# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 84
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1661 "2013-12-15T01:39:11Z")
In _ **The Producers** _ (1968), when Max and the Little Old Lady are playing “Contessa and the Chauffeur,” she calls him “Rudolfo.” Later, when Max and Leo go to see Roger De Bris, they drive up in a Rolls Royce limo. The chauffeur opens the door for Max, and he says “Thank you, Rudolfo!” Also, when Franz Liebkind blows the lock off Max’s door with his Luger, we can see for just a second that the slide is locked in the open position, meaning the pistol is empty and making it impossible for him to fire the subsequent rounds without reloading. Conversely, when he tries to commit suicide and fails because the Luger is empty, the slide is back down, indicating it’s ready to fire again. There’s a copy of the movie’s original script available on line. A lot of things were left out of the final cut, notably the “Siegfried oath” to which Franz refers in the “crazy Kraut” scene above. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1662 "2013-12-15T01:42:08Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > After reading A Clockwork Orange nth times I finally realized the protagonists name, Alex DeLarge, was roughly translated to Alexander the Great. :smack: In the foreword to the edition I have, it’s pointed out that _lex_ is Latin for “law,” making Alex “lawless,” i.e., an outlaw (_a lex_). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1663 "2013-12-15T02:05:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I just realized something about an old, old Mad parody. It appeared in the early 1960s, and was a parody of the TV western _Bonanza_, called _Bananaz_, featuring a “script” by Lou Silverstone and spot-on caricatures by Mort Drucker. The whole Bonanza crew was there, including Michael Landon as “Little Joe” Cartwright. In the parody, he’s drawn as a virtual midget, and his character is called “Short Mort”. I thought it was just a joke name, with “short” rhyming with “Mort”, which seemed an unlikely name for a character with as common a name as “Joe”. > > It didn’t hit me until the other day that Silverstone probably took a joke name that had been a running gag among the Madmen (the way, in the Harry Potter parodies they called the game “quidditch” by the name “Squamish”, which is funny because in the 1960s Mad had parodied organized sport by coming up with a wholly imaginary game called “43 man Squamish”, with ludicrous made-up rules. Which, arguably, describes Quidditch as well. It’s really funny because of the similarity of the name of their older parody to J.K. Rowling’s game) and applied it to a Bonanza character. They chose it because it had that “short” in there, so it fit “Little Joe” pretty well. > > But why would “Short Mort” be a running gag? Because the French slang for orgasm is _le petit mort_, or “the little death”. It doesn’t take a big leap for an American a little knowledgeable about French to turn that phrase into the nickname “Short Mort”, since “petit” means “little” or “short”, and “short Mort” rhymes nicely. So “Short Mort” looks like the nickname of a character which derives pretty transparently from slang for “orgasm”, but isn’t immediately obvious. I’ll bet they were just looking for an opportunity to use that name, and Bonza’s “Little Joe” gave them an excuse to trot out an almost obviously sexual pun and use it in a parody, with a thread of justification. It’s like having a butler address Anthony Perkins’ character as “Master Bates”\* > > \*A joke using “master Bates”/masturbates really did circulate in the 19th century. Nothing is new under the sun. Maybe it was just a reference to, uhm, cariacturist Mort Drucker himself? 😕 :dubious: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1664 "2013-12-15T02:05:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Also, when Franz Liebkind blows the lock off Max’s door with his Luger, we can see for just a second that the slide is locked in the open position, meaning the pistol is empty and making it impossible for him to fire the subsequent rounds without reloading. Conversely, when he tries to commit suicide and fails because the Luger is empty, the slide is back down, indicating it’s ready to fire again. I’m not sure I get this one. Is it supposed to mean something, or are you just pointing out a continuity error? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1665 "2013-12-15T02:11:27Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m not sure I get this one. Is it supposed to mean something, or are you just pointing out a continuity error? It’s two continuity errors; another would be the number of rounds he actually manages to fire off without reloading (thirteen, by my count): https://www.youtube.com/embed/UYyc1Ib9LuI?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1666 "2013-12-15T05:43:03Z")
This year, during my umpteenth viewing of **Love Actually** , it finally dawned on me that everyone Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor hired for their wedding failed miserably. I mean, I registered each piece separately (the food sucked, the DJ sucked, the videographer’s film all came out blue) but never put it all together. :smack: Probably because the actual ceremony and surprise went off so well. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1667 "2013-12-15T06:22:07Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > This year, during my umpteenth viewing of **Love Actually** , it finally dawned on me that everyone Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor hired for their wedding failed miserably. I mean, I registered each piece separately (the food sucked, the DJ sucked, the videographer’s film all came out blue) but never put it all together. :smack: Probably because the actual ceremony and surprise went off so well. There was a major character who was edited out of the movie. He was supposed to be a mysterious stranger who apparently was arranging events so people would get together and may have had magic powers - essentially a Cupid figure that was supposed to be connecting all the separate stories. But when they were editing the film they felt it was running long and they decided they could cut out this character. The character was played by Rowan Atkinson and you can still see him a couple of times but he’s no longer a main part of the story. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1668 "2013-12-15T12:43:26Z")
