# Movies/Shows with glaring errors. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422 "2012-10-11T15:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/41 "2012-10-11T20:44:58Z")
How about Swayze turning a gas pump into a flame thrower in _Point Break_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/42 "2012-10-11T20:53:57Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ll have to look again but I seem to remember it was clear that it was manmade. I just looked. [It was a quarry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGbf35aNjN0), and the gate had been opened so he just drove right through. Of course, Kirk still should have slid off the cliff and died, but that’s a different error. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/43 "2012-10-11T21:16:55Z")
In the movie Pearl Harbor…didn’t he board a train in New York to go to London? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/44 "2012-10-11T21:22:11Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Speaking of gold, boy is its weight ignored in movies. **Die Hard With A Vengeance** , they carry them around one handed, tossing them to each other. Plus I don’t think those fully laded dump trucks would even move. **Italian Job** , I don’t care how much reinforcement was added to those Minis - same problem. **Tower Heist** , let’s not even go there. Same in Goldfinger. Bond actually throws one of the bricks at Oddjob and it bounces off Oddjob harmlessly. A brick that size probably would have weighed around two or three hundred pounds and Bond couldn’t possibly have thrown it easily and no matter how strong Oddjob was it wouldn’t have bounced off him like that. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/45 "2012-10-11T21:29:40Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Same in Goldfinger. Bond actually throws one of the bricks at Oddjob and it bounces off Oddjob harmlessly. > > A brick that size probably would have weighed around two or three hundred pounds and Bond couldn’t possibly have thrown it easily and no matter how strong Oddjob was it wouldn’t have bounced off him like that. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/W3khD_oelRE/maxresdefault.jpg "James Bond vs Odd Job") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3khD_oelRE) Scene in question. At time stamp 2:13 you can see the brick in his hand. It appears to be 3 inches wide, 9 inches long, 2 inches thick. That would be 200 to 300 pounds? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/46 "2012-10-11T21:31:08Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > It takes placed at Dulles airport in Washington DC, but when he’s on one of the pay phones you can see they’re clearly marked Pacific Bell. I noticed this in the theater, but then thought maybe I imagined it because they fixed it when it was released on video. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/47 "2012-10-11T21:39:42Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But “Event Horizon” is a pretty nebulous concept when you’ve got a spaceship that can travel faster than light. The event horizon is the point where objects that travel at c cannot escape from the black hole. Travel faster than c and you’re golden. Of course in the real universe nothing can travel faster than c, and so your spaceship can never escape the black hole. In the Star Trek universe all sorts of things can travel faster than c, and so the event horizon is more of an event guideline. Which still doesn’t explain how something that is just a distance can have a “crack”. Or why it was problem for a ship that can travel faster than light in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/48 "2012-10-11T21:40:34Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3khD\_oelRE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3khD_oelRE) > > Scene in question. At time stamp 2:13 you can see the brick in his hand. > > It appears to be 3 inches wide, 9 inches long, 2 inches thick. > > That would be 200 to 300 pounds? Here’s a quote from IMDB’s “goofs” section of the film: > [@IMDB/Goldfinger (1964)](#): > > A standard gold bar used by banks and bullion dealers weighs 400 troy-ounces, or 27.5 pounds each. Goldfinger’s henchmen are transferring the gold bars to the truck as if they weighed almost nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/49 "2012-10-11T21:47:44Z")
> [@bup](#): > > That may be intentional - like how movies show bad guys holding handguns sideways. IIRC, quite a few really do, bad an idea as it is. I’ve heard it claimed that the practice started with Russian soldiers; when wanting to send a lot of bullets in an arc for covering fire and such, they’d tilt their guns sideways and let the recoil force the gun to fire in an arc. Somehow it spread to the criminal/popular subculture; but what can make a certain amount of sense for soldiers using automatic weapons doesn’t work with a handgun. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/50 "2012-10-11T21:49:12Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Which still doesn’t explain how something that is just a distance can have a “crack”. Or why it was problem for a ship that can travel faster than light in the first place. Meh, its pretend physics from the 24th century. They don’t have to explain it, they just have to say that’s the way it works and then remain consistent. I agree with **lemur** , its not an error in the sense of the OP. > [@kunilou](#): > > I just looked. It was a quarry, and the gate had been opened so he just drove right through. I’ve been there and it is indeed a quarry (the granite quarry in Barre, VT, to be specific). So again, not an error. