Why can't the movie studios ever get it right?

jim pastorius posted:

I know movies are meant to be entertaining but it makes it more enjoyable if the producers make an honest effort to get such scenes, at least close, to realistic....

More enjoyable for who only if they're perfectly correct? Maybe for train-oholics, but they're likely the only ones who see it that way. When you think about it, how many of our daily lives and jobs are continually exciting and interesting, even to ourselves? Afterall, the reason most people watch films  is they serve as a refuge and respite from reality. 

More enjoyable to me. I didn't need any more excitement in my job or daily life. i guess others do.

If directors and producers are making an effort to get everything else right in the film, are we, Train-O-Holics just chopped liver ?   What, we don't deserve a break today.....LOL

Sometimes a movies budget will  affect what they do with a scene and how important the production team thinks it is.

jim pastorius posted:

 One western movie, an oldie, "The Horse Soldiers"  has a lot of good cavalry scenes in it. 

Well, let's see.  Grierson was a music teacher, not a civil/RR engineer, but a musician would have been hard for the Duke to portray (ever hear him sing?). 

I don't remember what artillery the movie used, but it was not what Grierson used:  a battery of 2 lb. Woodruff guns   http://turnerbrigade.org/history/woodruff/

Lest you think me too critical discussing artillery in reference to a claim made about cavalry, it's worth noting that small, light guns were common in horse, flying, or cavalry batteries.  He had to move fast over rough terrain, and the smaller guns were far easier to do so with.  And, though small, the Woodruffs were still more gun than just about anything any the opposing forces might have had, which was more than likely none.

I'll stop now before I go overboard.

I am not an expert but am acquainted with cav  equipment and tactics. Not so sure the movie people were interested in having Woodruff guns in their movie.

Danger Lights did an excellent job. The story line is pure schmaultz, but the railroad scenes are great. Mind you the director gave the Milwaukee Road free reign as the technical adviser on that one...

You guys are beating this to death, the makers don't care and people watching the movies don't care. 

We can find fault with every movie ever made, time to end this thread. 

if you think train fans are alone, consider...

1) building contractors laughing when they see people crawling through air ducts.

2) computer operators having to explain that tape units moving have nothing to do with calculations.

3) car guys cringing every time a car noisily peels out ...on dirt.

4) meteorologists trying to figure out why streets filmed at night are always wet, yet it never rains.

5) aviators concerned that people think planes without power immediately fall to the ground.

6) drivers thinking that their cars will explode on impact.

and on, and on...

Dan Padova posted:

If directors and producers are making an effort to get everything else right in the film, are we, Train-O-Holics just chopped liver ?   What, we don't deserve a break today.....LOL

Actually, Dan,  consider what Overlandflyer has said. The movie folks aren't making a 100% effort to get other aspects of their films correct either. They're taking creative license in their films with those aspects too only we don't necessarily notice or clamor about those discrepancies or flaws since, as Overlandflyer has alluded to, we aren't experts or aficionados in those areas. Likewise, non train folks don't noticeor clamor about  what to some of us are glaring train inaccuracies.

Stop being a TRAIN NERD and enjoy the entertainment.  It's just a movie.

I have always liked to pick films apart when it comes to things I know about.  That said, most people don't know much about trains, so, as has been pointed out by some of you, they don't know much about trains !

I always get a kick when the train in the film is definitely an American train.  Then you see shots of the train later but now it's a European train.  Or vise versa.  

palallin posted:

jim pastorius posted:

 One western movie, an oldie, "The Horse Soldiers"  has a lot of good cavalry scenes in it. 

Lest you think me too critical discussing artillery in reference to a claim made about cavalry, it's worth noting that small, light guns were common in horse, flying, or cavalry batteries.  He had to move fast over rough terrain, and the smaller guns were far easier to do so with.  And, though small, the Woodruffs were still more gun than just about anything any the opposing forces might have had, which was more than likely none.

Artillery is something movies rarely ever got right until they started using re-enacting units for that. How many times have you seen films in the past where the guns get loaded by putting the rammer less than a foot down the bore, and then it leaped several feet into the air seconds after the 'charge' goes off? No water buckets, worms (for everyone else, a 'worm' in artillery is a long staff with a metal twisted fork at one end, to extract any unburned portions of the previous charge that might still be smoldering in the back of the barrel) or even charges seen during the loading process. How about several batteries of cannon all going off at the exact same moment (clearly electrically fired from a common panel off-screen)?

Even as a kid, having crewed muzzle loading artillery plenty of times, I'd roll my eyes. "Waterloo" for example was an amazing movie but the artillery was so unrealistic looking when it fired.

One photopau that recently got my attention was in the movie, Public Enemies.   Kudos to the film for depicted CMStP&P, S3 #261 pulling streamlined Hi cars into Chicago.  Would have been perfect had the engine and cars existed in 1933.

Bruce

There's always this little gem:

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry had a "Celebration of Railroading" way back when, (mid 80's) which included some artifacts from the movie.  One of which was a letter from a railroad employee complaining about the inaccuracies in the movie.  The response from the studio admitted it "was terrible railroading, but swell melodrama."

And so it goes...

Rusty

brwebster posted:

One photopau that recently got my attention was in the movie, Public Enemies.   Kudos to the film for depicted CMStP&P, S3 #261 pulling streamlined Hi cars into Chicago.  Would have been perfect had the engine and cars existed in 1933.

At least they tried. Better than the E-units in "Flags of our Fathers!"

Did you notice what appears to be UP 844 in that same movie?

Watched a movie last night where a child picked an obvious Santa Fe F3 warbonnet A unit.  The store owner took it away from him claiming it was a very rare 1941 Burlington engine.  You could clearly see the Santa Fe markings on the nose.  I didnt think Diesels were in service in 1941.

My biggest complaints are with the accuracy depicted of the transport devices and food replicators used in Star Wars and Star Trek movies.  Galaxy Quest is the only movie to get it right that I have seen.

But they're just entertainment, right?

Diesels were indeed in service in 1941.  The store owner's statement is obviously a gross oversight, to say the least.  When the director was filming, did he even bother to look at the toy ?   

p51 posted:

Artillery is something movies rarely ever got right ...

i stopped by an archery site one time and saw a huge string critiquing the shooting style of Hawkeye from the Avengers... a fictional character from a fictional world.  sadly, i believe most responses were "serious" whereas i found the entire string hilarious.  perhaps something you should consider before bringing up this subject with train-muggles.

p51 posted:

brwebster posted:

One photopau that recently got my attention was in the movie, Public Enemies.   Kudos to the film for depicted CMStP&P, S3 #261 pulling streamlined Hi cars into Chicago.  Would have been perfect had the engine and cars existed in 1933.

At least they tried. Better than the E-units in "Flags of our Fathers!"

Did you notice what appears to be UP 844 in that same movie?

Actually, "Flags of our Fathers" used the BN executive F9's (lettered Boston & Maine) and CB&Q E5 from IRM. 

Still not correct, but at least some cash for the Museum.

Rusty