# 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:** 82
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1621 "2022-01-12T14:16:59Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Not true at all. I haven’t heard of that as even an in-job urban legend. However, there are some models of police cruisers with reinforced doors offered. I can’t imagine them using glass for this purpose. > **[Ford’s new bulletproof car doors will protect U.S. police from AK-47 fire](https://www.thestar.com/business/ford-s-new-bulletproof-car-doors-will-protect-u-s-police-from-ak-47-fire/article_dbad4ecf-b8dc-5719-a6bc-4693a61347f3.html)** > > The doors are designed to stop a .30-calibre bullet shot from a high-powered rifle like an AK-47 and follow requests for better protection, especially from police in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1622 "2022-01-12T14:20:32Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > Not true at all. I haven’t heard of that as even an in-job urban legend. > > However, there are some models of police cruisers with reinforced doors offered. I can’t imagine them using glass for this purpose. > > [Ford’s new bulletproof car doors will protect U.S. police from AK-47 fire](https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/03/10/fords-new-bulletproof-doors-will-protect-us-police-from-ak47-fire.html) On deployment I’ve been in “non-tactical” vehicles with ballistic glass. Its very thick and heavy. You can’t roll down the windows. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1623 "2022-01-12T14:41:44Z")
The foot chase on the roof of a train. As Lana pointed out in an episode of Archer, it’s stupid because ultimately you’re still on the train. > [@scudsucker](#): > > > [@XT](#): > > > > when they hide behind a car door as protection > > I never believed that was protection, I thought it was “camoflage” - if you can’t see someone properly, you can’t predict their movements. > > I may be uneducated in this particular trope. It’s the difference between “cover” and “concealment”. Cover provides a physical barrier between you and the shooter while concealment obstructs their view. But in the movies, unless it is shown to be a particularly powerful gun that can blast through car doors, cars are shown as having the stopping power of a tank. Unless they explode (which they also don’t do IRL). The inverse of that trope is bullets zipping through the water killing people several feet below the surface. In reality, water does a really good job of stopping bullets because it’s heavy and doesn’t compress. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1624 "2022-01-12T14:55:33Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’ve never been to a funeral that had the coffin-lowering ceremony at the actual burial site. Is that a real-life thing that I’ve just somehow missed, or is that just a TV / movie convention? I’ve been to three of them - one for my grandmother, one for my father-in-law, and one for a friend of mine that died this last September. Father-in-law was Christian. We watched the coffin being lowered into the grave. Grandmother and friend were Jewish. Coffins lowered and the “scoops of dirt” weren’t ceremonial - they were three full shovels per person. Probably more common among Jews than some others, definitely not universal among Christians. > [@Procrustus](#): > > For veterans, this is where they do the 21 gun salute and present the the flag to the family. Yep, Father-in-law was a veteran and graveside was where this was done. My husband (his step-son) also played bagpipes for the funeral. In many ways his step-father was kinder to him than his biological father. 'Cause alcoholism is a monster. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Three guns, usually. 21 guns is for a Head of State. Three guns fired seven times, so “21 guns”. Maybe 21 at once is for HoS? > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW, one thing I noticed with movie/TV show funerals and other things that show a hole dug in the ground, is how absolutely square and straight the holes are. Every time I tried to dig a hole, it ended up an irregular mess, though that may be because the soil where I grew up was so rocky, it just wasn’t possible to make a clean hole. Modern grave digging does, actually, wind up pretty squared off although yes, soil type is a factor. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I always wondered how they retrieved the straps after lowering the coffin. Do they just yank on them to pull them up and away from the coffin? There definitely a way to pull the straps back up, I’ve seen it done, but I’m not aware of the details of how it is done. I recently saw a video of the reburial of Richard III and it looked like they just tossed the straps in after him. But then, he was a king of England so maybe he gets special treatment. ---
**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 12, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1625 "2022-01-12T15:51:26Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I recently saw a video of the reburial of Richard III and it looked like they just tossed the straps in after him. But then, he was a king of England so maybe he gets special treatment. For a king you can splurge and literally throw in the straps. Yes, in most cases those straps get pulled out – you grab one end and haul it through under the coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1626 "2022-01-12T15:55:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Yeah, everybody knows only a California King sized mattress will stop bullets, A waterbed might stop a high speed round. Bitch of a time getting it on-end though. