Question: Regarding that move Hawks does where he lifts his fingers and adjusts then in a different position in order to get the advantage and win, a) what is the significance of doing this (what exactly is he doing) and b) is this even legal in a real arm wrestling tournament?
Question: Can anyone who speaks Japanese tell me what Jim says to the guard who's beating up the doctor? He says a few lines, then bows. The guard seems embarrassed and walks away.
Chosen answer: The first time, Jim says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna tomodachi desu yone. Senso no sei desu." This roughly translates to "There has been some sort of mistake. We are all friends aren't we? It is the war's fault." The second time, Jim only says "Nanika no machigai desu. Bokutachi wa minna..." and then gets pushed aside. "There has been a mistake, we are all...". I hope that helps.
Question: When Baby helps Penny out by dancing with Johnny at the Sheldrake hotel, it is stated that it is Thursday night (when Penny has the abortion). At breakfast the next day Baby's dad says they are leaving tomorrow, even though they are paid up til Sunday. Thursday night is the first night that Baby and Johnny sleep together, yet they seem to be seeing each other for ages before Johnny even gets sacked, let alone the time that's past when he comes back. I don't see how all of this be squeezed into 2 days?
Answer: The father says they're leaving the next day, but when the mother asks why, he realizes he'd need to explain what happened, so he decides not to leave, and they stay for the rest of the trip as originally planned.
Answer: They were there for 3 weeks, so they had been together for at least 2 weeks.
Question: Who's idea was it, or the reason, Kubrick decided to kill off Gunnery Sergeant Hartman? Was it to merely show the casualty of war?
Answer: It was Gustav Hasford's idea. It happened in the original book that the story is based on, "The Short Timers."
Question: When Robocop is about to arrest Jones, he suddenly feels his system malfunctioning. Jones then explains that Directive 4 is used to shut him down if he attempts to arrest a senior officer of OCP. Why did Jones put this directive into Robocop? At the time nobody knew he was working with Boddicker.
Answer: Because he knew he was doing illegal activities. Robocop was said to be highly efficient at his job and Jones did not want to risk him out on the streets without the insurance of shutting him down if Robo came after him.
Question: Who laced the cookies that were given to the children with arsenic? It's never shown who applies it, only who takes the cookies to them.
Answer: When the children discover the cookies had been poisoned (revealed by the death of their pet mouse which ate part of one of the cookies), they suspect their grandmother. After all, she was the one who had been cruel to them all along. But eventually, they realise that it was in fact, their mother, Corinne, who was lacing the cookies with poison. She was doing so with the hope that the children would eventually die, seemingly from disease. In doing so, she would secure the family inheritance which was contingent upon her never having had children from her first marriage. They eventually confront their mother on the day of her second wedding, and a struggle ensues which ultimately leads to Corinne falling to her death from a balcony.
Question: How accurate is the portrayal of the Untouchables, when it comes to names and numbers? Were there actually only four of them? Do Garcia, Connery and Smith play actual people or fictive ones?
Answer: It's about 50% truth and 50% fiction. Ness, Al Capone, and Frank Nitty are real, of course, but the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith are fictional. Ness started out with 50 candidates for his 'Untouchables' force. This was whittled down to 15 finalists and from that he selected 9 agents (none of which has the same name as the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith). It's true that Capone was convicted for tax evasion. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but received an early release because he was in the last stages of syphilis. He died shortly after being released from prison.
Capone lived for 8 years upon his release from prison. The 8 years being slightly longer than the actual prison time he served, which was just over 7 years. He died, having the mental capabilities of a 12-year-old.
Question: What is the significance of Glenn Close and the color white? I noticed that her apartment is white and with the exception of one scene when she's wearing the black leather coat, she is always wearing white. Any thoughts on this?
