I'm trying to find the title of a western movie where the sheriff of the town has a rebellious son who is now part of a youth gang causing problems and comes to cause problems in the sheriff's town. One of the gang members wears a Confederate uniform and waves around a sword. When a gang of bad guys comes to the town to kill the sheriff, the kid gang helps the sheriff fight them off. I remember the Confederate kid gets killed with a bullet to his throat. Anybody know the name of the movie?
Scott215
13th Sep 2025
General questions
Answer: I don't know about the Confederate uniform, but what you described is a lot like a John Wayne movie, Cahill, US Marshal. Two of his rebellious sons help a gang with a bank heist.
29th Aug 2005
Airplane (1980)
Question: Captain Oveur was saying things to Joey. What I didn't understand is the jokes behind the lines "Have you ever been in a Turkish Prison" and "Do you like movies about gladiators." What are the jokes behind these? Please explain. Thank-you.
Chosen answer: All of his questions to Joey are filled with homosexual innuendos; the perverted captain is trying to see if Joey has any such tendencies. In a Turkish prison, men who are sexually frustrated will resort to "companionship" with other men (even forcefully). Movies about gladiators depict ripped, muscular men, and the question about seeing a "grown man naked" obviously fits the pattern.
The gladiator reference is about Spartacus. There is a scene in there about homosexuality.
What scene are you talking about? If you mean the "snails and oysters" scene, that was not part of the movie until it was restored in 1991.
And also a veiled reference to the "Sword and Sandals" movies that the ultra-buff actor Steve Reeves made back in the 1950s and 1960s that featured well-built and handsome male actors playing characters from ancient Greece and ancient Rome.
Answer: I believe this joke is just to make the watcher extremely uncomfortable and it works great.
Answer: The Turkish prison question is a reference to the movie Midnight Express.
24th Mar 2025
Hogan's Heroes (1965)
Question: In many episodes, why does Colonel Klink claim that nobody has ever escaped from Stalag 13, considering that many people actually have? Even in the pilot episode, a soldier managed to escape from Stalag 13.
Answer: Not from any of the prisoners. Only the ones Hogan smuggled in and out of the camp. Under Klink's nose.
What about when Hogan or one of his team is caught outside of Stalag 13? There were many episodes where Burkhalter, Klink, or even Hochstetter were surprised to see Hogan or one of his friends out in public instead of the Stalag.
They are always back in camp by the end of the episode, so it doesn't count as a successful escape.
Klink's boast was, invariably, "There has never been a successful escape from Stalag 13," meaning prisoners who escaped but were recaptured and returned to the stalag do not count as escapees.
What about the prisoner who escaped in the pilot episode? Doesn't that count as a successful escape?
17th Nov 2024
Gilligan's Island (1964)
Question: Why is the Skipper so superstitious? In the Season 1 episode "Waiting for Watubi," the Skipper thinks he's cursed, and in the Season 3 episode "Up at Bat," Gilligan gets bitten by a bat, and the Skipper thinks Gilligan will turn into a vampire. For a level-headed man, this seems quite strange.
Answer: Sailors are also very superstitious for various reasons, and through the adventures the Skipper had while on the open sea (including his service in WW2) and before beginning the tour business with the Minnow, the Skipper would have made his superstitions a huge part of his life and would have been easily susceptible to superstitious beliefs.
Answer: Many people are superstitious, regardless of age, personality, temperament, background, and so on. It's usually something they grew up with and is ingrained into their thinking. It was particularly more prevalent in the era (first half of the 20th century) that the Skipper grew up in and may have been influenced by culture, family beliefs, religion, limited education, etc.
Answer: The Skipper never thought Gilligan would turn into a vampire. When the bat flew out, that's when Gilligan said, "I'm going to turn into a vampire." When his odd behaviour started up, the Skipper began to believe it.
18th Nov 2006
Gremlins (1984)
Question: According to imdb.com Jerry Goldsmith composed the music for the film. But I ran across a copy of the soundtrack which names Danny Elfman as the composer. I have also seen him credited for the music in both "Gremlins" films on several occasions, both on TV and online. Why is Elfman getting credit if Goldsmith composed the music?
Answer: It's hard to get a definite answer to this, as I've found conflicting answers online. However, by 1984 Danny Elfman hadn't done much composing, with his musical work largely restricted to songs as part of his band. As such I'd think it was unlikely he composed the Gremlins score. No music from the Gremlins films are on either of his compilation CDs either. The closest thing to a reason I can find for the mis-crediting is that on the Gremlins 2 DVD one of the deleted scenes apparently has some music from "Beetljuice" (which Elfman scored) used over it, which may have led to the confusion.
