# Movies that could not be made in today’s world **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 13, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064 "2023-09-13T18:10:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/141 "2023-09-24T01:31:24Z")
Exactly. When she reveals she’s actually a virgin he gets snapped back to reality and the truth that he’s been living a fantasy and she’s not a sexually experienced woman but is indeed a child. And yes his fetishization of her is creepy, it’s _supposed_ to be creepy. We’re not supposed to be rooting for him to have sex with her. He’s sympathetic because he’s killed but everyone in the movie is fucked up. I don’t see why the same story couldn’t be made today. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/142 "2023-09-24T08:33:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Tom Ewell was in his forties when he played the role. I don’t think he was “some old guy” but perhaps a middle-aged husband and father. Yeah, Ewell (b. 1909) was early to mid-forties during the 1952-54 Broadway run of The Seven-Year Itch and the filming of the 1955 film. Monroe (b. 1926) played that role in her late twenties, and AFAICT the ages of the corresponding characters in the film were intended to be in the same ballpark as the ages of the actors. I don’t think that type of age gap in a romantic pairing would have been considered at all intrinsically comical back in 1955. No, ISTM that what’s intended to be funny about that movie (and play) is the contrast between the infatuated Richard’s colorful imaginings about a possible affair and his more mundane feelings of caution and guilt for being tempted by the possibility. Basically, Walter Mitty but with a more singleminded Hawt Babe theme. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That’s how I read the scene; it wasn’t her virginity _per se_ that made him back off; it was noticing that for all her pretense of sexual experience, she was actually nervous and uncomfortable. I see your point, and that does make a difference. As per the [screenplay:](https://imsdb.com/scripts/American-Beauty.html) > [@](#): > > INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - FAMILY ROOM - CONTINUOUS > > Lester starts unbuttoning Angela’s blouse. She seems disconnected from what’s happening. Lester pulls her blouse open, exposing her breasts. > > Lester looks down at her, grinning, unable to believe he’s actually about to do what he’s dreamed of so many times, and then… > > ``` > ANGELA > This is my first time. > > ``` > > Lester LAUGHS. > > ``` > LESTER > You're kidding. > > ANGELA > (a whisper) > I'm sorry. > > ``` > > A beat. Lester looks down at her, his grin fading. > > His POV: Angela lies beneath us, embarrassed and vulnerable. This is not the mythically carnal creature of Lester’s fantasies; this is a nervous child. > > ``` > ANGELA (CONT'D) > I still want to do it... I just thought I > should tell you... in case you wondered > why I wasn't... better. > > ``` > > Lester’s face falls. There’s no way he’s going to go through > with this now. > > ``` > ANGELA (CONT'D) > (confused) > What's wrong? I thought you said I was > beautiful. > > LESTER > (tenderly) > You are beautiful. > > ``` > > He grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and drapes it > around her shoulders, covering her nakedness. > > ``` > LESTER (CONT'D) > You are so beautiful... and I would be a > very lucky man... > > ``` > > He smiles and shakes his head. Humiliated, Angela starts to > cry. > > ``` > ANGELA > I feel so stupid. > > LESTER > Don't. > > ``` > > He hugs her, letting her put her head on his shoulder, > stroking her hair and rocking her gently. > > ``` > ANGELA > I'm sorry. > > ``` > > Lester takes her by the shoulders and looks at her, serious. > > ``` > LESTER > You have nothing to be sorry about. > > ``` > > But she keeps crying. Lester hugs her again. We HEAR a loud > CLAP of THUNDER outside. > > ``` > LESTER (CONT'D) > (smiles) > It's okay. Everything's okay. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/143 "2023-09-24T13:17:54Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > What I did find offensive was the bit where Speedman (Ben Stiller) is talking about adopting a kid, and his agent (McConaughey) says “At least you get to choose…I’m stuck with mine,” and looks sadly at a photo of himself and a kid with a slack jaw and blank expression. I remember a rather uncomfortable reaction in the theater, and there was an attempt to fix this, with a skit at the MTV movie awards that showed the kid as generally neurotypical, just an unmotivated slacker. But that wasn’t something that aged badly; it was a bad idea even at the time. Not seeing this. McConaughey was playing a self-absorbed, insensitive douchebag so it just confirmed what I made of his character. Not offensive at all, except in the sense that I felt even more critical of the role he was playing, which made the film even stronger. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/144 "2023-09-25T04:56:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I happened to watch _Cannonball Run_ a couple days ago. I don’t think it could be made in today’s world. The scenes of Burt Reynolds abducting and drugging Farrah Fawcett, and Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis loading up their car with beer for the race to California wouldn’t fly these days. > > Plus, it was absolutely terrible. It was based on a true story. > **[Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonball_Baker_Sea-to-Shining-Sea_Memorial_Trophy_Dash)** > > The Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, widely known as the Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, was an unofficial, unsanctioned automobile race run five times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, Connecticut, on the East Coast of the United States to the Portofino Inn in the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, California. The Cannonball Run races have additionally inspired numerous contemporary efforts by independent teams to set the record time for the route, kno Co... > [@msmith537](#): > > Do they even make high school sex, drugs, & alcohol comedies in the style of Fast Times & Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused, American Pie, and Superbad anymore? Which makes me think they wouldn’t make _Teen Wolf_ now days. It depicted teenage drug use, underage drinking, one night stand sex, and dangerous car roof surfing. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/145 "2023-09-25T05:34:34Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > It was based on a true story. I know, but the real racers couldn’t have been as stupid as the ones in the movie. Forget about driving to California, they couldn’t find water if you pushed them out of a boat. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/146 "2023-09-25T06:10:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > It was based on a true story. > > I know, but the real racers couldn’t have been as stupid as the ones in the movie. Sure they could. And they were. Someone staged one of those races in the 80’s from the state border to Appleton (IIRC) and we pulled over a couple of them as they passed through Milwaukee County (I was a Deputy during my first LEO career). One dope had aluminum foil in his wheel wells and a rubber band on the mic key of his CB believing those things would mess with our radar units. Then he got pissed and insisted it couldn’t have been his car we clocked as he had jammed our radar. Another guy had a stethoscope around his neck and said he was a doctor on his way to deliver a baby in Green Bay. You can’t make this stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/147 "2023-09-25T09:06:57Z")
