# The best thing that ever happened to movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203 "2008-08-07T18:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/1 "2008-08-07T18:46:05Z")
I vote Nazis. They are the easiest shorthand for Irredeemable Bad Guy; the lazy screenwriter’s best friend. They have very theatrical uniforms. They talk funny, and walk even funnier. As every director from Paul Verhoeven to Steven Spielberg knows, adding Nazis or Nazi imagery to a movie is kind of like adjusting the contrast up a notch; good looks better and bad becomes worse. Plus, you can use them as everything from comic relief (cf. _Raiders_) to a Maguffin (cf. _Schindler’s List_). Also, as Mel Brooks knows, all you have to do prove your non-PC credentials is drop a Nazi into the mix. So I say that Nazis are the single best thing that ever happened to movies. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/2 "2008-08-07T18:50:28Z")
Nazis are a good choice, but I don’t know if they surpass gratuitious nudity or Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/3 "2008-08-07T18:52:09Z")
Zombies! Half the cheesy B-movies in existence owe their soul to George Romero. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/4 "2008-08-07T18:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Nazis are a good choice, but I don’t know if they surpass gratuitious nudity or Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws. [/QUOTE] You have a point. Howbout . . . gratuitously nude _Nazis_? I say that would trump even Quint. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/5 "2008-08-07T18:56:09Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] You have a point. Howbout . . . gratuitously nude _Nazis_? I say that would trump even Quint. [/QUOTE] Depends on your Nazis. Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS? Yeah, I could see it. Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark? No way. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/6 "2008-08-07T19:00:23Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Depends on your Nazis. Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS? Yeah, I could see it. Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark? No way. [/QUOTE] I once referred to _Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS_ as the greatest movie ever made. I think I may have been correct, if only on a technicality. Someone should remake it with zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/7 "2008-08-07T19:03:06Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] I once referred to _Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS_ as the greatest movie ever made. I think I may have been correct, if only on a technicality. Someone should remake it with zombies. [/QUOTE] Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS Vs. Zombie Quint..hmmmmmm…Know any good agents? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/8 "2008-08-07T19:24:51Z")
I’m assuming Ilsa will be riding a dinosaur, otherwise the premise is ridiculous. I mean a cybernetic dinosaur of course. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/9 "2008-08-07T19:27:23Z")
Will Zombie Quint still want to compare scars? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/10 "2008-08-07T19:32:45Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] I mean a cybernetic dinosaur of course. [/QUOTE] A cybernetic dinosaur voiced by none other than Samuel J. Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/11 "2008-08-07T19:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] You have a point. Howbout . . . gratuitously nude _Nazis_? I say that would trump even Quint. [/QUOTE] I’ll see you and raise you some gratuitously nude Nazi zombies! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/12 "2008-08-07T19:51:55Z")
I’ll take zombie Quint if I don’t have to look at gratuitously nude Quint. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/13 "2008-08-07T20:56:40Z")
Gratuitously nude Nazi zombies with lightsabers! ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/14 "2008-08-07T21:03:14Z")
How about [Nazi Quint](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzwsQuzNGzQ)? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/15 "2008-08-07T21:28:07Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] How about [Nazi Quint](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzwsQuzNGzQ)? [/QUOTE] That’s just so full of win. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/16 "2008-08-07T21:54:04Z")
It’s actually not a terrible movie either. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/17 "2008-08-07T22:10:58Z")
Kung Fu is up there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/18 "2008-08-07T22:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Will Zombie Quint still want to compare scars? [/QUOTE] Yes, right before he swims off into the ocean around the site of the Indiana wreck and proceeds to kill 34 sharks. With Kung Fu. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/19 "2008-08-07T22:36:08Z")
You know, IIRC, Quint was pretty much bisected when he died. Would a disassembled corpse be able to re-integrate itself sufficiently to walk forth as a zombie? ---
**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:** [August 7, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203/20 "2008-08-07T22:40:14Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] You know, IIRC, Quint was pretty much bisected when he died. Would a disassembled corpse be able to re-integrate itself sufficiently to walk forth as a zombie? [/QUOTE] Um, have you never heard of duct tape? Sheesh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-movies/459203.md?page=2)