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From Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion (1992 Edition):

                        GLOSSARY OF MOVIE TERMS

     This year's Glossary of Movie Terms has been much expanded and
improved by the helpful contributions of many readers.  Once again, it
attempts to clarify and label those clichés and inevitable developments
that become wearying with familiarity to the faithful movie lover.  Your
suggestions for improvements will be welcomed for the next edition, and
may be sent in c/o the publishers.

ALI MCGRAW'S DISEASE.  Movie illness in which only sympton is that the
     sufferer grows more beautiful as death approaches.

ARK MOVIE.  Dependable genre in which a mixed bag of characters are
     trapped on a colorful mode of transportation.  Examples:  AIRPORT
     (airplane), THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (ocean liner), MAROONED (space
     satelite), THE CASSANDRA CROSSING (train), ALIENS (outer space),
     THE HINDENBERG (dirigible), THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE
     (subway train), THE ABYSS (undersea station), and of course the
     best of them all, STAGECOACH.

BAKED POTATO PEOPLE.  The nice, good, sweet little people who form a
     chorus in the hero's backgroyund, especially during any movie set
     in a mental home.  Cf. THE DREAM TEAM, CRAZY PEOPLE.  The lesson is
     always the same: it's the real world that's crazy, and the crazy
     people who speak real truth.  (Inspired by a sign seen on a baked
     potato in a steak house: "I've been tubbed, I've been rubbed, I've
     been scrubbed.  I'm lovable, huggable, and eatable!")

BALLOON RULE.  Good movies rarely contain a hot-air balloon.  Most egre-
     gious recent use of a hot-air balloon:  MEN DON'T LEAVE, where the
     heroine is cured of clinical depression by a ride in one.  (Readers
     keep writing in with exceptions to this rule, including WITNESS, but
     the general principle still applies.)

BARSOOM BUM SLIDE.  Most bar fights in the movies end with the loser being
     pushed so hard he slides halfway down the bar.  In real life, this
     is impossible.  (Douglas W. Topham, Woodland Hills, CA)

BEGINNING, THE.  Word used in the titles of sequels to movies in which
     everyone was killed at the end of the original movie, making an
     ordinary sequel impossible.  Explains to knowledgeable filmgoers that
     the movie will ocncern, for example, what happened in the Amityville
     house before the Lutzes moved in.  Other examples: The First Chapter,
     The Early Days, etc.

BODY SWITCH MOVIE.  The brain of one character somehow finds itself in the
     body of another.  Requires actors to confront an actor's nightmare,
     i.e., acting as if they were another actor.

BOX RULE.  Beware movies advertised with a row of little boxed across the
     bottom, each one showing the face of a different international star
     and the name of a character (i.e., "Curt Jurgens as the Commandant").
     Example:  Most films made from Agatha Christie novels.

BROTMAN'S LAW.  "If nothing has happened by the end of the first reel,
     nothing is going to happen."  (Named for Chicago movie exhibitor
     Oscar Brotman.)

CAMEL, SLOW-MOVING.  All camels in Middle Eastern thrillers are crossing
     the road for the sole purpose of slowing down a pursuit vehicle.

CARING BLANKET TUCK-IN.  Effective in conveying the soft heart of an
     otherwise unappealing character.  Cf. James Woods in COP.  Also used
     in scenes involving the hero, usually as a setup for the scene in
     which tucked-in child suddenly finds itself in great danger.  Cf.
     Glenn Forde in THE BIG HEAT.  (Tony Whitehouse, Verbier, Switzerland)

CHASE-AND-CRASH SCENES.  Replaces the third act or any other form of plot
     resolution in the modern thriller.  After the hero has left dozens
     of burning cars and trucks behind him, we never see emergency vehicles
     responding to the carnage.  Despite working under a Wrong-Headed
     Commanding Officer, (q.v.) the hero cop is never called on the carpet
     because yesterday he drove his squad car through the walls of several
     warehouses.

CLASSIC CAR RULE.  Whenever a beautiful classic car - usually the prized
     possession of an unsympathetic father - is introduced at the beginning
     of the film, that car will be wrecked by the end of it.  (See RISKY
     BUSINESS, FERRIS BEULLER'S DAY OFF, COUPE DE VILLE, etc.)

CLIDVIC (CLIMBING FROM DESPAIR TO VICTORY).  Formula for ROCKY and all the
     ROCKY rip-offs.  Breaks plot into three parts:  (1) Defeat and despair;
     (2) Rigorous training, usually shown in the form of would-be MTV
     videos; Victory, preferably ending in freeze-frame of triumphant hero.

