Bad job done in a movie

[Sandy G]

I LOVED the big Packard that was Doc's car...the younger guys are all going, "What's a "Packard" ?"......-Sandy G.

[drh4683]

Another example of wrong period TV is in the Wonder Years, remember the TV in the kitchen? Some 1984 portable b/w TV and the show is supposed to be 1968-1970? That show has many errors for TVs.

If I remember correct, in apollo 13, Tom hanks is watching an RCA CTC38 console in his living room, or something similar to that, I might be wrong. Regardless, it was a correct period peice and was glad to see that.

Speaking of apollo 13, if you study what's written on Tom Hanks's worksheet, he is doing addition and subtraction to calculate the spacecraft's orientation angles. The engineers are asked to check his arithmetic, and one uses a slide rule (a hemmi/post 1447). Anyone handy with a slide rule will tell you it is not used for addition and subtraction. Besides, any NASA engineer from that era would have had a slide rule alot more advanced than that thing, like a Post Versalog or a K+E Deci-Lon. Another movie error, but that may have gone unnoticed alot more than props would I guess

[maxm]

There's a movie that was out a few years ago called "One Hit Wonders", about a band forming in the 60s. The main character's dad owns an applicance shop, so there are a lot of shots of old TVs and radios at the beginning of the movie, the kid even "demonstrates" one for a customer and can't get the horizontal to lock in. Don't know how accurate it was, I saw it a while back.

[orthophonic]

That movie was called "That Thing You Do" and the appliances and TVs in the store
ran the gamut from late '50's to mid '60's, but at least they were vintage.

[bgadow]

I thought the signs on the wall in "That thing you do" looked a little too modern, sort of like the wall at Sears, with too many brand names. In "Apollo 13" the set could have been a CTC-40? Would have been "state of the art" but then he could afford it; not sure if it dates right, though. (close, anyway)

What model roundie was in "Grumpy Old Men"? I haven't seen that movie for years (and then only once).

[maxm]

Originally Posted by bgadow

What model roundie was in "Grumpy Old Men"? I haven't seen that movie for years (and then only once).

It pains me to watch that movie, there's a nice 50s Zenith console turned into a [cough] fishtank.

(Sorry for missing the title of "That thing you do", I saw it a long while back...)

[Carmine]

What model roundie was in "Grumpy Old Men"? I haven't seen that movie for years (and then only once).

I don't know what model roundie was used, but I know they made a big deal about "Zenith" being the best TV, and space command, etc. (And the car was a '68, either Monaco or Polara .)

[Sandy G]

Yeah...i remember one of 'em was a 4-dr post sedan, & another was a 4-dr hardtop...kinda like in "Hawaii 5-0" when they'd start off in the big, black, sinister '68 Mercury, & get to the crime scene in the big, black, sinister '74 Merc..How many 1000x of times did THAT happen ?!? I think I counted 5 times in one episode once...<grin>-Sandy G.

my best explination........wasnt that a "made for tv" movie? I E = LOW BUDGET..?

As some of you know and even less care, I too have worked in the movie and TV racket supplying vehicles......I was always at odds with some of the powers that be about using a correct vehicle, or at least one in appropriate condition. I recall being watching The Sting way back when it first came out and being absolutely floored by the use of crusty and worn out looking cars.....after all, that was set during the Depression and only made sense.

Regarding Driving Miss Daisy, one of her cars was a step down Hudson which was supposed to be new but suffered from window delamination, especially in the vent windows. This only occurs from age (appears as a white cloudy edge), of course only a handful of nuts like me would notice this or even care, but it bugged me just the same.

Anthony
PS Next time you watch a scene with a car in it, look for either reflections in the paint or glass of the camera/lights/or crew......sometimes you may notice a lack of shine or even some black gaffer's tape, this is done to kill the shine. Also, very often the headlights are given a coat of black paint to reduce lens flare (glare).

[Chad Hauris]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Another example of wrong period TV is in the Wonder Years, remember the TV in the kitchen? Some 1984 portable b/w TV and the show is supposed to be 1968-1970? That show has many errors for TVs.

Yes...I remember that too- modern looking yellow TV in the Wonder Years kitchen...however they do have a 50's or early 60's RCA remote controlled black and white set in their living room which would be correct...there is a show with an out of sync picture on the crt and Jack pulling out tubes from the back. This may be the show where Kevin and Wayne want a color TV like Paul? just got (a Motorola if I remember correctly). The beginning of this show, shows age-appropriate color TV's on display at a store.

[charliesheen]

re:american dreams,i had to laugh at the comment about the owner of a tv store not owning the latest model.i watch the show from time to time and i have to agree.i belong to this phil spector website and they were talking about how wrong they were about the whole american bandstand thing,by 65 bandstand was in los angeles and not in philly where the show takes place.goes to show people are watching!

c sheen

Charlie, what Phil Spector website would that be? What's the general consensus about whether he's guilty or not? From watching his demeanor at news conferences I can believe the stories about his "unique" behavior overall.....if you know what I mean.

Anthony

[Captain Video]

On the good side, I've watched on the other night an episode of "Star Trek Enterprise". In this episode, the Vulcan officer tells the captain the story of her ancestor, who, with three other Vulcans were on a mission on the Earth's orbit in 1957 when their ship fails and they crash near a small american town called Carbon Creek. They were monitoring the lounch of the Sputinik. Because of the crash, they have to live three months in the town. The historical reconstruction didn't left nothing to be critized ( at least that I could tell ). Everything from the cars to the two nice TV sets that appear on the episode seemed correct for 1957. Hey, one of the Vulcans even enjoyed 50's TV shows like "I Love Lucy"! That was a job well done. Wish that every producer could follow that good example.

[Carmine]

I remeber that episode, I thought it was pretty well-done too.