# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/101 "2011-02-07T20:46:03Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > What would they do?.. Well, I always had a fantasy of going all “Casey Reibeck” on their butt, however most likely they would at least be tackled by half a dozen guys who don’t take crap and have access to big sharp knives. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/102 "2011-02-07T20:46:53Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > A corollary to this - a friend told me that most of the time the water in sprinkler systems is not sparkling clean like it’s portrayed in the movies, but that it’s kinda dirty. Ooh, ooh, that reminds me! In the movies, the inside of a burning building is always brightly lit. I used to be a firefighter, and I can tell you that I was never able to see my hand in front of my face inside a room where there was any significant burning going on. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/103 "2011-02-07T20:54:20Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Covered in other threads but with rare exception (Australian films), they never get the idea of a crescent moon right. If it is evening in the northern hemisphere (locale for bif majority of films), the crescent moon should have its open end on the left, facing east, away from the sun. Only in the early mornings, and when the moon is waning should it appear with the open end on the right. Not to mention having a full moon rise at midnight. I once permanently damaged a relationship with a girl I liked because she was telling a story about a memorable experience she had, and mentioned a beautiful full moon rising at midnight. I don’t know what I was thinking when I told her that was impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/104 "2011-02-07T20:55:31Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > All I can say is, try it. I’m going to. As soon as I get home. Seriously, I put it out there, and I want to see if I _really_ can hang on to the pole with one arm for two minutes straight without spinning or shifting my weight and doing a bunch of tricks. It’s one thing to lift your body weight/climb a rope. I think to hang there as dead weight is a hell of a lot harder. I will return and report, and if it turns out I’m completely full of shit, you have my permission to mock me mercilessly for a week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/105 "2011-02-07T21:04:29Z")
Sound suppressors on guns are still pretty damn loud. Nowhere near as quiet as the silencers used on movie guns. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/106 "2011-02-07T21:07:39Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Well, I always had a fantasy of going all “Casey Reibeck” on their butt, however most likely they would at least be tackled by half a dozen guys who don’t take crap and have access to big sharp knives. I’ve always been curious. I agree, btw. I’ve known a bunch of chefs and none of them take any crap from anyone, as you said. The staff often tends to be a little cowed by the chef, but that’s just it - if the chef bellowed “GET HIM!” the guy would probably fall into the soup, that’s how many people would have jumped on him. Who is Casey Reibeck? ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/107 "2011-02-07T21:09:19Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I’m going to. As soon as I get home. Seriously, I put it out there, and I want to see if I _really_ can hang on to the pole with one arm for two minutes straight without spinning or shifting my weight and doing a bunch of tricks. It’s one thing to lift your body weight/climb a rope. I think to hang there as dead weight is a hell of a lot harder. > > I will return and report, and if it turns out I’m completely full of shit, you have my permission to mock me mercilessly for a week. 😃 You misunderstood me. The pole, I can believe. It’s much easier. What I want you to try is a slender rope. Go to a hardware store, find a smooth nylon rope that’s about half an inch in diameter, and have the guy cut off about six feet for you. It should just cost a couple bucks. Make sure that its working strength (should be on the label or spool somewhere) is more than your weight. Then tie it SECURELY to an overhead bar (at a playground or gym) with a couple feet hanging down, grab it somewhere on the vertical hanging part, and see if your grip isn’t instantly torn loose when you take the weight off of your feet. If it isn’t, and you have a grip like that anywhere else, I would REALLY like to meet you. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/108 "2011-02-07T21:09:59Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > In bar fights, when someone menacingly smashes a beer bottle to make it into a wedding… Most people just lie about being a second cousin on the bride’s side 😃 ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/109 "2011-02-07T21:10:46Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Who is Casey Reibeck? Steven Seagal in “Under Siege.” ---
**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 7, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/110 "2011-02-07T21:15:46Z")
> [@Kolga](#): > > A corollary to this - a friend told me that most of the time the water in sprinkler systems is not sparkling clean like it’s portrayed in the movies, but that it’s kinda dirty. So, when you see people running through indoor sprinkler water, they should be getting filthy. > > Is this true, or was my friend pulling my leg? I worked in a warehouse that had a pressurised sprinkler system - the pipes were steel and the water inside them was brown, stinky and slightly viscous (bacterial growth or maybe some kind of antifreeze) - until it had been flowing for a while, then the clean water came through. We knew this because every once in a while, a forklift would collide with one of the sprinklers and set them off. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/111 "2011-02-07T21:19:24Z")