Goldsmith also had a cameo in the film (as did Steven Spielberg) as the man at the phone, while Spielberg rolls around on some sort of bicycle-type vehicle.
Answer: I purchased the Gremlins theme on my iPhone, listed under Danny Elfman, and it's the original theme. I'm guessing Danny bought the rights.
Any Gremlin theme song you bought with Elfman's name attached was mislabeled. He didn't buy the rights to any of the songs Goldsmith created.
21st Mar 2022
General questions
Looking for a movie set (at least partly) in WWII - all I remember is one scene where an American wearing a helmet with a swastika painted red, white and blue is speaking to American soldiers and trying to convince them they should be helping the Nazis fight the Soviets.
Answer: That sounds like you are describing a scene from the movie "Slaughterhouse 5."
2nd Jan 2022
The Santa Clause (1994)
Question: When Scott starts slowly turning into Santa, everybody believes he's dressing up as Santa on purpose. Why didn't Scott simply tell people, "I don't think I'm Santa Claus. I'm not pretending to be Santa Claus. I know I'm not Santa Claus. I'm not even trying to look like him." Granted he could never tell anybody how it happened but if he simply said that he isn't pretending to be somebody he's not people might ease up a bit?
Answer: If he told people he was not deliberately trying to look like Santa Claus, that would cause them to be even more suspicious of Scott Calvin having a mental disorder, not a physical one. Remember, Scott went to see his family doctor, Pete, and Pete tried to explain to Scott his physical changes as a matter of changing his diet from milk and cookies, and Scott suffering from a hormone imbalance. Scott tried, but not even Doctor Pete, a professional in the medical field, could help him.
This question is about his mental state. Not his physical transformation. In other words, he could say "There's nothing mentally wrong with me that would make me think for one second I am Santa." His physical transformation could be explained by people thinking he's overeating, growing facial hair and his hair turning white.
Except, Doctor Pete was incompetent. Nobody has the drastic physiological changes that Scott had, and Dr. Pete seems committed to blaming them on 'routine' aging and diet factors. In real life, a competent doctor would be submitting Scott to a continuous battery of tests, cancer screenings, CT scans, etc.
27th Dec 2021
The Santa Clause (1994)
Question: Why did Scott visit the young girl's house as Santa Claus twice?
Answer: Why wouldn't Santa Claus visit the same house and the same children each Christmas season? Little Sarah obviously believed in Santa Claus and expects him every year, like many children do. Sarah believed in Santa so much she left him food for the reindeer, and cookies and milk for him, and later, soy milk because she remembered that Santa told her he was watching his fats. Santa will visit each Christmas as often as he can, provided people believe in him.
4th Jan 2019
The Terminator (1984)
Question: How exactly do both the Terminator and Kyle find addresses? We are led to believe that is the reason for the phone books, but none of the addresses in the phone books match up to the addresses where either the first Sarah is killed, nor the apartment of our Sarah.
Answer: Gonna be totally honest... that might just be nothing more than a simple continuity error. They accidentally made a phonebook prop that didn't match up with the locations where they shot, and assumed most people wouldn't notice or care. (And to be even more honest, I never noticed it until I saw this question today.)
Answer: My two cents: The T-800 Terminator does indeed, rip out the page of a phonebook for the address, but remember, he was looking for any and all Sarah Connors, not a specific address. He did not know which Sarah would give birth to John Connor, so by process of elimination he began terminating any woman with the name Sarah Connor. He did plug the first Sarah Connor (a housewife), then went to kill the other Sarah Connors in the phone book.
I already gave that answer, but apparently that's not what the question is asking.
Answer: Kyle, as we are shown, uses a police computer to find the addresses. The T800 just uses the phonebook as you mentioned. He rips the page out and takes it with him.
Except 2 of the addresses in the phone book don't match. So how does the Terminator find them using the phonebook?
The Terminator is just blindly killing everyone in the phone book whose name is Sarah Connor (apparently a common name). Process of elimination. So, the day he arrives, unrelated women named Sarah Connor start dropping like flies, and the police believe it's the work of a serial killer. Our heroine Sarah Connor barely escapes this sweeping extermination by sheer luck and Kyle's intervention.
