# Things Movies Almost Always Get Wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494 "2011-02-07T06:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/201 "2011-02-08T20:39:22Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Another common misconception about elevators is often seen in Three Stooges movies. > > They run into an elevator about 50 feet ahead of the big mean guy who is chasing them. The elevator goes up, the big mean guy runs up to it, and since this is in the 40’s or whatever, instead of lights to indicate the floor the elevator is on, there’s a big pointer, like the hand of a clock pointing to the floor numbers as they go from 2 to 3 to 4. So he grabs the pointer and twists it over to “1” to bring the elevator back down. > > Actually, that wouldn’t work in real life. I hope this isn’t a whoosh - everyone knows that elevators aren’t connected to the floor pointer - that was the point of the visual joke! ---
**Author:** ![beartato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@beartato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beartato)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/202 "2011-02-08T20:44:55Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Can you elaborate on this? I’m from an area that gets cold weather and I’m not sure I’ve noticed what you’re talking about. (Although after you’ve explained I’m sure I will not be able to _not_ notice in the future. 🙂 ) For me it’s the faces. I don’t expect television shows or movies to make the actors looks ugly for no good reason, but when it’s really cold out, people’s face get all pasty and splotchy and their cheeks go red and their eyes water and their nose runs and so on. Seeing people with parkas and scarves and perfect California “healthy glow” skin tone always ruins the scene for me. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/203 "2011-02-08T21:14:52Z")
Nitpick on video enhancement: if you have one or two seconds worth of frames depicting almost the exact same scene (no movement), then it’s possible to combine all the data for the 50-60 individual frames in such a way as to get a clearer picture than any individual frame. But yeah, Hollywood ridiculously exaggerates it. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/204 "2011-02-08T21:35:10Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:165, topic:570494”] Here’s a big one: looking at the footage from a security camera at a little store. It’s grainy and dark. “Zoom that in. Enhance that.” Suddenly you have a crystal clear image better than I could take with a ten-megapixel camera and professional lighting. And they do it all without touching a pointing device to pick the area to enlarge. [/QUOTE] I was watching Bladerunner (1982) again last night and it makes me wonder if Ridley Scott invented this trope when Harrison Ford stuck the photograph in the machine and blew it up until he was reading a newspaper from across the room. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/205 "2011-02-08T21:45:49Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I was watching Bladerunner (1982) again last night and it makes me wonder if Ridley Scott invented this trope when Harrison Ford stuck the photograph in the machine and blew it up until he was reading a newspaper from across the room. I don’t think he invented it, although he may have been the first to digitalize it. In Mel Brooks’ 1977 Hitchcock parody, _High Anxiety_, there’s a gag where a guy keeps blowing up a photo, larger and larger, until it covers the entire wall of his room and he has to stand on a stepladder to see it - but he can clearly read the date on a newspaper carried by a guy in a glass elevator in the background. He’s doing it using traditional darkroom equipment, though, not a computer. Given the nature of the film, I’m pretty sure that was a spoof of similar scenes from serious crime and murder dramas, if not a direct riff on something from a Hitchcock film. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/206 "2011-02-08T21:48:43Z")
I believe it was a reference to the movie _Blow Up_. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/207 "2011-02-08T21:51:44Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Also in old Tinpan Alley type movies, the singer would sing the songwriter’s new song perfectly without ever having heard it before. He’d be sitting at some beat up piano, and all she would have to go by was his sheetmusic. I have watched (heard) professional musicians do this, both with and without piano. A friend who performs in a symphony orchestra can take the sheet music to a song she’s never heard before, get the starting note on a pitch pipe, and sing it perfectly–assuming the sheet music was written by someone equally skilled. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/208 "2011-02-08T22:25:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Just about anything associated with public schools in the movies is wrong to terribly wrong. You’d think the writers had never gone to school themselves. Even allowing for “dramatic license,” things are way, way off. The only movie that got things even close to right was Nick Nolte’s [Teachers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088242/). You’re kidding, right? While I like the movie and it had some elements I could recognize, some things were a bit “out there”. I work with teenagers and, sometimes, they do share their personal troubles with me. However, as much as I value my students, I would never, never, never, never, NEVER!!! drive a student to any kind of a doctor, let alone to get an abortion!!! I would refer her to all sorts of help with unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, but she would have to get herself there. Period. And I belong to the big, bad teacher’s union, but even they would hang me out to dry on that one. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/209 "2011-02-08T22:32:16Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > …What are you talking about exactly? Examples? Well for starters the dress code. Real teenagers don’t dress like the Hollywood version. Especially girls. I went to HS from 1999-2003, and girls very seldom wore skirts. They wore pants like the boys, unless they were unusually dressed up (like for a presentation) or cheerleaders (only on game day). Even the transfers from the local Christian school quickly switched from (long) skirts to pants. Nobody would’ve gotten away with a bare midriff (even in gym class) or hemline above the knee. “Unnatural” hair colors were banned sophmore year, the only acceptable visible piercings were ears, and all black clothing wasn’t allowed. We also never did shirts vs. skins in gym class (even if it wasn’t a mixed activity) or showered afterward. Nor did we ever have a pretend marriage/baby assignment. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/210 "2011-02-08T22:41:26Z")
I’m not following here. My public school experience doesn’t match with iea of uniformity. High school, in particular, was full of cliques, each with their own preferences for style of dress. (mid-1980s) ---
