Question: Hartman compliments Pyle after his round of shooting at the range. How could Hartman possibly know how accurate Pyle was from that distance? There's no way he could see if Pyle had hit the target.
Brittle Fingers
7th Jun 2025
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Answer: He wouldn't be able to, no. I think this comes under the class of "deliberate mistake", i.e. an inaccuracy that was a choice by Kubrick to advance the plot quickly (establishing Pyle's marksmanship/rifle skills) without an extended sequence showing all of the steps taken to verify how well he'd done.
1st Jun 2025
Rocky IV (1985)
Question: In the Apollo vs Drago fight, is the arena set up so that the crowd only surrounds the ring on three sides? I've always gotten this impression, but it's hard to tell for certain when watching the movie. They never really give a good enough angle.
Answer: Yes, because the golden bull's head of which Apollo descended upon would have obstructed the view from people sitting behind it.
27th Aug 2024
Sleepers (1996)
Question: Can someone explain the whole thing with Henry Addison and the $8,000? I don't get the link between that and King Benny asking for 8 grand from Rizzo's brother.
Answer: King Benny "sold" Henry's debt to Rizzo's brother, Little Caesar. He then informs Caesar that Henry was the one who killed his brother, knowing that he'd kill Henry, and that he could use the debt as an excuse.
11th Jun 2024
Black Sheep (1996)
Question: What would have realistically happened to Mike at the very end, when his jacket got caught in the airplane door?
Answer: Chris Farley weighed over 300 pounds. His jacket would have torn long before the plane took off.
3rd May 2017
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Question: At the beginning, Stretch asks the two punks in the car to hang up so that the call can end and the phone line can be clear. Why? Why can't she just hang up and end the call? This makes no sense.
Chosen answer: That's how telephones worked back then. It has to do with the lack of a disconnect signal being sent by the called party, which phone companies have now. Back then when someone called another person, they were paying for the call and thus it was felt that they're entitled not to be hung up on and the line would not be "free" for the person being called, even after they hung up. This also meant if someone was called and they picked up in one room, they could say "hold on I'm going to switch phones", hang up, go to another room and pick up the phone and the caller would still be there. It was also a great way to scam or annoy people by calling them and not hanging up. Some countries still maintain this method of operation, largely because some people have become used to it, although nowadays it's by choice, not by technical limitation, and the length of time the line is held open is significantly reduced.
Yeah that's actually true. in the 80s we used to call up talk radio shows from isolated, seldom-used phone booths and then leave the phone off the hook. No more calls for hours until they straightened it out with the phone company. we called it 'jock blocking'.
That's not true my brother would prank call KDKA in Pittsburgh constantly they had no trouble hanging up. If people called our house there was no trouble hanging up.
That's exactly how it worked if the line didn't have a disconnect signal.
Answer: Hartman compliments Pyle based on what he *thinks* happened based on what he saw; this is the same with almost all shooting ranges. When drill sergeants are watching you at the range, they aren't just looking to see if they can see you hit a target; they are looking at your movements. How was your stance? How was your trigger control? How were you holding the weapon? How steady was your aim? Usually, if you're good at things like the aforementioned, they just assume it all worked together in harmony and you hit the target.