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/51 "2012-10-11T21:49:33Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I just looked. [It was a quarry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGbf35aNjN0), and the gate had been opened so he just drove right through. > > Of course, Kirk still should have slid off the cliff and died, but that’s a different error. That’s what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/52 "2012-10-11T21:50:22Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3khD\_oelRE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3khD_oelRE) > > Scene in question. At time stamp 2:13 you can see the brick in his hand. > > It appears to be 3 inches wide, 9 inches long, 2 inches thick. > > That would be 200 to 300 pounds? The standard gold ingot weighs 400 troy ounces, or 27.4 pounds and is about 39 cubic inches. A standard brick is 36 cubic inches (6" \* 3" \* 2"). Oddjob would have been really, really pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/53 "2012-10-11T21:58:54Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Which still doesn’t explain how something that is just a distance can have a “crack”. Or why it was problem for a ship that can travel faster than light in the first place. Star Trek ships don’t travel FTL, they “warp space” instead. Whole different set of issues. Of course, nobody gets black holes right…the event horizon is just the radius where a massless particle can’t escape…anything with a mass is screwed much, much farther away. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/54 "2012-10-11T22:05:01Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Same in Goldfinger. Bond actually throws one of the bricks at Oddjob and it bounces off Oddjob harmlessly. > > A brick that size probably would have weighed around two or three hundred pounds and Bond couldn’t possibly have thrown it easily and no matter how strong Oddjob was it wouldn’t have bounced off him like that. [More likely somewhere around 25 pounds.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Delivery) Or possibly less – the one in the movie looks a bit smaller than the Wiki picture. Two or three hundred pounds is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/55 "2012-10-11T22:31:21Z")
If I recall correctly, in the ST:TNG episode _The Royale_, Data states that the surface of a planet is “negative \ Celsius” where the value he gives is below -273 and therefore below absolute zero. Not quite glaring, but not an error I’d expect a Star Trek writer to make. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/56 "2012-10-11T22:40:20Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > [More likely somewhere around 25 pounds.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Delivery) Or possibly less – the one in the movie looks a bit smaller than the Wiki picture. > > Two or three hundred pounds is ridiculous. Fair enough but 25 pounds is still a fairly significant weight - the standard weight for a man’s shot put is only 16 pounds for example. Throwing something half as heavy again one handed is pretty impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/57 "2012-10-11T22:48:26Z")
The one I always wonder about is in “Jurassic Park.” The “levitating T-Rex.” The two cars are stopped on the track outside the T-Rex paddock, right next to the place where the goat is on a rope. The T-Rex crashes through the unpowered electric fence. Later in the scene, Dr. Grant, the kids and one car go over the concrete part of the fence into a GIANT CHASM right where the T-Rex crashed through the electric fence. What is it with Spielberg and giant chasms from nowhere? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/58 "2012-10-11T22:50:05Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Meh, its pretend physics from the 24th century. Event horizons are not. And a “crack in the event horizon” isn’t just a _“we don’t know how to do it”_ or even a _“known physics says it’s impossible”_ claim; it’s a _“that doesn’t make any sense”_ claim. It would be like a character claiming they can stop a vehicle by “shooting it with a phaser in the miles-per-hour”. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/59 "2012-10-11T22:52:46Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > [More likely somewhere around 25 pounds.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Delivery) Or possibly less – the one in the movie looks a bit smaller than the Wiki picture. > > Two or three hundred pounds is ridiculous. My mistake. I remembered the bar being bigger and thought gold was denser than it is. Nevertheless, it would be pretty difficult for anyone to throw a 25 pound weight as easily and with as much force as Bond does and no matter how strong Oddjob was, the bar wouldn’t just bounce harmlessly off him. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422/60 "2012-10-11T22:53:08Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Fair enough but 25 pounds is still a fairly significant weight - the standard weight for a man’s shot put is only 16 pounds for example. Throwing something half as heavy again one handed is pretty impressive. To be fair, Connery actually makes it look like the gold is heavy. He throws it more or less like a shotput. Oddjob just shrugs it off, but that’s sort of the point, the scene is supposed to make Oddjob look unstoppable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-shows-with-glaring-errors/637422.md?page=4)