# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/21 "2019-03-05T03:21:58Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > 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. Ha. I just imagined the current president being kidnapped for money…and suddenly its an O. Henry story. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/22 "2019-03-05T14:13:08Z")
It seems that every few weeks Fark links to a story about an armored car getting into a crash and spilling cash. Usually with a joke regarding the police asking people to return the money they picked up. Right. (Here’s a couple [links](https://www.fark.com/tags/Armored_car/) for one in December.) So not especially secure in this regard either. I think the idea of the whole thing is to create uncertainty in the minds of would-be thieves and increase the chances that something will go wrong during a robbery attempt. Are they sure they can get in? Are they sure the guards aren’t going to be a problem? Etc. It’s not about being 100% secure, it’s about changing the odds. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/23 "2019-03-05T22:55:48Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > 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. Oh, and let’s add _Armed and Dangerous_, starring John Candy and Eugene Levy to the list. IIRC, corrupt guards try to rob the armored car Levy is responsible for, and a chase ensues as Candy rides to the rescue. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/24 "2019-03-05T23:19:50Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Ha. I just imagined the current president being kidnapped for money…and suddenly its an O. Henry story. The Ransom Of Orange Chief? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/25 "2019-03-06T04:08:37Z")
Having done that job, making $11.60 an hour in 2006 - yes, working for Loomis, I can tell you that I wasn’t payed enough to resist a guy with a heavy weapon or a group of well armed people. Oh no. I’d have gotten out of the truck, thrown the keys over my shoulder and kept walking hoping not to die. But the odds of that happening never really crossed my mind given how unlikely it was to happen. I was more worried about snatch and grabs while on foot. Which came close a couple of times, but never happened either. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/26 "2019-03-06T12:33:11Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > As my father used to say, locks are there to keep the honest people out. I disagree. Locks are there to keep the lazy criminals out. There are a lot of lazy criminals, they look like honest people most of the time, but if you leave something there for the taking, and they think they’ll get away with it, their true nature comes forth. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/27 "2019-03-07T01:42:22Z")
At least in _Heat_, probably the best known armored car heist in a movie, it was by no means easy to take down the armored car. It required a highly coordinated plot that involved first distracting the drivers with an ambulance; then ramming the armored car with a colossal truck to knock it onto its side; then blowing open the back of it with insanely high-powered explosives that are intended for industrial demolition. There were like 6 guys all performing different roles and coordinating it with walkie-talkies. That armored car was most certainly NOT a pushover. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/28 "2019-03-07T14:16:57Z")
For me, the best armored car heist movie is [_Palookaville_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117284/). (Plus it’s Kim Dickens’ first movie.) ---
**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:** [March 7, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/29 "2019-03-07T16:11:30Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I disagree. Locks are there to keep the lazy criminals out. > > There are a lot of lazy criminals, they look like honest people most of the time, but if you leave something there for the taking, and they think they’ll get away with it, their true nature comes forth. Yeah, I’ve always hated that saying because it implies honest people only remain honest for lack of opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/30 "2019-03-07T17:36:58Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > 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. Or Millennia even. The armor the Storm Troopers wear seems to actually magnify the incoming laser things. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/31 "2019-03-08T06:26:28Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > 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. > [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > Or Millennia even. The armor the Storm Troopers wear seems to actually magnify the incoming laser things. Yet most bullets bounce harmlessly off cars and their windshields. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/32 "2019-03-08T21:36:08Z")
Have you ever seen a prisoner transport in movies or tv that went off smoothly or successfully? Seems to me that they are always attacked, the guards killed, and the prisoner sprung. No way in hell would I volunteer for transport duty. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/33 "2019-03-09T04:54:35Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Have you ever seen a prisoner transport in movies or tv that went off smoothly or successfully? Seems to me that they are always attacked, the guards killed, and the prisoner sprung. No way in hell would I volunteer for transport duty. Didn’t Andy Dufresne arrive at Shawshank with everyone and everything intact? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/34 "2019-03-09T05:05:45Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Didn’t Andy Dufresne arrive at Shawshank with everyone and everything intact? 🆒 That’s because he was innocent. If he was an action movie villain, Andy’s thugs would have blasted the van with an RPG and he would have escaped via a helicopter dropping a rope ladder. In 1947. ---
**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 9, 2019, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/35 "2019-03-09T05:46:50Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Have you ever seen a prisoner transport in movies or tv that went off smoothly or successfully? Seems to me that they are always attacked, the guards killed, and the prisoner sprung. No way in hell would I volunteer for transport duty. Nobody wants to watch a boring, uneventful prisoner transfer, even though they’re the vast majority of such operations. Of course Hollywood is only going to show us the exciting ones! ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/36 "2019-03-09T06:09:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Nobody wants to watch a boring, uneventful prisoner transfer, even though they’re the vast majority of such operations. Of course Hollywood is only going to show us the exciting ones! A friend of mine once had to transport a high level terrorist for his court appearance. The plan was to take him in an armoured car. He vetoed it. On the day of the actual transport, the armoured car went, carrying a police constable. Big media following it. The terrorist was taken by private and unmarked sportscar. A Ferrari if i recall. They had taken it from the impound yard. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/37 "2019-03-09T13:18:35Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Have you ever seen a prisoner transport in movies or tv that went off smoothly or successfully? Seems to me that they are always attacked, the guards killed, and the prisoner sprung. No way in hell would I volunteer for transport duty. Chekhov’s gun on a guard on an armored vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/38 "2019-03-09T19:27:31Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > then ramming the armored car with a colossal truck to knock it onto its side…\…That armored car was most certainly NOT a pushover. Actually, it _was_ a pushover. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/39 "2019-03-28T09:32:38Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > A friend of mine once had to transport a high level terrorist for his court appearance. > The plan was to take him in an armoured car. He vetoed it. > On the day of the actual transport, the armoured car went, carrying a police constable. Big media following it. > > The terrorist was taken by private and unmarked sportscar. A Ferrari if i recall. They had taken it from the impound yard. Reminds me of how the “Cullinan” diamond was transported from South Africa to the UK to be cut into several of the Crown Jewels: Very publicly, the “Cullinan” was locked in the captain’s safe of a ship that took it under armoured guard to the UK. In fact, that stone was fake, and the real “Cullinan” was sent in a totally plain box via registered post. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448/40 "2019-03-28T10:19:59Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The terrorist was taken by private and unmarked sportscar. A Ferrari if i recall. They had taken it from the impound yard. Really? A 2-seater? So just the driver and the terrorist? Why not take a Mercedes and put a couple of guys in the back? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-uselessness-of-armored-trucks-in-movies/830448.md?page=3)