Gavin Jackson

6th Jul 2014

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Question: At the beginning, Lyle refers to the song Camptown races as "The Camptown lady"? Is this simply cause he's stupid, or is there any other reason?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: The opening line of the song refers to the Camptown Ladies and the phrase "Camptown Races" never appears anywhere in the lyrics. If nobody told him otherwise, Lyle may simply have assumed that some variation on "Camptown Ladies" was the actual title.

Tailkinker

The actual title of the song was "Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races," written by American lyricist Stephen Foster and first published in 1850. Over many years on the minstrel show circuit, the title was shortened to "Camptown Races" and was sometimes erroneously called "Camptown Ladies." While the phrase "Camptown Races" doesn't appear in the lyrics, the phrase "Camptown Racetrack" does appear in the second line: "Camptown ladies sing dis song, doo-dah, doo-dah, Camptown Racetrack five miles long, oh-de-doo-dah-day." The song refers to Camptown, Pennsylvania, a real town with a popular horserace in the mid-1800s.

Charles Austin Miller

26th Jun 2014

The Woman in Red (1984)

Question: How did Miss Milner know that it was Teddy who (unintentionally) asked her out on a date? She couldn't see him and he didn't introduce himself so I am very confused.

Gavin Jackson

Answer: She had a secret lust for him. She was the office (Sex and the City) Samantha Jones. Plus they were married in real life, so the joke was that he despised her, while she wanted him.

24th Jun 2014

Ghostbusters (1984)

Chosen answer: For scenes like when Bill Murray is covered with it and it gets in his mouth, it's gelatin mixed with food coloring. For other scenes it's various plastics.

9th Jun 2014

General questions

I saw a film not long ago but can't remember the title. It features a bumbling spy, and in one scene when he is trying to break into a place, he pulls out a credit card, types some numbers on the side and it emits a laser beam. When he is finished, he can't turn the laser off properly and it burns a hole in his pants. Does anyone know this film?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: I haven't seen the film in a few years, but I believe it's from the movie Johnny English. Starring Rowan Atkinson.

Question: Could somebody tell me once and for all why every mutant in these films have nicknames?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Because just like in the comic books, all super heroes and villains have names that are a representation of either the abilities they possess, paraphernalia they use, their personalities, and/or the circumstances of their origin. Magneto is a much more compelling and memorable name for a character than simply calling him Erik. Presumably it also avoids confusion if there are several mutants with the same "regular" name, to have a unique nickname for each one.

Phaneron

Answer: In addition to what was said, the nicknames also provide the individual mutant a way to identity more closely with the fact that they are mutants. As Mystique said in "X-Men: The Last Stand" when addressed as Raven, "I don't answer to my slave name." Many mutants are rejected by their parents when they find out they're mutants, so the "nickname" serves as a way to distance themselves from those that rejected them. In addition, at times their nicknames are called "code names." In this case, it would be a way to address a mutant without using their real identity, in essence a secret identity that's common in almost all superheroes and super villains.

Bishop73

Question: Joan wilder is a successful author with a nice apartment and is financially well off. So why wouldn't she pay Jack the $500 he originally wanted for his help? Given her situation, I didn't think it was too much to ask.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: She's lost in Columbia and doesn't have access to money beyond what she has with her. She doesn't want to give him everything she has because she doesn't know when she'll be able to get more.

14th May 2014

Speed (1994)

Question: What did Harry mean when he said to Jack "And I got shot... Another few inches and they would have given the medal to my wife." I still can't make complete sense of that line.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Jack shot Harry in the upper leg, and Harry is presumably referring to the proximity of the femoral artery, a large and vital blood vessel in the thigh. If Jack's shot had hit him there, he would almost certainly have died within minutes, and they would have to give the bravery medal to his widow.

Sierra1

23rd Apr 2014

The Client (1994)

Factual error: When Mark pranks the detective by using his credit card to order 20 pizzas, he only reads out the card number on the phone. To order via credit card, you must say the expiry date as well.

