Question: When Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall are sitting in the car at the dance, what is the humiliating secret that he tells her and she laughs at?
Answer: He hasn't "bagged a babe."
Question: What is it likely that the stone (an emerald, I gather) was worth in 1984 US dollars?
Answer: Any emerald over 1 carat in that beautiful cut and condition would probably go for over 250 million. Real emeralds over 5 carats are rare and the price goes up exponentially after 2 or 3 carats. 305,000 per carat after 5. So yeah that one was probably like 800 or more carats.
Question: How exactly did they make the whole underwater fight scene work?
Chosen answer: The actors were weighted down with lead plates. Oxygen tanks were kept just out of picture, and the actors used them to breathe between takes. The takes were short enough to allow the actors to hold their breath through them. The short takes were then cut together to appear as one long fight. Sound effects were added post-production.
Question: What exactly is meant by never feed them "after midnight". Every moment of time that does not happen right at midnight may be construed as happening after midnight...even 11:59PM which occurs 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds AFTER the preceding midnight. I would assume that the afternoon hours are considered before midnight, but does anyone know the exact extent of "after midnight"?
Chosen answer: The precise cut-off point is never stated - I've generally assumed that the embargo on feeding finishes once the sun comes up.
Question: Why did Mahoney get a medal at the end? All he did was run up a building and got himself taken hostage. Hightower deserved his cause he knocked the guy out, saved Harris and Mahoney and defused the situation. Even if it was for bravery or heroism, Mahoney achieved nothing with his actions and shouldn't have been rewarded.
Chosen answer: Just because you fail in your attempt at heroics doesn't mean you weren't brave as hell for trying. Mahoney knowingly put himself in a very dangerous situation with the sole intent of saving two of his fellow officers. That's bravery.
Question: In Dana's bedroom, after she's possessed, there's a picture next to her bed. Is that Reagan from The Exorcist?
Answer: I watched clips from both movies to compare the images. The picture of the little girl next to Dana's bed looks a little like Regan from the Exorcist, but the hair styles are different enough to conclude that it is not. Regan had longer and straighter hair while the girl in the photo has shorter and bushier locks.
Question: Did Eddie Murphy improvise his hotel meltdown speech (where he claims to be a reporter) or was it scripted?
Chosen answer: Much of Axel Foley's lines were improvised, including this scene, according to the commentary. But many other actors improvised their lines too, most notably Bronson Pinchot. The script was originally written with the intent of Sylvester Stallone playing Axel and as such, the issue of his race wasn't scripted and the director tried to avoid mentioning race in the film. It was Eddie Murphy that would bring it up in improvised lines.
Question: Is there an artist and title of the steamy mellow song played when Lewis and Betty start to have sex on the "moon" in the funhouse? Is it a real song or was it just made for the movie only?
Answer: First, Lewis and Betty are not "having sex" - he is raping her, and the writer and director later described it as "not excusable" (https://decider.com/2019/07/26/revenge-of-the-nerds-rape-scene-regret/). Second, the song you hear is "Right Time for Love" by Jill Michaels and Pat Robinson. It was not written for the film.
Question: When Kara's shown putting on her Linda Lee disguise for the first time, how does she do this?
Answer: It's never explained, she could have changed at super speed. In Superman II, when confronted by the super criminals at the Fortress of Solitude, Superman did a disappearing and reappearing act. So did the criminals. It might be a similar thing.
Question: What kind of car is the yellow one the two ladies drive after they ditch the Mercedes? The one where the top comes comes up to let people in.
Chosen answer: It's called a "Nova" (but not as in the Chevy Nova). It's a kit car, in the U.S. and for the film, it was made by the Sterling Sports Car company. Although the Nova kit car originated with the English company Automotive Design and Development Ltd.
Question: Does anybody know if there are non-credited cameos in this film? During the scene on the beach, where the girl meets the two dancers, I think I see a young Jean-Claude Van Damme in the crowd wearing a black spandex suit and the kid from Revenge of the Nerds holding a soccer ball.
Answer: According to IMDB.com, the following actors were uncredited in this film: Michel Qissi, Passerby in first dance sequence - Lela Rochon, Extra in first scene - Kara Vallow, Break Dancer - Jean-Claude Van Damme, Passerby in First Dance Sequence.
Question: When Dr. Cornbluth first sees the mermaid under water and unsuccessfully tries to take her picture, how come he has an oxygen tank AND an air hose coming from the boat topside? I thought it may be a mistake but I am not a scuba diver so I though I would ask.
Chosen answer: Whilst it may be a tad unusual, each system serves as a back-up for the other.
Question: Did any of the actors know how to play their instruments? Because sometimes Harry Shearer seems to know what he's doing on the bass, particularly during 'Big Bottom' but the two leads sometimes look as though they're playing air guitar.
Answer: The actors are all good musicians - it's them playing.
Answer: He tells her that he is a virgin. His friends think that he is a "stud" and has had sex when he hasn't.
wolfchild