Chosen answer: With questions such as this, one can either speculate, or one can go directly to the source. So, using IMDb, I looked up the names of the crew on "Fatal Attraction." The costume designer is listed as Ellen Mirojnick. The set decoration was the responsibility of George DeTittas, Sr. I found Ellen Mirojnick on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ellenmirojnick/posts/263462080524551?comment_id=263621453841947&offset=0&total_comments=2¬if_t=feed_comment), and posed the question to her. This was the reply she gave: " (I)n our process there is always a purpose for a palette to tell a story dramatically. I chose white for her character because white is powerful and although not essentially a "color" it reflects all other colors, which would in turn reflect where we were in the story. I thought through her silhouettes and use of shades of whites, it would reflect her mood and not give away the demon she kept hidden. WHITE is powerful... As she was!" I have not yet been able to track down Mr. DeTittas for comment. But I have posed the additional question to Ms. Mirojnick regarding whether the color palette motif was a decision shared by different departments on the film. Ms. Mironjnick added the following comments: "she wears white to discuise (sic) her darkness, that somehow is revealed in certain places.. white is all things combined .. it radiatesits (sic) the confusion as if she was in an asylum, but her own."
Question: This question is about the scene where John Candy is the driver, and Steve Martin is the passenger in the rented car. Steve is unaware at one point, that they are going the wrong way on the highway. He becomes aware, after looking out the window and down onto the shoulder of the road with the wet snow splashing up. As soon as he looks at that, he knows they are going the wrong way. What was it about the road that made him realize it?
Answer: The reason was that the snowbank was on his side (the passenger side) when it should have been on the driver's side if they were driving in the right direction. Also and I'm not sure if you could see this in the film but the deflecters on the road which separate the lanes if you are going in the right direction shine yellow and if you are going the wrong way shine red.
Question: What is the deal with Mac? Why isn't he in the Armed Services like a majority of the other men in England?
Chosen answer: He could have flat feet or a bad back or many other problems which don't really inconvenience him but make him ineligible for service.
Question: If the beach house is in the Hamptons, why is the sunrise from the west?
Answer: It's probably just a movie inaccuracy. For whatever reason, probably technical, economical, or for artistic considerations, the scene could have been staged and shot during sunset rather than sunrise. Oftentimes, scenes are not actually filmed when and where they are supposedly set. Locations are often substituted for ones that are more private, more scenic, have easier physical access, are in a less expensive economic region (such as Canada), and so on.
Question: Why doesn't Maroowd want Withnail accompanying him to the train station? I thought they were supposed to be friends?
Chosen answer: I'm not sure they are friends, they were just thrown together by circumstance. Withnail treats Marwood badly throughout the film. When Marwood gets his role, he smartens himself up and can't wait to get out of there, not even bothering to move his stuff out, saying his dad will do it. I think that they both realise that it's the end of their relationship, and Marwood just wants to get it over with.
Question: When Grandpa is walking his dogs, you can hear a boy say, "Keep your dogs off my lawn," then laughs. You hear his laugh again in the beauty salon. What was that about?
Answer: The laugh does seem out of place because it sounds more like kids than the ladies at the salon. But it didn't sound like the same laugh to me. But it does sound like the same person recorded both laughs. It also seems like the kid's line was added after filming the shot. So it wouldn't surprise me if an adult (perhaps one of the production sound mixers) recorded a couple different lines and laughs in a pretend kid's voice. Then one of those laughs was added.
Answer: I tried to find a clip of these scenes but didn't find exactly what you're referring to. If it was the exact same laugh that was heard, it may be a sound effect added to the film during the post-production editing. Foley artists add all types of sound effects to movies, including laughs, groans, coughs, etc. Sometimes one particular sound gets used more than once. One famous example of a repeated sound is the "Wilhelm" scream. This particular scream has become a tradition that many editors add to movies.
Question: When the three men decide to try to stop Sylvia from boarding the plane to London they go to the airport and are able to go through security right up to the gate to try to locate Sylvia and Mary. Was this actually possible for an international flight in 1987 when this movie was made? Could you go past airport security without a ticket and passport in 1987 for an international flight?
Answer: Yes. Before 9-11-2001, non-passengers were allowed to go into airports and go to any of the gates. A lot of times, people would accompany friends or family members to their gate or be there for their arrival. And you wouldn't need a passport just to go to a gate with an international flight. In fact, one time I went to pick up a friend (pre cell phone days) and didn't see her come out and was afraid I missed her or didn't see her. So I asked one of the airline employees if she could check the manifest list to see if my friend was even on the flight, which she did to help me out. Things were much "simpler" back then.
Answer: It's a regrip to get leverage. Yes it's legal. The best arm wrestler in the world Devon Larratt does it with perfection. Usually works only in a strap match.