Question: How realistic is Elliot's plan of building a new plane?
stiiggy
9th Aug 2020
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
Answer: Completely realistic. As explained correctly in the film, the aerodynamic principles involved are valid. Given that the constructed aircraft would have oversized wing surface area and an excess of power available, it should fly. Disruption of the airflow over the top of the wing due to the passengers would be minimal. In the 1930's airshows featured multiple wing walkers atop much smaller and lower powered aircraft.
Answer: Stupidly unrealistic. The plane simply wouldn't fly with people hanging off its wings for a start.
There's a big difference between a single wing walker on a high lift biplane compared to 10 people hanging off the wings.
Search on "multiple wing walkers" and see a 160 hp biplane carrying 5 walkers. So, for the C-119 there is about 2894 square feet of wing area, call it 2000 after cut down. The PW R-4360 produces 3500 hp, but let's use only 30% of that to protect the cobbled airframe. 10 guys on the wings are going to disrupt airflow over about 12 square feet each leaving about 1880 square feet of unobstructed wing being driven by 1000 hp. 30 people on the wings would not stop it from flying.
16th Sep 2020
M*A*S*H (1972)
Question: Whenever there are scenes in the shower tent, it seems that the direction of the showerheads change. Assuming the door is facing North, sometimes the showers are on the East side, sometimes West. Is this considered a mistake?
Chosen answer: According to the show, they have "bugged out" (moved) more than once. The shower would not necessarily have been put back in the same place each time.
28th Sep 2020
Shooter (2007)
Question: What was that stuff that Swagger used to treat gunshot wounds?
Answer: QuikClot dressing, which has blood thickening agent (coagulant) in it. I've treated more than a few wounds with them.
Answer: It's a bit complicated, so here's some online info on how the gunshot wound in the movie was treated. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! https://screenagekicks.wordpress.com/category/screen-surgery-film-first-aid/.
I'm not asking how he treated his gunshot wounds, I'm asking what he used to treat his gunshot wounds?
I've looked at the sources. He used quick clot to treat his wounds. I have a problem with that because he opens the quick clot bag with his mouth. Wouldn't he risk getting cotton mouth if he opened the bag with his mouth since he was risk quick clot getting in his mouth?
That's why someone put this in as a mistake (listed as factual but should be a character mistake). Some say the way he handles the quick clot is wrong and/or dangerous.
13th Oct 2020
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Question: Why doesn't Lt. Schaffer shoot the radio operator with the silenced pistol instead of trying to sneak up behind him to kill him with a knife? Why didn't Mr. Eastwood or Mr. Burton point out the idiocy of that part of the plot to the director?
Answer: Because "silenced" pistols aren't silent. Hollywood has created this myth. Weapon sounds can be suppressed but never silenced.
Answer: This question has already been answered. There's no "idiocy" in choosing one method over another on how to kill someone in that type of situation. Obviously, it was decided that the knife was a better option. This is a movie, not reality. Choices about scenes are made for what works best dramatically for the plot, not about what someone would necessarily do in a real-life situation.
21st Sep 2020
Top Gun (1986)
Question: Does anyone else think it was cheating for Jester to go below the hard deck after he was out-maneuvered by Maverick? He knew that it would be against the rules for Maverick to engage after he dropped below 10,000 ft.
Answer: Jester called "no joy" which ends the engagement. After that he can go below the hard deck, Maverick can't be credited with a kill that's below the hard deck and after the call of no joy.
In reality Jester's "No joy" ("I can't see you!") call would've been followed by Maverick's "Continue" ("I see you (and I'm about to shoot you down!")) and after that if Jester still would've gone under the hard deck the fight would've ended with a maneuver kill for Maverick. (enemy crashed into the ground). Only a "Knock it off" call would've ended the fight there and then.
Your answer is basically just explaining what Jester was trying to achieve, but didn't address the question of motive. Jester's claim was that due to an unsafe condition he needed to terminate the engagement, while Maverick believed he was doing it to avoid getting caught in a disadvantageous situation where he could be "hit." The movie makes it appear Maverick was right so Jester doing it was cheating. It would be like an athlete who is behind claiming an injury to end a match without anyone yet winning in order to avoid losing.
16th Dec 2017
Apollo 13 (1995)
Question: What did Houston mean by they need Omni bravo?
Answer: The Apollo spacecraft had 4 omni-directional control antennas, designated A, B, C, and D. "Omni Bravo" was the B antenna. When Mission Control in Houston said they needed Omni Bravo, it meant they wanted Apollo 13 to try to activate the B antenna.
What were Omni-directional control antennas?