You just described the plot. Were you trying to answer the question? Because the question still stands. (As it is, it's either a mistake or plot hole in the film).
Perhaps I'm not getting the question. What is meant by "none of the addresses in the phone books match up"? Match up to what, the murder scene addresses? I wasn't aware that the murder scene addresses were prominently displayed.
Exactly. The addresses seen don't match. Specifically the first Sarah Connor's house number is "14239", but in the phonebook it is listed as "1823." And the real Sarah Connor lives in an apartment but the phonebook doesn't list an apartment number.
Perhaps though this all doesn't matter because phone books can quickly become outdated, the phone book he found could be over a year old. Someone moves but can still be listed in the phone book with their old address. He could have gone to the addresses but found someone else living there and then asked where the previous owner might be, and he was told (or he forced them). This might be how he found all the Sarah Connors.
Are any of the Sarahs listed as living at 1823? I've not got access to the film right now to check.
The first is listed as "1823." The second is "2816." The 3rd is "309." Although after reviewing the scene and thinking about it, for "309" (which is supposedly our Sarah J Connor), the full address isn't actually seen and the apartment number could have been listed.
Reese never uses a police computer; that's the T-1000 in Terminator 2. He rips out the page from the phonebook. The T800 also uses the phonebook but is never shown ripping out a page.
No! Kyle and the T800 both use the phone book. The Terminator even pulls away a guy who was on the phone ("Hey man! You got a serious attitude problem!") Kyle rips out a page, not the T800. It's the T-1000 in T2 that uses a police computer.
15th Mar 2020
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Question: When the Proctector leaves spacedock, there are Thermians inside the spaceport watching it leave. Later on Mathesar says the Thermians on the Protector are the last ones left. What happened to the Thermians left behind at the spacedock?
Answer: I believe Mathesar was referring to both the Thermians on the Protector and at the base as being all that was left. Not just the ones on the Protector.
Mathesar meant only the Thermians on the Protector were the ones that were still left. The Protector does not go back to the base to pick up the Thermians that were left behind.
We do not know if the Protector went back to pick up the surviving Thermians at the spaceport, as the last act of the Thermians on the Protector was to separate the ship and send the GQ cast back to Earth. Maybe the Thermians did head back to the spaceport to reunite with the Thermians there.
Answer: At 01:01:09, Jason says, "You can drop us off, and you guys can be back to your home planet before supper." Teb answers, "Oh, no, sir. We have no reason to go back." Jason then mentions family and friends. Then, Teb says, "We are all that is left." Based on the shocked silence that follows, it's apparent that Sarris has completed his plan to slaughter all other Thermians, as Mathesar had told Jason earlier.
Answer: Why, certainly they all were transported back to the ship after watching the great moment of the first undocking. After all they have the technology, right?
10th Dec 2020
Star Trek (1966)
This Side of Paradise - S1-E25
Question: All crew members left the Enterprise and Captain Kirk was alone on the ship - how was he able to beam down to the planet and then back up to the ship? No one was on board to manage the transporter.
12th Jun 2020
Mad Max 2 (1981)
Question: In the initial chase scene when Max secured the Semi for pulling the tanker, the driver of the car with the man in back firing the triple arrow cannon gets the snake dropped on him and fires the arrows into the back of the driver's seat. The arrows stop because of the padding. Am I mistaken, or did the arrows not go through enough to reach the driver?
Answer: From what I saw in that scene, the arrows did penetrate through the padding into the driver, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
15th Mar 2020
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Question: Where was Truly was going prior to going in the duck pond the first two times? She changes her plans easily.
Answer: It seems those times were occasions when she was on her way to see her father, Lord Scrumptious, at his candy factory, or wherever he may be (like at the Potts' wargaming with Grandpa).
10th Jun 2020
Star Trek (1966)
13th Jul 2020
Hocus Pocus (1993)
12th Mar 2020
Fury (2014)
Question: Are we to believe that an entire battalion of SS troops with a lot of panzerfausts (as shown when they march) are unable to kill one stationary Sherman? Even if there would be many inexperienced soldiers drafted at the end of the war they can't be that bad right?
Answer: The quality of German weapons at this late stage of the war was quite inferior to the early and mid part of the war due to incessant allied bombing of weapons and munitions plants, and the Germans' use of slave labor to manufacture the weapons and ammunition plants, which invited inside sabotage. There are many accounts of German weapon and ammunition failing on a regular basis, so most of the panzerfausts not scoring a kill on "Fury" due to their low and questionable quality is quite plausible.
