Question: In the scene where the three officers (one of them being Martin Lawrence) went to the airport to check out the situation there, Mallone picks up a piece of the exhibit. Wouldn't the FBI run the prints on the items, and if so, Martin Lawrence's fingerprints would come up and reveal his true identity since he is in the system?
Question: The hair is spread around the crime scene to provide contradictory DNA evidence. I think there was a shot of the bag being emptied. Anyone else remember this?
Question: What happened at the end? How did they get out of that fix?
Answer: Michael Caine himself once suggested in an interview that all they had to do was wait until the bus, the engine of which was still running, ran out of fuel. The fuel tank was at the rear of the bus, hanging over the cliff and so adding weight at that end. As it emptied, the balance would shift to the front and they would be able to move the gold forward. How they could then get it off the bus, or transport it from the roadside is another matter.
Question: Can anyone explain to me the phrase Rene Russo says to Mel Gibson 'Close is a lingerie shop without a window'. Gibson's character can't make sense of the phrase and neither can I.
Answer: So what does it mean? "Nothing, " says screenwriter Jeffrey Boam. "It's a complete non sequitur. The (original) line was something like 'Close doesn't count, ' or 'Close only counts with horseshoes.' Dick (director Richard Donner) is a fun-loving guy," says Boam, "and this thought just popped into his head. He said, 'Let's have her say something completely off the wall.'" Boam, who wasn't on the set at the time, quickly faxed Donner a dozen meaningless lines that began with the words, "Close is..." Then the whole cast and crew started coming up with them. But the one they used came from Russo herself. "This is like some line from a Beatles song," says Boam. "I guess people are trying to figure it out."
Answer: She means that's as close as he's going to get or as far as they're getting. Like the old saying, "Close but no cigar." He played the game, but didn't win the prize.
Question: How did the FBI find the note Jordan gave Donnie when he was wearing a wire?
Chosen answer: As seen from Donne's reaction when the FBI storm the building shortly after, It should be assumed that Donnie told the FBI himself, and kept the note as evidence. One of the reasons for this could be that Donnie must have felt betrayed or something similar.
Question: The whole point of the trick is to persuade the police that Liz was murdered after having sex with a random stranger. The police decide to accept this suggestion. Why do they accept this, when they know that a woman pretending to be Liz's mother called the school to say Liz wouldn't come in - ie. the police know that a woman must have been involved, yet they decide it was just a man who did it?
Answer: They have no reason to follow up the call or never did all they know is that she was at home.
Question: When Malcolm was hiding in the shower there was a window on his left - why didn't he use it to escape?
Question: On the DVD (UK, not sure about anywhere else) there is a feature called 'the secret of esrever', which tells you to look for very subliminal hidden images in the film - I have looked so many times and there is still one I can't find - does anyone know where the 'water' one is? The only thing I can see is what looks like an owl's head made out of the trees in the scene where the woman is drowning a baby in the lake. If this is it how does it relate to the film? Also is there a message in the images? There are a few words but I can't make a sentence out of them.
Answer: In the scene where the baby is submerged in the water, watch the lower right-hand side of the screen. You'll see the shadow of a stickman emerge and come higher into the frame.
Question: If Susie's body had been in a bag in the safe, how did people who went into his house (Lindsey when she broke into his house through the basement window) not smell her dead body?
Answer: The dog could smell her body even from outside, and he barked and hesitated as he passed near the killer's house. Dogs can smell people from a long distance.
Question: What horse actually won the race that Lonigan bets on Lucky Dan to win?
Chosen answer: I watched this the other night and specifically listened for what horse won the race that Lucky Dan was running in. It is never revealed who the winner is, because while the fake announcer in the back room is calling the race, the F.B.I. agents raid the building. During the ensuing chaos, shouting, and gunfire, it is impossible to hear the broadcast over the noise.
Question: Did Terrance Howard do his own rapping for the film?
Answer: Yes he did. The lyrics for the songs that he raps in the movie were written by the group Three Six Mafia.
Question: How accurate is the portrayal of the Untouchables, when it comes to names and numbers? Were there actually only four of them? Do Garcia, Connery and Smith play actual people or fictive ones?
Answer: It's about 50% truth and 50% fiction. Ness, Al Capone, and Frank Nitty are real, of course, but the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith are fictional. Ness started out with 50 candidates for his 'Untouchables' force. This was whittled down to 15 finalists and from that he selected 9 agents (none of which has the same name as the characters played by Connery, Garcia, and Smith). It's true that Capone was convicted for tax evasion. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, but received an early release because he was in the last stages of syphilis. He died shortly after being released from prison.
Capone lived for 8 years upon his release from prison. The 8 years being slightly longer than the actual prison time he served, which was just over 7 years. He died, having the mental capabilities of a 12-year-old.
Question: Why was the detective tortured? I don't get it. Who is the girl that brings the detective to Verone?
Chosen answer: The detective was tortured because Verone needed a window of time without any police presence and the detective refused to allow it. The girl is just some random hottie that works for Verone.
Question: Can anyone give some insight as to what was used to contaminate the hotel reviewer's room?
Answer: I don't think there's any way of providing an exact answer to this question, but I think it's safe to say that whatever materials they used were highly bacterial but not lethal (otherwise the 5 Diamond Award critic would be dead or in serious condition).
Question: Where does Bonnie get all her clothes from? From what we see she goes off with Clyde wearing the yellow dress and doesn't have any bags or anything with her. Are we supposed to think she steals them?
Answer: Bonnie and Clyde were bank robbers, remember - it's quite reasonable that Bonnie would buy herself some clothes with the proceeds.
Question: Why is Marvin wearing a plastic sheet over his suit in the scene where he, Frank and Joe are interrogating Alexander Dunning? (01:04:15)
Chosen answer: Intimidation. The implication is that he's going to be spilling Dunning's blood during the interrogation and doesn't want to get his suit dirty.
Question: What car is Gina driving at the end of the movie?
Answer: A 1966 Ford Galaxie-500 XL. There's a website that lists the vehicles used in the movie.
Question: I heard in the DVD commentary that what the Russian gangsters are saying in the beginning is total bull, because they ran out of time to translate the actual dialogue. Is there anyone from Russia, or who speaks Russian, that can understand what they are saying?
Answer: Yes, I can speak Russian, and what they said in the movie did make sense but they spoke so horribly it was almost impossible to understand them. But it wasn't bull.
But what was said?
Answer: Yes, however Malone is not a real cop, only pretending to be one. Therefore it is safe to assume he would not know procedures of the police department and would not think his prints would be run by the FBI. He thinks he is safe because he is a cop. That's how big his ego is.
SAZOO1975
Yes, but the reason they don't worry about fingerprints is because they decided to immediately set up the sting operation, since they only had hours before the package was to be delivered in 3 hours. So, they had to hurry and make it there in time to do the bust.