Omni Directional Control Antennas were capable of sending and receiving signals from any direction. The Apollo 13 spacecraft had 4 redundant antennas of this type, which allowed Mission Control in Houston to remotely control certain systems when necessary.
Answer: Omni directional antennas can broadcast in any direction at once, as opposed to one that can only broadcast to a particular spot.
17th Jan 2007
The A-Team (1983)
Question: What were the machine guns The A-Team used?
Answer: They never use an M14. The nearly always use a Ruger Mini 14, a totally different weapon.
Answer: The machine guns primarily used were M60's or M60D's. Although there were a lot of sub-machine guns used too, like the Mac-10. For some reason other answers are talking about rifles used in the show.
For the reason is because most people don't know the difference between an automatic rifle, a sub-machine gun, and a machine gun. I.e. Die Hard "Ho-ho-ho now we have a machine gun" - actually a HK MP5K. M60D's are for helicopter door gunners. I suspect you mean an M60E3, with the pistol foregrip.
You suspect wrong. I did mean M60D since they were seen being used as helicopter door guns.
Only in the stock footage in the intro though.
Yes, because the question was asking what machine guns were used, but didn't cite a specific episode or anything, so I was being thorough.
The question is what machine guns were used by the A-team. Not that one.
So you think the question was what machine gun was used by the A-Team but not by the A-Team?
No. The A-Team never used the M60D anywhere in the series, you only see it in the stock footage of the intro. And the question was what machine guns the A-team used.
Answer: Mostly M-14's. Occaisionally M-16's or Ingram Model 10's. http://world.guns.ru/smg/smg00-e.htm.
They are not M-14s, that is a full automatic military rifle used during the early part of the Vietnam War as a replacement for the M1 Garand. It has much the same appearance as the M1 except with a magazine instead of a top-loading en-bloc 8 rd clip. The rifles used by the team are Ruger Mini-14s, chambered for .223. An M-14 is NATO 5.56.
14th Sep 2017
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Question: Did the scene where Ira Hayes rages against police after a bartender refuses to serve him really happen?
Answer: Following WWII, Ira Hayes hated the fame and sensational publicity associated the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. Deeply depressed, Hayes descended into alcoholism over the next few years, and it eventually killed him. Director Clint Eastwood actually underplayed the true extent of Hayes' sad decline, and the scene you mention was no doubt dramatized for the screen. In real life, Hayes was arrested 52 times for public intoxication and disorderly conduct at various places across the country before his death.
Answer: Definitely yes :). The poor guy was a raging alcoholic who literally drank himself to death.
19th Apr 2004
Patton (1970)
Question: Is it just me or does this film seem to have some definite homosexual undertones when it comes to Patton? He dresses flamboyantly, wears lots of jewelry, designs uniforms, caresses his dead staff member, kisses a soldier tenderly after a battle. Did the writers do this intentionally and/or were there rumors about Patton's sexual orientation?
Answer: It's just you.
Answer: In real life Patton spoke with a high pitched effeminate voice, not the gruff George C Scott type of voice.
1st Apr 2005
Rambo: First Blood (1982)
Question: Was First Blood not approved by any law enforcement or military? I noticed many types of military uniform mistakes, the stars on the trucks upside down, the flags on the police uniforms facing backward when the blue field should be forward. Usually, if a film can not get approval, they can not correctly show military or law enforcement items.
Answer: More than likely. After all, the movie portrayed both the local law enforcement and National Guard to be either intolerant jerks or incompetent morons. Hardly something they would approve of.
Answer: No, it's a myth that actors have to have permission to wear military or law enforcement items, and nor do they have to be displayed correctly.
16th Sep 2005
Stealth (2005)
Question: What is the deal with a apples in this movie, is it a subtle reference to something? Aside from the main bad guy chomping on one while tailing with someone (rude), there are several scenes with large bowls of apples. In one scene, there are two tables with bowls of apples on them.
Answer: Its a Navy thing. Centuries ago, to ward off the threat of Scurvy when sailing long distances, eating apples would prevent it, and the tradition carries over into modern times.
After 21 years of Naval service (10 years destine and four ships) I have never heard of apples warding off scurvy. It was discovered that lemons were very effective. Later in time the British started using limes to avoid scurvy. While limes were cheaper than lemons, they were not as effective. This is also where we get the phrase "Limey Brits" from.
Yep you're right. It's the Vitamin C in limes and oranges that prevents scurvy. Not much of that in an apple.
15th Mar 2014
Flyboys (2006)
Question: The Dr. 1's are repeatedly shown opening their attack by diving down on their enemy. I know that Dr. 1's (because of their tri-wing configuration) had excellent climbing abilities, but it was hopeless at diving. So my question is: was this a common tactic for German pilots (specifically in the Dr. 1) to do this?
