet.
\
_ **Too** _ quiet.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/11 "2011-06-10T17:25:58Z")
Bad guy threatens good guy with semi-auto pistol. Good guy balks. Bad guy _then_ cocks pistol. As if the point hasn’t already been made.
Rain walk to prove one’s love.
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/12 "2011-06-10T17:31:54Z")
Good guy gets the drop on Bad guy. Bad guys says, “do it…DO IT!”
Dumb.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/13 "2011-06-10T17:57:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Bad guy threatens good guy with semi-auto pistol. Good guy balks. Bad guy _then_ cocks pistol. As if the point hasn’t already been made.
That’s my number one.
Comedy cliche: An angry character yells at other characters, then storms out of the office, slamming the door behind him. He then comes back in and says "Wait a minute, this is MY office! YOU leave!
Bad guys are hanging out in their lair, watching TV news about themselves. Before the story finishes, the man bad guy tells a henchman to “Turn it off.”
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/14 "2011-06-10T18:17:49Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Comedy cliche: An angry character yells at other characters, then storms out of the office, slamming the door behind him. He then comes back in and says "Wait a minute, this is MY office! YOU leave!
Alternately, storms off into a closet, bathroom or other area requiring a sheepish re-entrance.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/15 "2011-06-10T18:30:27Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> Alternately, storms off into a closet, bathroom or other area requiring a sheepish re-entrance.
Ah yeah, I forgot that variation.
Then there’s the guy who gets a promotion to an executive position that he clearly doesn’t deserve, and gets his own office. He spends the first 10 minutes playing with the automatic pencil sharpener.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/16 "2011-06-10T18:37:40Z")
My number one.
Good Guy and Bad Guy fight, trying to kill each other. Good Guy gets Bad Guy right where he wants him, then doesn’t finish him…says “you’re not worth it” and turns his back
a) then Bad Guy makes a move for a weapon, forcing Good Guy to kill him just in the nick of time
or
b) steps overt the many bodies of Bad Guy minions who aparently _were_ worth it.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/17 "2011-06-10T18:53:13Z")
1. The Iron Law of Rope Bridges: No rope bridge ever survives until the end of the movie.
2. The Iron Laws of Swimming Pools:
a. If someone is murdered, and he owns a swimming pool, his body will be found in the water.
b. In a comedy, someone will go into the pool fully clothed.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/18 "2011-06-10T19:27:13Z")
Here’s one that occurred to me while watching the “Ariel” episode of _Firefly_ recently. I couldn’t find it on tvtropes, but surely it’s there, because I know I’ve seen this kind of thing other places:
Not-terribly-bright or at least not-terribly-sophisticated person prepares him/herself with all the knowledge they might need to answer questions while, say, committing some act of fraud: every minor detail of the lie they need to convince someone of, the backstory of every character involved, the fraudulent documents they need to convince the guards at the gate that they belong inside the secure facility …
only to show up, state their purpose and just be let in without further questioning.
And then you see the over-prepared fraudster nearly burst with all the stuff they have in their head … sometimes (as in the “Ariel” example) they’ll even blurt out at least a little of what they stuffed their head with, just to relieve the pressure.
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/19 "2011-06-10T19:54:23Z")
People only talk like this in the movies, **Son of a Rich** … only in the movies.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-movie-cliches/584985/20 "2011-06-10T20:31:36Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> A character walks nonchalantly toward the camera and displays no reaction as a huge fireball explodes behind him.
>
> I hate cliches 🙂
I don’t know why, but this sauntering toward the camera while a fireball explodes behind him just makes me want to scream and throw things.
And it’s always a fireball. It doesn’t matter what’s blowing up, or the source of the ignition, or the type of explosives used, it’s always a big ol’ gasoline fireball.
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