4th Dec 2019
Patton (1970)
Question: Did George Patton really change the time which the mess hall was open and closed like he does in the movie?
Answer: Yes, Patton did change the mess hall times. Chester B. Hansen, who was General Omar Bradley's aide, kept a detailed personal wartime diary. In it he wrote about Patton, and regarding the mess hall Hansen described it this way, "When Fredendall was the corps commander, the II Corps people generally went to breakfast at about 9 o'clock in the morning. When Patton came, however, he changed all that, and in Fairlana they stopped serving breakfast at 6 o'clock in the morning. Therefore it was necessary for us to stumble out of bed at about 5, hurry down and grab a breakfast. It was quite cold at that time in the morning..." After the war, because of his detailed diary Hansen was the ghostwriter of Bradley's war memoir, A Soldier's Story, which was one of the resources for this movie's screenwriters.
Did Patton change the mess hall times in order to discipline his troops?
In short, yes, it was part of Patton's stern discipline and strictly enforced regulations, which he believed essential. Following the disastrous defeat at Kasserine Pass, when Eisenhower had Patton promoted and appointed the new commander of II Corps, it was because Patton was the perfect choice. Just as Scott215 mentioned Patton's helmet requirement and the wearing of shirt and tie, this was all part of one of Patton's top priorities - the dress code and the strict adherence to it, and the strengthening of morale and fighting spirit. Eisenhower himself had later written, "Morale in II Corps was shaken and the troops had to be picked up quickly. For such a job Patton has no superior in the Army... General Patton's buoyant leadership and strict insistence upon discipline rapidly rejuvenated the II Corps and brought it up to fighting pitch...the troops...had a much higher appreciation of the value of training, discipline, and speed in action."
Answer: As the commanding Corps General, Patton did, indeed, have the authority to change not only the opening and closing times of the mess hall, but many other areas under his command, like the helmet requirement. He even required his officers to wear shirt and tie while in combat zones, so he did call the shots. His command, his rules.
1st Jul 2019
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Question: Why did Matsumoto have O-ren's parents killed?
Answer: The film does not explain, but O-ren's parents must have been involved in some sort of shady business dealings to have incurred the wrath of Matsumoto. When he is killed, O-ren's father is wearing the uniform of a United States Army Sergeant Major (pay grade E-9), which is the top rank of an enlisted man. He must have been working with Matsumoto in some sort of illegal smuggling ring that involved international connections through the U.S. Army that went bad, or maybe O-ren's father wanted more money and he was in the way, etc.
8th Aug 2019
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Question: What was the point of Kint using names on the wall and coffee cup if he already had a story he told to the DA that checked out? He started using them before Kujan found out about the person Keyser Soze.
Answer: Kint (Keyser Soze) was toying with the cops, using names within the interrogation room to see if the cops were really paying attention, who were so engrossed in the story of Keyser Soze they did not see what Kint was doing or the clues being offered to them, such as throwing out unrelated bits about him being in a barber shop quartet in Skokie, Illinois, which was on the dry-erase board in the interrogation room. That the cops did not get the clues until after he was released and escaped much later demonstrated how Keyser Soze could control whatever situation he was in, including outsmarting experienced veteran police detectives.
10th Aug 2019
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Question: Why does Baroness Bomburst hate children?
Answer: Caractucus Potts uses the Baroness character in the story he tells his kids to add tension and fright. The Baroness is a spoiled, selfish, narcissist whose only true love in the world is the rich and powerful Baron. She probably did not want children in her life with the Baron to distract her from enjoying and indulging in the power and riches she shares with the Baron, and she projects that onto other people who have children. Children, to her, are a huge distraction from her cushy life. Or, she hates children because she cannot have any of her own due to medical reasons, thus, she figures if she cannot have them, then nobody in the village can have them, so the children that are around are in hiding. The movie makes no mention as to why the Baroness hates children, so leaves that up to speculation by the viewer, unless the original book version has her backstory.
Answer: No, the movie I saw did not have John Wayne in it. I do remember another scene where the sheriff is hiding in the bed of a buckboard wagon and the bad guy slowly peeks his head over the edge of the wagon. When he does that, the sheriff fires his pistol into the bad guy's face and blood from the bad guy's face splatters everywhere.
Scott215