Did any of them try to tell you that the two priests in a Ferrari were flashers? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/148 "2023-09-25T09:31:28Z")
Heh. No. But for a while after that movie came out there were some men who were wearing clergy collars and even a few women who wore a nuns habit thinking it would get them leniency. My favorite is when a woman says “I thought cops didn’t give pretty girls tickets”. The reply to that is “We don’t. Heres your ticket”. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/149 "2023-09-25T12:34:34Z")
That’s hilarious. Somebody should have told him the tinfoil goes on your head not your wheels. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/150 "2023-09-25T15:48:14Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Sure, as a 10-minute subplot. Not the entire content of a feature-length movie. Different strokes, I guess. Many feature movies are based on something that should be nothing more than what should be nothing more than a 10 minute subplot, or even less substantial than that. I don’t think it leads to good movies in general. We have a difference of opinion about the quality of this movie, and not that much difference because I don’t rate it highly anyway, but in regards to the thread topic I don’t think it would be difficult to remake this movie, without needing great changes. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/151 "2023-09-25T16:28:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Did any of them try to tell you that the two priests in a Ferrari were flashers? These bleeds? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/152 "2023-09-25T17:17:15Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > It was based on a true story. One surprising side effect of COVID is that the unofficial coast-to-coast driving speed record was broken repeatedly, because of the nationwide reduction in traffic. Still seems pointless and dangerous to me… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/153 "2023-09-25T17:28:18Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Which makes me think they wouldn’t make _Teen Wolf_ now days. > It depicted teenage drug use, underage drinking, one night stand sex… I have never seen _Teen Wolf_, are you suggesting that it depicted these things in a _manner_ that would now be unacceptable? Because obviously these things are still commonly shown. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/154 "2023-09-26T01:26:47Z")
I worked at the movie theater when I was 16, and we showed one of Clint Eastwood’s earlier American movies, “Coogan’s Bluff,” directed by the great Don Siegel. At one point, Coogan observes the noisy goings-on at a New York City police precinct. An elderly woman, dressed like a bag lady and obviously not mentally well, is accusing at least two people, one of them a police officer, of attempted rape. The scene was played for laughs. And it got laughs at the time. That, and several other cringe-inducing scenes, were cut from the movie when it went to television. Whether they are included in the video release, I don’t know, but they were cut from the version I saw on TCM. Can you imagine? Rape and dementia used for laughs? Well, that was the 60s for you. Other than that, it’s actually a pretty good action/adventure movie, though thoroughly dated. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/155 "2023-09-26T03:31:45Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > That, and several other cringe-inducing scenes, were cut from the movie when it went to television. Whether they are included in the video release, I don’t know, but they were cut from the version I saw on TCM. I’m pretty sure TCM doesn’t edit or censor the films they air. Maybe you were watching it on AMC or another channel. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/156 "2023-09-26T04:27:52Z")
Not a movie, but I have a book called _Golfing for Cats_ with a big swastika on the cover. I don’t know if that would get made today. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/157 "2023-09-26T06:09:30Z")
I think you’ve possibly [been whooshed](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreadEggsMilkSquick). You cut off the only bit that’d probably be an issue today. At least, if the popularity of _Euphoria_ is anything to go by… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/158 "2023-09-26T15:23:31Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I think you’ve possibly [been whooshed](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreadEggsMilkSquick) Well thanks for that rabbit hole. So much for getting morning chores done. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/159 "2023-09-26T16:49:46Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > These bleeds? HILARIOUS !!! For whatever reason, that blooper stuck with me and my group of friends. We still use it to this day ! (I didn’t think anyone else remembered that one !) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064/160 "2023-09-26T18:02:05Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > > [@Rilchiam](#): > > > > What I did find offensive was the bit where Speedman (Ben Stiller) is talking about adopting a kid, and his agent (McConaughey) says “At least you get to choose…I’m stuck with mine,” and looks sadly at a photo of himself and a kid with a slack jaw and blank expression. I remember a rather uncomfortable reaction in the theater, and there was an attempt to fix this, with a skit at the MTV movie awards that showed the kid as generally neurotypical, just an unmotivated slacker. But that wasn’t something that aged badly; it was a bad idea even at the time. > > Not seeing this. McConaughey was playing a self-absorbed, insensitive douchebag so it just confirmed what I made of his character. Not offensive at all, except in the sense that I felt even more critical of the role he was playing, which made the film even stronger. Yeah, the theme in this thread is the idea that modern audiences lack any awareness of nuance in older film. And by older we are talking about only a few decades here. No doubt the people defending films here have skin in the game with rose tinted nostalgia, but what would you expect of us? 30 years ago I saw Revenge of the Nerds and never thought it condoned rape. Some people now say it condones rape, or implies date rape is ok, or advocates for rape or is at least rape positive, but I did not feel that way as a teen 30 years ago when I was the target audience for this film. So the discussion must then go to either I was more comfortable with rape than I am willing to admit to myself or the film was shown in a different time with other things happening or not and that influenced the audience appropriately to the idea it’s just a comedic lark that is not to be taken seriously. So here we are on an endless carousel of misunderstanding. Don’t mind me, I’ll show myself out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-today-s-world/990064.md?page=9)