# The Book of Eli and The SDMB Post-apocalyptic Film Festival **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448 "2010-01-11T00:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pjcnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@pjcnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjcnet)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448/81 "2012-10-04T08:54:17Z")
A vinyl record simply cannot be played on a mechanical gramophone even if it is modified to play at the correct speed and tracks as new as the one played in the movie would never have been produced on Bakelite (the material used to make old gramophone records). The stylus on old gramophones is steel and is designed to play on a hard record (Bakelite) which will then produce sounds by heavy vibration as it crosses over the record’s groves to move a diaphragm that is amplified by the horn. A steel needle would totally destroy a soft vinyl record by scratching it to bits and that is why a soft stylus has to be used instead that barely touches the record. The vibrations on the vinyl record created by a soft more modern stylus would be far too small to hope to create an audible sound without electronics to amplify it. This is why playing a fairly modern pop record that would have only been produced on vinyl only (and maybe CD) would be totally impossible on an old style wind up gramophone no matter how good the person was at mechanics Etc. They should have simply played an old track (E.g. 1920s) that would have been designed to be played on such an antique as this would have been a lot more believable even though the steel stylus had to be replaced as often as every 3-4 record plays back in those days, so they would have had to have an awful lot of spares for them to last the 30 years since the nuclear war if they used it regularly (we assume from the clues given that it was a nuclear war that caused the post apocalyptic scenario in this movie). ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448/82 "2012-10-04T13:25:39Z")
What an appropriate zombie! ---
**Author:** ![evildmguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6de8d8/32.png) [@evildmguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evildmguy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448/83 "2012-10-04T16:18:12Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Oh, and unless it is simulpost, nobody has yet spoiled the double twist revealed at the end, either directly or in spoiler boxes. Is Eli? Or isn’t he? I’ve got to go see again, but I say is. The double twist is also wrapped up tightly with whether he is divinely protected. And I like that they hinted hard at the end of it, but not so much as to whack the audience over the head. I have a friend who loves this movie who says he is. And that pretty much ruined the movie for me. No effing way he was. There were too many scenes where they either completely forgot that or they gave him super human abilities. I personally liked the one twist but didn’t need the second one as well. My friend is also a fan of [possible spoiler link here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi) these movies and I think it was made with them in mind. However, what I couldn’t tell is if my friend was whooshing me as he seemed to believe those movies were based on a real character, when that link says they weren’t. Overall, if that had been ambiguous or maybe happened due to a wound at the end in some way, I might have enjoyed it better. But not as my friend thinks it was did I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448/84 "2012-10-04T16:34:35Z")
I liked “The Book of Eli.” I’m waiting very impatiently for “Zombieland 2: Curly’s Gold.” I’ll have to go back through this thread and find some more movies to see. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448/85 "2012-10-05T15:04:04Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > **Six-String Samurai** - What if the Russians had bombed and invaded the US back in the 50s. Elvis, the King of Lost Vegas has died and a new king must be crowned. Guitar-Samurais battle their way across the wasteland to be crowned King. Ridiculous and over the top but so damn cool. “If I were you, I’d run!” “If you were me, you’d be good looking.” > Soundtrack by the Red Elvises. I like it when Buddy goes underground and meets a group of vicious mutants. The mutant leader threatens him with, “If I were you, I’d run!” To which Buddy responds, “If you were me, you’d be good-lookin’.” * * * As long as this zombie is up shambling around, I’m going to mention one of my few favourites that hasn’t already been covered: [Ralph Bakshi’s _ **Wizards** _](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film)). After man’s nuclear war destroys civilization, the magical forces of nature (elves, dwarves, faeries) come out and settle in the remaining good lands, while the mutants resign themselves to living in the irradiated badlands where every birth brings a new abomination. The title of the movie refers to two great wizards who are born as twins: Avatar, who is kindly and powerful but a little lazy, and Blackwolf, who is evil and scheming and aligns himself with the mutants. Blackwolf’s mutant armies constantly try to wrest control of the good lands from the elves, but are always beaten back as the elves’ superior morale helps them triumph over the cowardly mutants time and time again… … until some of Blackwolf’s soldiers unearth a “secret weapon” from before the war that changes everything … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-of-eli-and-the-sdmb-post-apocalyptic-film-festival/524448.md?page=4)