# Wheezy overused plot device: Oops, I dropped my gun. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433 "2004-11-01T22:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/21 "2004-11-02T14:00:03Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Or the villain, instead of killing the hero immediately, proceeds to tell the hero the villains diabolical plans for world domination, thus allowing the hero to figure out a way to escape the villains clutches. Well, to be fair, it’s not easy to find people willing to listen to your plans for world domination. Friends and relatives tend to zone out on you very quickly when you start that up. Having someone at gunpoint, you have to figure they’ll listen. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/22 "2004-11-02T15:58:27Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > What really irks me is, on the rare occasion a hero in a firefight runs out of ammunition {usually with a revolver}, he will often pull the trigger a couple more times, hear the clicks of the empty chambers, give the gun a look of irritation, and toss it away. These things aren’t ballpoint pens, you know: they cost money, and who knows? You might be able to get some more ammunition later. In the same manner, in a lot of action movies, you rarely see the good guy with a gun he had pulled off a fallen bad guy collecting magazines from the bad guys he shoots along the way. Particulary when all the bad guys carry the same kind of gun(and I’m talking about something recognizable, like an AK-47 or MP5). Then again, very few people in these movies tend to carry extra ammunition magazines at all. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/23 "2004-11-02T16:05:35Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Then again, very few people in these movies tend to carry extra ammunition magazines at all. Why would they, when their guns tend to have an unlimited number of bullets in them? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/24 "2004-11-02T16:21:44Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The villian has a gun to the head of the hostage, and snarls at the hero: “Drop your gun”, and the hero complies… > > A retired police officer friend of mine tells me that the first rule taught at the Acadamy is “never give up your gun”. If you keep your gun, the situation _might_, however implausibly, be resolved in your favor. If you give it up, it certainly won’t. If nothing else, you can shoot the sumbitch after he shoots the hostage… and if you tell him that is what you will do, he is much less likely to do so. Reminds me of something that shows up in a lot of movies/video games that bugs me. Bad guy has a friend or loved one of the hero taken hostage and needs the crucial piece of his doomsday device that the hero has. And of course, the hero, every time, decides to give it to the bad guy, knowing full well, that if the doomsday device goes off, his loved one and himself and a whole bunch of innocent people are going to die anyway, particulary since the bad guy will always betray the hero once he gets it. Even worse, the hero never thinks of trying to make a couterfeit of the cucrial piece. Or the infamous gambit where the bad guy lures the good guy into finding what he needs so he can steal it later. Hero never thinks of putting whatever he’s collected so far into some kind of safety deposit box just in case he walking into a trap. A nice joke about this was in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade when Indy is captured by the Nazis just as he finds his father. Nazi: You have the diary in your pocket. Professor Henry Jones : You dolt. You think my son would be that stupid, that he would bring my diary all the way back here? (pause) You didn’t, did you? (another pause) You didn’t bring it, did you? Indiana Jones : Well, uh… Professor Henry Jones : You did. Indiana Jones : Look, can we discuss this later? Professor Henry Jones : I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers. Indiana Jones : Will you take it easy? Professor Henry Jones : Take it easy? Why do you think I sent it home in the first place? So it wouldn’t fall into their hands. The computer game version also had the option of giving the Nazi a fake diary which means you don’t have to go to Berlin like in the movie, though, ironically, going to Berlin makes more sense if you have a certain item. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/25 "2004-11-02T17:33:08Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Even worse, the hero never thinks of trying to make a couterfeit of the cucrial piece. What, you never saw _Sneakers_? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/26 "2004-11-02T17:45:13Z")
I misread the thread title and spent several minutes trying to think of a movie or TV show in which losing one’s Juicy Fruit was integral to the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/27 "2004-11-02T19:40:59Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I misread the thread title and spent several minutes trying to think of a movie or TV show in which losing one’s Juicy Fruit was integral to the plot. Heh. Well, it’s a good thing Dex Dearborn had his gum in **Sky Captain**. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/28 "2004-11-02T19:55:30Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Or the villain, instead of killing the hero immediately, proceeds to tell the hero the villains diabolical plans for world domination, thus allowing the hero to figure out a way to escape the villains clutches. Where did I see a parody of that, where he’s saying something like, “Maybe this time, we shouldn’t tell him our plans, just in case he escapes or something…”? Was that in _Austin Powers_? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/29 "2004-11-02T19:57:58Z")
