# Stupid errors that crop up repeatedly in TV shows and movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866 "2014-03-29T23:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/181 "2014-04-01T14:26:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of “actor has obviously never handled \ before in his life”, one that impressed me was Will Smith in _The Pursuit of Happyness_. It’s a plot point in the movie that Smith’s character can solve a Rubik’s Cube, and so Smith insisted on learning how to actually solve it. I can think of at least four other ways they could have filmed those scenes without Smith doing it himself, but they didn’t. Like have him mess it up, and them splice the footage in backwards, but that would look wrong to someone who can solve it. I can solve it, and I’m here to tell you it isn’t that hard. Smith probably spent two or three hours one a single day learning it, and then practiced 20 minutes a day for a week. I wish the guys on _The Big Bang Theory_ who are supposed to know how to solve it would learn. Now, keep in mind, I’m no competitive speed solver. Takes me about four minutes. That’s typical for a bottom rung patzer. Speed solvers can do it in like 15 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/182 "2014-04-01T14:28:30Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it would be possible – albeit a big pain – to do a keyword search on the _books_ and then look to see who’d checked them out. But, like **Justin\_Bailey** said, it seems unlikely that the library would be saving a long list of names for each book, so this wouldn’t be a great way to identify a suspect unless the topic of interest were obscure enough that not many people were checking out those books. > > I don’t deal with fines or overdue notices at the library where I work, but AFAIK the system we use only keeps track of the last two people to check out a book. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s the last two check outs or the last _return_ plus whoever has the book currently. I’m fairly certain the system has a “memory” of no more than two people per book, though. There’s not much benefit on the library end to being able to go back farther than that. On the user end our patrons can opt in to a reading history feature that will show all the books they’ve previously checked out. I can’t speak for back then, but at the library where I work we certainly do have a long list of who has borrowed what. As far as I know, I couldn’t pick a subject and simply search for that to see who has borrowed books matching the keyword, but in the context of such an investigation it would be perfectly easy to simply use the library catalogue to find books on a particular subject, then bring up their respective borrower logs and compare. It also seems plausible to me that an older library might be using a card system that would allow them to find which books are of interest and then check the cards of those books to see who had borrowed them. ---
**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 1, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/183 "2014-04-01T14:31:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I wish the guys on _The Big Bang Theory_ who are supposed to know how to solve it would learn. You mean like **this**? > **[Watch The Big Bang TheorySeason 1 Episode 0 online free.](https://watch-tvseries.net/series69/the-big-bang-theory/season-01-episode-00-unaired-pilot)** > > Watch Unaired Pilot S1E0 online TV Series ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/184 "2014-04-01T14:34:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **RivkahChaya** : > > Like have him mess it up, and them splice the footage in backwards, but that would look wrong to someone who can solve it. Or use a hand-double, like David Bowie and the contact-juggling in _Labyrinth_. Or just show him starting, cut away, and cut back to him two moves away from finishing. Or have him work a blank cube, and put the colors in via computer. And yeah, it’s not all _that_ hard to learn (I can do it too), but learning to hold a musical instrument correctly is even easier. It’s not the accomplishment itself that impresses me, but the attitude that led to the accomplishment ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/185 "2014-04-01T14:35:16Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > I can’t speak for back then, but at the library where I work we certainly do have a long list of who has borrowed what. As far as I know, I couldn’t pick a subject and simply search for that to see who has borrowed books matching the keyword, but in the context of such an investigation it would be perfectly easy to simply use the library catalogue to find books on a particular subject, then bring up their respective borrower logs and compare. Do you work at a public library or a school library. Because that is highly irregular for a public library. > [@Bozuit](#): > > It also seems plausible to me that an older library might be using a card system that would allow them to find which books are of interest and then check the cards of those books to see who had borrowed them. The scene in question takes place at the New York Public Library. Something tells me they haven’t used cards in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/186 "2014-04-01T14:53:07Z")
> [@Justin Bailey](#): > > Doesn’t matter. Libraries don’t keep that kind of information, then or now. I don’t think it’s a question of whether libraries keep that data. It’s a question of whether the US intelligence community keeps that data. If the NSA or the FBI wanted to track that data they could do so, even if the libraries themselves were not cooperative. I don’t think it would be cost-effective or worthwhile for them to do this, but that’s hardly a deal breaker when it comes to government agencies with deep pockets and institutionalized paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/187 "2014-04-01T14:55:17Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Do you work at a public library or a school library. Because that is highly irregular for a public library. It’s a university library, and it’s in the UK, so it may well be different if there are legal issues. ETA: Members of the public can get limited borrowing rights, if they apply. As far as I know, we can still see their borrowing records, too. