# Movies that you always see pieces of (usually the same parts!) never the whole movie.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 21, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827 "2003-07-21T01:31:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/1 "2003-07-21T01:31:59Z")
This is pure coincidence, (either that, or the universe has a perverse sense of humor 🙂 ) but in the TV era many times movies pop up, specially while changing channels, were you get to see a great movie midway; somehow, you stop and watch, you then know you have seen a great movie, but because the end is spoiled, you never bother to rent it, and so months or years pass, and once again you see it on TV!
At exactly the same part you saw before!!
My examples:
_To kill a Mockingbird_
All the three times I caught the movie, it is always from the end of the tear jerking trial.
_The Never ending story_
The two times I saw the movie it was always from the time the Rockbiter appears! (It is still one of my favorite movies)
_Witness for the prosecution_
This one was worse: I caught the last ten minutes of it in two different occasions, then last week I caught the beginning of it! But, I had to go out! Didn’t even see the end of the titles!
What movies seem to avoid you?
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### Author:  [@stylize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stylize)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/2 "2003-07-21T01:36:04Z")
Can you turn on any of the HBOs and _not_ see one of the following:
Evolution
A Beautiful Mind
Murder By Numbers
Dumb movie with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman
And now Minority Report and Dr. Dolittle 2 are entering the cycle of hell.
I swear that TNT has shown The Wedding Planner 8000000000 times in the past week.
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### Author:  [@stylize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stylize)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/3 "2003-07-21T01:38:01Z")
Looking back, I guess my movies aren’t in the spirit of the OP but I still see them all the time and want to slit my wrists.
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/4 "2003-07-21T01:52:22Z")
I don’t like watching movies once they’ve started but I probably saw the beginning of the first 2 Godfathers 10 times before I ever finished them. Bad timing, not a refelction on the movie.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/5 "2003-07-21T01:53:03Z")
Yep, that is right **stylize** , apropos of _The Wedding planer_: I have a Pit thread on it, if not on the quality of it…
This is a thread on movies you like, but somehow, the elements conspire to always make you see only a piece of it.
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### Author:  [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/6 "2003-07-21T01:57:35Z")
_Total Recall_: I always seem to catch the last 2/3 after he’s landed on Mars.
_Forrest Gump_: Again, I only seem to catch the last 10 minutes.
_Red Dwarf_: Not a movie, but it’s been shown twice and I missed the finale both times- ARGGHH!!! Managed to catch up with web scripts, but it’s still not the same…
_Earth: Final Conflict_: Somehow I’ve managed to watch the first episode and all the finales but none of the intervening ones.
_Tek Wars_: Everytime it’s on I try to make myself watch the entire accursed movie, but turn it off in fustration after 20 minutes.
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### Author:  [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/7 "2003-07-21T01:59:54Z")
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: I think channels are embarrassed to admit they’re showing this and so they never advertise its going to be on 🙂
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### Author:  [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/8 "2003-07-21T03:15:53Z")
_Willow_: I swear I have seen the beginning of this like 10 times, but somehow I never seem to be able to get past the bit with the guy in the cage! I always have to be somewhere or something. I wonder if I’ll ever see the rest of it.
Also, I’ve never seen the beginning of _American Pie_, though I’ve seen the middle and the end numerous times.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/9 "2003-07-21T03:49:04Z")
I’ve never caught the first half of The Abyss, although I like the second half a lot and would eventually like to see the whole thing.
I’ve never seen the first half of Twelve Angry Men either, come to think of it.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/10 "2003-07-21T03:59:08Z")
The first thirty seconds of any movie starring Madonna.
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### Author:  [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/11 "2003-07-21T04:50:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Trigonal Planar \*
> \*\*Overdrawn at the Memory Bank: I think channels are embarrassed to admit they’re showing this and so they never advertise its going to be on 🙂 \*\*
MST3k even did that one. Raul Julia is in it, right?
I’ve caught _Executive Decision_ at the same freaking part for weeks now. Right after the team gets on the plane, and I usually find something better to do shortly before the movie starts to finally get moving towards the end. I think the farthest I got was the signaling part (I hope that was vauge enough not to spoil a 2nd-rate movie).
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/12 "2003-07-21T05:09:01Z")
I **always** miss the first 15 minutes of _Valmont_. I’ve seen the rest of it several times, but whenever I’ve come across it, the first fifteen minutes have already aired. I really like it, too!. It’s the same as _Dangerous Liasons_, but I prefer _Valmont_ because of the actors in it: Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk, Henry Thomas, and Jeffrey Jones.
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### Author:  [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/13 "2003-07-21T06:17:35Z")
**The Godfather** - I have seen bits and pieces from all parts on the movie, but never the whole movie.
**Total Recall** - I haven’t seen the middle part
**American Pie** - I’ve only seen it all the way from where he goes down on his girlfriend.
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### Author:  [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/14 "2003-07-21T06:52:38Z")
_Star Wars_: I’ve never seen any _Star Wars Movie_ the whole way through. They used to play them and other movies the last three days of class in Intermediate School, but I’ve never seen one in its interty.
_The Godfather_: I’ve seen various five minute clips on probably five occasions.
_The Never-Ending Story_: I’ve just seen the ending, twice, a long time ago.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/15 "2003-07-21T06:55:04Z")
I’ve seen the ending fifteen minutes of _The Abyss_ at least five times, but never anything before that.
Also, I think I’d seen Slim Picken’s grand finale in _Dr. Strangelove_ almost twenty times before I watched the entire film. To the film’s credit, the impact of the ending wasn’t lessened one bit.
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### Author:  [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/16 "2003-07-21T07:49:13Z")
On at least three occasions when I was a kid, I wandered into the living room where my parents were watching COME BACK, LiTTLE SHEBA. And I always came into the story just AFTER Burt Lancaster had fallen off the wagon. He smashed the dishes and held a knife to Shirley Booth’s throat and scared me to death every time.
I never saw the complete film until I was about thirty.
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### Author:  [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/17 "2003-07-21T16:06:55Z")
I’ve now seen the begining and end of Minority Report about 6 times. I can’t seem to catch the middle.
It’s the HBO thing.
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### Author:  [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/18 "2003-07-21T16:43:55Z")
I have a few:
“Frantic” with Harrison Ford, I have seen the first 20 minutes 4 times.
“The Package” with Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, I had seen the forst 20 minutes about 7 times.
And finally “O’Brother Where Art Thou”. I think I have seen the whole thing, but never in one sitting. I saw about 8 different 20 minute chunks.
MtM
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### Author:  [@Mr\_Tambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Tambo)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/19 "2003-07-21T16:52:05Z")
_Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh_. When I was a youngster, they had a cartoon festival in the local town every year, and they always had a TV playing the above film at one of the local schools. When I ran out of things to do, I’d go and watch that for a while. Sometimes I’d see the beginning, sometimes the middle, sometimes the end. I expect, all in all, I must have seen the entirety of the movie in bits and pieces over the years.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-you-always-see-pieces-of-usually-the-same-parts-never-the-whole-movie/189827/20 "2003-07-21T17:02:23Z")
I’d seen the entirety of _It’s a Wonderful Life_ many times growing up, but never in its entirety until I was out of high school. Until then, I hadn’t even realized that the first half and the second half were the same movie.
And I’ve seen _The Hunt for Red October_ twice. The first time, I missed the first half-hour, and the second time, I missed the first fifteen minutes. I do rather wonder how the movie starts.
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