# Most expensive punchline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686 "2019-01-13T13:41:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/41 "2019-01-14T22:04:34Z")
speaking of train wrecks, you can see the train that wrecked into the bus in the Fugitive (with Tommy Lee Jones). The train is still sitting next to the Tuckaseegee river near Dillsboro NC ---
**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:** [January 14, 2019, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/42 "2019-01-14T22:47:29Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’ll throw in the “house over the cliff” gag at the end of Spielberg’s “1941” - that must have been a lot to spend for a single joke. That wasn’t a “single” joke. All in all, that set-up took double-digit minutes, what with the cannon, the rotations, the firing and what-all. Nailing the wreath to the door was just the capstone. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/43 "2019-01-14T22:56:04Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > First thing that occurs to me is the Shelby Cobra that gets smashed in the first Iron Man. They mentioned this in the behind-the-scenes bit on the DVD–it’s a fake Shelby Cobra, but a fully functional one, so it’s still worth, like, $70,000. Just not a collector’s item, [like Tony’s would have been](https://www.jamesedition.com/cars/shelby/cobra/1962-shelby-cobra-50th-anniversary-for-sale-10427696). The guy who had to pull the trigger was distressed at having to trash such a nice car. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/44 "2019-01-15T00:23:35Z")
I nominate Buster Keaton’ famous [falling-house scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN2SKWSOdGM) from _Steamboat Bill, Jr._. Not because of financial expense, but because of the potential expense of injury or death. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/45 "2019-01-15T01:17:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That wasn’t a “single” joke. All in all, that set-up took double-digit minutes, what with the cannon, the rotations, the firing and what-all. Nailing the wreath to the door was just the capstone. You’re right, of course. I should have “punchline,” not “joke.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/46 "2019-01-15T02:35:10Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I nominate Buster Keaton’ famous [falling-house scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN2SKWSOdGM) from _Steamboat Bill, Jr._. Not because of financial expense, but because of the potential expense of injury or death. Keaton did _lots_ of things that could have killed him. The famous sequence in _The General_ where he’s picking up the ties that have been placed on the rail could have ended in disaster: he could have been caught under the engine, or if he hadn’t picked them up correctly the train could have derailed. It’s astounding the stunts he pulled off throughout his silent career. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/47 "2019-01-15T04:01:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW, I’ve never owned a Chrysler, but I thought that and the Pontiac sister car were pretty nice looking cars. Pontiac was made by GM. Did you mean Plymouth sister car? ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/48 "2019-01-15T17:51:59Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > [We Just Wasted 2 Million Bucks](https://adage.com/videos/etrade-wasting-2-million/888) For those not wanting to click blind links, this goes to a Super Bowl ad from the early 2000s where it just shows a monkey clapping for 30 seconds, followed by a graphic saying “We just wasted 2 million bucks”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/49 "2019-01-15T19:41:51Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Not to mention all the cars they’ve destroyed and even [doubled down](https://youtu.be/6-shNHaJigM?t=63) when people complain. The piano probably cost more than the car. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/50 "2019-01-15T20:10:40Z")
Maybe the KLF burning a million pounds? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9K4WxzT84vs/hqdefault.jpg "Bill Drummond talks about burning one million pounds Jan 2014") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K4WxzT84vs) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/51 "2019-01-15T23:24:43Z")
**Most expensive punchline** “I do”. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/52 "2019-01-16T00:00:34Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Pontiac was made by GM. Did you mean Plymouth sister car? I believe he is confusing the Crossfire with the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky. The closest to a sister car for the Crossfire was the first generation Mercedes SLK. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/53 "2019-01-16T05:03:33Z")
As I understand it, a lot of shiny new autos destroyed in movies and TV work are ones that the manufacturer doesn’t want sold, because they were built during production line startup, or otherwise don’t meet the company’s quality control. Most such vehicles are crushed and shredded, but apparently there’s some channel to divert a portion of them to Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/54 "2019-01-16T23:35:36Z")
To get back to the OP’s question … One of the Roger Moore Bond movies (I’m at work, or I’d look it up) had Moore taxiing around an airfield trying to elude bad guys who were shooting at him. He drives into a hangar, and the bad guys at the other end of the building start closing the sliding double doors. Moore hits the partly open doors at high speed, and the wings are ripped off his plane, but the fuselage, with Moore inside, continues on to safety. You can judge whether that’s a throwaway gag or not, but it certainly wasn’t the climax of the film. Before the shot, the wings were sawn off the plane and stuck back on with chewing gum so they’d come off easily. That’s one plane that will never fly again But just in case they needed a retake, they sawed the wings off a second identical plane. They got the shot in one take, but two planes were destroyed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686.md?page=2)