CLIMBING VILLAIN.  Villains being chased at the end of a movie inevitably
     disregard all common sense and begin climbing up something - a
     staircase, a church tower, a mountain - thereby trapping themselves
     at the top.  (Whitehouse)

COLE RULE, THE.  No movie made since 1977 containing a character with the
     first name "Cole" has been any good.

DEAD TEEN-AGER MOVIE.  Generic term for any move primarily concerned with
     killing teen-agers, without regard for logic, plot, preformance,
     humor, etc.  Often imitated, never worse than in the FRIDAY THE 13TH
     sequels.  Requires complete loss of common sense on the part of the
     characters.  Sample dialogue:  "All of our friends have been found
     horribly mutilated.  It is midnight and we are miles from help.  Hey,
     let's take off our clothes, walk through the dark woods, and go
     skinny-dipping!"

DEADLY CHANGE OF HEART.  When the cold heart of a villain softens and he
     turns into a good guy, the plot will quickly require him to be killed,
     usually after maudlin final words.

DETOUR RULE.  In any thriller, it is an absolute certainty that every road
     detour sign is a subterfuge to kidnap the occupants of a car.  Cf.
     Camel, Slow-Moving, "Hay Wagon!", etc.

DOCUDRAMA.  TV term for extended-length program which stars a disease or
     social problem and costars performers willing to give interviews on
     how they experienced personal growth through their dramatic contact
     with same.

DOOMED CROP-DUSTER.  Every crop-dusting plane in the history of the movies
     has crashed.

FALLACY OF THE PREDICTABLE TREE.  The logical error commited every time the
     good guy is able to predict exactly what the bad guy is going to do.
     For example, in FIRST BLOOD, law enforcement officers are searching
     the woods for John Rambo.  A cop pauses under a tree.  Rambo drops
     on him.  Question:  Out of all the trees in the forest, how did Rambo
     know which one the guy would pause under.

FALLACY OF THE TALKING KILLER.  The villain wants to kill the hero.  He has
     him cornered at gunpoint.  All he has to do is pull the trigger.  But
     he always talks first.  He explains the hero's mistakes to him.
     Jeers.  Laughs.  And gives the herop time to think his way out of the
     situation, or be rescued by his buddy.  Cf. most James Bond movies.
     (Gene Siskel)

FALLING VILLAIN.  Suggested by reader Steve Dargitz of Ann Arbor, Mich.,
     perhaps in response to the Glossary entry on the Climbing Villain
     (q.v.).  The rule states that the villain must fall from a great
     height, and crash if possible through a glass canopy before landing on
     an automobile.

FAR-OFF RATTLE MOVIES.  Movies in which the climactic scene is shot in a
     deserted warehouse, where far-off rattles punctuate the silence.

FEEDBACK RULE.  Every time anyone uses a microphone in a movie, it feeds
     back.  (Arden J. Cooper, Warren, MI)

FIRST LAW OF FUNNY NAMES.  No names are funny unless used by W.C. Fields
     or Groucho Marx.  Funny names, in general, are a sign of desperation
     at the screenplay level.  See "Dr. Hfuhruhurr" in THE MAN WITH TWO
     BRAINS.

FIRST RULE OF REPETITION OF NAMES.  When the sane names are repeated in a
     movie more than three minutes in a row, the audience breaks out into
     sarcastic laughter, and some of the ruder members are likely to start
     shouting "Kirsty!" and "Tiffany!" at the screen. Sf. HELLBOUND:
     HELLRAISER II.

FLOATING LUGGAGE.  In every scene where actors carry luggage, the luggage
     is obviously empty.  They attempt, with pained expressions on their
     faces, to pretend that the bags are heavy, yet they can flick them
     around like feathers.  (Tom Kirkpatrick)

"FOOD FIGHT!"  Dialogue which replaced "Westward ho!" as American movies
     ended the long frontier trek and began to look inward for sources of
     inspiration.

"FRUIT CART!"  An expletive used by knowledgeable film buffs during any
     chase scene involving a foreign or ethnic locale, reflecting their
     certainty that a fruit cart will be overturned during the chase, and
     an angry peddler will run into the middle of the street to shake his
     fist at the hero's departing vehicle.
     (Of all the definitions in the glossary, this has become the most
     popular.  It has been gratifying to be part of an audience where
     people unknown to me have cried out "Fruit Cart!" at appropriate
     moments.  The movie SKI PATROL even contained a "Siskel and Ebert
     Fruit Cart.")