How come in movies whenever someone hangs up a phone on you, you hear a dial tone. Shouldn’t you hear silence for a few seconds and then the do do do sound? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/112 "2011-02-07T21:19:36Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > This happens today, and it happened in the old days. I was a night auditor and to make budget I’d leave the front desk and go clean a room to resell it. I wouldn’t be gone long. I’d lock the cash in the back safe and go for about 15 minutes at a time. Sometimes at 3AM you leave for a few minutes to go have sex with your friend with benefits. Not that I’d know anything about that. ETA - I can’t stand to see those super fakey-fake old newspapers. When you look at old newspapers for a living the crap they mock up just screams at you. _Boardwalk Empire_ is the only show I’ve seen recently that gets the right old newspaper look. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/113 "2011-02-07T21:21:01Z")
Every single thing in a buddy cop movie. Everything. Cops can cause massive property damage chasing criminals, injure or come close to injuring innocent bystanders, shoot at bad guys with civilians in the way, stomp on every police procedure in the book, and get nothing more than a glare from the boss. And heaven forbid they ever have to fill out paperwork explaining what happened. “You caused 2.5 million dollars in property damage and killed 14 people chasing that guy! The city is furious and people are rioting outside the station!” “Hey, he was a scumbag! Besides, think of how much more damage he’d have caused if I hadn’t stopped him! More lives could have been lost! I saved us all!” \ “Get out of here before I bust you down to desk jockey!” Oh, and cops can easily identify any drug by tasting a small sample of it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/114 "2011-02-07T21:23:33Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Ferrets. They do not sound like that. Thank you!! Gah! Also: racoons. Same weird chittering noise. WTF animal actually produces the sound they use whenever a ferret is onscreen? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/115 "2011-02-07T21:26:33Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > If it isn’t, and you have a grip like that anywhere else, I would REALLY like to meet you. Oh. hell no! She could…crush things.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/116 "2011-02-07T21:29:39Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Oh. hell no! > > She could…crush things.:eek: And probably shoot a ping pong ball through a brick wall. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/117 "2011-02-07T21:34:27Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > You misunderstood me. The pole, I can believe. It’s much easier. > > What I want you to try is a slender rope. Go to a hardware store, find a smooth nylon rope that’s about half an inch in diameter, and have the guy cut off about six feet for you. It should just cost a couple bucks. Make sure that its working strength (should be on the label or spool somewhere) is more than your weight. > > Then tie it SECURELY to an overhead bar (at a playground or gym) with a couple feet hanging down, grab it somewhere on the vertical hanging part, and see if your grip isn’t instantly torn loose when you take the weight off of your feet. > > If it isn’t, and you have a grip like that anywhere else, I would REALLY like to meet you. Oh, I see, I am misunderstanding you. Phew, I thought that pole exercise thing might hurt. 😉 Seems to me like rope is not all that grippy (unlike a chromed steel pole or a brass one) so I would think unless you looped the rope around your wrist, and risked having your hand yanked right off your arm, you are probably correct. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/118 "2011-02-07T21:35:16Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > For the most part, you’re right. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve done CPR on a scene, then in the back of the ambulance, all the way to the hospital, where CPR continues, along with chemical interventions and shocks (if advised…there are some times when the AED - automated external defibrillator - advises you not to shock the patient). In the instances I’ve been party to, the EMTs alternate with the staff to provide CPR (you’d be amazed how badly CPR can tire you out, and it’s a horrible strain on the back) in order to keep someone fresh doing the compressions, generally at 2 minute intervals. > > CPR generally continues for upwards of 20 minutes or so at the hospital, until either a pulse is found, or the doctor calls it, and announces a time of death. And, sadly, it’s around 90% for the latter (according to the instructors when I went through my EMT training, and through my experience). And in the movies they use the AED to bring people back to life. I could be mistaken about this but it is my understanding that the shocking with the paddles (CLEAR!) is to defibrillate, not to restart the heart. In the movies they don’t pull the paddles out until the patient flatlines. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/119 "2011-02-07T21:36:39Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > And probably shoot a ping pong ball through a brick wall. _And_ suck a golf ball through a garden hose. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/120 "2011-02-07T21:49:10Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Also, people launching in impromptu perfectly coordinated dance steps? Not possible. Believe me, I’ve tried. [Oh yeah?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzN4633mpI) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=7)