# Unintentional Humor in Movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511 "2008-02-13T22:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/21 "2008-02-14T14:23:32Z")
I’m not sure whether the intention was for humour or not, but in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre the dinner table scene has grandpa attempting to hit our heroine with a hammer. He is too weak. I nearly pissed myself laughing. Maybe I was so scared that it seemed absurd. Maybe I’m a ruthless killer yet to be pushed over the edge. Maybe it was meant to be funny? Glad I came by… MiM ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/22 "2008-02-14T14:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] It was palm inward, the gesture he made is EXACTLY the same as the British ‘fuck you’ gesture. [/QUOTE] Actually, “sod you,” I believe. Gee, there’s just no non-rude sounding way to write that, is there? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/23 "2008-02-14T14:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] The barn-raising scene in _Witness_: the joke being that Harrison Ford used to be a carpenter. [/QUOTE] Well seeing Aragorn (Viggo is one of the Amish) grinning like a maniac in the background is pretty strange now. He even sits next to Ford during lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/24 "2008-02-14T17:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Actually, “sod you,” I believe. Gee, there’s just no non-rude sounding way to write that, is there? [/QUOTE] When my girls were too young to question it further, I taught them that it meant “pess oaf”. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/25 "2008-02-14T17:52:46Z")
I thought the whole movie “Falling Down” was hysterical, but I think that was what was intended. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/26 "2008-02-14T18:06:31Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] I forget which movie (in the 80s?), but OJ Simpson playing a detective opining on how cold a guy you’d have to be to attack/murder your wife. [/QUOTE] Seinfeld had an episode where Elaine was dating a guy named Joel Rifkin, but a different guy from the notorious serial killer. She is leafing through a sports book looking for a name he can change his to, cause she doesn’t like have a boyfriend with such a notorious name. One of her suggestions is “OJ.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/27 "2008-02-14T18:18:29Z")
In the old version of _Great Expectations_ there’s a scene where Pip shows up in this stupid ridiculous floppy bow tie, and somebody says, “My, you’re looking very gay today!” Okay, so my brain is a fourth grader - it’s still funny. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/28 "2008-02-14T21:15:06Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] The barn-raising scene in _Witness_: the joke being that Harrison Ford used to be a carpenter. [/QUOTE] :smack: So that’s why Indiana Jones knew what the Holy Grail looked like! ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/29 "2008-02-14T22:55:07Z")
I watched The Mummy movies to make Mr. Woodhouse happy. One of them opens with the back story on the Scorpion King (Mummy Returns?) Anyway, Mr. King’s army is vanquished and they all go wandering in the desert. The men climb sand dunes and one by one fall over. plunk. plunk. plunk. By the time it got to the third soldier, my dh was sushing me because my laughter was disturbing the people in the seats around us. It wasn’t supposed to be funny, but I still giggle every time we watch that movie. guy falls over. plunk. plunk. plunk. _giggle_ ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/30 "2008-02-14T23:05:51Z")
Battlefield Earth. ---
**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 14, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/31 "2008-02-14T23:39:12Z")
The end of Hitchcock’s **Rope**. Jimmy Stewart figures it out, then says in essence “Well, you two are going to DIE!!!” Then he fires one bullet out the window of the penthouse apartment in NYC. You hear people saying things like “I think I heard a gunshot!” “Call the police” followed by sirens approaching. Somehow I don’t think there would be that sort of a response to a single gunshot in NYC these days. Nor would there be an automatic assumption that they would be tried, convicted, and…die. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/32 "2008-02-14T23:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] It was palm inward, the gesture he made is EXACTLY the same as the British ‘fuck you’ gesture. [/QUOTE] But, palm-inward is the way I’ve always seen Churchill depicted in making his “V-for-Victory” gesture! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/33 "2008-02-14T23:41:28Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] The end of Hitchcock’s **Rope**. Jimmy Stewart figures it out, then says in essence “Well, you two are going to DIE!!!” Then he fires one bullet out the window of the penthouse apartment in NYC. You hear people saying things like “I think I heard a gunshot!” “Call the police” followed by sirens approaching. Somehow I don’t think there would be that sort of a response to a single gunshot in NYC these days. Nor would there be an automatic assumption that they would be tried, convicted, and…die. [/QUOTE] Furthermore, it was based, and I’m sure widely known at the time to be based, on a [real-life story where the culprits escaped the death penalty.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_loeb) (Clarence Darrow was really on form that day.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/34 "2008-02-14T23:43:39Z")
[QUOTE=Made in Macau] I’m not sure whether the intention was for humour or not, but in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre the dinner table scene has grandpa attempting to hit our heroine with a hammer. He is too weak. I nearly pissed myself laughing. Maybe I was so scared that it seemed absurd. Maybe I’m a ruthless killer yet to be pushed over the edge. Maybe it was meant to be funny? Glad I came by… MiM [/QUOTE] It was meant to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/35 "2008-02-14T23:46:43Z")
IMO, not even [_Robot Monster_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Monster) comes close to [_Infra-Man_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infra-Man) for (I hope) unintentional humor! (Although I’m not sure so-bad-it’s-funny is the kind of “unintentional humor” the OP is asking for.) ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/36 "2008-02-15T00:49:40Z")
Am I the only one who cheered when Steven Segal was sucked out of the airplane in _Executive Decision_? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/37 "2008-02-15T00:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW] [Words do not do it justice. It has to be seen.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=KmrNxrY8WJI) [/QUOTE] Fair warning: this link goes directly to a video file with sound. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/38 "2008-02-15T01:15:45Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] But, palm-inward is the way I’ve always seen Churchill depicted in making his “V-for-Victory” gesture! :eek: [/QUOTE] look again [http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs/churchill.jpg](http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs/churchill.jpg) [![](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42301000/jpg/_42301054_churchill_v_sign_416.jpg) ](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42301000/jpg/_42301054_churchill_v_sign_416.jpg) [http://history.sandiego.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/82128.jpg](http://history.sandiego.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/82128.jpg) Although sometimes … [http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/VSign.Jpeg](http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/VSign.Jpeg) … and I bet he did it deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/39 "2008-02-16T03:57:06Z")
I’ve said this before, but I laughed at Large Marge. It just burst out of me, the way others’ screams burst out of then. Wasn’t until several years later, watching it on video with some other people, that I realized that was not the reaction Burton was trying to get. But I’d honestly thought it was meant for a laugh. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511/40 "2008-02-16T04:20:12Z")
I really like the movie _The Thirteenth Floor_ and feel it’s very underrated. But there’s one scene where Our Hero says to his partner: “I said one hundred and twenty seconds! Set it for one-twenty! ONE TWO ZERO!” The partner relents and keys into the giant display which reads: 2:00 Yeah, it’s the same thing, but the emphatic “ONE TWO ZERO” followed by that image just cracks me up every time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-humor-in-movies/437511.md?page=3)