# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/141 "2011-02-08T01:19:18Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I love predictive text. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/142 "2011-02-08T01:28:01Z")
Two other things I’ve always been amused by. One is the modern day update on the cowboy who’s six-shooter never runs out of ammo. People firing machine guns on full auto for minutes at a time. Most of those machine guns only have 20 or 30 round clips and on full auto fire at something like 750 rounds a second. In short they can’t be fired on full auto for more than two or at most three seconds before needing to be reloaded. I think that’s why most machine guns are now set to be able to fire three round bursts. Also, one thing a friend pointed out to me after she foolishly went to the movie The Roommate. In the movies groups of freshmen never have any problems getting into bars and never even get carded. That certainly wasn’t my experience in college. ---
**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, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/143 "2011-02-08T01:30:48Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Most of those machine guns only have 20 or 30 round clips and on full auto fire at something like 750 rounds a second. > In short they can’t be fired on full auto for more than two or at most three seconds before needing to be reloaded. Would you care to check those numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/144 "2011-02-08T01:39:10Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > Would you care to check those numbers? Uh ok. That’s 12.5 rounds a second. That means when fired on full auto, a 30 round clip would be emptied in just under 2.5 seconds. Now on the A-Team and other similar fare people fire AK-47s and M-16s on full auto for a lot, and I mean a lot longer than 2.5 seconds without reloading. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/145 "2011-02-08T01:41:59Z")
Explosions in space. Where there would be no sound. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/146 "2011-02-08T01:46:29Z")
Radiation, radioactive material, and radioactivity. Always, FUBARed. Radioactive material is not florescent green. The most concentrated radioactive material I’ve ever visually obsered (a beta source) was a length of what seemed to be a copper alloy wire welded into a lead pig. (I used an inspection mirror to look at the source - I wasn’t going to stick my head into the beta/gamma stream to look at it _directly_.) The canary yellow suits that people wear in rad environments do not protect against radiation, they are designed to prevent contamination by radioactive dust, by giving the worker a layer of clothes that are expected to be removed once the worker leaves the rad environment. For that matter, the metallic suits that get used in some scenes are _not_ meant for rad work. They’ll do as anti-contamination clothing, but they are specifically designed to allow someone to enter a steam environment, do something _quickly_ and get out. They’ve got bupkis to do with rad work, per se. Radioactive material does not (normally) glow in the visible spectrum. Those pictures of Cerenkov radiation in storage pools and pool type reactors are not what most rad workers see or deal with. And no one in their right mind, trying to _remove_ skin contamination from someone would use wire brushes to scrub their bodies. (We’d wrap the contaminated area in plastic, and let the dead layer of skin slough off after a couple of hours. Even more torturous IMNSHO, but no chance of scrubbing the contamination into the blood stream.) ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/147 "2011-02-08T01:49:18Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > The other, even more common thing, is that when people are stuck in an elevator, one of them just pops the hatch in the ceiling and climbs out. > > I’ve been looking for a ceiling hatch in an elevator for 30 years. Never seen one. I do actually see them from time to time. I suppose it is noticable to me when I do see them because of the movie Trope, so I wonder what it would be like to climb thorugh it! 😃 The thing about Elevators that really irritates is the magic closing doors. Only in the movies does an elevator door continue to close even when something (an arm, a gun, a Baby Godzilla head) is shoved in between the doors. Every elevator I’ve ever been in, the doors would spring back open again!! Yes I’ve used some elevators where the doors would continue to close, but only after 2-3 attempts to close. And I’ve never seen a movie where it wasn’t the first attempt to close the door. ---
**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, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/148 "2011-02-08T01:50:08Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Most of those machine guns only have 20 or 30 round clips and on full auto fire at something like 750 rounds a second. > > In short they can’t be fired on full auto for more than two or at most three seconds before needing to be reloaded. > [@brocks](#): > > Would you care to check those numbers? > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Uh ok. > > That’s 12.5 rounds a second. That means when fired on full auto, a 30 round clip would be emptied in just under 2.5 seconds. > > Now on the A-Team and other similar fare people fire AK-47s and M-16s on full auto for a lot, and I mean a lot longer than 2.5 seconds without reloading. 750 rounds a **minute**. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/149 "2011-02-08T01:51:47Z")
I do love all the movies where someone stabs someone with a sword or knife, then twists it as we watch the person die and then yank out the knife or sword which doesn’t have any blood on them. Also, I do love how sub-machine guns and shotguns can be fired accurately with one hand. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/150 "2011-02-08T01:52:44Z")
