More movie cliches

Scott Myers

09 Oct 2010 • 1 min read

We’re already blessed with The Definitive List of Cliched Dialogue courtesy of screenwriter Kevin Lehane. Now GITS reader Tous alerts us to this list of movie cliches in three parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

A few choice items:

ANSWERING MACHINES

If the hero listens to his answering machine and one important message is unexpected then he usually has two very short messages on the tape before, one spoken by a man, one by a women. “Here’a John! I see you tomorrow at eight.”…. beep … “This is Sallieeeeee! I’ll call again later.” … beep …. and then finally “Ahhhh! The killer is …..”. If however the message is expected be sure that it will be the first one on the tape.

ELEVATORS

Movie elevators are always ready at that floor. But if the hero/heroine is being chased, elevator won’t come.
If hero OR villian takes an elevator, villain OR hero can beat it by taking stairs, even if the trip is 20 floors.
Most elevator shafts and wires are clean and dust/grease free, and there’s plenty of light so that the hero neither gets dirty nor needs a flashlight or some other equipment to see (Speed).
When one character is pursuing another (good guy after bad or vice versa) and they reach the elevator just before it closes, they never stick their hand in the door so it will automatically open back up, nor do they press the call button to get the door to open.

SEX

All beds have a special L-shaped top sheet, which reaches up to armpit level on women but only to waist level on men.
No-one ever needs a kleenex after sex.
If you’re a woman in a film and have just finished a steamy lovemaking session, make sure to lay back and pull the sheets up to your neck, just like in real life.
All women moan during sex, but none sweat.
Women (and men less often) either make love with their underclothes on or have put them back on in the immediate aftermath.
Two total strangers, upon falling into bed together, will always reach an incredibly intense, mutual, and SIMULTANEOUS orgasm on the first try.

But then there’s this, the mother lode of movie cliches.

Any other movie cliche sites we should know about?

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