# 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:** 239
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4789 "2025-03-12T14:52:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > In Saving Private Ryan, a soldier had his whole arm blown off and picked it up with his other arm. Seems to me the pain from that would have been incapacitating. Shock is a pretty amazing thing. Adrenaline and other stress hormones can temporarily block pain. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4790 "2025-03-12T14:56:55Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Shock is a pretty amazing thing. Adrenaline and other stress hormones can temporarily block pain But on the flip side, with some people they just fall over and die from shock due to some relatively mild injuries. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4791 "2025-03-12T16:29:26Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > Of course being shot in the shoulder _hurts_, but that doesn’t actually disable you if you man up and push through the pain․ > > That was a class in Basic Training “Sucking it up, and powering through a shoulder wound․” There’s a part II for those who have been treated by medics․ I’m genuinely not certain whether you’re being humorous or not. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4792 "2025-03-12T18:54:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Also a lot of cases are solved by talking to a different serial killer or mental patient. Because the guy locked away for the past decade knows where he is. Yep. AFAIK, that has never happened, except maybe in the case of a copycat killer, where the new killer may have been a associate of the one in prison. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4793 "2025-03-12T23:14:32Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > A 49ers rookie wide receiver, Ricky Pearsall, was shot in the chest near the shoulder just before the season began. The bullet missed anything important, and he was released from the hospital after one night and made his season debut in week 7 (51 days after). When I was a kid we had to take my younger sister to the emergency room for a severe case of strep throat. While we were sitting in the waiting room waiting for her to be seen, an accidental shooting victim got brought in. His family was in the waiting room with us, and we overheard them telling each other “Oh, he should be fine. He was just shot in the arm.” A little while later a staff member came out to tell them that he had died :(. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4794 "2025-03-13T01:34:58Z")
There’s an episode of _ **Rat Patrol** _ in which Hitchcock takes a round from a K98 Mauser in the shoulder at close range. You get hit with one of those things and you don’t _have_ a shoulder any more. Of course, he recovers after a few days in a field hospital with a hot nurse looking after him. (I always laugh at this one because they do a close-up just before he’s shot and the squib and blood patch are clearly visible under his shirt. Oops!) ---
**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:** [March 13, 2025, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4795 "2025-03-13T10:38:19Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > In Saving Private Ryan, a soldier had his whole arm blown off and picked it up with his other arm. “It’s only a flesh wound.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4796 "2025-03-13T10:54:57Z")
There’s also a scene where they found one of the dog tags from the fallen soldiers had a bullet hole through it. That’s very unusual as bullets of all calibers are usually stopped by any coin, medallion, small notebook or Bible one might have in their breast pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4797 "2025-03-13T17:37:33Z")
“No it isn’t. Your arm’s off!” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4798 "2025-03-14T05:30:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > In Saving Private Ryan, a soldier had his whole arm blown off and picked it up with his other arm. Seems to me the pain from that would have been incapacitating. In the commentary track it was mentioned that all of the memorable moments on Omaha Beach – the “lucky Bastard”, the UDT man determined to uselessly clear the barricades, the bullet-punctured canteen streaming water that turns red – were real, told by survivors of the battle. The soldier looking for his own arm was one of them ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4799 "2025-03-14T09:08:27Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Isn’t Elvis known for shooting up his TV whenever he saw something he didn’t like on it? That’s what I heard when I was a kid. Robert Goulet, is what I heard. To be clear, Robert Goulet wasn’t the TV destroyer. Elvis was said to have shot his TV set whenever Robert Goulet appeared on screen. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4800 "2025-03-14T11:43:40Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > “Okay Mr Chef, we are terrorists who have kidnapped your wife. We want you to take this Thanksgiving Turkey we have put a nuclear bomb in and deliver it to state of the union address, and if you do that we won’t kill her”. By the time of the SotU, I would think that Thanksgiving turkey would be pretty ripe. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4801 "2025-03-14T11:53:53Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Oh yes, some places really do polygraph tests, although they can’t be admitted in courst.It still looks bad if you turn one down. I once had to take a polygraph test and was denied a job due to the results saying I exhibited prevarication. **I did NOT lie** and so I know for a fact they are unreliable or can be fooled. So you really couldn’t believe it wasn’t butter? (I’m assuming it was baking job.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4802 "2025-03-14T19:05:50Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > In the commentary track it was mentioned that all of the memorable moments on Omaha Beach – the “lucky Bastard”, the UDT man determined to uselessly clear the barricades, the bullet-punctured canteen streaming water that turns red – were real, told by survivors of the battle. The soldier looking for his own arm was one of them A lot was taken from the book- the Longest Day. Same as the film with John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4803 "2025-03-14T19:35:25Z")
My wife and I are lawyers. We just finished rewatching The Good Wife and The Good Fight. What drives us nuts is how law offices, courtrooms, judge’s chambers all have shelves full of “law books.” Normally, what you see are various West’s reporters. Like [these.](https://www.lawbookexchange.com/pages/books/32601/west-publishing/supreme-court-reporter-wests-268-vols) But take a look at those. They are all for the same court system (a particular state court, Supreme Court, etc.) Moreover, they are in numerical order. IT MAKES NO SENSE TO HAVE ONLY A FEW BOOKS, BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH YOU WILL NEED TO LOOK UP! In law shows, they will often have just a random few such books on some lawyer’s desk or bookshelf. What - those are the lawyer’s FAVORITE cases? 🙄 Moreover, they are often completely jumbled together - SCt mixed in w/ NE Reporters next to F2d and F.Supp. reporters… NO! F.Supp is over here, and F2d is over there. AND THEY ARE IN NO ORDER! How on earth would anyone be able to find any particular volume if volume 176 is not between 175 and 177? These books are quite pricey, yet even the smallest sole practitioners have at least a few on their shelves. Today, I can’t imagine anyone doing their reseach other than on-line - yet we still see those walls of books! A ridiculously minor thing, but it is TERRIBLY common and drives us nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4804 "2025-03-14T21:54:22Z")
I once got someone back with a desperate precordial thump after the drugs and shocks failed. That will not likely happen again. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4805 "2025-03-14T22:04:21Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > What drives us nuts is how law offices, courtrooms, judge’s chambers all have shelves full of “law books.” If I were a lawyer, I’d get some generic books re-bound with legal titles. It’s not like you ever see a potential client saying “Well, get that book on the second shelf down! I bet precedent for my case is in there!” By the way, this shows you how strictly ethical a lawyer I’d be… ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4806 "2025-03-14T22:20:00Z")
Lionel Hutz: > How about that! I looked something up! These books behind me don’t just make the office look good, they’re filled with useful legal tidbits just like that! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4807 "2025-03-14T23:17:17Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Cartooniverse](#): > > > > That said, they almost always save the person using manual CPR- and ALWAYS save them using a AED ( Automated Electronic Defibrillator ). > > Also they always use the AED on TV to start a heart that’s stopped beating. I still see that all the freaking time. Defibrillators don’t start a stopped heart, they do the opposite— they stop a heart that’s in fibrillation, in the hopes the heart will restart with a normal rhythm. it’s a reboot, not a jump start. DingDingDingDing we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4808 "2025-03-14T23:23:35Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I once got someone back with a desperate precordial thump after the drugs and shocks failed. That will not likely happen again. Holy crap- REALLY !?!?!? I’ve always wanted to try The Thump. I got my NYS E.M.T. card in 2001. It had been removed from protocols by then. One did hear stories… [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=238) [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=240)