# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 201
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4007 "2024-07-27T06:46:22Z")
I remember the episode of _ **Hill Street Blues** _ where a disgraced Howard Hunter tried to blow his brains out with the Magnum he carried. Of course, he failed because JD LaRue put blanks in the pistol while Howard was taking a shower at the station. This was absolute bullshit. Even with a blank charge, a chunk of his skull would have been driven into his brain and killed him instantly. This happened to Jon-Erik Hexum a few weeks later when he was fooling around with a gun on the set of _ **Cover Up** _. I’ve always thought his “accidental” shooting was inspired by that episode of _ **Hill Street Blues** _. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4008 "2024-07-27T07:19:30Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Which if you understand how a paintball marker works is impossible. I suppose you could maybe fire a ball bearing out of one- at very short range, and it would smart some. Writers know jackshit about guns- cops are all the time looking at a body and saying “9mm”- whereas a .38 or .357 magnum would make the same hole (and several obscure calibers also), and it would be very hard to tell a .40 hole. > [@terentii](#): > > This was absolute bullshit. Even with a blank charge, a chunk of his skull would have been driven into his brain and killed him instantly. Maybe- but it wouldnt be harmless. Maybe just blast some skin off- depends on the blank load. But it would hurt like hell, blood all over the place, ER needed- at the very least. Or it could do exactly as you said. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4009 "2024-07-27T08:02:16Z")
At work the next day, he had just a plaster (like a big Band-Aid) covering the wound and was functioning normally. Must have been one hell of a light load then. The gun, IIRC, was a .357 Magnum, and he apparently never noticed the cartridges had been switched. Very out-of-character for Lt Hunter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4010 "2024-07-27T09:23:55Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Of course, he failed because JD LaRue put blanks in the pistol while Howard was taking a shower at the station. > > This was absolute bullshit. Even with a blank charge, a chunk of his skull would have been driven into his brain and killed him instantly. I know firearms and loads. I shot competitive rifle for some years. I remember a university friend who had somehow acquired an AR-15. Illegally, as we were in Canada, but he was very proud. He showed it to me. It was fully cocked and locked. I opened the action, and a round fell out. I removed the magazine, and it was full of rounds. I made the firearm safe and then said to my friend, “What were you thinking? Do you know how dangerous this is?” “Um, ah, it’s loaded with blanks.” “Yeah, and those blanks are lethal within twenty yards. You @#$% idiot!” Blanks are not harmless. They are dangerous. You don’t fuck with any load put into a firearm. Bullet or blank, they can all kill. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4011 "2024-07-27T09:57:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Plot #74 in the Mystery Writers Handbook. It’s even on season 2 or 3 of _My Life Is Murder._ There’s a twist, but good lord, at this point, there has to be. I want to see someone shot with a prop gun while locked inside a restaurant’s refrigerator, and as a twist, the bullet was really meant for someone else! And the licensed PI/retired detective who happens also to be trapped with them, makes a wisecrack about it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4012 "2024-07-27T12:01:19Z")
Here’s another I just thought of, and might already have been mentioned in a very long thread-- I don’t _remember_ it’s being mentioned, but I haven’t reviewed the thread specifically to look for it. **A PI investigating a serious crime, like a murder, or drug cartel, or some other thing the police should be solving, but are not.** I’ve known a few PIs, because I was a “weekend warrior,” and so are a lot of PIs, for some reason-- maybe to get training for free in things they can use in their civilian jobs. The PIs tell me that 80% of what they investigate is insurance fraud. Private disability (like AFLAC), workers’ comp, and employer health insurance with short term disability hired them a lot-- a few actually had jobs with insurance firms, and worked 9 - 5. 19% were divorce, or pre-divorce. Spouses wanted information that would enforce or invalidate pre-nups, or get them full custody of their kids. 1% were random crap that had to do with things like feuding neighbors, and crazy people-- but for maybe once or twice a career, a PI might get hired to investigate a cold case. Families almost never asked PIs to investigate cases the police were still actively pursuing. And, the murder cases they investigated were never “tip of the iceberg” serial killer/drug cartel things. They sometimes weren’t murder cases, it was just something the family believed, but when they were, they were usually mugged, and died of injuries. Cases where people were killed by someone they knew, the police solved. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4013 "2024-07-27T13:34:34Z")
When I was doing Living History, my unit would fire muskets in volleys with only the empty paper cartridges rammed down the barrel. We still had to order onlookers to move uprange and out of the line of fire because even a wad of paper can inflict injuries when shot out of a firearm. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4014 "2024-07-27T15:57:28Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > **A PI investigating a serious crime, like a murder, or drug cartel, or some other thing the police should be solving, but are not.** See post #3439, “people other than police who solve murders”. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4015 "2024-07-27T16:11:16Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The PIs tell me that 80% of what they investigate is insurance fraud. Private disability (like AFLAC), workers’ comp, and employer health insurance with short term disability hired them a lot-- a few actually had jobs with insurance firms, and worked 9 - 5. Barnaby Jones actually had Barnaby working for an insurance company on quite a few of the cases, California Meridian. It always involved murder or some death that the perp wanted to cover up anyway, but there was an insurance angle. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4016 "2024-07-27T17:04:13Z")