GENERATION SQUEEZE.  New Hollywood genre that tries to bridge the
     generation gap by creating movies which will appeal to teen-agers
     at the box office and to adults at the video rental counter.  Typical
     plot device:  An adult becmes a teen-ager, or vice versa.  Cf. LIKE
     FATHER, LIKE SON; HIDING OUT; PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED; VICE VERSA;
     18 AGAIN; BIG.  Also sometimes masquerades as a movie apparently
     about adults, but with young actors in the "adult" roles.  Cf.
     NO MAN'S LAND, THE BIG TOWN.

HAND-IN-HAND RULE.  In many Hollywood action pictures, the woman characters
     are incapable of fleeing from danger unless dragged by a strong man,
     who takes the woman's hand and pulls her along meekly behind him.
     This convention so strong it appears in even in films where it makes
     no sense, such as SHEENA, in which a jungle-woman who has ruled the
     savage beasts since infancy is pulled along by a TV anchorman fresh
     off the plane.

"HAY WAGON!"  Rural version of "Fruit Cart!" (q.v.).  At the beginning of
     chase scenes through colorful ethnic locales, knowledgeable film buffs
     anticipate the inevitable scene in which the speeding sports car will
     get stuck on a narrow country lane behind a wagon overloaded with hay.

HEY! CODY! RULE.  Bad guy has drop on good guy.  Can pull trigger and kill
     him.  Inevitably shouts "Hey! Cody!" (fill in name of good guy), after
     which good guy swirls, sees him, and shoots him first.

HOLLYWOOD CAR.  Looks like a normal automobile, but backfires after being
     purchased from used car lot by movie heroine who is starting out in
     life and is on her own this time.

HOLLYWOOD COP CAR.  Driven by the slovenly member of the team in all police
     versions of the Opposites in Collision plot (q.v.).  Always
     unspeakably filthy, dented, rusty, and containing all of the cop's
     possessions in the back seat, as well as several weeks' worth of
     fast-food wrappers.  Usually, but not necessarily, some kind of
     distinctive make or model (Gremlin, old Ford woody wagon, beat-up
     Caddy convertible, 4x4 van, etc.)

HOLLYWOOD HOSPITAL.  Where people go to die.  Victim checks in, doesn't
     check out, because screen time is too valuable for characters to go
     into the hospital only to recover a few scenes later.  Dialogue clue:
     When any seemingly able-bodied character uses the word "doctor,"
     especially in a telephone conversation not intended to be overheard,
     he/she will be dead before the end of the film.  (Siskel)

HORNY TEEN-AGER MOVIE.  Any film primarily concerned with teen-age sexual
     hungers, usually male.  Replaced, to a degree, by Dead Teen-ager
     Movies (q.v.), but always popular with middle-aged movie executives,
     who like to explain to their seventeen-year-old starlets why the logic
     of the dramatic situation and the teachings of Strasberg require them
     to remove their brassieres.  Cf. BLAME IT ON RIO, SHE'S OUT OF
     CONTROL.

IDIOT PLOT.  Any plot containing problems which would be solved instantly
     if all of the characters were not idiots.  (Originally defined by
     Damon Knight.)

IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS IMPREGNATED.  Indispensable scene in all James Bond
     movies and many other action pictures, especially war films.  The
     IFI sequence begins early in the picture, with long shots of a
     faraway fortress and Wagnerian music on te soundtrack.  Eventually
     the hero gains entry to the fortress, which is inevitably manned by
     technological drones in designer uniforms.  Sequence ends with
     destruction of fortress, as clones futilely attempt to save their
     marvelous machines.  See THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, etc.

INEVITABLE SISTER.  In any movie where the heroine catches her boyfriend
     dancing in public with another woman, and makes a big scene, the other
     woman invariably turns out to be the boyfriend's sister.  Cf. MYSTIC
     PIZZA, etc.  (Stuart Clemand)

INTELLIGENCE.  In most movies, "all that separates us from the apes."
     In SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE, what we have in common with them.

KOOKALOURIS.  Name for a large sheet of cardboard or plywood with holes
     in it, which is moved back and forth in fromt of a light to
     illuminate a character's face with moving light characters.  Popular
     in the 1930s; back in style again with the movies of Steven Spielberg,
     who uses a kookalouris with underlighting to show faces that seem
     to be illuminated by reflections from pots of gold, buckets of
     diamonds, pools of fire, pirate maps, and radioactive kidneys.