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/188 "2014-04-01T15:04:29Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Do you work at a public library or a school library. Because that is highly irregular for a public library. > > The scene in question takes place at the New York Public Library. Something tells me they haven’t used cards in a long time. Back in the day New York Public used an elaborate microfilming circulation system. No idea if old films were destroyed or not, but if you wanted to find out who had had what you’d be there a good long while, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/189 "2014-04-01T15:17:12Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Unless you are doing the brakes, or replacing something in the sound system, pretty much, yeah. I have replaces the bafflers and heater core in a '61 Falcon, but that’s a rare thing to replace, and I once replaced a steering wheel in a car when the tilt mechanism broke, but it was an old car; most people wouldn’t have a car that old in the first place, and most people wouldn’t replace their own steering wheel (actually, whole column) themselves. I was an Army mechanic, and a car hobbyist for years, and in fact, pretty much you are under the hood, or under the car itself. Really? Army mechanic you say? I’m a millwright and I have worked on vehicles for about 30 years, since my teens. I can think of a dozen or so repairs which don’t require a person to lay underneath a car or have their head buried inside of the engine compartment of a vehicle. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > This used to happen back when cars had carburetors. It’s called vapor lock, and it’s an old film cliche that people still use today, because they don’t understand what was happening to the car. It does not happen to cars with fuel injection. I’m aware of what vapor lock is. I’m also aware that cars haven’t commonly been equipped with carburetors since the 1980s rendering the “I can’t start it” trope to be more than a little ridiculous. And vapor lock wasn’t common in most cars when they **did** have carburetors. Honestly, were you bored or did you really believe that I needed you to explain this to or for, me? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/190 "2014-04-01T15:18:45Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > I don’t think it’s a question of whether libraries keep that data. It’s a question of whether the US intelligence community keeps that data. If the NSA or the FBI wanted to track that data they could do so, even if the libraries themselves were not cooperative. If libraries don’t keep it, how can the NSA gain access to it without the library’s cooperation? These are closed systems and while I’m sure some kind of hack is possible, you’re looking at big fallout over almost no gain. Linking a terrorist’s terrorism to their library record is next to impossible. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/191 "2014-04-01T15:41:20Z")
A few more: [ol] [li] **Lighting a cigarette with the lighter flame resembling a small natural gas flare** - Seriously, any smoker knows that you want the lighter’s flame to be as low as possible to make certain that you get the end lit evenly. Yet on EVERY film or TV show (well, the ones where they still smoke) they light cigarettes with what appear to be blowtorch flames[/li][li] **Discussing the case in front of potential witnesses** - L&O is **really** terrible about this. The detectives discover a clue or find that someone lied to them and they discuss that fact or matter openly in front of a potential witnesses. Even one who they haven’t cleared of involvement in the crime.[/li][li] **Same day DNA results** - Sorry, but police labs are so backed up that you might get a match (if there is one) in a day or so. You might get the least sensitive test inside of the same day, but you aren’t going to rush that information into confront a suspect (and his/her attorney) unless you are looking to create reasonable doubt at trial.[/li][li] **The streets are always wet at night** - While I could see this in some places, unfortunately if the streets are damp, the sidewalks and vehicles on those streets have to be wet as well. Yes, I know that it makes the scenes look “great”; but when it rains, it usually rains on **everything**.[/li][li] **No helmets in battle** - Seriously, as bad as older Hollywood and television fare was, they at least made characters engaged in combat wear basic head protection. Not anymore. You can go striding onto the battlefield without covering your brain pan, even when you are facing explosions or stray rounds ricocheting off of everything.Helmets are apparently for sissies in today’s Hollywood.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/192 "2014-04-01T16:51:50Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Do you work at a public library or a school library. Because that is highly irregular for a public library. > > The scene in question takes place at the New York Public Library. Something tells me they haven’t used cards in a long time. The scene in which Sometset receives the list of names occurs in a diner. When Somerset is shown in the library, he is researching the books themselves, not who checked them out ---
