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: I can not figure out how in the world agent Starling makes the connection about where Buffalo Bill lives. I don't understand the connection she makes at the house where she finds the pictures and says "you covet what you see" It has driven me crazy for years and I need help. How does she figure it all out?

Answer: In Frederika's bedroom Clarice sees the dress being made and recognises that the pieces of material are the same shape as the pieces of skin missing from the victims' bodies. In the bank, where Clarice meets Frederika's friend, Stacy tells her the address of 'Mrs Lippman' whom Frederika used to work with. Presumably Buffalo Bill is related to, or is, Mrs. Lippman since that is where Clarice finds him.

jle

He's not Mrs Lippman. He did, however, kill her. As Clarice chases him through the cellar, the woman's decomposing body is in a tub.

Answer: "You covet what you see": Agent Starling looks out the window of the girl's house to see who the neighbors are, who may have been watching the girl.

Question: When Donnie is talking to his teacher, he says that he can't continue the conversation because he could lose his job. Why? Does this have anything significant to do with the plot?

Answer: Donnie is attending a private religious school (thus the uniforms and the fact that a former teacher, Ms. Sparrow, was a nun) and if his science teacher continued his explanation he would be teaching against the conservative religious curriculum.

Question: I am a big X-files fan, but there is something in this movie that I think I may have missed in the series - can someone help me out? We are told in the series that Mulder doesn't drink. One time when he is getting drunk in a hotel room on his own, it is because of a strange planetary alignment and he himself finds it odd that he is drinking. My question is, when did he abandon this and start going out and drowning his sorrows on his own? I'm confused - maybe I missed the memo?

Answer: Mulder has just hit rock bottom and is questioning just about everything at this point, so drinking is not really out of character.

Grumpy Scot

The Suicide - S3-E15

Question: When George and Elaine go to see the psychic, the psychic tells George that she sees a Pauline. George gasps and says that his brother once impregnated a woman named Pauline. Since when does George have a brother? Was this brother shown or mentioned in any other episode?

Dandude776 1

Chosen answer: George does mention his brother in the episode "The Parking Space". They actually really never mention anything that contradicts the fact he had a brother though, it just isn't mentioned.

Question: What ever happens to the red car that Jjaks buys from the used car lot? He gets pulled over by the cop, and we never see the car again. Why wouldn't he go back to get the car to go to Las Vegas, instead of getting a ride from the bible salesman? After all, he bought it with cash, it's not like it was stolen or anything.

Melissa

Chosen answer: Yes, it does just vanish. It is understandable that we don't see it for the 2 remaining days of the main plot of the film. The car is impounded somewhere and Jjaks has a lot more to worry about than where the car is. He also has no money during those three days. A couple of possible explanations, excuses really : (1) the car was impounded by a private company, not the police, and Jjaks can't afford to get it back. (2) He did get it back. The Las Vegas scene happens 'several months later' and in that time Jjaks lost or sold the car.

jle

Chosen answer: It is meant that all the clues to him - being framed, etc. are right in front of him, he just has to look hard enough.

Scrappy

Question: Why do the parents have two twin beds in their bedroom, instead of one double bed? I thought that was just a TV gimmick from the old days when they weren't allowed to show a man and woman in bed together. Did people really sleep like that, or was it just a production design decision for the film? The movie was made in the '80's after all.

Krista

Answer: It's most likely a reference to the twin-bed movie standards from the time in which the movie takes place (late '30s to early '40s).

Chosen answer: Many married couples did (and still do) sleep like this. For example, one may be a restless sleeper and not wish to disturb their partner. Or they may just prefer to sleep alone. It's all down to personal choice, I don't think there's a rule that says couples have to share a bed.

umathegreatstationarybear

The original poster has never been married. It is seldom that husbands and wives continue sleeping in the same bed after the first couple years of marriage.

