The SDMB Dictionary of Film cliches

Cafe Society
81

THE KILL COLLORARY

If the word “Kill” (or some variant) appears in the title, chances are a substantial portion of the movie is set in the southern part of some nation or city and/or will deal with ethnic/racial tensions.

Examples: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, A TIME TO KILL, KILLING FIELDS

SOUTHERN (DIS)COMFORT RULE

Any film set in the South has to show how unbearably hot it is, even in an air-conditioned building, by having all actors covered in a sheen of perspiration – regardless of the time of year, time of day or the person’s age – or whether the person’s physical activity produces sweat or even if they are lifelong natives or visitors to the area.

Sightings: Hmmm. A bunch. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and A TIME TO KILL leap to mind, as well as several Joel Schumacher films.

CHAWM, DIME SHORE

Many Southern films present a bizarre array of colorful Southern accents obviously spoken by non-Southern actors, yet purportedly from the same region and weirdly enough, the same family.

Sightings: STEEL MAGNOLIAS, SWEET HOME ALABAMA, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

GOD BLESS HER HEART, SHE AIN’T GOT THE GOOD SENSE GOD GAVE A ONE-ARMED JUNEBUG

More eccentric characters who spout bizarre homilies are present in films set in the South than any other region.

AND YET, YOU NEVER SEE THEM DRYING ON A CLOTHESLINE

Somehow, you never see a dirty Klan uniform.

Exception: Richard Pryor’s BUSTIN’ LOOSE

82

Related to Sampiro’s comment on the French Quarter:

Whenever possible, your characters will live in the most touristy part in the city, unless there’s something in the script preventing this. For example, all New Yorkers will live in Manhattan, all Chicagoians will live on the Lakefront, and all Los Angelians will live on the West Side. Moreover, if there’s an exception, it will be the worst part of town.

83

Closely related to The All is Forgiven Rule is The Clean Slate Rule:

Whenever a villian chooses to give up being bad and joins/helps out the heroes, all the evil things they have done, no matter how bad or how many, are completely forgotten.

Examples: Return of the Jedi, Moonraker, Superman III, Batman & Robin

84

:confused: Just wondering how “The Killing Feilds” fits into this?
Was Pol Pot a Southern Cambodian?

85

The Young, Inexperienced and Keen rule

When planning an important mission or job, a young and inexperienced guy will beg to be taken along. The other guys will say something like “No, its too dangerous. You stay here.”. Invariably, the young guy will go anyway. The young guy will then get shot and become a liability or really screw something up and jeapodise the mission.

Cites: Gone in 60 Seconds etc

86

Never having been to the USA, I’m not sure if these are cliches or not but here goes;

IN CITIES AT NIGHT - DRAINS GIVE OFF STEAM
Doesnt happen here
Cites - Terminator, Taxi Driver, Mimic etc

ALL AMERICANS VISIT DINERS
No British equivalent - the motorway service station???
Cites - 5 Easy Pieces, Fearless, Midnight Run, Pulp Fiction, The Big Lebowski, Groundhog Day, 2 Lane Blacktop, Rain Man, After Hours, Diner(!) etc

Maybe in the US everyone does eat in diners while steam rises from the drain covers and manholes and it’s not a movie cliche in which case I’m off to the rub-a-dub with me old bamboo and Mary Poppins, lord love a duck!

87

I was quite surprised, when I visited Manhattan, to find out that this does indeed happen, day and night.

88

One blow to the head is enough to knock out anybody.

Cite: Every action movie ever made.

89

** Trust no one until the credits roll**

In any Thriller or horror movie a character will find out the horrible secret and escape to warn the authorities…Usually after a harrowing chase they make it. But wait there is istill a good half hour left to the film! That is because the Authorities turn out to be in on the whole conspiracy

Sightings: Monsters Inc. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

90

The Forced-Coming-Out-of-Retirement Rule

At some point in the past, the hero has gone into “Retirement”, and just wants to be left alone, but inevitably will be forced out of retirement in order to thwart the plans of evil doers. The forced-coming-out-of-retirement can usually, but not always be facilitated by kidnapping a member of the hero’s family.

Examples: Commando, Under Seige, The Fifth Element

91

The Mandatory Cigarette Rule
in a hollywood film all actors, no matter what the scene is have to light and smoke a cigarette.

Source: Every film made since cigarette advertising was banned.

The Dodgy Sights Rule
Despit all of the research on smart bombs and laser guided weapons, extensive research into the future has shown that mankind, and all other sentient species have not been able to invent an energy weapon with reliable aim. Automatic aiming is such a disaster that even someone who can, week on week, coax 110% output or improvements to a warp drive cannot build a phaser that self aims at baddies.

Source: every episode of Star Trek

92

The Helpful Traitor Rule

A character who is helpful in the first half of the movie may be revealed as an undercover cop/enemy agent in the last half, which makes their earlier helpfulness a complete mystery.

Ref: Star Trek VI, just about any heist movie.

93

There Is No Traffic In Las Vegas

Whenever a movie (or TV show) shows characters driving on the Las Vegas strip, there is no traffic at all. The hero can walk freely without fear of getting run over, or can drive around the streets with perfect ease.

Only Hookers and Drug Dealers Live in Las Vegas

There is no such thing as a normal suburban family living in a housing development in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is only made up of three types of people: tourists, hookers, and drug dealers. Or the mob (depending on which era you’re watching). If a suburban family is shown, they live in Henderson, or somewhere just right outside of Las Vegas (i.e. Honey, I Blew Up the Kid).

Luckily, the show CSI has strayed from these types of Vegas-stereotypes.

94

Any movie character living in San Francisco lives in a classic Victorian house with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge out of one window and Alcatraz out of the other. They all open their front door and run and jump on the back of a just-went-by Trolley car, on their way to their office next to the Transamerica building.

95

Maybe I live in the wrong part of the country or something, but I’ve never even seen, let alone eaten at, one of those 1950’s-style diners that are so common in movies. I suspect that fast food joints have largely driven them out of business.

96

Hollywood Brand Squealing Dirt

Cars driving in dirt fields will give off squealing tire sounds.

97

The Law Enforcement Also-Rans Rule: Any hot rodder, stock car racer or bootlegger can escape from police pursuit, despite the officers’ professional training in chase and interception. This is due to the amateurs’ ability to master stunt maneuvers no stodgy authority figure can duplicate, such as:
-driving on two wheels down an alley otherwise too narrow for a car
-jumping their car eight feet in the air by running over a small bump at high speed
-squeaking by millimeters through train crossing guards, draw bridges, and under passing semi-trailer trucks.

98

Prostitution pays–an extention to Rabid Child’s Lost Wages rule:

The oldest institution is the most popular occupation among female characters.

**Blue wire or red wire? **

No matter what came before, the hero has a choice between cutting the right wire to the bomb that will destroy the city, or be the biggest and deadliest joke since Major TJ Kong.

The more Complex the system, the bigger the backdoor.

The most dazzling computer security system, complete with bullets, alarms, and alerts, can always be cracked by a kid with a Commodore Pet.

99

The room with a view rule.

All government bureaucrats offices have a view of the Capitol, even the ones in the Pentagon.

** The magical commuter road corollary to the room with a view rule.**

Fleeing villainous bureaucrats always drive to Virginia, which has open country and sparse forests along long open roads within minutes of the aforementioned office overlooking the Capitol. They never go to Maryland.

Also, you can run from the CIA main headquarters building to the White House, or the Pentagon in about six minutes.

Tris

100

Diners!

I was at this one just last week. Had the Pork Chops and Eggs Breakfast, at two AM!

If I was a movie hero, I would go there too!

Tris