# Old movies - drivers using passenger-side door aka High Sierra

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 27, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510 "2008-06-27T22:50:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cyberfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@cyberfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cyberfool)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/1 "2008-06-27T22:50:49Z")

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I just watched High Sierra (1941) and the driver would often get in and out of the passenger-side door.

My GF, who is an old-movie nut said that it is common in the old movies, but we have no idea why. Why? 😕

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/2 "2008-06-27T23:03:04Z")

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Just a WAG, but the passenger door is where the camera was pointed.

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/3 "2008-06-27T23:17:13Z")

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[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=133865), which may or may not be of any help.

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**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/4 "2008-06-28T01:00:30Z")

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To start with, it was much easier with bench seats and no center consoles. So it would be pretty quick to just slide over rather than walk around the car.

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**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/5 "2008-06-28T01:49:25Z")

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[QUOTE=cyberfool]  
I just watched High Sierra (1941) and the driver would often get in and out of the passenger-side door.

My GF, who is an old-movie nut said that it is common in the old movies, but we have no idea why. Why? 😕  
[/QUOTE]

Sorry for the nitpick, but \*\*aka \*\*means “also known as.” I think you mean _ **à la** _, which is French for, roughly, “in the manner of.”

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**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-drivers-using-passenger-side-door-aka-high-sierra/454510/6 "2008-06-28T02:15:29Z")

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One possibility is that it was ingrained that drivers not to go round to streetside and open a door into traffic, but I have no idea whether that was really true for the period in question.