# 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:** 227
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4527 "2025-01-14T20:23:56Z")
Checked with Mrs. Cad on this and it fits the OP. Women wearing bras to bed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4528 "2025-01-14T20:28:59Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Nobody on tv ever takes their shoes or boots off before they get into bed. That’s just what everyone wants, their dirty ass boots on their clean bed. I used to see that in commercials and house hunting shows- people lying on a couch to 'try it out" with their shoes still on. Nope, dont do that. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4529 "2025-01-15T20:36:49Z")
Something that I just noticed when I walked in to my wife watching one of the 1950s _Anastasia_ movies on TV, and then I recollected watching the same things in a lot other movies (of decades ago): A female and a male character dance in a ballroom and and talk while dancing (the talk advancing the story). Other couples at the ball energetically whirl around (it’s a waltz, usually), but the two characters talking just sway back and forth, turning very slowly. That would of course be due to more static cameras and much less hectically paced cutting decades ago. Nowadays characters conversing while dancing can dance much more realistically. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4530 "2025-01-15T20:39:49Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Nobody on tv ever takes their shoes or boots off before they get into bed. … Is the act of getting into bed actually shown? I cannot recollect any instances (but then I do not watch much TV these last four decades). ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4531 "2025-01-15T22:26:54Z")
This is one that is definitely not common on TV or movies now, other than as a deliberately cliched symbol of villainy: tying a woman (or whoever) to the train tracks. I’m sure tying people to train tracks was never a common occurrence, but was it ever even an uncommon occurrence? Is the silent movie trope based on anything other than a screenwriter’s imagination? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4532 "2025-01-15T22:31:18Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I’m sure tying people to train tracks was never a common occurrence, but was it ever even an uncommon occurrence? Is the silent movie trope based on anything other than a screenwriter’s imagination? The Master(‘s staff member Gfactor) speaks: > **[Did anyone really ever get tied to railroad tracks?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343402/did-anyone-really-ever-get-tied-to-railroad-tracks)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD ---
**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:** [January 15, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4533 "2025-01-15T23:08:55Z")
What exactly is supposed to be the point of tying to railroad tracks as a method of murder? I know that as dramatic fiction it’s probably the Ur-example of the [overly elaborate method of murder](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathTrap), especially since it leaves the possibility of nick-of-time rescue open. But in-story? It isn’t like anyone will think it was an accident. Is it supposed to be the sheer cruelty of allowing the victim to see their death approaching? ---
**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:** [January 15, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4534 "2025-01-15T23:31:40Z")
It’s not useful as a method of murder. As a method of torture to extract information, or the deeds to the ranch it might be useful. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ox-wOyRhBFQ/hqdefault.jpg "kingsman the secret service (2014) | Training Session | Train Attack #movieclick") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox-wOyRhBFQ) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-yYQ8CwZ1k8/hqdefault.jpg "Ray Stevens - Along Came Jones") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYQ8CwZ1k8) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4535 "2025-01-16T02:26:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is it supposed to be the sheer cruelty of allowing the victim to see their death approaching? Of the couple of times I recall seeing this in silent films it was done on one occasion to keep the hero from foiling the major crime the villains had planned by **making sure he was in the next county freeing his sweetheart from the tracks.** Tons of suspense, with fast cuts of the hero (who was the sheriff or something racing to the tracks, the train racing in, and the bank robbery occurring, then the untried deputy being called to the robbery, and deputizing citizen volunteers, and leading a posse of amateurs after the gang of robbers. Finally, a teenager was sent on horseback to find the sheriff, who did release his sweetheart _seconds_ before the train whizzed by, and he meets the teen half way back, who tells him about the robbers, and the posse, so the teen takes the sweetheart back home, and the sheriff goes looking for the posse, and gets there just as the confront the robbers, the sheriff and deputy firing at head robber simultaneously as the robber pulls his gun out. Later there’s a scene where they get word that it was the deputy who fired the fatal shot. In other words, one cliche on top of another, albeit, some of them weren’t cliches yet, and they came so fast and furiously, that you didn’t really have time to process them at anything but face value. It was still exciting and engaging when I saw it around 1988. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4536 "2025-01-16T02:38:30Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > or the deeds to the ranch it might be useful. Just a small note, I like the song- _Along Came Jones,_ but the Coasters did is originally and better. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/YIhUMEtYICM/maxresdefault.jpg "Along Came Jones (2007 Remaster) (Remastered)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIhUMEtYICM) ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4537 "2025-01-16T03:15:51Z")
Instead of racing to untie his beloved from the train tracks, our hero could have sent a telegram by phoning the nearest station, which would contact the moving train via a system of induction. Thanks to African American inventor [Granville Woods](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Woods) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4538 "2025-01-16T13:17:37Z")
If I may sidetrack (heh) the current discussion, I saw a horror movie trope last night that has occurred to me in the past is kinda dumb. I was watching the RiffTrax version of _Amityville Horror 4_, and there was a scene where the garbage disposal got clogged, and someone, after making _ **sure** _ the switch was turned off, put their hand down the sink to try to clear the clog. Of course, after letting the tension build for a minute or two, the evil demon in the house turned the switch on, and the hand was hideously mangled, despite another person trying desperately to help pull their arm out. Thing is, I’ve had my hand down a garbage disposal drain many times (fortunately without any evil entity turning the switch on) and the grinding mechanism consists of a flat circular plate with holes in it, with a couple small, probably not too sharp, grinding blades attached to it. If you had your hand down there and it suddenly turned on, you’d probably get the tips of your fingers torn up, and it wouldn’t be fun, but you’d immediately be able to pull your mostly intact hand out. It’s not like a wood chipper-- it’s not going to inexorably pull your hand in as it completely mangles it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4539 "2025-01-16T14:13:14Z")
The Venture Brothers had a very nice scene where an old school villain explains the whole railroad track thing to an upstart. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BKwAoRJxwUE/hqdefault.jpg "Old School Villainy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKwAoRJxwUE) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4540 "2025-01-16T14:39:29Z")
Well, did he escape?? ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4541 "2025-01-16T15:07:18Z")
Good question! I have no idea. The scene ends there, the final season was canceled, and the movie that wrapped it up instead didn’t address it. If you liked the scene, I really can’t recommend the show enough. It’s just great. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4542 "2025-01-16T15:28:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Women wearing bras to bed My ex wife always did. But she was well endowed and without containment they’d end up all over the place. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4543 "2025-01-16T16:42:27Z")
You say that as if it were a bad thing… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4544 "2025-01-16T17:31:41Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > My ex wife always did. But she was well endowed and without containment they’d end up all over the place. Reminds me of the definition of “Garter” (or, as he spelled it, “Garther”) in Ambrose Bierce’s _The Devil’s Dictionary_ > [@](#): > > n. An elastic band intended to keep a woman from coming out of her stockings and desolating the country. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4545 "2025-01-16T17:45:35Z")
The movies used to show people engaging in sex removing all their clothes whether naughty bits were shown or not. The L shaped sheet was one result of this where a man and woman were shown sitting up in bed without clothes after sex and the man was covered by the sheet up to his waist while the woman had the sheet covering her breasts. After some time women kept their bras on for TV shows and in movies once actresses no longer felt the need to appear topless to demonstrate their serious commitment to the art. I think in reality people often wear various amounts of clothing while engaged in sex because they don’t care and no one is watching. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4546 "2025-01-16T17:47:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think in reality people often wear various amounts of clothing while engaged in sex because they don’t care and no one is watching. Even leaving their socks on? 🤭 [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=226) [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=228)