Physics in movies

[Richard]

Here's a good page to answer your every question...humorous too.

http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/

 

[fgcason]

I always get a kick out of the J3 Cub that runs out of fuel, power dives (WWII radial dive bomber sound) down behind a hill and blows half the Earth up with the ensuing explosions.
The best was the spoof to that in some movie spoof show years ago: Hang glider goes down behind a hill very very slowly sounding like a screaming dive bomber followed by 2 minutes of horrific explosions.

It's mindless entertainment so you have to check reality at the door. Quite a bit of it is so jolting though that I just can't watch it. That's probably why I haven't been to a movie since 1991.

 

[Dave Siciliano]

I always loved the squeeling tires on a car when making a turn on a dirt road; wondered where they found those.

Best,

Dave

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

From the earliest ages, my bros & I used to laugh at the BS on films & TV ...I guess one either knows what world one is in, or one does not.

 

[Frank Browne]

I always loved the squeeling tires on a car when making a turn on a dirt road; wondered where they found those.

Best,

Dave

My favorite movie physics pet peeve is when someone fire a shotgun with absolutely zero recoil, and the person being shot is lifted from the ground and blasted several feet in the air.

 

[p8cleared2land]

Some people thrive on checking reality. I suppose there is a time and place for it. Probably many of us here tend to seek out our own real adventures. I know I do...often with disastrous results that would hardly sell tickets...

 

[Pilawt]

I thought The Aviator, the recent flick about Howard Hughes, was pretty bad physics-wise. The computer-generated airplanes looked great, but didn't move anything like real airplanes would move.

The HR-1's power-off, gear-up slide through the berry patch -- after a cartoonish "flareout" -- lasted eighteen seconds before the camera cut away, the airplane still moving at a good clip, seemingly a constant speed (maybe they were greaseberries?). Plenty of time for Leo to mug for the camera.

Plus he handles the controls like it was a skiploader, rather than a high-performance airplane. Jimmy Stewart, at least, knew how to "fly" an airplane in the movies.

And how about sound? Over the Hollywood Hills Leo and Cate whisper and coo to each other in the cockpit of a Sikorsky S-38 (Hughes' real airplane was an S-43) as "Moonglow" plays softly in the background. That would have been kinda tough with the din from the unmuffled R-1340's and prop tips mere inches from the cabin roof.

In the interview on the bonus disc, director Scorsese admits that before making this movie he knew nothing about aviation. No kidding.

Howard Hughes was passionate about technical accuracy in his films; he would have hated the aviation scenes in this movie.

-- Pilawt

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

The HR-1's power-off, gear-up slide through the berry patch -- after a cartoonish "flareout" -- lasted eighteen seconds before the camera cut away, the airplane still moving at a good clip, seemingly a constant speed (maybe they were greaseberries?). Plenty of time for Leo to mug for the camera.

Plus he handles the controls like it was a skiploader, rather than a high-performance airplane. Jimmy Stewart, at least, knew how to "fly" an airplane in the movies.


In the interview on the bonus disc, director Scorsese admits that before making this movie he knew nothing about aviation. No kidding.

Howard Hughes was passionate about technical accuracy in his films; he would have hated the aviation scenes in this movie.

-- Pilawt

The berries that didn't squash and lube, acted as thousands of leeeeetle ball bearings -thats what made the slide out so long. Wow that director thought of everything.