**Author:** ![Lazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@Lazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/211 "2011-02-08T23:47:53Z")
Chess games rarely seem realistic to me. More than half the time, a player walks unexpectedly into a mate-in-one. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/212 "2011-02-08T23:52:49Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > I sleep in something like that. I use a nasal mask for my CPAP machine, the strap goes around the back of my head, with a strap over the top of my head to keep it in place. [Here](http://www.resmed.com/us/products/swift_fx/image-gallery.html?nc=patients&sec=true) are pictures of the actual mask. Way different model. Here: [Nasal cannula - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cannula) is what I’m talking about, with an illustration (of a decapitated Nazi soldier who’s just heard Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child”) showing how it should be worn. ---
**Author:** ![Lazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@Lazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/213 "2011-02-08T23:54:37Z")
And on the subject of schools in movies. How often does it seem like teachers teach more than one class? Even relatively good portrayals of teaching like Season 4 of The Wire or the French film The Class (Entre les murs) make it seem like the teacher is devoting his full efforts to a single group of students. Maybe a necessary simplification for reasons of plot, but it still bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/214 "2011-02-08T23:55:18Z")
> [@beartato](#): > > For me it’s the faces. I don’t expect television shows or movies to make the actors looks ugly for no good reason, but when it’s really cold out, people’s face get all pasty and splotchy and their cheeks go red and their eyes water and their nose runs and so on. Seeing people with parkas and scarves and perfect California “healthy glow” skin tone always ruins the scene for me. For that matter, Sundance Festival winners (invariably about poor people, but made by rich liberals for rich liberals) always depict the poverty-stricken looking waaay too healthy. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/215 "2011-02-08T23:59:40Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The bad guys come by afterward and survey the scene: Kitchen, cutting board, thug with a cooking knife sticking out of him. The main bad guy narrows his eyes and says dramatically, “No _cook_ did this.” > > I dunno, pinhead, it sure LOOKS like the way a cook would kill someone! All I could do was laugh. I took it as a comment on the lack of garnish. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/216 "2011-02-09T00:25:54Z")
TV on TV. Whenever a character on TV has their television on… there is never any dialogue. all you ever hear is the laugh track, with maybe some crude comedic sound effect noises. So what, in TV land, everybody only watches Benny Hill? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/217 "2011-02-09T01:05:01Z")
The doorbell or phone rings. Characters have a lengthy argument before eventually answering it. The caller has always been patient enough to wait. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/218 "2011-02-09T01:12:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Chess games rarely seem realistic to me. More than half the time, a player walks unexpectedly into a mate-in-one. The same sort of problem, really, as every poker game ending with a royal flush. Unfortunately, conceding as soon as you’re down a pawn (or an equivalent amount of advantage in position), or cleaning up with a two pair, just isn’t nearly as dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/219 "2011-02-09T01:43:40Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > TV on TV. Whenever a character on TV has their television on… there is never any dialogue. all you ever hear is the laugh track, with maybe some crude comedic sound effect noises. So what, in TV land, everybody only watches Benny Hill? Dialogue would cost more; either they’d pay voice actor rates to whoever did it, or royalties if it was from an actual show. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/220 "2011-02-09T02:29:17Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Can you elaborate on this? I’m from an area that gets cold weather and I’m not sure I’ve noticed what you’re talking about. (Although after you’ve explained I’m sure I will not be able to _not_ notice in the future. 🙂 ) > [@YoSaffBridge](#): > > It may not be what **Cat Whisperer** is thinking of, but for me, it’s the trees. Characters are outside in winter, usually with fake snow on the ground, but all the deciduous trees are full of leaves and the grass is fertilizer-green. You never see someone’s breath, either. It’s painfully obvious they’re in LA, not whatever northern area the TV show or movie is actually set in. > > You never see bare trees unless they’re filming on location. > [@JohnT](#): > > A good example is the movie _Halloween_ - they’re in Illinois, it’s almost November, the kids are wearing coats and sweaters… and the palm trees in some background shots are just **lush** with life (as are all the deciduous trees and hedges). 😉 > [@beartato](#): > > For me it’s the faces. I don’t expect television shows or movies to make the actors looks ugly for no good reason, but when it’s really cold out, people’s face get all pasty and splotchy and their cheeks go red and their eyes water and their nose runs and so on. Seeing people with parkas and scarves and perfect California “healthy glow” skin tone always ruins the scene for me. These are all good examples. Another example would be the characters are pretending to be cold (all obviously shivering and stuff), but with their jackets undone and scarves hanging loose. When you go out in the cold, you bundle the hell UP - jackets closed, scarves done up tight, no exposed necks and chests, etc. If you get snowy when it’s cold out, you brush the snow off right away so it doesn’t melt and get you wet (being wet outside in the cold is something to be avoided if at all possible) - you’d also brush all that snow off as soon as you got inside. Yes, you should be able to see your breath outside in cold. They’ve started CGI’ing in breath vapour in some shows, but it’s wildly fake - breath vapour shows when you breathe out; it’s not a cloud hanging around your head. Cars would be plugged in in truly cold places. And start rough (if at all) if not plugged in. And they’re COLD to drive in - they only start to heat up when you get where you’re going, so you’d sit in there with your mitts and toque and scarf and everything on. I have to say “Fargo” got it _almost_ right - I’ve mentioned this before in the past, but their one false step was when the guy started cleaning off his car before he started it - I don’t know anyone here who would clean before starting. You start it up so it can start heating up a bit while you get out and clean off the snow and ice. You don’t linger out in the cold either; it’s COLD! You scurry, mostly. Windows aren’t usually all decoratively frosted; I’m not sure I have any windows that are frosted right now, and it’s been very cold. That’s all I kind think of at the moment; maybe I should look up some winter movies and see what else they got wrong. 🙂 > [@shijinn](#): > > \ > as a random example, i’m sure they simply do not want the cost of actually replacing the trees, cgi or otherwise, rather than not knowing that they’re wrong for winter. I’m not sure about this; I suspect it’s simply a deep and abiding ignorance of what it’s like to live and function in cold with a side of not caring how wrong things look. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=12)