Best drama movie questions of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Chosen answer: When looking for clues to the identity of the killer, he comes across a code with the numbers, 903 472 568. He quickly realizes that Noone is the killer because in the code there is "No one".

More Blood Work questions
The Langoliers picture

Question: Is there a reason why when they're in the past they can't catch up with the present, but when they land a little into the future, the present can catch up with them? Are they not moving along on their own timeline? And if not, why are they not left in that moment and stand there to see the present come and go without taking them?

Answer: Think of time as a gear with only one tooth, and think of them as a gear with only one notch. In the past, the one tooth has forever passed their notch and they'll never be carried along in the flow of time again. In the future, the tooth comes along, snags their notch, and they're back in the flow of time.

Phixius

More The Langoliers questions

Chosen answer: A reckoning is like a judgment day, exacting retribution for one's actions. Doc was very well educated and had a very large vocabulary. He was correctly pointing out the subtle difference between revenge (to make Wyatt feel better about losing Morgan and about Virgil's crippling injury) and the fact that Wyatt was bringing about a judgment day (or reckoning) for each of the men who hurt his family.

MovieFan612

Answer: I've spent a lot of time thinking about this very question, and here's what I've come up with. I think there are at least two differences between revenge and a reckoning. First, I think it has to do with the scale of the response to an offending action. Revenge, in my mind, is an eye for an eye, i.e, "You killed my brother and wounded another, so I will inflict the same action on your family (or group, gang, whatever). " A reckoning is less a measured response to an offending action and more of a full-scale punishment, i.e, "You killed my brother and wounded another, so I will now slaughter your entire family-including those who were not directly responsible for the offending action." Second, I think there is also a difference in motivation. Revenge tends to be a very personal response to something, whereas a reckoning tends to be more of a response fueled by a need for justice. In Wyatt's case, it was both. He was enraged by what happened to his family, but was also a lawman.

Franklin Vaughn

Thank you for this response! I've only seen Tombstone a million times and asked the same question every time. It's hard to separate the difference between the two but I believe you nailed it. Well done.

I'm thinking the opposite in terms. Revenge is "Reflexive" and is generally any means necessary (out of an abundance of pain or rage) to hurt the other party. "Revenge is a dish best served cold." If one is exacting justice there's no need to be cold hearted. Therefore, Reckoning is (to me) a fair balancing of the "scales" hence "an eye for an eye." Not only consequences of actions as it were but a corrective action to an incorrect circumstance. Just my understanding.

The problem with that theory is there is no difference in the end because the end result was the same...the killing. True reckoning could have only been achieved though the apprehension and punishment by trial and jury, anything other than that is simply revenge.

More Tombstone questions

Chosen answer: I think her head was in the hat box after he dug it up from the garden where the dog was digging under the marigolds.

You are correct that it was her head.

raywest

More Rear Window questions
Stepmom picture

Question: Julia Roberts refers to the term "snow blowing" and states that she heard it described in a movie. Is this really a reference to a movie?

Answer: You can see the reference in Kevin Smith's first movie Clerks. Whether or not she's referencing that particular movie or not is debatable.

Nikki

More Stepmom questions
King Arthur picture

Question: What does the Saxon who rallies the troops actually yell? He yells it twice: once, after Cerdic meets with Arthur in front of the wall and gives the order to "prepare the men for battle", and then a second time when Cerdic gives the signal after the only survivor of the first "wave" comes back through the wall. (And I don't mean his cry of "battle formation.").

Answer: I don't think it's supposed to be German. Probably Old Saxon. Could be something like "slahten fiand" - slaughter enemy.

Answer: He yells 'Schlachtet den feind!' (In very, very bad "German") - 'slaughter the enemy!'. And his army seems to yell: "Schlachtung! Schlachtung! Schlachtung..." - "Slaughter! Slaughter! Slaughter..."

More King Arthur questions
Training Day picture

Question: When Denzel and Ethan go to visit the Spanish gangsters towards the end and Denzel gives the presents, Is the money inside the blender for them to kill Ethan's character or simply he owed some money? If then the money wasn't for them to kill him what reason did they have to kill him?

Lummie

Chosen answer: The money to kill Hawke was in the kitchen appliance box.

More Training Day questions
Frequency picture

Question: Why did John's house suddenly alter so drastically when Jack's hand was blown off in the past? Did this one event somehow turn John into a better interior decorator?

quinnnmallory

Answer: Because the house is no longer John's. In this universe, his parents still live there.

