# Movies: Who has the memos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977 "2017-05-19T01:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/21 "2017-05-19T21:46:11Z")
_Memento_? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/22 "2017-05-19T22:08:34Z")
Glinda knew the shoes would get Dorothy home all along. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/23 "2017-05-19T22:58:46Z")
In ZOOLANDER, there comes a time when Jerry Stiller publicly takes a stand; like a dignified man of integrity, he declares that, yes, everything our hero has been saying about the villain is true. “I’m done,” he announces; “I’ve been in on it for years,” he explains – adding that he has “a head full of bad memories,” and that “it’s time to set things straight.” Which is to say, he specifies that he has a zip disk at his Long Island home, and that he can have the evidence here in minutes. Now, since it’s _Jerry Stiller,_ the effect largely goes down the toilet during the ensuing phone call: he starts bickering with his wife about how the traffic won’t be that big of a hassle if she just takes the service road and makes sure to get off before the bridge, and how he can heat up the damn casserole in the microwave _later_ if she’ll just put it in a tupperware container _now,_ and so on and forth. But it’s still obvious that incriminating evidence is on the way – prompting the Big Bad to flip out and turn the whole thing into a physical confrontation that our hero wins spectacularly. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/24 "2017-05-20T01:45:22Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Without spoiling the movie, _The Book of Eli_, the hero IS the one with the notes (book) Good call not spoiling the movie. When I read a spoiler that the eponymous book was a copy of the Bible in [Braille,](http://holynessbiblesfortheblind.org/wp-content/uploads/18-volume-braille-bible.jpg) I could only conclude that there wasn’t any point in seeing the movie. Not even for Mila Kunis. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/25 "2017-05-20T01:49:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Arguably, Michael York’s d’Artagnon pulls this off by presenting Cardinal Richelieu (Charlton Heston) with the death warrant that Richeliu himself wrote at the conclusion of **The Four Musketeers** (1974), the sequel to **the Three Musketeers**. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > A “license to kill…etc” isn’t a Death Warrant? In the instance under discussion, it was more of a _carte blanche_. Which discusses the degree to which the bearer is privileged to be absolved from any penalty for the actions he has taken. A “Death Warrant” usually bears the name of the person whose death is authorized by it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/26 "2017-05-20T18:35:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > In the instance under discussion, it was more of a _carte blanche_. Which discusses the degree to which the bearer is privileged to be absolved from any penalty for the actions he has taken. > > A “Death Warrant” usually bears the name of the person whose death is authorized by it. Yes! :smack: I was looking for that term “Carte Blanche” thank you. Had to attempt to describe that the best I could, not so good with my French and I did forget my Spanish, that item is known in many countries as “Carta Blanca”. [https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-21343,00.html](https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-21343,00.html) > [@](#): > > Its French (usurprisingly). Its a political term involving a dispensation from the monarch (or their representative) which gives the bearer of the “White sheet” free reign throughout the realm to usurp all laws , request all services of any subject and act without fear of prosecution. > > I’m unsure of the first use but one was certainly issued to the head of the inquisition in France by Philip the fair to be used against Jaques De Molay the last head of the Order of The Knights Templar. Considering the power of such a Document (Hitler and himmler we also fond of issuing a similar document) they were often dangerously vague. This was often because the issuing monarch wanted to have the power of “plausible deniability”. > > The most famous of these documents (fictional but probably based loosely in fact) Is the Carte Blanche issued to Milady De Winter by Cardinal Richeleau in Dumas “The Three Musketeers” “By My word and for the good of the state, The bearer has done what has been done”. This did give the bearer almost unlimited power, but was also used by her nemisis, D’artagnion to justify her own execution.\* A double edged sword if ever there was one. > > Ben, London What I was also trying to say early is that a death warrant has the names of the people the executioners were ordered to take care of, the Carte Blanche had no specific names and it was used to grant the bearer of it to all powers of the state, even to kill anyone deemed to be an enemy of the king or queen. Nowadays the term is used in financial documents and mostly referring to blank checks and [Mexican beer](http://www.thedrinksreport.com/news/2015/16392-redesign-for-mexican-beer-brand-carta-blanca.html). 🙂 - D’artagnion still kept the letter after he had used it before to complete his early mission. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/27 "2017-05-20T19:11:21Z")
Since it looks like we’re having trouble coming up with many direct examples, I’ll offer another one that kinda sorta fits. In _Sleepers_, the priest played by Robert DeNiro apparently has a habit of keeping the ticket stubs from ballgames he goes to. This, along with the priest’s somewhat flexible interpretation of the Ninth Commandment, comes in handy in the trial. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977/28 "2017-05-20T20:13:49Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Since it looks like we’re having trouble coming up with many direct examples, I’ll offer another one that kinda sorta fits. In _Sleepers_, the priest played by Robert DeNiro apparently has a habit of keeping the ticket stubs from ballgames he goes to. This, along with the priest’s somewhat flexible interpretation of the Ninth Commandment, comes in handy in the trial. Oh, I’ve got another one, but it’s so spoiler-tastic that I’ll spoiler even the title: [spoiler]WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. Seems the defendant’s only real witness will be his German-born wife – who’ll testify he was with her during the murder, because of _course_ she would, right? That’s not worth much. But she instead testifies that, no, he came home late that night and covered in blood! So he’s screwed – until a Brit gives the defense attorney some letters written by said wife, including one laying out her plan to weave a noose of perjury around his neck so she can be with her beloved! So she’s obviously lying! And he’s obviously innocent! And, technically, it’s all because that Brit kept those letters. And that counts, since that Brit was only ever the German-born wife _herself,_ with a cheap wig and a fake accent.[/spoiler] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-who-has-the-memos/786977.md?page=1)