Charles Austin Miller

Very interesting... I know of only one couple that sleeps in different beds. That is because they are on different sleep schedules. I know many couples and we all sleep with our spouses. Don't get me wrong, if we get a hotel room that has 2 full or queen beds, we are sleeping in individual beds. But other then that, we sleep in our bed together.

"Seldom" is a bit of an overstatement - studies seem to suggest about 15-25% of couples sleep separately.

Studies? Could you provide a link to such studies? I speak from decades of knowing many, many happily-married couples, the overwhelming majority of whom sleep in separate beds and even separate rooms.

Charles Austin Miller

15 per cent of Britons said if cost and space were not an issue, they would sleep in a different bed to their partner: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/uk-couples-sleep-separate-beds-partner-yougov-survey-a8504716.html. A 2005 National Sleep Foundation poll found that nearly one in four American couples sleeps in separate beds or separate rooms: https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/subscription/sub003.txt. Clearly many couples do, but many don't. Certainly the vast majority of couples I know share a bed, regardless of how long they've been together. "Seldom" is I think overstating it. The majority of people you know may sleep separately, and more power to them! No right or wrong, but that doesn't appear to reflect the broader picture.

Answer: Very common, especially back in the first half of the 20th century, for couples to sleep in separate beds.

Question: Can anyone tell me the name of the actor who plays Jimmy's father-in-law? He briefly turns up at the wake, and I'm reasonably sure that Jimmy addresses him as "Theo".

Ioreth

Chosen answer: The actor's name is Kevin Conway.

Answer: I don't know how prevalent this is (or how it actually works), but one possibility would be that he was under contract with a particular agency (or company/ business) and could only receive credit for work performed under this contract and/or no other agency could benefit from using him. His name cannot show up in something he did outside of that contract.

KeyZOid

Chosen answer: I don't know why, but he asked not to be in the credits.

Josh Appelbaum

Question: Why does Pecsi lie so much to the judge about his credentials? He graduated from law school and passed the bar. The boys should be able to have whatever lawyer they want.

William Bergquist

Chosen answer: The judge is trying to ensure that Vinny will provide a competent and zealous defense for the boys, and not make a mockery of the courtroom procedure he loves so much. Since Vinny knows that six weeks of civil law practice, and zero courtroom time will not convince him, he lies.

troy fox

Answer: Vinny is an out of state lawyer who (presumably) isn't admitted to practice in Alabama. In order to practice in that jurisdiction, Vinny would have to be admitted "pro hac vice" or "for this occasion only." Especially in capital criminal cases, a defense lawyer must be certified as having a certain level of expertise to avoid later appellate claims of ineffective counsel. In this case, Judge Trotter is actually being fairly lax in just relying on a brief interview of Vinny to make a decision to allow an out of jurisdiction lawyer verbally provide his criminal defense credentials.

Question: At the start of the T+P movie, there is a letter on the couch. After a cut, T is holding an opened letter, but throws it aside as they launch into song. Obiviously something got cut. Any idea what the letter was?

Answer: Some versions of the film (VHS in Australia for one) contain the reference to the letter. Terrance: "Well, f*** my a** and call me a b**ch. I just got a letter." Phillip: "A letter from who, you sh**-sucking co**master?" Terrance: "It's from your mother." Phillip: "My mother sent YOU a letter? What's it say?" "Terrance: It says, 'Dear Terrance, please don't ever tell my son that I licked your hairy b***s.'"

jle

Question: How do Bartleby and Loki know Rufus? They haven't been in Heaven since they were expelled after killing all the first born sons of Egypt, which happened during Moses' time. Rufus died two years after Christ died and went straight to Heaven. Christ lived and died hundreds of years after Moses. So, presumably, Bartleby and Loki were in Wisconsin when Rufus went to Heaven. How would they recognize him?

Answer: In a scene shortly before, Azrael was telling them about the last scion being sent after them. After that scene cut, he could have mentioned that she had an Apostle with her. That, and, Bartleby was a 'Watcher' Angel (a Gregoriate if I remember correctly), and he can see into people's pasts.

