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: How did Bullitt know the specific cab number to look for? Did he call the taxi company to see who dropped a passenger there on Friday, then ask where the cab and driver could be found?

Answer: Being an ex-cab driver, most have a routine. Same areas of town, same routes and same businesses to go where there's most profitable and the tips are good. They also make friends with the owners, to make sure they're specifically called by name, not cab.

Endgame - S1-E12

Question: What happened to the lieutenant after Amon threw him into the pile of wood?

Answer: We do not see what happens. Avatar shows rarely have people killed on screen, so either he got away and was never seen again, or just died right there. As Amon was outed as a bender, he would not go back for his old boss.

Question: Can someone explain to me the paint thing that was used to track Shaw from London to Spain?

Question: Why didn't David simply turn around and go back home? The truck never turned around to get him, it just waited further ahead up the road. David even stated he'd never make his meeting now due to delays. Huge plot hole.

Answer: As the title indicated this became a "duel." Once challenged, David got pulled into a fight mentality with the crazed truck driver to where his "road rage" pushed aside all logic and sense of safety. David became obsessed with defeating the "Goliath" opponent. Also, if he turned around and went home, that would have ended the movie.

raywest

Answer: Not only that but, the truck driver was a psycho who wanted to kill David, so he would have likely turned around and kept following him.

Maybe-but if David had not taken his roughly one hour nap and turned around right then he would have had a huge head start on the truck, and it is doubtful the truck would have caught up with him. Still, a great movie.

Question: When Tina enters the bank, with the camera in her purse, why does she walk away from Charlie and ask Stanley to help her? She came there to film the inside, and she doesn't know Stanley. Why does she care if Charlie or Stanley helps?

Answer: She was there to film the safe and Stanley's desk was right across from it, giving her the best view of the safe.

Bishop73

Show generally

Question: Just rewatched the series and in the episode where they are operating on President Kirkman to remove the bullet fragments I noticed what I think was a secret service agent in the background of the OR. Is this normal practice for when a president is under anaesthetic or a medical procedure, or was this just because it was after an attempted assassination?

The_Iceman

Answer: Yes, it's normal. When President Reagan was shot, they were in the OR with him.

Answer: It would be normal procedure, yes. The Secret Service accompanies the president everywhere, except in very limited circumstances (for example, they don't go into the bathroom with him, or stand in his room while he sleeps). When Bill Clinton had an operation to fix a torn tendon, there was an agent in the operating room throughout the procedure.

Question: If Sandra is at the scene of the accident, what is the purpose of the police officer showing up at the door to tell her Jim is dead?

Answer: It's fairly obvious that this film's theme is that knowing the future changes it. I.e. knowing there would be an accident, she travelled there and caused an accident.

Answer: Possibly she left the scene before the police arrived, so they did not know she had been there.

Question: How did the FBI agent know that the two FBI agents on the plane were killed earlier?

Answer: It's been a while since I've watched this movie, but he obviously knows the plane is hijacked. It's a pretty safe assumption that the agents are dead as they're escorting a dangerous, high profile prisoner. Pretty easy to connect the dots. Alternatively, they could've failed to check in, and he assumed the worst.

Question: When John is telling Lawrence about the argument with Ben, John says that Ben would have taken Gwen away from him. Does this mean that John was secretly in love with Gwen?

Answer: Of course, probably not real love, but he wanted to possess her.

Question: Why didn't Chloe tell Miranda that the sheriff was abusing her, and only said "the devil"?

Answer: She was a patient at a psychiatric hospital. She could tell anybody she wanted but nobody would believe her. Miranda's job was treating Chloe for what she thought was a delusion.

Question: Why didn't the teacher get fired after being caught sleeping with a student? In most cases a teacher wouldn't be able to be at that school whether he is of age or not, I don't think parents would like the thought of a teacher sleeping with students is still teaching at that same school and her husband is a teacher as well.

Answer: I don't believe she was ever officially caught seducing a student, her husband found but never told. He wants a divorce, and he knew she would agree to any settlement to keep it quiet.

Question: How in the world were Nicky and the models able to slip past the guard dogs?

Rob245

Answer: As shown in Nicky's office, him and the models are professionals, judging from the different tools that they are using and a map of the Mallory Gallery. All they would have to do is watch and wait for the dogs to leave a specific area, and they would be able to get in because of how quiet they were while Kermit and friends were caught because of how much noise Animal made while trying to eat through the bars.