Answer: Easy answer. In WW1 and WW2 pilots would attack with the sun behind them as it made them very hard to spot. "Beware of the Hun in the sun" Once the missile age started it didn't matter.
6th Jan 2017
Tango & Cash (1989)
Question: At the start, why does Tango empty his gun (of unused cartridges) and reload with different bullets before shooting the tanker? Unless I missed something, it's never explained.
Answer: He was doing a combat reload, where you eject all the rounds, spent or not and fill the revolver with new ones. It guarantees six shots, rather than relying on "indexing" where you count every round fired.
That doesn't make any sense since he hadn't fired a single round and the gun was fully loaded.
It's hard to tell, but it does look like there were at least some empty shells that land on the ground. A revolver isn't going to eject spent shells, so there's no way to say it was fully loaded.
Answer: It's not specified, but I would suspect that he changed from a .38 Special to a .357 round or something. You can shoot a .38 Special out of a .357 Magnum gun and maybe for the movie they wanted to add a shot of him doing a reload to a higher power cartridge for the effect. Why anyone with a .357 Magnum gun would routinely carry a .38 Special round is beyond me.
It is common to carry .38 special rounds in a .357 carry revolver to reduce the risk of over penetration and target reacquisition. In a nutshell, .38 is a self defense round while .357 is a hunting or combat round.
2nd Nov 2017
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Question: Were any Japanese killed by the bombardment by the battleships?
Answer: Not many. The Americans had grossly underestimated the level of preparedness the Japanese had achieved. Their artillery was dug in underground, as were there soldiers. It was only after bitter hand to hand fighting that the extent of the Japanese defences was revealed. Certainly more them were killed by committing suicide than the very ineffectual naval bombardment.
25th Sep 2017
Emergency! (1972)
Question: Why is the driveway in front of the station always wet? Day or night, whenever they pull in or out it looks like it was just hosed down.
Answer: It is standard practice to wet down driveways so that they stand out in a long shot.
5th Feb 2016
Them! (1954)
Question: What was the purpose of the bag on the hood ornament of the police car in the beginning of the movie?
Answer: You fill the canvas bag with water, put it somewhere where the air can blow through, and the evaporation of the water seeping through the canvas creates cool water inside.
Answer: The bag is "spare" radiator water for when you're in the desert.
9th Oct 2015
M*A*S*H (1972)
Question: A number of times it is mentioned that the outfit is unarmed, yet several times, Frank has a rifle, or a pistol, and once Klinger had a grenade, and the guards and Klinger, while on sentry duty, has a rifle. Was this standard, or is this a mistake?
Answer: Even an Army field hospital would have SOME weapons for self-defense if the enemy attacked. What's meant is that it's not a combat outfit, and therefore wouldn't have enough weapons to actually attack anyone. (It's also mentioned a few times that the Officer of the Watch is supposed to carry a pistol at all times, but Hawkeye refuses to do it when he's in charge and Colonels Blake and Potter don't enforce the rule).
Answer: The Geneva Convention allows even doctors to carry a sidearm to be used in their self defense or the defense of their patients, however it is rare to do so.
Answer: As an old medical unit staffer, my experience is that med units have combat units assigned to defend them. Usually it was marines.
Answer: My old doctor (now deceased) served in Korea during the War. He was required to carry a sidearm anytime he was not in the hospital.
23rd Sep 2013
Escape From New York (1981)
Question: When Snake and the others run away from the WTC, is the building an accurate representation of the real building(s)? I can find lots of images online of WTC 1& 2, and they appear to have the columns all the way to the ground, where in the movie, the ground level is about 20 feet high with no columns. (01:21:55)
Answer: The original World Trade Centers did't have columns as such. The floors were supported by the outside "skin" to make more useable space inside. The entrance (lobby) to the WTC has an open look from the outside the floor doesn't have to supported because it's the ground floor.
23rd Jan 2016
Hot Shots Part Deux (1993)
Question: The credits for Hot Shots Part Deux mentions "footage of Home Alone 2." I'm missing something and can't see it. Does anybody know where in Part Deux this appears please? Thanks in advance.
Answer: They use stock footage of Time square in the electrocution scene. This is taken from Home Alone 2.
Answer: It's just a joke. Like the Naked Gun movies, the credits contain inside jokes and utter nonsense.
30th Mar 2018
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
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Answer: A flying version of the design about 1/2 scale was built and flown for the original 1965 film. It appears in several flying scenes in that movie, but tragically crashed during filming, killing stunt pilot Paul Mantz.