LAND BOOM RULE.  In any movie where there is a cocktail party featuring
     a chart, map, or model of a new real estate developmet, a wealthy
     property developer will be found dead inside an expensive automobile.

LAW OF ECONOMY OF CHARACTERS.  Movie budgets make it impossible for any
     film to contain unnecessary characters.  Therefore, all characters in
     a movie are necessary to the story - even those who do not seem to be.
     Sophisticated viewers can use this Law to deduce the identity of a
     person being kept secret by the movie's plot: This "mystery" person is
     always the only character in the movie who seems otherwise extraneous.
     Cd. the friendly neighbor in THE LADY IN WHITE.  (See also Unmotivated
     Close-up.)

LAW OF INEVITABLE IMMERSION.  Whenever characters are near a body of water,
     the chances are great that one of them will jump, fall, or be pushed
     into it.  If this does occur, it is inevitable that the other
     character(s) will also jump, fall, or be pushed in.  See SULLIVAN'S
     TRAVELS (swimming pool), LA DOLCE VITA (Roman fountain), TOM JONES
     (pond), A ROOM WITH A VIEW (rural stream), SUMMERTIME (Grand Canal),
     etc.  (Cleland)

LENNY RULE.  Named for the gentle giant in Steinbeck's "Of Mice And Men,"
     this rule dictates that if a film character is of less than normal
     intelligence, he or she will inadvertently get into serious trouble
     during the film.  (Cleland)

LONG-HAIRED WOMAN SEEN FROM BEHIND.  When approached by hero, inevitably
     turns out to be a man.

MAD SLASHER MOVIES.  Movies starring a mad-dog killer who runs amok,
     slashing all of the other characters.  The killer is frequently
     masked (as in HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH), not because a serious
     actor would be ashamed to be seen in the role, but because then no
     actor at all is required; the only skilsl necessary are the ability
     to wear a mask and weild a machete.  For additional reading, see
     "Splatter Movies," by John ("mutilation is the message") McCarty.

MIRROR GIMMICK.  Tired old cinemagraphic trick in which we think we are
     seeing a character, but then the camera pans and we realize we were
     only looking in a mirror.  (Cooper)

MURPHY'S LAW.  In movies made before 1985, any character named "Murphy"
     was a cop, a priest, a drunk, a tough guy, or all of the above.
     MURPHY'S ROMANCE was the first to break with this rule.  Prior to
     TV's "Murphy Brown," all Murphys were male.  Any character named
     Murphy will sooner or later be shown in a saloon or drinking heavily.
     (Robert F. Murphy, Providence, RI)

MYOPIA RULE.  Little girls who wear glasses in the movies always tell the
     truth.  Little boys who wear glasses in the movies always lie.
     (Siskel)

MYTH OF THE SEEMINGLY ORDINARY DAY.  The day begins like any other, with
     a man getting up, having breakfast, reading the paper, leaving the
     house, etc.  His activities are so uneventful that they are boring.
     That is the tip-off.  No genuine ordinary day can be allowed to be
     boring in a movie.  Only seemingly ordinary days - which inevitably
     lead up to a shocking scene of violence, which punctuates the
     seeming ordinariness.

NAH REFLEX.  Character sees someone but can't believe his eyes, so he
     shakes his head and says "Nah."  Inevitably it is the person it
     couldn't be.  (John Weckmuller, Menomonee, Wis.)

NEAR MISS KISS.  The hero and heroine are about to kiss.  Their lips are
     a quarter of an inch apart - but then they're interrupted.  (Topham)

NOBLE SAVAGE SYNDROME.  Thrown into the company of a native tribe of any
     description, the protagonist discovers the true meaning of life and
     sees through the sham of modern civilization.  Wisdon and sensitivity
     are inevitably possessed by any race, class, age group, or ethnic
     or religious minority that has been misunderstood.  Such moves seem
     well intentoned at first glance, but replace one stereotype with
     another; the natives seem noble, but never real.  They may be
     starving, but if they're noble and have a few good songs, why worry?
     (Murphy)

ODD COUPLE FORMULA.  Seemingly incompatible characters are linked to each
     other in a plot which depends on their differences for its comic
     and dramatic interest.  Cf. TANGO AND CASH, HOMER AND EDDIE, LETHAL
     EAPON, LOOSE CANNONS.  Essential that one member of each team be a
     slob, as revealed by presence of fast-food wrappers in back seat of
     his Hollywood Cop Car (q.v.).

