# What modern movie plots wouldn't work today because of the Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229 "2015-02-09T15:59:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/41 "2015-02-11T01:51:41Z")
“All work and no play makes Jack …Hey, Candy Crush Saga!” ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/42 "2015-02-11T15:57:01Z")
_It’s A Wonderful Life_ 2: Clotbusters and stenting save the life of Pop Bailey, allowing George to go to college as planned. _It’s A Wonderful Life_ 3: Security video in the bank lobby clearly shows the $8000 deposit being dumped into Potter’s lap; Potter and Uncle Billy both go to prison for conspiracy to embezzle money from the Building and Loan. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/43 "2015-02-11T16:37:20Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Presumably spoilers ahoy… > > Example: > > National Lampoon’s Vacation. You know those kids would have tried to buy tickets online and/or checked WallyWorld’s website before setting out. > > Usual Suspects. While Verbal Kint shares his story, the other cops listening in are Googling or checking LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. for the people he’s mentioning. > > Grease becomes a nine-second film where Sandy tweets “OMG change of plans not moving. Enrolling at Rydell” Danny RTs “that’s amazeballs. Next year will be made of awesome.” Actually they’re “teens” so they’re probably Snapchatting. Usual Suspects: I have absoultely no idea how RL police procedure works, but I’ve got a picture in my head of the detective handing the transcript of the interveiw to a rookie and saying “Check these leads out” 😃 ---
**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:** [February 11, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/44 "2015-02-11T17:29:05Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Usual Suspects: I have absoultely no idea how RL police procedure works, but I’ve got a picture in my head of the detective handing the transcript of the interveiw to a rookie and saying “Check these leads out” 😃 Or someone would just do it on an iPhone during the interrogation. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/45 "2015-02-11T18:42:09Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > “All work and no play makes Jack …Hey, Candy Crush Saga!” Yeah, but you’d still get the same movie, Jack’d just go nuts because of the hotel’s Wi-Fi cutting out 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/46 "2015-02-11T19:33:24Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Still, while I find it to be a funny movie, I find it odd that the only people who didn’t know Walley World would be closed are the Griswolds, Cousin Eddie and his family, and Aunt Edna. Even pre-Internet, nobody else was there when the family drove in, so there must have been some kind of TV/radio/print media publicity on the closure. How did all of America know Walley World was closed, except the Griswolds, Cousin Eddie and his family, and Aunt Edna? They saw the moose out front and left. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/47 "2015-02-11T23:31:48Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Not sure I understand this response. War Games was about finding a backdoor into a system guarded by a poorly chosen password. > > Sure, you’re more likely to be port-scanning rather than wardialing, but the basic concept is the same. True, bu5 what I meant was that today’s security is so much tighter, that it’d require a super computer with a great anti encryption engine to get into such sensitive systems ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/48 "2015-02-12T01:48:39Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > “Aunt Em? The weather watch on my phone says there’s a tornado watch. We should probably all go to the cellar before it actually gets here.” “By the way, Ms. Gulch, I emailed PETA. Touch Toto and they’ll sue your scrawny ass for everything you’ve got.” “Let’s see – FAQ about ruby slippers…why, they can take me right back home! Yeah, thanks anyway, Glinda, but I’ll pass on that Wizard guy.” ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/49 "2015-02-12T14:18:23Z")
_The Breakfast Club_ - The kids sit and play their cellphones and never speak to each other. ---
**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:** [February 12, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/50 "2015-02-12T14:48:02Z")
**The Terminator** : After obtaining clothes and weapons, the T-800 does an extensive Internet search on every Sarah Connor (with spelling variations) in southern California. Amassing dossiers of profiles, it optimizes it’s hunt to kill the most likely targets as quickly as possible before an alarm can be raised. But let’s say that Sarah gets lucky and again escapes with Kyle’s help. The attack on the police station is extensively documented by security cameras and cell phones, showing the attacker shrugging off massive retaliatory gunfire. Other people photograph and video “The Killer Zombie” with their cell phones. The security system at the factory records the robot attack, and a copy gets leaked to YouTube, where it gets extensively copied before the government can prevent it. Government security agencies seize the Terminator’s remains, the name “Cyberdyne Systems” is preemptively copywritten, and Sarah goes into witness protection.