# You understand why they do it but it takes you out of the movie anyway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928 "2015-10-17T19:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/81 "2015-10-18T18:34:13Z")
Before the internet, I had no idea that coffee cups that were _obviously_ empty bugged so many other people too. It’s like a warm hug of nitpickiness. ---
**Author:** ![IDtenT\_Error](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@IDtenT\_Error](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IDtenT_Error)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/82 "2015-10-18T19:21:49Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > It’s interesting what does and doesn’t take you out of a scene. Gun handling has a couple for me - I can’t stand it when you have people that are supposed to be professionals running around with their finger on the trigger. OT, but the Korean War Memorial in DC has that. One of the statues is a soldier with an M-1 carbine, and he’s carrying it one handed with his finger on the trigger. When I saw that, my first thought was that his sergeant would have slapped him upside the head the instant he saw it. Kinda spoiled the mood the memorial was supposed to give. It was a number of years ago that I saw that, so they may have fixed it since then. [/end OT] ---
**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:** [October 18, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/83 "2015-10-18T20:25:29Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > There really isn’t any reason for this. Think sun glasses. They certainly aren’t flat. Just the same thickness everywhere in the lens. Except, _my_ glasses, which have actual glass lenses _are_ flat on the front. They have to be because they are a rather strong correction. I think the more obvious thing with fake glasses is that you can see they are not distorting the wearer’s face at all. They have used real glasses from time to time, but mostly when they want to emphasize really bad eyesight – _Papillion_ comes to mind and that classic _Twilight Zone_ episode with Burgess Meredith. What takes me out of a movie is that really excessive CG that is supposed to make the scenes immersive but ends up being annoying and tedious. _Return of the King_ has some of that, but the worst IME was probably the _Minority Report_ movie. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/84 "2015-10-18T20:59:04Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > People who cock their guns for no apparent reason. Usually this is a generic “gun” sound effect. Someone shoulders their weapon and it makes that “chick-chack” noise, even if they didn’t operate the mechanism. I first saw _ **Hell Is for Heroes** _ when I was six, and it made a huge impression on me. Seeing it again a couple of years ago, I couldn’t help noticing that Steve McQueen was constantly fiddling with something on his M3 submachine gun (the ejector port, I think) for no apparent reason. This may have been Steve’s way of giving his character a nervous tic (they\* were\* in a combat zone, after all), but after a while it bugged the hell out of me! :smack: ---
**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:** [October 18, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/85 "2015-10-18T21:02:27Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > - “Here come the German Tiger tanks!!!” And they’re really Sherman tanks. Or Stuarts. Or Pattons. Or Walker Bulldogs. Or… :smack: ---
**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:** [October 18, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/86 "2015-10-18T21:10:55Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > This is more of a general lament but what ruins many an otherwise quality movie for me is the gratuitous, awkward insertion of an unfolding love story, occuring side by side the actual plot of the film. The worst examples of this I’ve ever seen were in the adaptations of _ **Fatherland** _ and _ **Archangel** _ (by HBO and BBC, respectively). In the books, the relationships between the male and female leads were purely platonic. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/87 "2015-10-18T21:16:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This may have been Steve’s way of giving his character a nervous tic (they\* were\* in a combat zone, after all), but after a while it bugged the hell out of me! :smack: He was a notorious scene-stealer. He bugged the crap out of Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven by fiddling with his hat during Brynner’s lines. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/88 "2015-10-18T21:29:02Z")
When somebody runs in and yells, “Quick, turn on the TV!” and the people already there don’t ask what channel to turn to. And the news item is apparently starting over again from the very beginning so that those watching the report get to hear all of it. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/89 "2015-10-18T21:29:38Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Yes, its stupid. However, I will assure you, if properly motivated, tires will indeed screech on dirt. 😉 A friend of mine swore he watched an Elvis movie in which a motor boat made the peel-out sound. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/90 "2015-10-18T22:16:17Z")
As long as we’re nitpicking gun stuff - how’s about the stone-cold killer / ultra-competent badass who blinks and/or flinches each time they fire? It’s very indicative of a person who’s inexperienced with guns, but there’s no way to train a person not to do it except for giving them lots and lots of range time. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/91 "2015-10-18T22:23:09Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > When somebody runs in and yells, “Quick, turn on the TV!” and the people already there don’t ask what channel to turn to. And the news item is apparently starting over again from the very beginning so that those watching the report get to hear all of it. Amen to that! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/92 "2015-10-18T22:24:53Z")
