Macalou

4th Jan 2006

Point Break (1991)

Question: The final showdown between Utah and Bodhi was shot at Bells Beach, but was the wave footage also shot there? I'm especially interested in the closeups. Waves of that size and strength are not commonplace, and no surfer (save Eddie Aikau) would even attempt to tackle such a monster set.

Macalou

Chosen answer: No part of the film was shot anywhere near Bells Beach. It is not even Australia.

26th Sep 2005

Crash (2004)

Question: If Det. Graham had already identified his brother's body at the crime scene, why would it have been necessary for his mother to have to do so at the morgue, especially since it was very traumatic for her?

Macalou

Chosen answer: Since he was directly involved with the investigation, to identify the body would have been a conflict of interest. Therefore he had to notify the next of kin beyond himself.

Question: When Charlie goes into the candy shop and gets a Scrumdiddlyumptious bar, he gobbles it down and the man warns him he'll get a stomach ache. The fifth golden ticket had been found (or so Charlie thinks at this point), so he can't be digging for it. I've never understood: what was the point in eating it so fast?

Macalou

Chosen answer: In the original book, Charlie has an obsession with chocolate that he only satiates once a year on his birthday. Also, at this point in the book, the Bucket family is going through an extremely hard time and Charlie has had less food than he usually would have, so he is EXTREMELY hungry.

Question: A trivia entry for this movie reads: "One of the droids in the arena battle has 1138 written on his back." Forgive my ignorance, but this means... what, exactly?

Macalou

Chosen answer: George Lucas first movie (made in college I think) was called THX-1138. It is referenced from time to time in a lot of his movies.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Is there really a punch line to the "naked lady walks into a bar" joke while Bender is crawling through the ceiling?

Macalou

Chosen answer: The joke goes like this: A naked blonde walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm and a salami under the other. She slams the poodle down on the table and the bartender says "so you won't be needing a drink?" The blonde replies "I will after what just happened! I was about to make love when my boyfriend said 'I'm gonna pound my favourite bitch with my giant sausage' so I grabbed them both and ran out".

21st Jan 2004

Top Gun (1986)

Question: Why does the air traffic controller call Maverick "Ghostrider"? Surely that isn't his call sign?

Macalou

Chosen answer: The term "Ghostrider" refers to the squadron name. There used to be a Tomcat squadron called the Ghostriders. Usually in a radio call, the squadron name is followed by a number. For instance, in the first fight where we see Cougar get into a spot of trouble with the Mig on his tail, he radios "This is Ghostrider 117 this bogey's all over me, he's got missile lock on me, do I have permission to fire?" That is normally the correct term as to who is on the radio.

Question: At the very end of the movie after Dorothy says "Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home," normally, it fades out to the credits, but once - and only once - when I was very young, I thought I remembered seeing the camera pan away from her face and down to the foot of the bed where you see the ruby slippers tucked underneath the bed, then a fade to the credits. It is obviously a black-and-white shot, but there were the glittering shoes. Has anyone else seen this version of the ending?

Macalou

Answer: Another fine example of the Mandela Effect. None of the "making of" books reference this alternate ending. The original book ends with Dorothy losing the slippers on her journey back to Kansas.

wizard_of_gore

I also remember this scene; however, I remember it in a television movie, and it was at the beginning, not the end, of an entirely different movie.

Chosen answer: Yes. I'm sure I've seen that version. It shows that Dorothy didn't just dream about Oz and makes for a more satisfying conclusion. This version was original but edited out because it didn't follow the book's storyline for "Return to Oz" and the other long series of Oz books. The sequel pertains that she loses the slippers in transit back to her home and falls to the gnome king who destroys Oz which in turn causes Dorothy to return. So seeing the slippers at the end of the bed, while more satisfying, wouldn't really stay true to the Oz series.

I absolutely remember that version with the shoes at her bedside, but nobody I know remembers it.

Thank you! I remember that too but everyone I know thinks I'm nuts.

I remember that version and after that I expected to see the same ending but no I never saw that ending again. I got the response that no-one I know saw that ending of the movie where the ruby slippers being on her feet in her bed. Thank you for that answer. This was a long time mystery.

I absolutely remember that scene.

I remember that too - and I've asked so many people and they said no, I must have dreamed it. Thank you.

I saw that version once when I was a little kid too! I remember it vividly. Now I know I'm not crazy.

Answer: This seems to be one of those mass examples of people remembering something that never happened. There are also other variations, like people claiming to remember the film switching to color as the shot pans down to her slipper-clad feet, or the slippers being in color against the sepia-toned B&W footage. But sadly, it seems no officially released version of the film has had such an ending. It's similar to how everyone thinks Darth Vader says "Luke, I am your father," or how everyone thinks Humphrey Bogart says "Play it again, Sam!", even though neither of those lines are real, and people are merely incorrectly remembering them. The film is so ingrained in pop-culture, that people think they know it forwards-and-back, and false memories are created.

TedStixon

I agree that people think they remember things that never happened, but usually for things like this, remembering a scene wrong misquoting a movie lines, it comes from parody versions and people are (correctly) remembering the parody. I've never seen "Silence of the Lambs", but I know the line "Hello, Clarice" from films like "Cable Guy" and not from a false memory of the film.

Bishop73

Answer: https://criticsrant.com/mythbusters-dorothys-ruby-slippers/ This website gives some confirmation it's one of those myths that spread around and get mixed up in people's memories to being convinced they have seen it despite no evidence of it existing. In a film as big as the Wizard of Oz where die hard fans have collected original scripts, notes, and "lost" imagery over the years; we certainly would have something to back this up other than eye witness memory. Especially if it supposedly made it to the final print for viewing audiences as the original Wizard of Oz footage has been carefully preserved, as it's considered one of the most important films of all time. This footage wouldn't be completely lost if it made it to final showing print. Surely somebody would have posted it by now on YouTube. It is possible somebody made a skit or parody of this though contributing to the idea that it was actually in a print of the real movie.

Answer: I remember this being part of a special that was hosted by Angela Lansbury in 1990 and they showed that this ending was considered for the movie. For many years I couldn't remember why I remembered that ending and Angela Lansbury until I looked it up. I wish that it had been left like that. Kids always want their dreams to come true.

Answer: I and a friend of mine remember seeing the ruby slippers under Dorthy's bed at the end of the movie. Glad to know we didn't imagine it.

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