\* \*Although even with the foreknowledge of how dangerous it is, that doesn’t stop the government from developing AIs. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/51 "2015-02-12T16:36:41Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > _The Lady Vanishes_. “Yes ma’am, I have a Miss Froy here in the database, so I don’t know why these people are pretending she doesn’t exist.” Meanwhile, two dudes go to [icc-cricket.com](http://icc-cricket.com) and discover the match was cancelled, and Miss Froy emails folktune.wav to [Whitehall.gov](http://Whitehall.gov) BRILLANT! After Hours (one of my favorite movies) is not workable with smart phons, and ATMs. He could just use UBER to get a lift back uptown. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/52 "2015-02-12T20:29:31Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Usual Suspects: I have absoultely no idea how RL police procedure works, but I’ve got a picture in my head of the detective handing the transcript of the interveiw to a rookie and saying “Check these leads out” 😃 Verbal peppers his story with enough real events (the lineup in NY, the Taxi Service job) to prevent this exact scenario from happening. ---
**Author:** ![JoshuaSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f1d935/32.png) [@JoshuaSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoshuaSD)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/53 "2015-02-13T13:10:39Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Janet Leigh probably wouldn’t have stopped at the Bates Motel, because its Yelp reviews couldn’t have been too good. > [@Wile\_E](#): > > Best one so far! Agreed. First one that made me actually laugh out loud. Not that some others were not funny just not nearly as much. ---
**Author:** ![Coffeecup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Coffeecup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeecup)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/54 "2015-02-13T18:24:07Z")
Any of those “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” movies with Mickey Rooney, where the neighborhood teens are desperate to find an old barn to stage their musical show. Today they’d do a Kickstarter. “Hey kids, let’s do a Kickstarter!” ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/55 "2015-05-12T19:56:33Z")
I’ve often wondered if there would be a way to modernize _Network_, which is probably one of my Top 5 all-time… I don’t see how it could be done today though… It would have to be “guy goes nuts on YouTube channel, it goes viral… for like a week.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/56 "2015-05-12T21:23:49Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > After Hours (one of my favorite movies) is not workable with smart phons, and ATMs. He could just use UBER to get a lift back uptown. They might be able to make it work. They had ATMs when **After Hours** came out in 1985. However, as I remember, because Griffin Dunne’s character lost his wallet, he would not have been able to use his ATM card since that’s where he probably would’ve put it. As for a smart phone, it could easily be lost or broken. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/57 "2015-05-12T21:32:24Z")
There are numerous episodes of _ **Columbo** _ (which were really made-for-TV movies) that wouldn’t work at all since they depended on a telephone call or something simlar to help the murderer establish an alibi. The one with Jackie Cooper as a US Senate candidate is my favorite of these: his alibi fell apart when Columbo learned that the gas station from which the call was allegedly made was closed that evening because they’d run out of gas (which also puts it sometime in late '73). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/58 "2015-05-12T22:25:14Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > True, bu5 what I meant was that today’s security is so much tighter, that it’d require a super computer with a great anti encryption engine to get into such sensitive systems The password would probably have been ‘[00000000](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/nuclear-missile-code-00000000-cold-war_n_4386784.html)’ ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/59 "2015-05-13T03:04:41Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > The password would probably have been ‘[00000000](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/nuclear-missile-code-00000000-cold-war_n_4386784.html)’ That’s the same password I have on my luggage! ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229/60 "2015-05-13T15:21:34Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > I’ve often wondered if there would be a way to modernize _Network_, which is probably one of my Top 5 all-time… I don’t see how it could be done today though… I hope you saw **The Simpsons** from two weeks back when they did a brilliant spoof of Ned Beatty’s speech from _Network_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-modern-movie-plots-wouldnt-work-today-because-of-the-internet/712229.md?page=4)