He didn’t do anything productive as it was.
Day Of The Jackal (1971)
I’m always struck by how fast, and comparitively easy so much of the detective work would be nowdays. Cell phones being part of the reason.
Don’t Answer the Phone: “This is the police, we’ve traced the call…it’s coming from the same Starbucks wifi hotspot! Repeat, he is within range of the wifi router!”
Phone Boothis a bit of a non-starter.
The Postman Always Texts Twice.
Given the plot of Shock Treatment, I think we can assume this will be a temporary reprieve at best. Weird plots seem to follow Brad and Janet around.
Wow, people have been assholes while talking on cell phones for a long time! 
Nightmare on Elm St.
I’m your friends and family plan now, Nancy!
So somehow a girl gets killed in her worst nightmare… her parents taking away her cell phone!:eek:
Wasn’t the plot of the movie that Colin Farrell was having an affair, so he used the phone booth so the call wouldn’t appear on his phone?
Also,
Colin Farrell does use his cell phone during the movie.
Actually, the systems used in DotJ were a bit antiquated even in the time the movie is set, as Frederick Forsyth makes clear in his book. Even though the French didn’t have their residence card system computerized, he points out, they prided themselves that they could still get information quickly. And, compared to computer speeds at the time, that’s probably true. Today, of course, the data would be instantly transmitted and correlated. And the British would no doubt have software in place to prevent the sort of cheating that got The Jackal his false passport.
But it’s pretty pointless to go updating the technology like this – he wouldn’t have been able to sneak his gun through airport security as he does in the book 9though not the film). But, if he’d known that, he wouldn’t have tried that way. A lot of The Jackal’s gambits would still have worked, even without any alterations, and he would’ve foumnd workarounds for the others.
You say that, but I saw a program only a few years ago where an investigative reporter managed to get a birth certificate, passport and other legal documents under someone else’s name with relatively little effort. He then met with the real person, who had no idea what the reporter had been doing, and presented him with the documents.
Did I mention that the “real person” was Frederick Forsyth?
The pilot episode of THE INCREDIBLE HULK (which counts; it eventually got released in theaters) has the grieving Doctor Banner finally connect the dots on why he failed to lift that car his wife was helplessly pinned under; he excitedly calls his colleague to perform an experiment, but she’s not at home and so doesn’t pick up the phone.
She would have; she’s been secretly pining after the dedicated widower for quite some time. But without her knowledgeable assistance, he accidentally doses himself with six times the intended amount of radiation – and cue the whole Jekyll-and-Hyde series, complete with years of sad-walking-away music.
Thumb M for Murder.
In one of the Home Alone sequels, the kid has a working cellphone - the work-around is to make him dumb enough to waste time calling his mom instead of, oh, say, the cops. :smack:
Agreed.
That is believable kid behaviour, you call your parents for help or to ask what to do next, you don’t call the cops right off the bat you might get in trouble.
ET Text Home…
Instead of a Speak & Spell, he’d need to use a Nintendo 3DS.
Cujo.
“Um, yeah, this wicked insane St. Bernard has us trapped in a car. Can Animal Control come over and kill it? You’ll be here in fifteen minutes? That’s really awesome, thanks.”