# The uselessness of armored trucks in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448 "2019-03-02T22:30:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/1 "2019-03-02T22:30:12Z")
I cannot think of any movie or TV clip in which armored Brinks trucks were not next to useless. The robbers blow up or hold up the truck at gunpoint, the doors easily are blasted or jimmied open like they’re nothing, and the truck driver submits meekly without resistance. Obviously real life wouldn’t be like this but is there any show in which the Brinks trucks actually present meaningful resistance? Are such truck drivers taught not to resist in real life (but just hit some silent alarm?) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/2 "2019-03-02T22:35:36Z")
Why would a driver resist in real life? > [@](#): > > The average pay for an Armored Car Guard & Driver is $13.12 per hour. [https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Armored\_Car\_Guard\_%26\_Driver/Hourly\_Rate](https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Armored_Car_Guard_%26_Driver/Hourly_Rate) Would you resist for this amount of money? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/3 "2019-03-02T23:03:33Z")
They are there to deter petty thieves and opportunists, and they probably do a decent job at that. In the movies, there are organized criminals with high powered weaponry and airtight tactics. They are not equipped to resist that. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/4 "2019-03-02T23:06:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > They are there to deter petty thieves and opportunists, and they probably do a decent job at that. > > In the movies, there are organized criminals with high powered weaponry and airtight tactics. They are not equipped to resist that. This. Armored trucks are there to stop the kinda criminal that robs convenience stores, not movie villains. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/5 "2019-03-02T23:40:55Z")
In [The Kidnapping of the President,](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080997/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_115) an armored car is rigged with explosives (and the President inside), and (I don’t recall the ending) they have to get kinda inventive to get inside without setting off the explosives. Obviously, modern military weaponry could go through an armored car like a hot knife through butter. The tricky part is not to harm the guy inside the truck. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/6 "2019-03-03T00:16:30Z")
Think of it like a padlock. If you’re just walking around and see something locked with a padlock, you might shake it a few times but no way are you opening it. Then a criminal shows up with bolt cutters and the padlock may as well not even be there. That doesn’t invalidate the existence or even function of padlocks. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/7 "2019-03-03T01:14:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > is there any show in which the Brinks trucks actually present meaningful resistance? An episode of “CHiPs” featured an overturned armored truck. The guards were so afraid of a robbery attempt that they wouldn’t even open the door for Getraer! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/8 "2019-03-03T01:26:40Z")
I got curious and checked the local archives for stories about armored car robberies. There were only two in recent history I could find, and both of them were inside jobs. the drivers submitted “meekly without resistance” because they were in on it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/9 "2019-03-03T06:05:55Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Think of it like a padlock. If you’re just walking around and see something locked with a padlock, you might shake it a few times but no way are you opening it. > > Then a criminal shows up with bolt cutters and the padlock may as well not even be there. That doesn’t invalidate the existence or even function of padlocks. As my father used to say, locks are there to keep the honest people out. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/10 "2019-03-03T13:45:44Z")
If armored trucks in movies could not be broken into, there’d be no movie. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/11 "2019-03-03T14:00:53Z")
Isn’t there a movie where a bunch of armored car drivers/guards decide to hijack their own trucks, but someone has a crisis of conscience and the rest of the movie is the bad-bad guys trying to break into the good-bad guy’s truck? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/12 "2019-03-03T14:51:45Z")
Yeah, _Armored_. It was okay. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/13 "2019-03-03T15:20:07Z")
there were 2 big robberies done by people who worked for the armored car company , one of them they took money from the building and put it in the armored van. both are mentioned here: [October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1997_Loomis_Fargo_robbery) ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/14 "2019-03-03T18:48:41Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I got curious and checked the local archives for stories about armored car robberies. There were only two in recent history I could find, and both of them were inside jobs. the drivers submitted “meekly without resistance” because they were in on it. Your local archives, sure. Loomis Armored in Vallejo (1991) was not an inside job, four guards/ employees were killed, and although $17M was stolen, the murderers killed for nothing because alarms and the mass of the money prevented their keeping it. Wiki and Google will find more for you. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/15 "2019-03-03T23:33:42Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > Your local archives, sure. I didn’t say it was impossible. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/16 "2019-03-04T15:59:13Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > Your local archives, sure. > > Loomis Armored in Vallejo (1991) was not an inside job, four guards/ employees were killed, and although $17M was stolen, the murderers killed for nothing because alarms and the mass of the money prevented their keeping it. > > Wiki and Google will find more for you. Three men were killed (by four criminals) and in fact one of the criminals was co-worker to the victims, so it sort of was an inside job. $17 million was not stolen - it was too much toe carry, but not that much. That was a robbery of Loomis in 1997, in which no one was killed. That particular heist was pulled off by some of the dumbest criminals in the history of crime, and is a fun read if you have a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/17 "2019-03-04T17:06:32Z")
It’s like the Worf Effect. > **[The Worf Effect - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect)** > > Want a quick way to show how dangerous one of your unknown characters is? Simple, make them do well or win in a fight with a character that the audience already knows is tough. This establishes them as willing to fight and marks them as … ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/18 "2019-03-04T17:23:22Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I cannot think of any movie or TV clip in which armored Brinks trucks were not next to useless. The robbers blow up or hold up the truck at gunpoint, the doors easily are blasted or jimmied open like they’re nothing, and the truck driver submits meekly without resistance. Obviously real life wouldn’t be like this but is there any show in which the Brinks trucks actually present meaningful resistance? > > Are such truck drivers taught not to resist in real life (but just hit some silent alarm?) There’s _The Dark Knight_, where an armored car is transporting Harvey Dent. [In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095366/) has armored car guards resisitng, but that’s also based on real incidents. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/19 "2019-03-04T18:58:11Z")
It’s even more useless if the back door is already open: [Groundhog Day- Phil Stealing Money - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiKbSM1FGUg) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/20 "2019-03-05T03:02:33Z")
Really, this is on par with just about armored anything in the movies. Armored knights going down from one slash of a sword, hey why not? If you were to believe movies, the human race has spent thousands of years wasting just ungodly amounts of time, resources and effort making armor that doesn’t actually do anything. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448.md?page=2)