# Rosebud was Citizen Kane's ... ARRRGGGHH!!! \[spoilers\]
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 19, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939 "2001-05-19T21:44:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/1 "2001-05-19T21:44:30Z")
\*\* [Citizen Kane spoiler alert] \*\*
When I was a little kid, I had a whole bunch of Peanuts comic strip paperbacks. One strip featured Lucy spoiling _Citizen Kane_ for Linus, watching the movie on TV, by casually remarking, “Rosebud was his sled” as she walked out of the room.
Ho ho, ha ha, it is to laugh. But of course the phrase stuck in my mind until I saw the movie years later. Drat that Schultz (and rest his soul).
\*\* [/Citizen Kane spoiler alert] \*\*
So, if yet another spoiler thread might be tolerated, tell me your experiences having famous movies spoiled for you.
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### Author:  [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/2 "2001-05-19T22:56:20Z")
I never really get spoiled with movies, because I’m always asking for the plot twists and what happens. It helps the anticipation for me. But there was one time where I was spoiled and it ruined the movie for me (the only time) and it was for _Fight Club_. I was reading an entertainment magazine and it said, right there, “Don’t read ahead if you don’t want it spoiled for you.” I read ahead, thinking, “Who cares if I know? It won’t ruin the movie for me, knowing the twists never do ruin it.” Well, it did ruin it. And I’m sure if I knew the twist to _The Sixth Sense_ it would have been ruined for me.
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/3 "2001-05-19T23:16:43Z")
Even though I knew Rosebud was the sled, it didn’t spoil the movie for me, because there is so much depth and artistry in _Citizen Kane_ I could appreciate what it was doing on the way to that final revelation.
On the other hand, I overheard a co-worker giving away the jolt at the end of _The Sixth Sense_ and, even though I enjoyed the movie, I think I would have enjoyed it even more to get surprised. I’ll never know if I’d have figured it out on my own. I mean, if you know, the clues seem incredibly obvious. It’s well done, but knowing before you’ve ever seen it takes away some of the impact. I found myself admiring how well the clues were masked, and saying, “yeah, that would fool someone”, rather than just staying with the story, whether I was fooled or not.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/4 "2001-05-19T23:17:58Z")
I sat through the first half of The Crying Game telling my friend. . .[spoiler alert!!)
“That’s a guy.”
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/5 "2001-05-20T05:21:34Z")
Isn’t there a statute of limitations on spoiler alerts? I wouldn’t tell someone the ending of _Casablanca_ if I knew they were sitting down to see the movie for the first time, but I wouldn’t hesitate to mention it if it came up in a conversation without worrying that I was spoiling the surprise ending for anyone. I figure that after ten years or so, you can assume that anyone who cares about a movie will have seen it.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/6 "2001-05-20T06:12:27Z")
Yes, but new generations are always growing up and seeing these movies for the first time!
I was just at a movie tonight when the knucklehead 2 rows behind me whispered “I bet the gal’s involved somehow.” Well, of course she was. I would have figured it out in another 2 minutes, but it would have been more fun doing so on my own.
So **BigGirl** , hope you were keeping your voice REALLY low! 😃 I had that one figured out on my own, but I was not 100% sure until that moment when there is no more doubt.
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### Author:  [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/7 "2001-05-20T07:27:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Biggirl \*
> \*\*I sat through the first half of The Crying Game telling my friend. . .[spoiler alert!!)
>
> “That’s a guy.” \*\*
I didn’t even see the movie. There was no point after a colleague told me “I saw The Crying Game and wonder if I’m a latent homosexual now.”
Gee, thanks. :rolleyes:
I’ll never forget watching “Soylent Green” in my junior high school English class and having the idiot in front of me (who must have seen the movie previously, because he picked the exact right time to spoil the secret) yell:
“Oh, my, god! Soylent Green is people!” :mad:
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/8 "2001-05-20T07:43:02Z")
Spoiler isn’t exactly the right word with a movie as bad as _Armageddon_, but when we were walking into that movie, the girl I was with turned to me and said, for no reason at all, “by the way, Bruce Willis dies in the end.” Gee, THANKS!!
Of course, I’ve been the bastard as well. We got tickets to see Phantom Menace the first day - no camping required. Anyway, as we were driving away afterwards, I leaned out of the window and yelled to the crowd, “Darth Maul dies!!” I still feel bad about that one.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/9 "2001-05-20T07:48:13Z")
Five words, people: “Luke, I am your father.”
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### Author:  [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/10 "2001-05-20T07:58:48Z")
When I was a li’l tyke (9 or so) my parents went to see Alfred Hitchock’s “Psycho”. They loved it and since there was lots of talk about it in the press and at school I asked my mother what happened. I was, of course, too young to be admitted to the theatre.
[ul] **spoiler alert** [/ul]
She was a very good mother in many ways, and this was one. She told me the story, quite in what detail I can’t remember, but when it came to the climactic scene in the fruit cellar, she actually acted it out moment by moment for me.
Vera Miles approaching the chair, the chair swinging around, the hand hitting the light bulb, the eery lighting effect that created, and everything else. Even the “I wouldn’t hurt a fly” line, and the car and the skull.
Wasn’t she a great mum? Of course it did mean that the end of the film never came as a surprise when I finally saw the movie. She had been incredibly accurate, and I marvel at it to this day.
