# What obscure personal knowledge do you have that makes certain movies laughable? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802 "2004-08-27T16:08:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/181 "2004-09-01T10:46:25Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > In the movie the main rotor doen’t even move at all. This was the helicopter the bad guys were going to escape in so it had to be in working order. What gets me the most is that the film makers had to take the time to detach the tail rotor from the drive shaft to make this work. It wasn’t a mistake it was deliberate. Well, for the scenes on the moving train, they were probably just using a look-alike prop helicopter, so that if anything went wrong and it got damaged, it wouldn’t be too expensive of time-consuming to fix (that’s assuming there was ever a real working helicopter used. I don’t remember the movie that well). If that were the case, the tail rotor would spin freely since there was nothing inside for it to attach to, and the film-makers simply wouldn’t notice that that was wrong. Granted, it’s a dumb mistake, but probably not so dumb that they had to go out their way to make it. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/182 "2004-09-01T13:54:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > An essential part of the procedure is to shout “Fight, dammit!” while pounding on the chest. Many med students overlook that part. Fortunately, YMCA has added this vital knowledge to its babysitters’ CPR classes. In Advanced Lifesaving, they include, “I’m not gonna lose you!!” I think you need a Certificate before they teach you the Flop Onto Body In Anguish, Thus Providing The One Final Thump Necessary For Breathing To Resume. It’s a pretty difficult move, and I think they want to make sure people are _really ready_ for it. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/183 "2004-09-01T16:02:15Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > \ > > You’re trying to get my attention, aren’t you, **tremorviolet**? > > I mean, first there’s your post in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5209624#post5209624). > > Then, this OP? :eek: > For me it was the movie **Pearl Harbor**. I just found the whole thing offensive - to have exactly one viewpoint character who was an actually SAILOR seemed pretty goddam Hollywood. Combine that with making up shit about Army Air Corps pilots to get ‘heros’ and ignore REAL heroism, like the story of the USS Nevada… \ And don’t get me started on the way they handled the Doolittle raid… ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/184 "2004-09-01T16:05:21Z")
That Chris Farley movie (I think it’s **Tommy Boy** , but could be mistaken) where he’s supposed to be at Marquette University? That’s not Marquette University. Even worse is that Farley knew that, having attended Marquette University (like me!) himself. In **Dogma** , when Ben and Matt are walking through the Milwaukee airport? That’s not General Mitchell (Milwaukee’s finest airport!). There’s far, far too many people. In **Titanic** , when Leo’s prattling on about a lake near Chippewa Falls? That lake’s a manmade lake that wasn’t constructed until after the Titanic sank. Leo’s character never would’ve seen that lake. And it’s Wisconsin - there’s thousands of lakes to choose from, at least several of which are in the Chippewa Falls/Eau Claire area! Couldn’t you have done a little research? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/185 "2004-09-01T16:39:56Z")
In _Alex and Emma_, there are a lot of stupid things that are even somewhat central to the plot! 1. Alex idn’t going to get paid over a hundred thousand dollars for a cheesy romance novel. Even assuming that his ‘book’ is a hell of a lot longer than it sounds, that’s maybe 300,000 words (more like 100,000 in real life), which means roughly 30 cents a word. That is some god-like contract, to get that rate! (Plus, that’s _after_ his stenographer gets paid $25,000!) And why does Alex have no agent? The guy he talks to about money for his work is high in the publishing company, so that isn’t feasible . 2. No stenographer from a ‘service’ is going to go to an author’s house for personal dictation unless he’s paying her a whole lot of money, and payment after the book is done isn’t going to work for that. 3. And hey, why is there a Cuban Mafia in _New York_?! That doesn’t make any sense! (That bit’s not from personal knowledge, actually) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/186 "2004-09-01T17:00:44Z")
> [@Peter Doubt](#): > > The precordial thump; looks very dramatic on screen but I don’t remember it ever being a part of basic CPR training. The precordial thump WAS a part of basic CPR training. As I recall, it was used only in the case where the patient coded right in front of you. Thus, there were two separate procedures to be followed, depending on whether it was a “witnessed” or “unwitnessed” arrest. This was so confusing that the Powers That Be eliminated the precordial thump, and the attending procedure around 1975 or so. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/187 "2004-09-02T03:05:38Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > I was vaguely troubled throughout **Master and Commander** by the ship’s officers oddly worshipful attitude toward Lord Nelson. The movie clearly took place before Trafalgar, but whenever they spoke of the admiral it sounded like they were referring to some dead hero of ancient myth, not their living, breathing (and probably much grumbled about) commanding officer. Well, Nelson was already a god among men before Trafalgar. There was the Battle of the Nile (in which both Captain Aubrey and Lt. Pullings “had the honor of serving under him,” which would itself account for the worshipful attitude aboard the _Surprise_ specifically, with her two highest-ranking officers having personal experience with him), the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Battle of Copenhagen… he was pretty much kicking ass and taking names from 1797 onward, and the only mark against him had to do with his marital misconduct. Sea-officers don’t much care about _that_. Trafalgar was just more frosting on the well-decorated cake. > **[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson)** > > War of the First Coalition > War of the Second Coalition > War of the Third Coalition ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/188 "2004-09-02T03:30:24Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The precordial thump WAS a part of basic CPR training. As I recall, it was used only in the case where the patient coded right in front of you. Thus, there were two separate procedures to be followed, depending on whether it was a “witnessed” or “unwitnessed” arrest. This was so confusing that the Powers That Be eliminated the precordial thump, and the attending procedure around 1975 or so. That explains that. My first basic CPR course was taken in 1984, and followed closely by ACLS, so it’s all jumbled together in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/189 "2004-09-02T04:13:01Z")
Oh yeah, in **Spiderman 2** , you know the bit on the train? That’s not New York, it’s Chicago. That’s the el whizzing around the Loop. (Although the Loop, of course, doesn’t have a dropoff, cause it’s…loop-shaped.) It’s not really a secret, since neither New York or Chicago are obscure locations, but it was really startling to see Chicago purporting to be New York. ---
**Author:** ![EhhMon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@EhhMon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EhhMon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802/190 "2004-09-02T05:30:38Z")
I know more about tropical plants than most people, and it bugs me for instance when I see a common phalaenopsis orchid referred to as a carnivorous plant. Or, in **The Professional** , when the little girl stuck a tropical plant in the ground in the fall in the Northeast US. First frost, and it’s a goner. I also always watch people’s fingers when they’re typing on a computer in the movies. They’re typing gibberish and the number of keystrokes in no way corresponds to the number of words appearing on the computer screen. > [@yBeayf](#): > > In the movie **Tomb Raider** , there’s a part where Angelina Jolie is in some part of Siberia with a bunch of Yakut-looking natives (not sure where, exactly; I wasn’t watching the movie very closely). Anyways, a little native girl asks Angelina (or vice-versa, I forget) in Russian where she’s going, and the other responds “Krateru”, which is translated “to the crater”. This means the script writers obviously didn’t bother asking a Russian speaker, but just looked in a dictionary and got the first translation for “to the crater” that they saw; as “krateru” is in the dative case (“I’m giving something to the crater”) rather than the accusative case which it should be in (“I’m going to the crater”). It should have been “v krater”. Grr. I figured maybe she was inferring “ya podoidu k krateru,” meaning going up to or approaching the crater, in which case she could have used the dative case, and it would just sound like “krateru.” But if not, then you’re right of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-obscure-personal-knowledge-do-you-have-that-makes-certain-movies-laughable/261802.md?page=9)