MoonFaery

Question: What is the name of the song that the clown is singing when Sean Connery has just been shot?

Answer: 'Vesti La Giubba', an aria from the opera 'I Pagliacci'.

jle

Question: Has anyone got one of those mobile phones our heroes use? The R2 DVD extras say Samsung make them and they appear on the Samsung website, but I can't find any trace of them here in the UK?

Answer: It is the Samsung SPH-N270 phone.

don_corleone

Question: Not many people have even seen this classic, but i'll give it a go. On the DVD, when the crew are in the food store/bedroom, you can see that there are several pin-ups of girls on the wall behind them which have been blurred out. I can't see why the censors would be so fastitious about something which is hard to notice, let alone offend anyone - does anyone have any idea why they might do such a thing?

Answer: It was done to get the film a 'G' / 'U' rating.

jle

Question: Given most of the Characters are called by their 'hacker' names in the real world, why is the Captain of the Hammer called Roland? Does this have any biblical/mythical significance?

Answer: I think he could be named after the legendary Roland from European mythology. Roland was Emperor Charlemagne's nephew, I think. He and his friend died fighting off the treacherous Moors, supposedly. Roland was really big in medieval beliefs.

Question: What is the ending actually about. I think that when the plane engine goes through Donnies room, he dies and the rest of the film is him in a time loop seeing what would have happened but didn't because he died. Frank and most of the characters are vague memories from the last loop, kind of like de-ja-vu, but i'm not sure, so could someone tell me what the actual story is?

Answer: Something, in the form of Frank the rabbit, altered his destiny. Perhaps some benevolent force, we aren't told and it's never made clear, began the time loop. He lived a tangent and fell in love with his girlfriend. He realized in this tangent, that she died, so he went to where the loop began to start it again, sacrificing himself to save his girlfriend.

Grumpy Scot

Question: Can anyone list the film sequences shot especially for the 'Enter The Matrix' game and their significance to the overall plot? My computer can't handle it.

Answer: The fist important sequence is on the Logos. Niobe wants to go to this post office and get the last transmission if the Osiris. Well, they get the transmission and watch it. Next: Niobe is in a subway when she hears someone saying "72 hours" and Niobe says "what did you just say?" and then you see the person who said it - it's the trainman, and he says "that's exactly how long Zion lasted last time. Next: Niobe and Ghost have just gotten the key maker and he pulls out a key and says to give it to Neo, Ghost asks what it unlocks, the keymaker says "the future", then 2 Vampires come in and take the key and Niobe and Ghost go after them. Next: Niobe (or Ghost) goes to see the Oracle and she subtly says that she remembers Ghost (this is if you're playing as Ghost) and he once asked her "if she would ever love him" (The Oracle is talking about Trinity, not Niobe) and that the Oracle had said that she would love him only as a friend.

Answer: He was originally in talks - and by some reports, did appear on set for some period of time. While factual answers are in short supply (for obvious reasons), there appears to be a connection to his drug-use habits. For instance, he was checked into a hospital (LA Cedars Sinai) for what friends feared was a drug overdose in April 2001, and has been in and out of rehab over the years. Chances are the production company was unable or unwilling to get completion insurance.

Rooster of Doom

Question: How did Bootstrap manage not becoming cursed like his fellow Pirates? After all, he stole the medallions too, didn't he?

Answer: He did get cursed. The pirates sent him to the bottom of the sea, thinking they killed him, then realised what the curse was, by which time it was too late to find him again. Although it's never referred to in the film, the only logical conclusion is that he sat at the bottom of the sea attached to the cannon for 10 years, alive and cursed, until the curse was lifted and he drowned.

Jon Sandys

Bootstrap Bill was alive at the bottom of the ocean. He said in the second film that he was in constant pain, unable to move and unable to die. He then struck a deal with Davy Jones, Jones would "kill" him to end the pain but in return he would serve time aboard the Dutchman.

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