I didn’t realize for the longest time that FACE/OFF has a double meaning. You see, he took his _face off_ to win the _face-off_. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1669 "2013-12-15T13:55:44Z")
Driving to work the other day, it occurred to me out of nowhere that \* Scrubs\* referred to both surgical garments and also a contemptuous term for an inexperienced person. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1670 "2013-12-15T16:17:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ll bet they were just looking for an opportunity to use that name, and Bonza’s “Little Joe” gave them an excuse to trot out an almost obviously sexual pun and use it in a parody, with a thread of justification. It’s like having a butler address Anthony Perkins’ character as “Master Bates”\* > \*A joke using “master Bates”/masturbates really did circulate in the 19th century. Nothing is new under the sun. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Ridley was played by Levon Helm, drummer for The Band. > [@terentii](#): > > Maybe it was just a reference to, uhm, cariacturist Mort Drucker himself? 😕 :dubious: :rolleyes: Man I love this thread. While this may be old news to some, in Citizen Kane nobody hears his last word, “Rosebud”. He died alone. Full opening [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LZOzk7T93wE/hqdefault.jpg "Citizen Kane - Rosebud") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZOzk7T93wE) “Rosebud” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LZOzk7T93wE/hqdefault.jpg "Citizen Kane - Rosebud") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZOzk7T93wE&t=2m18s) Small mistake, but the entire friggin movie surrounds that mysterious last word. That nobody heard. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1671 "2013-12-15T16:42:34Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Man I love this thread. > > While this may be old news to some, in Citizen Kane nobody hears his last word, “Rosebud”. He died alone. > > Full opening > [http://youtu.be/LZOzk7T93wE](http://youtu.be/LZOzk7T93wE) > > “Rosebud” > [http://youtu.be/LZOzk7T93wE?t=2m18s](http://youtu.be/LZOzk7T93wE?t=2m18s) > > Small mistake, but the entire friggin movie surrounds that mysterious last word. That nobody heard. Maybe he had one of those baby-monitor thingies so that his nurse could hear him in another room. Dunno if they were around in the 1940s, but he was rich enough to commission one if he wanted to. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1672 "2013-12-15T16:52:08Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > While this may be old news to some, in Citizen Kane nobody hears his last word, “Rosebud”. He died alone. Maybe he shouts it, and then the scene opens, and then he whispers it. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1673 "2013-12-15T17:02:31Z")
Oh there is no end to the rationalizations that you will here when people first learn this terrible truth. But the nurse doesn’t come in until she hears the snowglobe break. It’s a terrible thing to discover this thing. Perhaps I should have kept it to myself. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1674 "2013-12-15T17:35:49Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > While this may be old news to some, in Citizen Kane nobody hears his last word, “Rosebud”. He died alone. Towards the end of the movie, the butler tells the journalist that he heard Kane’s last word and that it was “Rosebud”. It’s true that the butler isn’t seen in the opening scene, but the movie does tell us that someone was within earshot. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1675 "2013-12-15T17:38:43Z")
Another _Citizen Kane_ one. (I didn’t catch this one myself. I think it was Roger Ebert who pointed it out.) Early in the movie, there’s a long camera shot where the camera tracks across a street, on to a roof, and then down through a skylight into the nightclub where Susan Alexander is singing. Later in the movie, there’s another scene with Susan in the nightclub and the camera follows the same path. But this time the glass in the skylight is broken although no special mention is made of it. It’s a joke. The supposed reason the glass is broken is because the camera went through it in the earlier scene. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1676 "2013-12-15T17:43:53Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Towards the end of the movie, the butler tells the journalist that he heard Kane’s last word and that it was “Rosebud”. It’s true that the butler isn’t seen in the opening scene, but the movie does tell us that someone was within earshot. Actually, it’s when Thompson interviews the butler (Raymond) that he tells Thompson that he heard Kane saying “Rosebud” following an outburst after Susan left him. Nobody heard him say it right before he died. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1677 "2013-12-15T17:52:58Z")
Oh God no. I’m arguing over movie trivia. Kill me. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1678 "2013-12-15T18:26:07Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Oh God no. I’m arguing over movie trivia. > Kill me. Hey, there are lots of worse things you could be doing on a Sunday afternoon … especially when tons of snow are being dumped on you outside! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1679 "2013-12-15T19:38:03Z")
I recently saw the movie TRON for the first time while marathoning 80s sci fi movies and fell in love with it. As is my tendancy, I’ve watched it about ten times since then. I never realized that the guy who asked Alan to share his popcorn at the beggining of the movie was Ram’s user. I found out reading it online. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/1680 "2013-12-15T19:45:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hey, there are lots of worse things you could be doing on a Sunday afternoon … especially when tons of snow are being dumped on you outside! :mad: Ha! It’s rain and humidity and heat that is keeping me inside today. Don’t hate me cause I live in a dubious paradise. Yeah, south Florida. Where we have to run the goddamn air conditioning still. Damn you global warming. I’m sick of the heat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=83) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=85)