And then there’s the old radio show, [_Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yours_Truly,_Johnny_Dollar), whose main character was an insurance investigator. Although I assume his investigations were considerably more dramatic than what the typical real-life insurance investigator deals with. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4017 "2024-07-27T17:19:19Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Although I assume his investigations were considerably more dramatic than what the typical real-life insurance investigator deals with. But told in the white-knuckle narrative of expense reports. _Johnny Dollar_ is a thing of beauty. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4018 "2024-07-27T17:52:17Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I know firearms and loads. I shot competitive rifle for some years. > > I remember a university friend who had somehow acquired an AR-15. Illegally, as we were in Canada, but he was very proud. He showed it to me. > > It was fully cocked and locked. I opened the action, and a round fell out. I removed the magazine, and it was full of rounds. I made the firearm safe and then said to my friend, “What were you thinking? Do you know how dangerous this is?” > > “Um, ah, it’s loaded with blanks.” > > “Yeah, and those blanks are lethal within twenty yards. You @#$% idiot!” > > Blanks are not harmless. They are dangerous. You don’t fuck with any load put into a firearm. Bullet or blank, they can all kill. Interesting. When I was in NROTC in college decades ago, we spent a week with the Marines. We were each given an M-16 and hundreds of rounds of blanks for various simulated battle exercises (probably so many because we were the last group of the summer). However, our rifles were all fitted with [blank-firing adapters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank-firing_adapter) on the muzzles. > **[Blank-firing adapter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank-firing_adapter)** > > A blank-firing adapter or blank-firing attachment (BFA), sometimes called a blank adapter or blank attachment, is a device used in conjunction with blank ammunition for safety reasons, functional reasons or a combination of them both. Blank firing adapters are required for allowing blank ammunition to cycle the bolts of most semi-automatic and automatic firearms. It can also be a safety feature designed to break up the (wooden or plastic) plugs replacing the bullet in military blanks (with the Th... ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4019 "2024-07-27T17:58:31Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > > [@sciurophobic](#): > > > > Has there ever been a real life incident where thieves or spies disguised themselves as catering staff to steal something during a big party in a giant mansion? > > or has anybody ever worn a smoking beneath their wetsuit - dove across a body of water and then joined a formal reception with perfectly ajusted attire? > > how does one put a neoprene-wetsuit on while already wearing a smoking? what happened to the footwear? > > See, those are all problems we managed to ellude, by not becoming a spy for the Queen. I may have asked this before, but has there ever been a heist crew known for their distinctive elaborate matching disguises such as former US presidents, clown masks, nun costumes, Guy Fawkes masks or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4020 "2024-07-27T18:09:46Z")
Shown: Catwoman announces she’s dropping the corporate dress code [![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3866cbf5f6a184909f4ef019d03d54ac/tumblr_o2qv3wZ0Rq1s2wio8o1_500.gif) ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3866cbf5f6a184909f4ef019d03d54ac/tumblr_o2qv3wZ0Rq1s2wio8o1_500.gif) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4021 "2024-07-27T18:12:03Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > In “The Giant Claw” they couldn’t kill the giant bird because it had an “Antimatter Shield” which makes it seem like it would just kill itself. They could have just held a mirror in front of it and it would have died laughing. Or from embarrassment. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4022 "2024-07-27T18:33:33Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > If you’re a giant spider, or a giant caterpillar, or a giant bird in the 1950s you will be called something like “It Challenged The World” or “It Conquered The World” despite the fact they’re usually killed by a bunch of stock footage of Air Force F-104’s dropping bombs on them to death. Let me go into full Gary Larson mode and invent the “_even more gianter boot_ ™” to stomp on the giant spider. once more, you and your kids can sleep comfortably, as @Al128 is out to cover your backs. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4023 "2024-07-27T18:39:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > has there ever been a heist crew known for their distinctive elaborate matching disguises such as former US presidents, clown masks, nun costumes, Guy Fawkes masks or whatever? CSI: NY S3.E2 “Not What It Looks Like: Three women identically dressed as the Audrey Hepburn character Holly Golightly rob a jewelry store” ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4024 "2024-07-27T19:14:29Z")
> [@robby](#): > > When I was in NROTC in college decades ago, we spent a week with the Marines. We were each given an M-16 and hundreds of rounds of blanks for various simulated battle exercises (probably so many because we were the last group of the summer). However, our rifles were all fitted with [blank-firing adapters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank-firing_adapter) on the muzzles. 😡 I’m jealous. When I did that week, they gave us three blanks and told us to just say “Bang! Bang! Bang!” when we ran out. I only remember them saying the BFA was needed to make the action cycle properly. Of course, that’s the same week they wrapped three blocks of C4 around a 55gal oil drum with det cord and set the whole hillside on fire with the ensuing fireball, so I’m not sure safety was front and center in their minds. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4025 "2024-07-27T19:26:38Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > or has anybody ever worn a smoking beneath their wetsuit - dove across a body of water and then joined a formal reception with perfectly ajusted attire? Yes. “ Once he was on the beach, he would dispose of his wetsuit (which had been specially designed to be absolutely watertight) under which he would be wearing a high-end tuxedo. He would then pour some brandy over himself and stagger past the guards into the hotel, pretending to be a drunk reveler from the party who had just taken a midnight stroll on the beach. It sounded too crazy to work, but Tazelaar was willing to give it a try anyway. On the night of November 23rd, 1941, he made his way ashore in his special wetsuit. He stripped off once he got onto the beach. As planned, the tuxedo beneath it was bone-dry.” > **[WW2 Spy Who Pulled Off A Real Life James Bond Mission & Inspired An...](https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/peter-tazelaar-the-ww2-spy.html)** > > The opening scene to 1964’s Goldfinger, one of the most popular and critically-acclaimed James Bond movies, portrays the famous spy at his deadliest and ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4026 "2024-07-27T20:17:32Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > A PI investigating a serious crime, like a murder, or drug cartel, or some other thing the police should be solving, but are not. That wasnt so rare in the past. Now, as you said- it is insurance fraud, divorce, and you forget finding a missing person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=200) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=202)