# What are the most constantly shown movies or video clips in history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570 "2006-04-13T20:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/41 "2006-04-14T15:58:31Z")
> [@Bertie Wooster](#): > > …whenever 19th century immigration of Ellis Island are brought up on television, they seem to drag out one bit of footage: a man in a cap holding a baby and furiously waving a tiny American flag. I’ve seen that one dozens of times. I’ve always wondered who he was, where he came from, whether he prospered in America. And if that baby could possibly still be alive (if the footage was shot in, say, 1915, that baby might be 90 or so now). ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/42 "2006-04-14T16:05:18Z")
Somewhat along the same lines as the “wacky aircraft” clips: that old clip of a car speeding up a ramp, apparently in an attempt to jump over a house (actually a flimsy shack), and instead landing on the structure and demolishing it. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/43 "2006-04-14T16:23:12Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > … > Nixon’s “Checkers” speech (“I am not a crook”) Nitpickery…“I am not a crook” was from a press conference given during the height of the Watergate scandal. Oh yes, he was a crook The Checkers speech was given during the 1952 election campaign, in response to some fundraising hoo-hah. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/44 "2006-04-14T16:37:50Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Nitpickery…“I am not a crook” was from a press conference given during the height of the Watergate scandal. > > Oh yes, he was a crook 😃 Sadly, the famous line is a slight misquote. Nixon actually said “Well, I’m not a crook.” ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/45 "2006-04-14T16:48:10Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > It’s the “Sky Car” made by a W.P. Kindree. That’s included in the aforementioned wacky aircraft montage, along with the plane that looks like a set of Venetian blinds that crumples, and the guy with rocket skates… Often accompanied by the song “Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/46 "2006-04-15T00:34:18Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Were those ads for FoxSports or ESPN? Fox Sports, which had a network for each region. The tagline was something to the effect of “Sports from the only region you care about- yours.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/47 "2006-04-15T00:36:20Z")
I’ll nominate Hitler making a speech from a podium (at Nuremberg?), complete with armwaving. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/48 "2006-04-15T01:16:48Z")
By the “atomic bomb” footage, do y’all mean [Bikini atoll](http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/images/ae42.jpg)? [nitpick]'cause that’s not an atomic bomb, it’s an H-bomb.[/nitpick] 😉 As far as most-shown movie, I don’t know, but I would say that (here in America, at least), the most _referenced_ movie is, easily, The Wizard of Oz. There’s no contest, really. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/49 "2006-04-15T03:00:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > By the “atomic bomb” footage, do y’all mean [Bikini atoll](http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/images/ae42.jpg)? > > [nitpick]'cause that’s not an atomic bomb, it’s an H-bomb.[/nitpick] 😉 > > As far as most-shown movie, I don’t know, but I would say that (here in America, at least), the most _referenced_ movie is, easily, The Wizard of Oz. There’s no contest, really. That one & the shot of the house being destroyed by the blast are definitely up there. I work for a stock footage company and we get requests for these images all the time. Same with those early aircraft flying machines. We have a whole comp reel of early 20th Century failed inventions that has some of the most hilarious footage I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/50 "2006-04-15T14:53:17Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I’ll nominate Hitler making a speech from a podium (at Nuremberg?), complete with armwaving. I was just about to say the same thing - the screaming, arm-waving, fist-thumping Hitler. On the History Channel, you’ll see that clip aired several times a day. Someone else mentioned the collapsing venetian blind plane before I read that message, too. The side view of a rocket launching (one of the Apollo missions?) seems to air a lot, too. There’s also some 1960s-era stock footage showing the demolition of a high-rise office or apartment building that airs quite a bit, too. In Southern states, I’d bet the Earnhardt crash fotage still gets plenty of airplay. Although it’s not a video clip, the image of the first space walk appears all the time in print ads that show a computer monitor, especially in techie-related publications. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/51 "2006-04-15T14:55:24Z")
> [@](#): > > In Southern states, I’d bet the Earnhardt crash fotage still gets plenty of airplay Huh? Amelia Earnhardt? (asks one who has lived in TN and GA his entire life) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/52 "2006-04-15T14:57:09Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Huh? Amelia Earnhardt? > > (asks one who has lived in TN and GA his entire life) D’oh! DALE!!! :o :smack: :o :wally :smack: :mad: :wally :wally :o :o :o Actually, no. 😃 It’s not shown very much, likely as a matter of respect for the dead. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/53 "2006-04-15T14:58:20Z")
Those smilies were aimed at me, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/54 "2006-04-17T04:30:32Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > The “20th Century Fox” symbol clip would be aired many more times in a year. I think that might be it. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/55 "2006-04-17T04:44:09Z")
Given that it’s one day past the 94th anniversary, I was thinking we’ve seen a lot in recent years of Dr. Ballard and James Cameron’s footage of the wreck of the _Titanic_. Also, from the time, those pictures by Fr. Browne, the newsreel of Captain Smith, and the ship leaving Southhampton (which they didn’t have, actually, so the newsreel people substituted some of the nearly identical _Olympic_ leaving NY–you can tell because all the names of the NYC tugs are scratched out). ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/56 "2006-04-17T04:50:26Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > The “20th Century Fox” symbol clip would be aired many more times in a year. > [@Imasquare](#): > > think that might be it. That’s an interesting thought. I guess Fox would be the most prolific studio logo- although the animation was changed in the early 1990s, the logo itself hasn’t changed. (Most studios have updated their logo animations over the years, and Warner Bros. and Columbia went for more stylized logos in the 1970s, only to revert to their previous logo in the next decade.) ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/57 "2006-04-17T06:37:11Z")
Wouldn’t Hiroshima 45 be more played than the Bikini atoll? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/58 "2006-04-17T09:18:45Z")
I’d have to say: - Stock Footage of an Atomic Bomb’s Mushroom Cloud - WWII footage of a C-47 dropping paratroopers/cargo on parachutes - Adolf Hitler making a speech - WWI footage of British Soldiers climbing out of a trench and (presumably) charging the enemy - Bombs being released from a Bomb-bay - UH-1 Iroqouis landing in Vietnam ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/59 "2006-04-17T13:16:22Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > The Zapruder Film of JFK being shot and the footage of Bobby lying there. I haven’t read the entire thread, but I suspect the one of JFK Jr. at his dad’s funeral where he’s saluting the funeral procession is one of the most widely shown clips. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570/60 "2006-04-17T13:20:24Z")
I’d also like to nominate one that I’ll bet no-one thought of. (again, I haven’t read the entire thread yet) I realized while watching “Thank You For Smoking” that there is a univerisal clip that seems to be used in all movies where air travel is part of the move that shows a passenger aircraft landing as if the camera was on the runway, and the aircraft flies over the camera and you can see the tail end of the aircraft as it lands. It’s like the only aircraft landing video used. Either that or there are a lot of different ones used that all look the same to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-constantly-shown-movies-or-video-clips-in-history/352570.md?page=4)