Are ventilator shafts usually wide enough for a person to crawl through? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/151 "2011-02-08T01:54:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > 750 rounds a **minute**. Oh, sorry about the typo. Now if there was a gun that could fire 750 rounds a SECOND, that would be cool. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/152 "2011-02-08T02:02:35Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I give credit to the movie [Phone Booth](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183649/) for pointing this out after a character cocked a gun: You say all that and don’t mention that with the vast majority of modern guns that are made for, you know, killing things, that either the safety is on and you can’t pull the trigger or it’s off and you’re ready to kill a motherfucker? That to rack a shotgun is, generally speaking, wasting a perfectly good round? ---
**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, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/153 "2011-02-08T02:23:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![McReady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@McReady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McReady)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/154 "2011-02-08T02:44:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That to rack a shotgun is, generally speaking, wasting a perfectly good round? Not unless there’s already a round in the chamber. ---
**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 8, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/155 "2011-02-08T02:55:08Z")
I have yet to see a movie or tv show that gets cold weather right. I don’t think they really care, frankly, but it does bother me to see people pretending to be out in the cold and it’s always completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/156 "2011-02-08T03:01:24Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > If it’s not hard for you, congratulations. But in most of the movies I’ve seen, the guy hanging is either an average Joe, or a 200+ pound guy. I think it would be pretty hard for them. > > When I was in my 20’s, I was a gym rat. I weighed about 210, and could easily do sets of 15 chins. I could hang from a bar with one hand for maybe a minute, and that was good enough to win contests with most of the other guys who worked out there. > > That was over 20 years ago. I’m nearly as strong now as I was then (still bench over 300, which is much stronger than an average guy), but I weigh about 30 pounds more, and my six-pack has become a keg. And I can’t hang on with one hand for even ten seconds. > > Still, you could be right. The average guy might weigh 160 or so, and I haven’t been that light since I was 15, so maybe it’s easier at that weight than I realize. > > I’d be interested if people reading this can try it, and post their height, weight, and results. Years ago I watched footage of three people who were in a snooper truck inspecting the underside of a bridge, and the hydraulics failed and the rig collapsed. The bucket inverted and one guy fell 100+ feet into the river below, and the other two were stuck, upside down in the bucket, hanging on to this steel bar, for a while. I recall the news footage of the old guy, head back, eyes tight, just frozen there. Rescue crews managed to get them out safely. I’ve also seen videos of free climbers doing fingertip chin-ups for warmups. Those people have insane hand and arm strength. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/157 "2011-02-08T03:04:12Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Oh, sorry about the typo. > > Now if there was a gun that could fire 750 rounds a SECOND, that would be cool. Think that would be [Metal Storm](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_storm) I hate it in movies when the guy’s semi-auto (or full-auto) firearm goes empty, and the gun goes click-click-click. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/158 "2011-02-08T03:10:52Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > I do actually see them from time to time. I suppose it is noticable to me when I do see them because of the movie Trope, so I wonder what it would be like to climb thorugh it! 😃 > > The thing about Elevators that really irritates is the magic closing doors. Only in the movies does an elevator door continue to close even when something (an arm, a gun, a Baby Godzilla head) is shoved in between the doors. Every elevator I’ve ever been in, the doors would spring back open again!! > > Yes I’ve used some elevators where the doors would continue to close, but only after 2-3 attempts to close. And I’ve never seen a movie where it wasn’t the first attempt to close the door. My one is the magic stop elevator button - I have NEVER seen one of these ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/159 "2011-02-08T03:31:12Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I have yet to see a movie or tv show that gets cold weather right. I don’t think they really care, frankly, but it does bother me to see people pretending to be out in the cold and it’s always completely wrong. 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. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494/160 "2011-02-08T04:00:34Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Light boxes don’t exist any more? I could have sworn I’ve seen them around in my doctors’ offices. Granted this is the Third World, but even modern Western-style hospitals in Bangkok still use lightboxes for X-rays. AND they use digital too. I had two shoulder surgeries in the second half of 2008, and while I saw the doctor in his office at the modern, private BNH Hospital, I had to take my X-rays with me to the government-run Chulalongkorn Hospital, where he performed the actual surgery. In fact, I neglected to go pick up my X-rays when I first went over to see him at Chula, because I missed the part where I was supposed to do that and thought they would be sent over, so it turned into a wasted trip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-movies-almost-always-get-wrong/570494.md?page=9)