Are sewers always lighted? (movie related) (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

Alligators with frickin' laser beams.

Joe

 

[SteveGon]

And here's another one: don't you just love it when a character knocks someone unconscious by hitting them over the head and that person suffers no ill effects afterwards? What, no one gets brain damaged in the movies? And how about when a character faints and falls to the ground, but doesn't get hurt? You'd think they'd bust their skull open or something...

 

[Ben Osborne]

Steve, I notice that too. Knocking someone out is portrayed as easy to do, innocuous, and even a good way to get back at someone or show them that you're mad. In the trailer for "Mystery Alaska", which is some kind of sports comedy, a woman knocks a man out with a shovel because she's mad at him, that two-timing scoundrel. Ah yes, there's nothing like the old shovel to the head to put someone in their place. I never saw the movie, but I'm sure that the guy immediately starting hemorrhaging and died on the way to the hospital. The movie was probably about the woman's trial for voluntary manslaughter.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Yeah - in kids get rushed to the hospital to check for concussion for the tiniest head-bump, everyone gets real serious when a major leaguer takes a fastball to the head, and boxers have died in the ring from being struck by a fist in a padded glove - but whacking somebody in the head with a length of steel pipe, a shovel or a small boulder, that's no big deal. Just once I'd like to see someone stumbling dizzily around and vomitting a few hours after taking one of these shots. (I remember an Alistair McLain novel where one character - who has evidently seen too many movies - indicates that he'll knock out a suspected bad guy if necessary with a steel pipe. Another character, a doctor, is appalled. "Do you want to give him a fatal skull fracture?" The doc grabs some gauze, tape and sugrical sponges and wraps the pipe to make it less lethal.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Well, do try to remember we are usually dealing with the villians in the movie, who are able to withstand an insane amount of physical punishment and just keep getting up. I'm sure a blow to the head, be it with a bat or a pipe, is effectively a hangnail for these superhumans.


Bruce

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I've just been watching a Mythbusters episode where they put paid to the idea that you can jump (or be thrown) through a plate glass window without getting so much as a shaving nick, Tarzan-movie type "quicksand" and the famous "ignite the pool of gasoline by dropping a cigarette into it" move. Also just watched Where Eagles Dare where they don't even bother waiting until the Nazi staff car crashes at the bottom of the cliff before setting off the "this-never-happens-in-real-life" fireball explosion - they had it happen while thing was still dropping through the air, after maybe stiking a glancing blow to a snowbank.

Regards,

Joe

 

[SteveGon]

Can't believe I didn't think of the "jumping through a window unscathed" one.

As for blows to the head, I just remembered one movie that gets it right: George Washington. Here, a young boy slips and falls, hits his head, gets up and wanders around, then convulses and dies. Very tough to watch...

 

[George_W_K]

Here's an old thread you guys might be interested in.

I've seen service tunnels lit up in real life. There are utility tunnels underneath Case Western Reserve University where there are water lines, steam pipes, electrical services, etc. and they're lit up. Hot as hell too! The steel mill has tunnels like these as well.

 

[Jan Strnad]

For the sticklers about dark scenes being filmed in the dark: Check out EQUINOX, which has a scene in a cave and it's COMPLETELY DARK. You hear footsteps and dialogue like: "Where are you, Jim?" "I'm over here!" (Running footsteps) "Hurry! This way!" (Running footsteps).

And it seems to go on FOREVER, even though it's probably less than a minute.

 

[SteveGon]

Well, the floors were probably flat so they didn't have to worry about tripping over anything.