Brian Katcher

Or he lives there and his wife redecorated.

I always took the scene at the end with Julia and Frank getting in a packed car with an older looking Elvis as them moving and leaving the house for John. And as I said above John's wife must have moved in and decorated.

Answer: The house changed because John's life changed, with both his parents alive to nurture and guide him, he became a different person. Different lifestyle and attitudes.

More Frequency questions
The Majestic picture

Question: Why didn't Peter retaliate against Bob for punching him and letting the town know what a jerk he is?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Two possible reasons. 1. Hitting him back and telling everybody about Bob being a complete jerk would make him no better then Bob. 2. Bob actually knew the real Luke and if Peter had hit him, Bob could retaliate by telling everybody the truth.

More The Majestic questions

Old (2021)

Old picture

Question: Why didn't the lady who was originally with Mid-Size Sedan decay quicker, and we were able to see her body intact when she hit young Trent in the water?

Answer: Because she was 'freshly' dead when she hit Trent.

More Old questions
Sherlock Holmes picture

Question: Just before Sherlock attacks somebody, he determines what areas to strike to incapacitate someone and determine how long it would take someone to recover from both physical and psychological trauma. Granted that he could figure out a person's physical recovery but, could he actually figure out a person's pyshological recovery? He noted that it would take six months if I remember for a guy to recover psychologically but, to me, Sherlock is just taking a wild guess. Especially, if the guy recovered in half the time.

Answer: I believe that particular line was him making a joke to himself about the man's pride.

Quantom X

More Sherlock Holmes questions
Memento picture

Question: I still don't understand why Leonard switches clothes with Jimmy and steals his car after he kills him. "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." That makes absolutely no sense. Driving around in Jimmy's car and wearing his suit would make him the prime suspect in the investigation. He was much safer when he was just an anonymous guy driving around in a pickup truck.

Answer: It is never explicitly given. The most Leonard says on the subject is: "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." Speculations include (you can make up your own motives as well) : (1) The clothes and car are so much nicer than his. If you are willing to kill someone: stealing is not really a "crime." Why not take the nicer objects? (2) It could be part of his "routine": Kill a man, take his clothes and car. The clothes he had on and the truck may be from the man he killed a year ago. (3) It could be that he wants to make the killer of his wife suffer even more, and takes his clothes as a way of humiliating him. Leonard takes the man's life-his clothes and car, which are wrapped up in his identity-just as the man took his. This idea seems to work with a theme in Memento about "Identity" (especially mistaken identity). Natalie thinks Leonard is Jimmy, then thinks he is Teddy, then learns he is Leonard. Teddy is "mistaken" for the second killer, Jimmy is "mistaken" for the 2nd killer. Sammy's story as a part of Leonard's story, etc. (4) It could "simply" be explained as a "plot device": Leonard has to do it, otherwise he won't find the note in "his pocket" and meet Natalie. (5) Leonard doesn't want to admit he's a murderer. He's lying to himself. If he's the victim, then he cannot be the murderer. (6) Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing as part of his routine of killing J.G.'s he becomes another person, he's the victim not the killer, thus "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." and that's why he also takes his car, so he has to, once again, find his wife's killer and kill him.

Answer: Leonard's only goal in life was to find his wife's killer, and he thought he had just achieved that. With nothing more to live for, the clothes would attract the attention of Jimmy's associates - a method of suicide as indirect as his eventual approach to killing Teddy.

More Memento questions
Ghostbusters: Afterlife picture

Question: When Phoebe is on the phone with Ray, he mentions that the Ghostbusters fire house is now a Starbucks. In the post-credits scene, we see that Winston has purchased the fire house so the Ghostbusters can get back to business, but the fire house looks like it has been abandoned for several years and no other company ever took it over. Did I miss something here?

Phaneron

Answer: Ray was probably being sarcastic, and was simply making a general comment about gentrification in the area.

Answer: Perhaps nobody wanted to take over the place for a few reasons. Historical purpose, high cost... hauntings.?

Answer: It's been 40 years since the Ghostbusters disbanded, Ray mostly likely passed by the old place and saw a Starbucks there. It has since shut down.

But they left the ghost trap active? Not likely.

Brian Katcher

More Ghostbusters: Afterlife questions
Taxi Driver picture

Question: When Travis goes into his fitness phase, it shows him hovering his fist over the stove fire. Why is he doing this? What does that achieve?

