# What is the history of this movie cliche (walking away from a fiery background in slow motion)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728 "2014-01-26T04:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/1 "2014-01-26T04:49:47Z")
I’m was channel surfing and stumbled across the _X-Men Origins: Wolverine_ movie on FX tonight. He was on a motorcycle with his six-inch knife hands, being chased by a helicopter with rockets and machine guns, so of course he won that battle. But what made my jaw drop at the absolutely unbelievable cliche-y-ness of the scene was when he struck a spark to make the crashed, fuel-leaking helicopter explode, and they had the same tired scene of him walking away in slow motion with a constipated look on his face, too cool to look back at the flames entirely filling the background. I can’t believe that any director would film a scene like that, except as a parody. It’s been done so many times that it’s almost a parody by definition. I remember thinking what a cliche it was when Banderas and Hayek did it in _Desperado_, nearly 20 years ago. So I’m wondering exactly how many times it’s been done, and when was it done for the first time? I would guess that one or more Bond films have done it, and one or more Diehards, but how far back can it actually be traced? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/2 "2014-01-26T05:09:16Z")
Good luck in finding that first version. Odds are it’s going to be obscure in some low-budget shoot-'em-up decades old. My first thought on reading the title was Salma and Antonio or else some Tarantino thing. The troubling part in trying to picture the people involved is that it could be a war, mobster, car racing, cops-and-robbers thing or any sci-fi genre effort. I just thought of a variant. The scene in [Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094293/?ref_=nv_sr_2) where Rutger gets to say [Fuck the bonus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHU-osY5O-I) Another cliche’ that has become so ingrained is the car bomb. It’s gotten so everytime you see a car parked and some guy getting into it, for a moment you pucker up knowing it’s about to blow up. Even if it’s just a regular movie with no violence yet. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/3 "2014-01-26T05:09:36Z")
Slow motion anything looks like a lazy cliche to me. If the previews are accurate, the new video game looking Frankenstein movie is full of that crap. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/4 "2014-01-26T05:25:33Z")
1976 example was the earliest I noticed listed on TVTropes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4pex-mg0MHc/hqdefault.jpg ""Get Mean" (1976) guy doesn't look at explosions") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pex-mg0MHc) I’m glad you asked this because it led me to watch The Lonely Island’s video “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions”, which is amusing. It has your Hugh Jackman example. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Sqz5dbs5zmo/maxresdefault.jpg "Cool Guys Don't Look At Explosions") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo) > **[Unflinching Walk - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnflinchingWalk)** > > When just blowing something up isn't enough, proof of one's apparent badass bombing technique can be seen when the bomber leaves himself barely enough time to escape the blast radius, usually just enough so that as he's walking away, he's … ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/5 "2014-01-26T05:49:11Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > 1976 example was the earliest I noticed listed on TVTropes. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pex-mg0MHc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pex-mg0MHc) > > I’m glad you asked this because it led me to watch The Lonely Island’s video “Cool Guys Don’t Look at Explosions”, which is amusing. It has your Hugh Jackman example. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo) > > [Unflinching Walk - TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnflinchingWalk) Wow, what a great resource! Thanks for the links. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/6 "2014-01-26T06:38:24Z")
I can’t remember if it was Tombstone or Wyatt Earp, but you had the three lawmen (and Doc Holliday) walking somberly toward the OK Corral, and there was a burning house behind them. It had nothing to do with the story! It was wholly (and stupidly!) gratuitous. (House on fire, guys! Grab a bucket, not your guns! Jeez! What kind of dork-ass public servants are you?) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/7 "2014-01-29T16:56:55Z")
I’ve noticed that cliche a lot in recent years. I even wrote to Ebert about it some years ago, but he never responded. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/8 "2014-01-29T17:06:50Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ve noticed that cliche a lot in recent years. I even wrote to Ebert about it some years ago, but he never responded. He just set fire to your letter and walked away slowly, not looking back. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/9 "2014-01-29T17:35:23Z")
The really stupid part is that not even their hair is messed up by the shockwave from an explosion, much less any wincing due to the ear trauma. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-history-of-this-movie-cliche-walking-away-from-a-fiery-background-in-slow-motion/679728/10 "2014-01-29T17:58:38Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > He just set fire to your letter and walked away slowly, not looking back. I _knew_ it!