Question: Why was this filmed in Canada and not in Salt Lake City like the first movie was?

Answer: Likely for a variety of reasons but probably mostly for cost reasons. It is cheaper to film movies in Canada due to the currency exchange rate.

raywest

Question: Why was Solomon in the attic at the end of the film? They sacked him, so he wouldn't have known to have been there at that specific time or anything.

Answer: He figured something was wrong pretty quickly and being framed for messing with children only hastened his suspicions. He would have heard about Marlene dying in the greenhouse on the news and may have even seen an ambulance turn up when Claire collapsed due to being unable to find an inhaler. He was a very kind and caring person so probably kept an eye on the house to make sure the kids were safe. He probably saw Payton break into the house and snuck inside the same way she did.

Question: Is it a mistake that the firearm that Rambo uses against his pursuers is different from the one that Sgt Gault uses against Rambo? He did take Sgt Gault's rifle after his fall from the helicopter.

Answer: The rifle Rambo used was a run-of-the-mill M16 rifle, not a hunting rifle.

stiiggy

Question: Regarding the scene with the highly offended customer, is the actor deliberately hamming it up, or is he just a bad actor?

Phaneron

Answer: I think it's a combination of both of those. He's played by Walt Flanagan, who also plays three other characters in the movie. Flanagan was a friend of Kevin Smith who filled in for several roles. He's definitely playing the part a little hammy... but I also think some of his reactions are a little off because it was (obviously) his first film, and he was inexperienced. (Though to be fair, he appeared in similar small roles in several other Smith films, and his acting improved over time).

TedStixon

Question: Since Neeson is no longer in the assassin corps at the end of the movie, how does he so ably secure fake passports?

Answer: Like all agents he has an emergency escape kit. It's filled with money, passports and documents to become someone else and start a new life. Bruce Willis had one in Red, Keanu Reeves in John Wick and Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity.

Examination Day - S1-E14

Question: At the end of the episode, Dicky's parents are called and informed that the government has killed him? Why did they do this?

Answer: They live in a totalitarian state where people who are deemed too smart (and therefore a threat to the authorities) are done away with. That's the point of the test, to eliminate potential troublemakers.

Brian Katcher

Answer: It's the opposite - not smart but dumb. The voice said he failed to get a perfect score, less than one hundred percent.

Quote: "We regret to inform you that your son's intelligence quotient has EXCEEDED the government standard, according to section blah blah blah of the New Code." As in the original short story, they were eliminating intelligent people.

Brian Katcher

Where can I find the short story?

It's in the compilation "100 Great Science Fiction Short Stories" edited by Isaac Asimov.

Brian Katcher

It's by Henry Slesar and a quick Google search will show you some online copies. It's only two pages.

Brian Katcher

According to Wikipedia, it was first published in the February 1958 issue of Playboy magazine; it may have been reprinted elsewhere since then.

zendaddy621

Show generally

Question: Given how long it ran and its popularity, was there ever talk of a crossover with Dynasty regardless of different networks?

Rob245

Answer: No, back then such things were unheard of. Too much politics, contract disputes and what would the characters do if they met.

Question: Why did Chris insist on the group stealing the cannibals' truck? Wouldn't it have made more sense to hide out somewhere until they leave, then try to get one of the other cars running? Looks like most of them only had flat tires, could have taken 1 tire off 4 cars to get one functioning car. I doubt very much they drained the fuel out of them, older ones could have been hotwired and if they had flat batteries, nothing a bump start couldn't solve.

Answer: Whilst hiding and waiting for them to leave would have been better in the short term, there was no guarantee that any of the cars were runners. This was potentially the only opportunity they had to secure a running vehicle. Plus, even if by some miracle they did manage to get one of those cars started. The mutants could have chased them down, run them off the road etc. with their truck.

Answer: They were planning to try to get one of the cars started. Chris says "Maybe one of them still runs, look for keys". But of course the cannibals turn up, meaning they don't have time to look for a working car.

Answer: How long would it take you to change four tires? Now how long would it take you if you had no tools, if you didn't have the key to the trunk to get the jack, if you had to do it under the cover of dark, and if anyone found you, you'd be killed?

Brian Katcher

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