Gaffe Squad

I was perusing the Zoetrope site and one user was railing against GLADIATOR. Now, I happen to enjoy the film, but was taken out of the movie early on by a gaffe. I was curious if anyone else caught it, or if there are other notable gaffes from recent movies that you would like to mention.

In GLADIATOR (in fact, in the first ten minutes), Maximus rides up to his sentry and asks where their scout is. The sentry responds, "He's been gone for two hours...", after which the scout returns sans his head.

My question is, did the sentry have a Flintstone wrist-sundial? And did anyone really have a concept of "hours" in Roman times? Gawd, I howled when I heard that, and couldn't get past it for most of the movie. Otherwise, it was a really good film, but that gaffe really fried me.

Also, in U-571 (another pretty good flick), Harvey Keitel is referred to as having been in "World War One". I don't believe that it was called that until after the end of World War Two. Up until then (and even afterwards), I believe it was "The Great War". Anyone else find that odd?

Hope this is a good thread... thanks!

Todd,
Thanks for bringing up this topic. I found one in the Patriot that ruined the movie for me. It happend when the Mel Gibson character approached his sister in law and asked "Mind if I sit here?" her response was "Go ahead, it's a free country, or it will be soon." I couldn't believe it! Would anyone in the 1770s say that? That kind of thing really can take you out of the movie.
Desi

Good ones. There was a thread a couple weeks back on "Realism" and how important was it and another one on "Suspension of Belief". I'm of the opinion that even one or two out of place items can take the air out of a movie.


Romans had sundials including small pocket watch like folding ones. The sun moves 15 degrees in an hour so 2 hours make 30 degrees. 30 degrees is a pretty easy measurement to eyeball. Boy Scouts learn tricks like this and anything a Scout knows today, a Roman soldier surely knew then.

Thanks for the very enlightning lesson on sundials. Still, the concept of hours and minutes is difficult to believe was widespread (if at all) in Roman times. I believe it was more a matter of navigation.

Nonetheless, even if he had a "wrist sundial," if memory serves me right, it was cloudy that day of the battle (wasn't it snowing?). Eh, whatever, it still didn't fly with me.

Anyone else?

Cloudy! Yeah, I remember that now.

Casting often takes me out of a movie. While I don't remember the title, there was a Mickey Rourke movie about 15 years ago (Year of the Dragon??) where he played WAY older than his age...I never bought it.

And in THE INSIDER, Russell Crowe was playing way too old...I also never believed that his character, a doctor who had held extremely high-paying jobs at several multinational companies, would be financially strapped...like there weren't a few stock options he could have cashed for a rainy day?

Nicole Kidman was a 22 year old doctor in DAYS OF THUNDER? Sure.

Elizabeth Shue is a physicist who discovered cold fusion in THE SAINT? Right.
Val Kilmer was a master of disguise in THE SAINT? I never recognized him. Fooled me.

And how about ARMAGEDDON? Where do we start?...

An object one fourth the size of the moon gets inside the orbit of Mars and we don't notice it?
We've got TWO titanium-shelled space shuttles that nobody knows about?
A dead guy from one space shuttle just HAPPENS to fly into the windshield of a second shuttle, long enough for us to be to identify it as a body?
A shuttle travelling 15,000 mph crashlands on a giant asteroid, and several people inside the shuttle survive?
...even though the pilots were sucked into space?
...and many of the items on the destroyed shuttle are still perfectly functional as well?
A nuclear blast a mere two miles deep will completely split a 500 mile wide asteroid? (Frankly, we're lucky we haven't split the Earth in two with all that underground testing over the years.)
Hunky Ben Affleck wins an Oscar for Best Screenplay? Oh, wrong movie...well, you get my point.

Your pal,
Couchguy

Sorry, but in fact the Romans of old did have a sense of time, including hours. An hour was one twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset. I was made to read Latin literature when I was younger. You know, "Gallia in tres partes divisa est", and so on.

Okay, Bill, point conceded, but it still felt very out-of-place.

As for ARMAGEDDON, Couchguy, I still can't believe that movie made the money that it did. I got my degree in Aerospace Engineering, and the movie, outside of being badly acted, written, and shot, was just plain ludicrous! The only saving grace was seeing Michael Clarke Duncan in his first breakout role.

When I was an agent, I would visit the set of THE WAYANS BROTHERS television show. M.C. Duncan was on the set security staff. I would call him "Big Mike" and would marvel at his enormity. He was one of the nicest guys I'd ever met. A true Hollywood success story, and he really earned it.

One of my other (many) pet peeves is when cops @#%$ their guns. My brother is in law enforcement, and police officers are expressly forbidden from @#%$ing their guns when approaching a suspect. You see, they are much easier to discharge in that position. I know it sounds good on the film, but it just wouldn't happen.

I've never been bothered when Romans talk about hours, even though I realize they didn't call them "hours"...actually, they didn't speak English, did they, so whatever they called an hour wouldn't really matter. Now, if someone order a "Caesar salad", THAT would take me out of the movie.

What bothers me is when sci-fi productions throw in "lingo" as an attempt to make something sound "different". Take 'Battlestar Galactica' (please)...instead of "seconds" they used "centons". Why? Everybody KNEW they meant seconds. Why not just say "seconds"? Afraid some nit-picker would say, "Hey, if those guys are really from the time before recorded history, how did they know there's such a thing as a second?" Not to mention George Lucas' misuse of parsec. Okay, I mentioned it.

Was I just discussing Battlestar Galactica a centon ago? How low I've sunk. Sank. Sunken. Whatever.

Your pal,
Couchguy

AHA! Another engineer. What's that make now? 5? 6? This board is getting to be a regular contruction zone.