# What movie is this? Man looks at meter...taps on it... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588 "2015-02-02T09:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/1 "2015-02-02T09:51:48Z")
I’m thinking of a movie where there is some scam going on…I think…something like Oceans 11. Somewhere in it, somebody is looking at a meter, no larger than 2 or 4 inches, something doesn’t seem right and he taps it…backhanded tap with his fingers…I think it adds more drama to the plot. That’s it…all I can remember…does anybody have any idea? It’s been irritating me for about 1 month. Thanks, hh ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/2 "2015-02-02T12:49:40Z")
China Syndrome? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/3 "2015-02-02T17:22:32Z")
In Ocean’s 11 (the newer one), George Clooney clicks the trigger to blow the explosives on the vault and nothing happens. He and Matt Damon fiddle with it for a minute, tapping it a few times and playing with the batteries before it finally goes off. Meanwhile, the guy in the vault is frantically trying to get his hand unstuck so he can move away from the vault doors. Maybe that’s what you’re remembering? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/4 "2015-02-02T17:25:19Z")
Taps? ---
**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:** [February 2, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/5 "2015-02-02T19:57:58Z")
> [@campp](#): > > China Syndrome? Yes, I remember some meter in the nuclear power plant’s control room was giving a false reading that was only revealed when someone (the Jack Lemmon character?) tapped on it. Sometimes a little percussive maintenance can be instructive. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/6 "2015-02-02T20:02:49Z")
Hasn’t that cliche been used in dozens of movies to show the “oh no, now that I’ve tapped on the glass of the fuel gauge I don’t have as much gas as I thought I did!” moment? ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/7 "2015-02-02T21:13:02Z")
In **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** , when he wakes up on the airplane to find the pilots vanished, he (inexplicably, to me) taps a few times on the fuel gauge and it goes from “pretty full” to “empty”. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/8 "2015-02-02T21:34:31Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Hasn’t that cliche been used in dozens of movies to show the “oh no, now that I’ve tapped on the glass of the fuel gauge I don’t have as much gas as I thought I did!” moment? That’s what I was thinking. Hell, I’ve tapped my multi-meter and various (needle type) thermometers, assuming they’re wrong. When tapping the multi-meter made the needle move to the correct position more than once, I threw it out and bought a new one. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/9 "2015-02-02T22:02:01Z")
Of course, [TV Tropes covers this](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PercussiveMaintenance). Interestingly, Oceans 11 is not referenced. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/10 "2015-02-03T01:02:30Z")
I believe it was recently used on _Scorpion_. There was an outdated nuclear reactor that was supposedly still producing readings within the safe zone. Then one of the characters tapped the meter which unstuck the needle and the reading jumped into the danger zone. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/11 "2015-02-03T10:32:10Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > In Ocean’s 11 (the newer one), George Clooney clicks the trigger to blow the explosives on the vault and nothing happens. He and Matt Damon fiddle with it for a minute, tapping it a few times and playing with the batteries before it finally goes off. Meanwhile, the guy in the vault is frantically trying to get his hand unstuck so he can move away from the vault doors. > > Maybe that’s what you’re remembering? That’s not it, but, thanks for trying. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/12 "2015-02-03T10:33:59Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Of course, [TV Tropes covers this](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PercussiveMaintenance). > > Interestingly, Oceans 11 is not referenced. The tapping wasn’t from Ocean’s 11-it was the \*complicated scam \*that was similar to O11. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/13 "2015-02-03T10:35:35Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Hasn’t that cliche been used in dozens of movies to show the “oh no, now that I’ve tapped on the glass of the fuel gauge I don’t have as much gas as I thought I did!” moment? Well, it may be. My tap, tho, is a back handed one. I coulda dreamt it. Don’t think so, tho. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/14 "2015-02-03T10:37:54Z")
> [@campp](#): > > China Syndrome? I had thought of that, but, I dismissed it. I’ll recheck. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/15 "2015-02-03T10:38:54Z")
Thanks for the help, everybody. If I can find out for sure, I’ll let you all know about \*my \*tapper. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/16 "2015-02-03T18:17:19Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > In **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** , when he wakes up on the airplane to find the pilots vanished, he (inexplicably, to me) taps a few times on the fuel gauge and it goes from “pretty full” to “empty”. Well, the gauge was obviously lying the second time, because given the massive fireball which occurs when the plane slams into the mountain, there must’ve still been plenty of fuel left. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/17 "2015-02-05T07:39:18Z")
Gravity had this. Sandra Bullock orders an engine burn and nothing happens. Taps the gauge and, you know the rest. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/18 "2015-02-05T13:31:04Z")
Not to hijack, but now I’m trying to figure out what movie I’m thinking of. There is a scene where someone (a foreigner) is getting out of a cab and the cab driver is trying to charge him a large amount of money for the ride pointing to his meter and saying something like “the meter doesn’t lie!”, and then some woman notices, intervenes, and some big guy she is with shakes the meter and it changes to some reasonable amount of fare. The cabbie then shouts at the meter, “this meter lied! bad meter!” or something like that. What movie is this from? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-is-this-man-looks-at-meter-taps-on-it/711588/19 "2015-02-05T14:44:20Z")
That one might have been _Best Exotic Marigold Hotel_ ?