There’s a remarkable lack of "understand why they did it " in this thread, considering the subject line. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/93 "2015-10-18T22:28:18Z")
Oh, look; a guy with a gun just got the drop on someone from a short distance away. For plot purposes, I know the gunman now has to walk right into hand-to-hand range; I’m sitting here _expecting_ it, because it _has_ to happen: it’d make no sense in reality, but it makes so much in-story sense that I’m taken out of the movie in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/94 "2015-10-18T23:02:05Z")
In the “experts messing up” category, it’s military uniforms for me. The ACU has a zipper on the front and a velcro tab on the collar. Both features were added to accommodate body armor\*, which were uncomfortable with the old, plastic buttons. When you wear it, you [zip it up to sternum level and fold the collar down.](http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.191107.1348848183!/image/3480056608.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_804/3480056608.jpg) When you put on your armor, you zip it all the way up and flip the collar tab closed if you want to. In movies, though, they’re consistently screwing this up. They have that collar closed and the zipper all the way up. They have no name plates, no flag, no unit insignia, and the rank is sometimes in the wrong place. Their boots aren’t bloused and their laces hang out. I know to civilians it doesn’t seem like a big difference, but that’s not the point. The point is that this is a basic function of getting dressed. The soldier does it every day. Their character ought to know how to dress themselves properly. To us servicemen, it looks the same as having your pants on backwards. Come to think of it, I actually _don’t_ know why costume departments can’t get it right. \*They tilted the breast pockets for the same reason, so a soldier can access the pockets through their chest protector’s arm holes. They’re velcro so they can be operated one-handed. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/95 "2015-10-18T23:04:52Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > - Just once, I’d like to hear “Hey, somebody stole the rearview mirror!!”. Or the headrests. They’re often oddly missing as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/96 "2015-10-18T23:13:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Duhhhh … gee, Mr Whoopee. Can we see the 3-D BB? :rolleyes: I have no clue what this is supposed to mean (aside from being unnecessarily hostile). ---
**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:** [October 19, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/97 "2015-10-19T00:26:51Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Oh, look; a guy with a gun just got the drop on someone from a short distance away. For plot purposes, I know the gunman now has to walk right into hand-to-hand range; I’m sitting here _expecting_ it, because it _has_ to happen: it’d make no sense in reality, but it makes so much in-story sense that I’m taken out of the movie in advance. There was one movie where Gene Hackman (I think) was pursuing some baddie on a train. He finally gets the drop on the guy in the space between between cars, and instead of handcuffing or otherwise securing him, he goes “Ha! It’s a toy gun!” Whereupon the bad guy proceeds to beat the crap out of Gene. Of all the dumb things I’ve ever seen in a movie, this ranks among the dumbest! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/98 "2015-10-19T00:38:26Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > As long as we’re nitpicking gun stuff - how’s about the stone-cold killer / ultra-competent badass who blinks and/or flinches each time they fire? It’s very indicative of a person who’s inexperienced with guns, but there’s no way to train a person not to do it except for giving them lots and lots of range time. Like Dirty Harry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/99 "2015-10-19T00:55:01Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > **2) Wrong wildlife** > > If the setting of a movie is, say, North Carolina, but the soundtrack is full of bird calls from South America, it’s hard to suspend my disbelief. **Justified** is a great show, but it’s terrible in this respect. The Appalachian foothills of Kentucky are damn near the most important character on the show, certainly in the top five–but all their establishing shots have sagebrush and shit in them. Would it have killed them to send a crew to Appalachia for a couple of weeks, knock back a dozen hours or so of scenery footage to use for the rest of the series? If the setting weren’t so important to the show, I wouldn’t mind so much–but as it is, it’s **really** hard to believe they’re tracking down hillbillies when they’re practically in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928/100 "2015-10-19T04:24:14Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I am talking about internally inconsistent plot. The “expert” has to act like an idiot for 5 minutes so that the plot works. The one that really bugged me was near the end of Skyfall. The badguy and his henchmen track Bond and M and some other guy to the Skyfall mansion and start shooting up the place. M and the other guy take an escape tunnel that dumps them out into the countryside. It’s night, it’s dark, and they have a good lead on the bad guys. So they pretty much have a clean getaway right? No. M and the other guy are using a flashlight while running across the moor.:smack: Bad guy looks across the countryside in the dark of night 360 degrees around the house, sees the flashlight in the distance, “There they are!” Idiots. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-understand-why-they-do-it-but-it-takes-you-out-of-the-movie-anyway/734928.md?page=6)