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1627 "2022-01-12T15:56:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yes, in most cases those straps get pulled out – you grab one end and haul it through under the coffin. I’ve been present for the burial of two of our horses. Retrieving the straps after the excavator dug the hole and put the horse in the hole was actually a bit difficult. An end of one strap was hooked to the excavator bucket and pulled/jerked repeatedly until retrieved. Then the next strap was similarly removed. ---
**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 12, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1628 "2022-01-12T16:43:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Retrieving the straps after the excavator dug the hole and put the horse in the hole was actually a bit difficult. An end of one strap was hooked to the excavator bucket and pulled/jerked repeatedly until retrieved. Then the next strap was similarly removed. Sounds odd. Especially if the coffin isn’t resting directly on them (putting down a couple of boards helps) the straps ought to slip right out. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1629 "2022-01-12T16:49:23Z")
Hehe… I should have thought to put Mack in a coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1630 "2022-01-12T16:54:05Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > On deployment I’ve been in “non-tactical” vehicles with ballistic glass. Its very thick and heavy. You can’t roll down the windows. Were you deployed against lava? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Fp7ZN6bB9SU/hqdefault.jpg "EXPERIMENT: LAVA vs THICK BULLETPROOF GLASS!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp7ZN6bB9SU) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1631 "2022-01-12T21:26:20Z")
If you shoot someone two times in their general chest area they will always die IMMEDIATELY. So for example if you’re a terrorist and shoot a cop twice in the chest with a silenced pistol he will literally immediately die without even making a single sound to warn his nearby friends. I just watched an episode of Jag where terrorists killed like 30 people on a Naval base with two shots to the chest each and somehow nobody else heard anything. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1632 "2022-01-12T23:45:42Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I would _love_ to see a pregnancy test commercial in which someone is giddy over _not_ being pregnant. That’s more real, if you ask me. I’ve seen ones where the woman was pleased (now she can take that new job/start her own business or some such) about a negative result, but none where giddy. But I’ve never seen one where the woman was disappointed with the result, be it positive or negative. Guess that they think that won’t move product. ---
**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 13, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1633 "2022-01-13T00:33:37Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > If you shoot someone two times in their general chest area they will always die IMMEDIATELY. Unless it’s the hero. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1634 "2022-01-13T00:36:30Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Unless it’s the hero. In which case they get shot in the shoulder only. They maintain full use of that arm (cf Indiana Jones), and recover fully within days, with no physical consequences. ---
**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 13, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1635 "2022-01-13T00:43:22Z")
Actually I was thinking they die from the chest wound but like long enough for expositories, I \<3 U, take care of my brother, etc. Just saw that last week. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1636 "2022-01-13T01:46:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > I’ve never been to a funeral that had the coffin-lowering ceremony at the actual burial site. Is that a real-life thing that I’ve just somehow missed, or is that just a TV / movie convention? > > I’ve been to a lot of funerals – many when I was an altar boy and, sadly, in recent years, many of relatives and people I’ve known. There certainly is a grave-side ceremony where people will usually place flowers on the coffin. Thy usually “dress up” the site with Astro-turf-like fake grass covering the new excavation and dirt, and often with a tent-like pavilion near the grave (nobody has to carry those black umbrellas, should it rain). More often than not, I’ve seen the coffin suspended on canvas tethers on a four-sided tubular thing that sits around the gravesite. When everyone leaves they hit a release and two of the tubes rotate, letting the canvas tethers slowly unfurl and gradually lower the coffin into the grave. > > YMMV I have been pallbearer at two different funerals where we manually lowered the coffin into the grave, for one there was a service in a church, at the end of that service mourners filed past the coffin and placed flowers and/or a sprig of Rosemary, for the other the service was at the grave site, in both cases once the coffin was lowered into the grave mourners filed past and dropped a handful of dirt into the grave ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1637 "2022-01-13T09:30:24Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > Unless it’s the hero. > > In which case they get shot in the shoulder only. They maintain full use of that arm (cf Indiana Jones), and recover fully within days, with no physical consequences. Yeah, but Indiana Jones only sustained a flesh wound in the left arm. Just the meat. No structural damage, unless you count the punches he took in it afterwards. I’m not suggesting that getting shot in the arm isn’t serious. But the meaty part of the bicep is different from the shoulder. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1638 "2022-01-13T12:56:53Z")
No kid in my neighborhood ever hit a baseball through a window. Yours? But give some kids a baseball and a bat on TV… ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1639 "2022-01-13T13:06:51Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > No kid in my neighborhood ever hit a baseball through a window. Yours? But give some kids a baseball and a bat on TV I didn’t hit a baseball through a window but I did hit a croquet ball through a window. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1640 "2022-01-13T13:13:17Z")
A\_B, did you have to pay for the window out of your allowance, or did you have to do some chores that led to humorous hijinks? [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=81) [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=83)