Answer: It helps him create a tolerance for pain. As we see, he certainly gets a lot of that dished out to him.

More Taxi Driver questions

Answer: It is never stated.

Answer: As the other response says, the number of years is never stated. Physically, I think he is supposed to look about twenty years old. Bill wants him to start a proper business. None of the adults seem to think that he should be in school.

More Edward Scissorhands questions
Ferris Bueller's Day Off picture

Question: When Sloane was told her grandmother was dead, did she know it was a hoax? And did Rooney figure it out?

Answer: Sloane knew it was a hoax. Ferris would not have done something like that without her knowing. Rooney pretty much had figured it out, but could never prove anything. Once he was discovered inside the Bueller house (illegally) by Ferris' sister, anything he did know he would have to keep to himself.

raywest

Sloane starts to put her jacket on the moment that she sees the school nurse walk into the classroom, suggesting that Sloane already knew she would be called out, and she smiles to her classmates.

More Ferris Bueller's Day Off questions
Black Dog picture

Question: Why did Jack pull into the weigh station when Earl told him not to?

Answer: It would have been suspicious if he didn't do it.

Answer: Drive by an inspection station that is open and let me know how far you got before being stopped. Unless you have preclearance you must go through scale.

Answer: At this point in the movie, Jack did not know who was giving Red their location. He suspected it to be Earl, so he went the opposite way that Earl told him because he assumed they would have run into Red if he took 85 like Earl said.

More Black Dog questions
Rudy picture

Question: What is the name of the actor who plays Notre Dame player 75, last name Mateus? I can't find him in the credits. He's the guy who starts chanting "Rudy" during the Georgia Tech game. I know Al Snow aka Allen Sarven plays an uncredited Notre Dame player in the movie, but it is not him - I have seen pics of Al Snow, and he is NOT the guy. There is more than one uncredited Notre Dame player in the film. (I have posted this question before, and the reply was Al Snow, so please don't answer this unless you actually know who the actor is. Thank you.)

Answer: According to the Trivia section (as well as some web searching) it seems to be Peter Rausch, an ex-Notre Dame football player.

Answer: Peter Rausch had already completed his NCAA eligibility by the time the movie started filming. He can be seen wearing the number 75, starting the "Rudy" chant from the field. His character's name is "Steve."

Answer: His real last name is Mateus. He and several Western Michigan University football players were cast in the film. I know this for fact because I worked at Scott's iron Campus in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He and several of his friends were close friends with the owner and were in the restaurant almost daily. They also built a loft bed for me in the dorms.

More Rudy questions
Casino picture

Question: Sam and Nicky both refer to "back home" but they do not explain where it is . I thought it was Kansas City because that is where the bosses are, but it's revealed that they are only there because "its as close as they could get to Vegas without being arrested". Does anyone know where in America Sam and Nicky are originally from?

Answer: Frank Rosenthal (the basis for Sam Rothstein) and Tony Spilotro (the basis for Nicky Santoro) were both from Chicago, so that is likely "back home".

More Casino questions
Once Upon a Time in the West picture

Question: In the scene where Cheyenne visits Jill at the McBain's residence for the first time, he asks her whether she knows something about a man with a harmonica, although the three of them (Cheyenne, Harmonica and Jill) met earlier in the movie when Cheyenne tells Harmonica to "watch those false notes." Why doesn't Cheyenne just ask her for the man whom she probably still remembers from this event?

Answer: The movie was filmed at multiple locations in Spain and Italy, and also in Utah. Chances are they filmed out of sequence and made minor changes to the script later in the movie. There are many things left unclear in the movie, for example the same scene at the cantina/store, just after Cheyenne's crew shows up, he refers to Harmonica by his name when no-one said his name up until that point.

Answer: Cheyenne is obviously highly preoccupied with Harmonica in the saloon where they first meet (very tense situation). Perhaps Cheyenne didn't actually notice Jill's presence, or forgot she was there?

Answer: He meant what does she know about him personally. What's his real name, where does he come from and why is he so interested in everything.

Then he should have asked "do you know something about THE man with THE harmonica?" instead of "do you know something about A man going around playing A harmonica?" (time stamp 01:05:25 for the restored version) or am I missing something? He already knows that she has seen him because he was there so he could just ask "do you know something about the guy with the harmonica we met at the bar earlier?" I just don't understand why Cheyenne is using an indefinite article because he and Jill both know who he is referring to.

More Once Upon a Time in the West questions

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.