Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.

Question: What is the musical song called that's played during Otter and Mrs. Wormer's affair in Otter's bedroom?

Answer: It's Bossa Nova music that has no title. It was incidental music composed by Elmer Bernstein for the film.

Bishop73

It's the theme from A Summer place.

The theme from "A Summer Place" is playing when Mrs. Wormer comes into the house. But it's not what is playing when they get into the room.

Bishop73

Question: Vincent and Mia are shown smoking cigarettes inside Jackrabbit Slim's, but California has long been known to have some of the most restrictive anti-smoking laws in the US. While I'm aware that neither Vincent nor Mia was exactly law abiding, was smoking in restaurants in California still allowed at the time this film was made?

zendaddy621

Chosen answer: California passed a ban on restaurant smoking in 1994, as part of labor policies meant to protect the health of employees (such as bartenders, waitresses and bellhops) from the risks of secondhand smoke. However, "Pulp Fiction" was produced in 1993 and was released in 1994. The actual law did not take effect until 1995.

Question: How did Lieutenant Dan find out about Forrest and Jenny's wedding? Forrest appears to be surprised to see him there, and Jenny had never met him before.

Answer: Presumably, Forrest called Dan and invited him. He seemed surprised to see Dan standing. The last time Forrest saw Dan he was in a wheelchair. His reaction was all about Dan's "magic legs".

af4dable

Question: What did Jenny's boyfriend, Wesley, mean when he referred to Forrest as a "baby-killer"?

Answer: He is referring to Forrest having fought in the Vietnam War.

raywest

Answer: Baby-Killer was a term that anti-war protestors used to describe soldiers who fought in Vietnam. This was because a lot of innocent babies were killed by soldiers during the Vietnam War along side men, women, and children. Https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre.

Question: How did the British manage to populate Port Royal (i.e. What is now Jamaica etc.) by so many ordinary people who were evidently dirt-poor already? Surely they were not all pirates and surely there were no shuttle ships. What was their motivation to move to the Caribbean, compared with the 19th and 20th century immigration waves to the U.S.?

Answer: The British motivation was to colonize areas of the world that could produce the raw resources England needed or could trade (lumber, tobacco sugar, etc.) These were exported back to their own country and traded to other nations for huge profits. Private English citizens could immigrate, obtain land, and sell what they produced to the trading companies that began operating there. The local population provided a cheap labor force to work on the plantations. The Caribbean was also a strategic military location. The Port Royal in the POTC movies is a fictional version of the real Port Royal and therefore, is not an historically accurate depiction.

raywest

Question: There is a scene that shows nothing but blackness and two people are speaking, one says, "Hoist the colors..." the other says, "Dead men tell no tales." The scene plays right after the crew of the Black Pearl and Sao Feng's crew fall over the waterfall in Sao Feng's ship. What does it mean?

Brittany Renaud

Answer: The first sentence is a part of the sea shanty "hoist the colours", sung at the beginning of the movie and reminds about the brethren court and the reason they are trying to find Jack. The second sentence is a line from the famous Disney ride, which was later used as a subtitle for the 5th film.

lionhead

Answer: It is the transition into Davey Jones' locker. Just a creepy, fantastical way of showing how the place can mess with your mentality.

Chosen answer: It's dialogue from the Disneyland ride.

Phaneron

Question: Why does the Emperor seem to want Luke to kill him so badly? I get he is trying to turn Luke to the dark side but he can't exactly own Luke if he's dead.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: He's trying to rile Luke up. The Emperor knows Vader will intervene. The Emperor sees the situation as a win-win for him with either Luke being killed by Vader or Luke kills Vader and turns to the Dark Side.

Phaneron

Answer: As Anakin says in ROTS, killing someone is not the "jedi way". By killing the emperor, he is surrendering to his feelings, which is one of the paths to the dark side.

Question: Where was Pyro when Magneto went to Jean's house and the professor was killed?

Answer: We aren't told for certain, but given that he is Magneto's right-hand man, he may have been instructed to remain at their base camp in order to assume command of Magneto's army should Magneto's mission to recruit Jean have gone awry.

Question: In the movie, Buford shoots two flying bottles whilst holding the gun at his hip. Is that even possible?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Technically, yes, but no matter how adept the shooter, such a trick would always rely more on luck than skill. Shooting from the hip makes it impossible to aim any better than "in the general direction of the target."