Gavin Jackson

22nd Mar 2014

Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)

Question: Why didn't Kayo get any credit at the end for his help? Mcquade and Jackson got a rousing public celebration for their work...but Kayo got nothing. I never understood that.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Part of it could be because more people in the crowd know McQuade or Jackson personally. We know McQuade's daughter and ex-wife are there. However, Kayo is also given the Texas Award of Valor, same as McQuade and Jackson.

Bishop73

18th Mar 2014

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Question: I have two questions. Firstly, was getting to shake the presidents hand all the winners got, or was there anything else? And secondly, were the drivers allowed to kill the other competitors as well? Just seems odd to me that the officials who kept track of every killing in the race covered up the fact that Frankenstein had killed Joe Viterbo at the end (blaming the resistance instead).

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Like the Olympic gold medal winners, the winner gets t.v. exposure, acting roles, product endorsements, VIP treatment into exclusive parties and bragging rights. By blaming the Resistance, that paints them as the villains and keeps the race going.

24th Feb 2014

Stir Crazy (1980)

Chosen answer: Because his employers discovered he had put grass (marijuana) in the salad and got all the dinner guests high. Well, he didn't, the cook did. But he brought it into the house so he was fired.

24th Feb 2014

RoboCop (2014)

Chosen answer: He most likely has an artificial heart or some type of system that circulates his blood, this system doesn't necessarily have to take the shape of a typical human heart. However if his biological heart is still functional, it may be behind the lungs.

Answer: Watch again the scene (s), especially close to the end when his armor is reverted to silver and just between his lungs; his heart is just behind his lungs and beating, though if you blink you might miss it.

Erik M.

Except the heart is located in front of the lungs, not behind them.

lionhead

Why Murphy's heart isn't where it should be in a normal human is up to speculation-perhaps the transformation into a cyborg necessitated it's being repositioned, perhaps. The heart is there, though.

Erik M.

Question: When Hauk reads Plissken's military history to him, he refers to him as SD Plissken. Does anyone know what the D stands for?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: I searched this character on the internet, and it's mentioned in several places that Plisskin's full name is never given.

raywest

9th Nov 2013

Flash Gordon (1980)

Question: Why did Prince Barron hate Flash so much? His burning desire to kill this complete stranger left me somewhat baffled.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Prince Barin was the fiance of Princess Aura, who took a shine to Flash. He was quite simply jealous.

Ioreth

23rd Oct 2013

The Last Stand (2013)

Revealing mistake: When Gabriel Cortez reaches the bridge at the end, he sees Arnold standing there waiting for him. It's blatantly obvious in this shot that all he is looking at is a rear projection backdrop of Arnold and the background. (01:25:40)

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: He's initially playing Missile Command, then he goes to play After Burner.

envisaged0ne

2nd Sep 2013

Airplane (1980)

Question: In the film Elaine is going around taking dinner orders on paper like a waitress which has never been the way airlines do it. They bring the cart down the aisle and then ask what you want. So my question is, is this an in-joke, a goof, or did some airlines really do it this way back then?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Airlines have done this in the past. Remember that back in the late 70's when this was filmed, flying was still somewhat of a rare occasion for a lot of people, and airlines treated customers much better.

LorgSkyegon

29th Aug 2013

Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Chosen answer: All the flashbacks are archive footage.

Ssiscool

Question: One of the taglines for this film is "It's nothing personal". I have no idea what that has to do with the film and was hoping someone could explain it.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Two possibilities. 1: The Terminator is emotionless, so the killing isn't personal, but rather what it's programmed to do. 2: Sarah Connor's plan to kill Miles Dyson to stop Skynet's creation.

Captain Defenestrator

It's also a sly nod to another famous tagline, Jaws: The Revenge. "This time it's personal."

BaconIsMyBFF

Chosen answer: Their score was pretty bad, but just good enough to win the bet. Getting the money was the important part - they didn't really expect to win the competition.

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