Didn’t gum save the day in _The Rocketeer_? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/30 "2004-11-02T20:04:22Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Where did I see a parody of that, where he’s saying something like, “Maybe this time, we shouldn’t tell him our plans, just in case he escapes or something…”? Was that in _Austin Powers_? They certainly had something close to it in one of them where the son offers to go get his gun to shoot Powers. **Folly** , yup. They used it to patch a hole in the tanks. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/31 "2004-11-02T20:11:23Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Didn’t gum save the day in _The Rocketeer_? The Rock-a-Who? I’m still trying to figure out what _The Jeffersons_ have to do with any of this. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/32 "2004-11-02T20:24:26Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > The Rock-a-Who? [_The Rocketeer_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0102803/), a film which would have been much improved if we’d gotten to see Jennifer Connolly’s boobies. > [@](#): > > I’m still trying to figure out what _The Jeffersons_ have to do with any of this. Well, she was the only one on the show who had any sense. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/33 "2004-11-02T20:28:11Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > The Rock-a-Who? Is my favorite JC line from the movie. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/34 "2004-11-02T20:36:29Z")
Wow, _The Rocketeer_ was made in 1991? I suddenly feel a little older. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/35 "2004-11-02T20:54:17Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [_The Rocketeer_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0102803/), a film which would have been much improved if we’d gotten to see Jennifer Connolly’s boobies. Whatever happened to those, anyway? For a while it looked like she had loaned them to Uma Thurman, but now they’re just…gone. Would whoever has Jennifer Connolly’s boobies please return them to their rightful owner, please? Thank you. What was this about? Oh, yeah. Gun dropping. What about lightsaber dropping? That seems to happen an awful lot in the Star Wars movies. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/36 "2004-11-02T21:00:29Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > Whatever happened to those, anyway? For a while it looked like she had loaned them to Uma Thurman, but now they’re just…gone. Would whoever has Jennifer Connolly’s boobies please return them to their rightful owner, please? Thank you. Apparently she’s fallen into the “extremely thin is in” trap and has wasted away (no kidding last pic I saw of her, she looked gaunt). If she starts eating again, they should return to their former glory. (BTW, have you seen the pics of her sunbathing topless? Yummy!) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/37 "2004-11-02T23:48:08Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > What really irks me is, on the rare occasion a hero in a firefight runs out of ammunition {usually with a revolver}, he will often pull the trigger a couple more times, hear the clicks of the empty chambers, give the gun a look of irritation, and toss it away. These things aren’t ballpoint pens, you know: they cost money, and who knows? You might be able to get some more ammunition later. I love it when they carry multiple guns and toss them as they run empty. What? Does Walmart sell disposable Glocks now? Another favorite plot device is the keys in the car visor. See… I don’t like to keep my keys in my pocket so I just stick them in the visor. Plus, I like to keep an extra set there just in case I loose the ignition key but not the door key. Don’t laugh at gum. I actually used chewing gum to plug radiator hose leaks in my old Olds from college. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/38 "2004-11-03T00:29:39Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > In the same manner, in a lot of action movies, you rarely see the good guy with a gun he had pulled off a fallen bad guy collecting magazines from the bad guys he shoots along the way. Particulary when all the bad guys carry the same kind of gun(and I’m talking about something recognizable, like an AK-47 or MP5). > > Then again, very few people in these movies tend to carry extra ammunition magazines at all. I was going to mention magazines but for a different reason. Price a high capacity assault rifle magazine sometimes. Those things don’t cost a dime a dozen. In movie world you could make a fortune just picking up the discarded weapons and magazines laying around. Mel Gibson was a good example this in all Lethal Weapon movies. He would go through multiple high capacity magazines(dropping them as they emptied), then make some wisecrack and walk off. Then again, being years since I saw the movie, I might be comfusing those scenes with something else. My comment about the gun prices and losing your guns was more along the lines of what happens after the battle. Sure, losing a gun that costs hundreds of dollars doesn’t matter when you are fighting for your life but after the event you sure as hell will want the weapon back. When the chase ends, you are not going to tell your partner you want to go back to the station to look at mug shots or something, you are going to be out looking for your gun. Last note and related to your post on Ammo: Doesn’t anyone ever pick up the wrong ammo? Again, _The Survivors_ is about the only movie I can think of where a character does this. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/39 "2004-11-03T03:39:09Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > Last note and related to your post on Ammo: Doesn’t anyone ever pick up the wrong ammo? Again, _The Survivors_ is about the only movie I can think of where a character does this. There’s one scene in The Quick and the Dead where some blind kid who runs the general store keeps a box of miscellaneous pistol rounds in a box like it was a box of nails and screws. Fortunately he manages to find the right caliber for Russel Crowes pistol and toss it to him so he can win the gunfight. The movie also has another overused plot device - take two buddies and force them to duel each other. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433/40 "2004-11-03T03:44:07Z")
> [@The Long Road](#): > > Last note and related to your post on Ammo: Doesn’t anyone ever pick up the wrong ammo? Again, _The Survivors_ is about the only movie I can think of where a character does this. In the novel and movie _The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight_, a character looking for .32 revolver ammo ends up choosing .32 automatic ammo. The gun eventually explodes in the main character’s hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheezy-overused-plot-device-oops-i-dropped-my-gun/272433.md?page=3)