Of course A. Hitchcock would have loved this story, and would have loved it that whenever I hear that “scree… scree… scree…” music, I think of - My Mother
Redbates
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/11 "2001-05-20T15:23:27Z")
“Rosebud was his sled” may be in that flick, however, ‘Rosebud’ was not his sled in reality, but a pet name he gave for his mistress’s private parts.
I suggest you watch the making of Citizen kane instead, its another video, I think that it’s called “RKO280” which is the name of the studio that made CK.
I guess that’s a new spoiler for ya?
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/12 "2001-05-20T16:32:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Biggirl \*
> \*\*I sat through the first half of The Crying Game telling my friend. . .[spoiler alert!!)
>
> “That’s a guy.” \*\*
I didn’t actually “know” Jaye Davidson was a guy. I’d never seen the movie before. But those hands, that neck. . … Still, I was just as surprised as anyone in the theater when his secret was revealed.
Not as surprised as my friend was. He couldn’t contend, like all the other guys I know who saw the movie, that he knew all along. (What is it about guys and their fragile sense of masculinity?)
Still, that movie was full of surprises. I was absolutely shocked at Forest Whitaker’s death.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan43)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/13 "2001-05-20T18:16:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*
> \*\*“Rosebud was his sled” may be in that flick, however, ‘Rosebud’ was not his sled in reality, but a pet name he gave for his mistress’s private parts.
>
> \*\*
This needs a bit more explanation - “Citizen Kane” caused a huge controversy when first released because the central character was clearly modelled on media mogul William Randolph Hearst. In fact, Hearst was so enraged by the picture he came damn close to getting it withdrawn and all the prints destroyed. One of the reasons the great tycoon may have been so annoyed was the decision to name the sled after Hearst’s pet name for his mistress’s (Marion Davies) private parts…
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/14 "2001-05-20T18:40:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Little Nemo_
> Isn’t there a statute of limitations on spoiler alerts?
I think there is a difference between movies like _Citizen Kane_ and _Casablanca_, which have so much going for them artistically that they stand up to repeated watching and discussion, and movies like _The Crying Game_ and _Basic Instinct_, which from what I understand will simply go down in history as having twist endings (well, OK, maybe _Basic Instinct_ will go down in history for two things :)).
Now, I should say up front that I haven’t seen _The Crying Game_. But of the times it’s been brought up in my presence, easily 9 times out of 10 what is mentioned about it is “the ending.” Big whoop. I’d much rather talk about the use of water as a symbol in _Casablanca_ or the idea of privacy in _Citizen Kane_ than to debate whether or not getting turned on by Dil makes one a latent homosexual.
But basically, my take on this is that for movies which, like an over-the-hill stripper who shows her body more and more grudgingly with each passing performance, rely entirely on their secrets for their artistry can never be “outed,” out of fairness to the under-achievement of their makers.
Great movies, though, bear revelation well, for it is only in their entirety can they be fully appreciated. I would, in fact, submit that as a test for a great film. Do you want to see it again, talk about it at length, analyze it, even if you know how it ends?
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/15 "2001-05-20T23:52:17Z")
I’m with Nemo on this one. Boo frigging hoo that you were told about this element of popular culture sixty years after the release date. Knowing Rosebud is the sled doesn’t ruin a good movie, not like the Crying Game where it’s most of the plot.
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2001, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/16 "2001-05-21T07:29:12Z")
I was at a party at a friend’s house watching _The Usual Suspects_ for the first time and some guy who was drunk walked in a just started explaining the ending (we were about halfway through at the time).
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Smeghead \*
> **Spoiler isn’t exactly the right word with a movie as bad as _Armageddon_, but when we were walking into that movie, the girl I was with turned to me and said, for no reason at all, "by the way, Bruce Willis dies in the end."**
Gee, THANKS!! 😉 I never had any interest in seeing that movie, but now I know the ending. Oh, well.
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2001, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/17 "2001-05-21T07:30:40Z")
Oh, I just remembered one other one. I knew the ending to _Planet of the Apes_ because a friend explained it to me when that scene came up in _Spaceballs_.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2001, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/18 "2001-05-21T12:55:19Z")
I’d heard the twist to _The Sixth Sense_ before I saw it, so I watched it differently, but I still enjoyed it. Still, I prefer to get hit with the twist - I LOVED _No Way Out_ - and I continue to love it, even tho I know who Yuri is. I usually avoid reading reviews or discussing a movie i want to see just in case some idiot ruins it for me.
Along similar lines, I hate having a book ruined for me. I recall a conversation with a friend in high school about a novel her class had already read and my class had just begun. She asked “Did you get to the part where he kills the dog?” AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHH!! Uh, no, I hadn’t. Some friend she was… \
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/19 "2001-05-21T13:10:45Z")
The twist in _The Sixth Sense_ was painfully obvious from about the middle of the movie (when the doc and the mom are talking); I find it hard to believe that anyone was blindsided by the big revelation.
Not too long ago, I saw _Along Came A Spider_, the newest Morgan Freeman detective flick, with a really gorgeous guy. During the movie, he kept leaning over to whisper comments like, “She’s going to betray him.” He kept doing this through the whole freakin’ movie. Needless to say, that was our only date. Why are all the cute ones schmucks?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosebud-was-citizen-kanes-arrrggghh-spoilers/65939/20 "2001-05-21T22:37:45Z")
For some movies, just knowing that there’s a gimmick ending is enough to give it away, e.g. _The Sixth Sense_. The copy I saw had a teaser in the beginning about how after the movie there’s an explanation about how the suprise ending was pulled off.
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