**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 1, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/193 "2014-04-01T17:06:06Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > **The streets are always wet at night** - While I could see this in some places, unfortunately if the streets are damp, the sidewalks and vehicles on those streets have to be wet as well. Yes, I know that it makes the scenes look “great”; but when it rains, it usually rains on **everything**. Yes, but some cities do have their streets washed in the wee hours of the morning.\* \*In _ **MAD Magazine’s** _ version of “The Phewgitive,” this was done by the Making Streets Look Like It Just Rained Co. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/194 "2014-04-01T17:22:02Z")
WW II fighter pilots always fly with the canopy open. Yeah let’s lower its aerodynamic efficiency and subject the pilot to the sound and feel of the air as he flies. Noisy explosions in space. Anybody can fiddle with the wires under a steering wheel for about 15 seconds and hotwire the car. Just like everybody knows how to fly a helicopter and pick a lock. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/195 "2014-04-01T17:45:45Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > **No helmets in battle** - Seriously, as bad as older Hollywood and television fare was, they at least made characters engaged in combat wear basic head protection. Not anymore. You can go striding onto the battlefield without covering your brain pan, even when you are facing explosions or stray rounds ricocheting off of everything.Helmets are apparently for sissies in today’s Hollywood. Or the helmet strap undone or completely gone - how is that helmet supposed to stay on their heads? Willpower? I personally hate it when military-based movies/TV shows get _little_ things wrong - for example - saluting, or when to be wearing a headress, or uniforms…these are not difficult to get right and yet almost none of them do. Drives me insane. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/196 "2014-04-01T17:46:36Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > -“If they had the poison, the antidote must be around here somewhere!” Uh…no. I never understood this. If I had just poisoned someone, the last place I’d keep the antidote is within a hundred miles of the crime scene. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/197 "2014-04-01T18:01:40Z")
Military stuff, almost always wrong. My favorite was the drag chute on the F-18, which could also fire missiles from an empty rack in Independence Day. The valiant hero has the drop on the villain and lets them s-l-o-w-l-y walk toward The hero to snatch the weapon away. Sorry, I tell you to stop and you take one step toward me, you’ll find out what a bullet in the centre of mass feels like. Maybe two. Or the clip. Screeching tires on anything but asphalt or concrete. Cars that can sustain incredible amounts of damage and still drive. Blues Bros. is exempt because it’s a cool movie. ---
**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 1, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/198 "2014-04-01T18:33:21Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Or the helmet strap undone or completely gone - how is that helmet supposed to stay on their heads? Willpower? Though I do remember an episode of _ **Combat!** _ (which was generally pretty accurate, from a TV point of view) in which Sgt Saunders specifically ordered a green replacement to unbuckle his the strap on his helmet, since a round glancing off it could snap his neck. With the possible exception of paratroopers or GIs in amphibious landings, I can’t recall ever seeing any photos of combat infantrymen with their WWII-style helmets buckled. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/199 "2014-04-01T18:44:26Z")
> [@alfonzos](#): > > Blacklights in dark rooms while someone is trying to develop film. They are called dark rooms because they are **dark**! Well, kinda maybe. When processing film, it is generally loaded onto reels in total darkness until the film is placed in the tanks. Then you typically turn on the lights and continue with your processing. For orthochromatic black and white film, though, you can do that with a safety light, which is a deep red. Most black and white film these days, and for approximately the past century, though, has been panchromatic. Now, when printing black-and-white film on black-and-white paper (which is what I think of when I think of a classic cinema “darkroom scene”), no, you generally do not do that in total darkness. You do that using a red safety light. [Like so](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BhS_A56LRHk/TUAHZlajpkI/AAAAAAAADKQ/7rMwiDwiZa0/s400/in_darkroom_4.2.2010._photo_by_hannu_sinisalo._www-600.jpg). Black-and-white papers are almost always orthochromatic, not sensitive to red light. The only pan chromatic black-and-white papers I know are ones specifically made for printing color negs in black-and-white. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/200 "2014-04-01T18:58:24Z")
I happened to be in library school when _Se7en_ came out. The FBI’s [Library Awareness Program](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Awareness_Program) was still a big topic back then, and this movie ensured that we talked about it. Unlikely though it may have been, it is _not_ outside the realm of possibility that a cop could have gotten a library’s circulation records. My contribution to the thread, and one which for me is one of those “can’t un-see it” things is this: No matter how beat up a car is, no matter how faded the paint, patched the bodywork, and worn the tires are, the car’s windows and windshield especially will be sparkling new and crystal clear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=11)