# Silly, weird, perhaps unanswerable questions about movies and TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401 "2013-03-31T03:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 26
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/501 "2026-04-01T20:17:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > You can’t boil a friar. Ahem. Post #437. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/502 "2026-04-02T23:11:21Z")
Speaking of The Godfather, I always found it implausible that Sonny would be chosen to head up the family. He doesn’t seem to have the critical thinking skills for the job. He’s too much of a hot-head. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/503 "2026-04-03T01:12:40Z")
Who else is Vito going to pick? Fredo? He wants Michael to be legit. It can’t be Connie. He’s not going to pick someone who doesn’t have the name Corleone. Sure it was a mistake. If things had gone differently and Sonny was head of the family when Vito died there would probably have been a power struggle but it didn’t happen that way. While Vito was alive it was clear he wanted it to be Sonny and no one was going to go against him while he’s alive. What I find less probable is that Vito is naive enough to think there was ever a chance that Michael could be governor, senator or president. Even if he remained clean his family connection to the mafia would derail any ambitions like that. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/504 "2026-04-03T22:27:14Z")
may I ask where you got that expression? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/505 "2026-04-03T22:38:38Z")
Lou was the Turk’s driver who made the mid-bridge U-turn on the way to the dinner at Louis’s in the Bronx. I always wanted a supportive boss like the Turk, with a pat on the shoulder, and a “good work, Lou!” ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/506 "2026-04-04T18:14:49Z")
didn’t stop JFK (his father Joe was part of booze smuggling AFAIK) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/507 "2026-04-04T19:16:01Z")
Probably not. > **[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. | Business career](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy_Sr.#Business_career)** > > Kennedy set his future sights on embarking on a business career upon his graduation from Harvard. During his mid-to-late 20s, he made a large fortune as an active commodity and stock investor; he then reinvested much of his proceeds into film studios, real estate, and shipping lines. Although Kennedy never built a significant business from scratch, his timing as both buyer and seller was excellent. When Fortune magazine published its first list of the richest people in the United States in 195 Af... > What I found was that I went through every parcel of evidence. and anyone who had ever written he was a bootlegger, and I looked at their [footnotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_(typography)#Academic_usage), I looked at their sources, I looked at what they had to say on the page. And I discovered,number one, that nobody calls him a bootlegger until the '70s. The [Nixon people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon_1960_presidential_campaign) do everything they possibly can during the [1960 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_election) to smash Joe Kennedy, and they call him everything but a bootlegger. It just doesn’t come up. In the 70s, the [conspiracy hunters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories), trying to connect him to the [Mafia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia) and the Mafia to the [assassination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy), develop the bootlegger thesis. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/508 "2026-04-04T20:00:54Z")
Whether or not he was a bootlegger, he was still a vile piece of sleaze: > **[Joe Kennedy: A Complex and Shocking Ambassador - The History Reader : The...](https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/joe-kennedy-a-complex-and-shocking-ambassador/)** > > Susan Ronald, author of The Ambassador, discusses Joe Kennedy's controversial tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/509 "2026-04-05T01:27:47Z")
It’s baffling to me why Robin Williams didn’t play both Popeye, and Poopdeck Pappy. In the comics it was a source of some of the gags that, except for the beard and some eye lines, they were virtually indistinguishable. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/510 "2026-04-05T02:16:03Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > didn’t stop JFK (his father Joe was part of booze smuggling AFAIK) Even if he was shady he wasn’t the head of one of the five families. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2026, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/511 "2026-04-05T02:31:04Z")
The Kennedys were the sixth. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/512 "2026-04-05T02:43:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The Kennedys were the sixth. Teddy was Fredo. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/513 "2026-04-05T10:27:47Z")
I didn’t claim he was a Godfather ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/514 "2026-04-05T15:35:15Z")
I think there’s some kind of law that Ray Walston has to play the grandfather.😉 There’s a joke that Shelly Duvall was born to play Olive Oil. Ray Walston was born to play Poopdeck Pappy ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/515 "2026-04-05T17:31:02Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Ray Walston was born to play Poopdeck Pappy Should have been Jonathan WInters. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/516 "2026-04-05T19:01:52Z")
I thought Paul L. Smith was miscast as Bluto. But then I learned that Bluto was based on a character that Tyrone Power, Senior had played in a 1930 film called _The Big Trail_. Googling images from the film, Smith was a dead ringer for Power’s character. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/517 "2026-04-05T19:34:39Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I learned that Bluto was based on a character that Tyrone Power, Senior had played How do you figure? My understanding is that Bluto originally appeared in the Popeye comic strip as a pirate. What’s the connection with (checks Wiki) a frontier villain? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/518 "2026-04-05T21:00:26Z")
Appearance and personality. Ships, horses, what’s the difference? from Wiki: > His voice is very loud, harsh and deep, with an incomprehensible bear-like [growl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growling) between words and sentences. This voice, as well as the dark beard, crooked teeth, and bulk, was similar to that of the villain Red Flack, well known at the time, played by [Tyrone Power Sr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Power_Sr.) in the 1930 film, _[The Big Trail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Trail)_. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/519 "2026-04-06T02:06:08Z")
Yeah, he appeared relatively briefly in the Popeye world. He was just one of the crazy villains Segar was always coming up with. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401/520 "2026-04-06T04:00:52Z")
Cecil did a great column on Brutus vs Bluto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-weird-perhaps-unanswerable-questions-about-movies-and-tv/654401.md?page=27)