Question: After Rose rescues Jack from below decks, they run past Mr. Andrews, who's standing in front of a fireplace, leaning in towards it. What room is he in? It looks like the First Class Lounge, which deck plans show has a fireplace but it's towards the forward end of the ship, which means Mr. Andrews should have been leaning away from the fireplace since the incline was towards aft. I haven't been able to locate an answer to this.

JeStGr

Chosen answer: It's the First Class smoke room, which has the ship's only functional fireplace facing the fore. As the ship's fore (front) is pointing down into the water, Andrews is standing at a tilt against the incline, so his stance is tilted towards the ship's aft and therefore he is leaning against the fireplace.

Sierra1

Chosen answer: It's implied that it could be her, but there's no definitive answer as to whether or not it is. It's deliberately left to the audience's interpretation.

raywest

Question: Here's something I'm confused about, and I've only seen this movie twice now; Why didn't Dr. Schultz shake Candie's hand to seal the deal? Also, why was Stephen, and Django himself, so disrespectful to their own kind? I know Stephen was "raised" by white folk but Django? His comment to the doctor doesn't make much sense. I hope I explained these enough; I'm just a little confused about all this.

Answer: Dr. Schultz's pride coupled with his disdain for Candie wouldn't allow him to shake his hand. Stephen is unfortunately completely subservient to his white master, and is what is known to be an "Uncle Tom." Django's behavior towards fellow blacks is just a front he's putting on in order to get into Candie's good graces so he can rescue his wife.

Phaneron

Chosen answer: She was part of a group of mutants that called themselves "The Omegas" and accordingly they got tattoos of the omega symbol as a mark of pride.

Phaneron

Question: Was it the decision of the directors to have Ghost Rider killing people rather than using the Penance Stare like in the first movie. I found it odd that Johnny stated that the Ghost Rider would go after anybody such as people who tell little white lies.

Answer: The entire film was designed to have a different tone and feel from the first film, to be accessible to viewers who never saw the original. Thus this film exists as something of a soft reboot. In interviews the directors also stated the origin story for Ghost Rider never made sense to them and they wished to change aspects of the character for this film. That includes removing the Penance Stare and making Ghost Rider have an uncontrollable desire to feed on the wrong people have committed, even things like little white lies could set him off.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Early in the film, Rawhead Rex kills a farmer, but the farmer's pregnant wife gets Rex's attention and he goes toward the house. She runs upstairs to hide but the monster follows, cornering her in the bedroom. He reaches out to her, but then relents and spares her for some reason. The movie never really explains why. Can anyone explain why he let her live?

dewinela

Chosen answer: Pregnant woman (and possibly women on their periods) are his weakness and the only thing he fears.

Bishop73

Question: Why did Winthrope try another exchange of suitcase (on the train, with Bleeks) and got caught, when Valentine already made such an attempt before and was successful in it?

manubhatt3@gmail.com

Chosen answer: They had to make sure what the crop report said before they could put a fake report in so they can fool the Dukes. Basically Valentine got the case and gave it to Winthorpe. Whinthorpe removed the crop report and replaced it with a fake one. Then he had to get the fake to Bleeks.

Question: How exactly is the level of Jedi knight different to padawan learner apart from having a padawan of their own?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: A padawan is an apprentice Jedi. They are still learning and haven't mastered the skills needed to go out on their own. Once a padawan has passed the trials, a series of tests designed to test the Jedi against what they will face in the universe, they can receive a promotion to knight. Knights are able to be sent out on missions alone. Padawans are not.

Greg Dwyer

Question: When Vanellope throws the medal into the cup, it registers her name. Since the medal was actually Ralph's, shouldn't his name have appeared on the board?

Answer: The coin is simply the required payment to enter the race. The person throwing it is the entrant.

Chosen answer: According to the Star Wars Wiki, he is not. He is a member of the Church of the Force and believes in the ideals of the Jedi order despite not being force sensitive himself. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lor_San_Tekka.

wizard_of_gore

Chosen answer: They were talking about the apartment Steve Rogers lives in. Pierce is saying Nick Fury bugged Cap's apartment, one of his own agents.

Bishop73

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