ODDS ON EDGE RULE.  The odds that a car in real life will be able to travel
     any appreciable distance balanced on two wheels:  1 in 7 million.
     The odds that this will happen during a chase scene in a movie:
     1 in 43.

OOPS, SORRY! RULE.  Character sees person from behind on street, thinks it
     is someone he knows, runs up and confronts person, inevitably to
     discover it is someone else.  (Dan Saunders, Oakland, CA)

PRINCIPLE OF EVIL MARKSMANSHIP.  The bad guys are always lousy shots in
     the movies.  Three villains with Uzis will go after the hero,
     spraying thousands of rounds that miss him, after which he picks them
     off witn a handgun.  (Jim Murphy)

PRINCIPLE OF PEDESTRIAN PATHOLOGY.  Whenever a character on foot is being
     pursued by one in a car, the pedestrian inevitably makes the mistake
     of running down the middle of the street, instead of ducking down a
     narrow alley, into a building, behind a telephone pole, etc.  All that
     saves such pedestrians s the fact that in such scenes the character
     on foot can always outrun the car.  (Cleland)

RISING SIDEWALK.  No female character in an action film can flee more than
     fifty feet before falling flat on her face.  Someone then has to go
     back and help her up, while the monster/villain/enemy gains ground.
     (James Portanova, Fresh Meadows, NY)

SEEING-EYE MAN.  Function performed by most men in Hollywood feature films.
     Involves a series of shots in which (1) the man sees something, (2) he
     points it out to the woman, (3) she then sees it too, often nodding
     in agreement, gratitude, amusement, or relief.  (First identified
     by Linda Williams.)

SEMI-OBLIGATORY LYRICAL INTERLUDE (SEMI-OLI).  Scene in which soft focus
     and slow motion are used while a would-be hit song is performed on
     the sound track and the lovers run through a pastoral setting.
     Common from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s; replaced in the 1980s with
     the Semi-Obligatory Music Video (q.v.).

SEMI-OBLIGATORY MUSIC VIDEO (SEMI-OMV).  Three-minute sequence within
     otherwise ordinary narrative structure, in which a song is played
     at top volume while movie characters experience spasms of hyperkinetic
     behavior and stick their faces into the camera lens.  If a band is
     seen, the Semi-OMV is inevitably distinguished by the director's
     inability to find a fresh cinematic approach to the challenge of
     filming a slack-jawed drummer.

SEQUEL.  A filmed deal.

SEVEN MINUTE RULE.  In the age of the seven-minute attention span (inspired
     by the average length between TV commercials), action movies aimed at
     teen-agers are constructed out of several seven-minute segments.  At
     the end of each segment, another teen-ager is dead.  When all the
     teen-agers are dead (or, if you arrived in the middle of the movie,
     the same dead teen-ager turns up twice), the movie is over.

SHORT TIME SYNDROME.  Applies, to prison, war, or police movies, where the
     hero only has a few more days before he is free, his tour is over, or
     he can retire with a full pension.  Whenever such a character makes
     the mistake of mentioning his remaining time ("Three days and I'm
     outta here!"), he will die before the end of that time.

STANTON-WALSH RULE.  No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M.
     Emmett Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad.  An exception
     was CHATAHOOCHEE (1990), starring Walsh.  Stanton's record is still
     intact.  (Reader Matthew J. Carson of Wallingford, PA, writes in to
     argue that Michael J. Pollard should be included in this rule, but
     Carson's defense of Pollard in TANGO AND CASH is less than
     convincing.)

STILL OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.  Obligatory phrase in Dead Teen-Ager and
     Mad Slasher movies, where it is triggered by the words, "The body
     was never found.  They say he/she is..."

STURGEON'S LAW.  "Nintety percent of everything is crap."  (First
     formulated in the 1950s by the science fiction author Theodore
     Sturgeon; quoted here because it so manifestly applies to motion
     pictures.)

THIRD HAND.  Invisible appendage used by Rambo in RAMBO, in the scene
     where he hides from the enemy by completely plastering himself inside
     a mud bank.  Since it is impossible to cover yourself with mud without
     at least one hand free to do the job, Rambo just have had a third,
     invisble, hand.  This explains a lot about the movie.

TIJUANA.  In modern Horny Teenager Movies, performs the same symbolic
     function as California did for the Beatniks, Marrakech did for the
     hippies, and Paris did for the Lost Generation.

TURTLE EFFECT.  Once knocked down, a character just lies there as if unable
     go get up.  Cf. Sigourney Weaver in ALIEN.  (Portanova)

UNDEAD DEAD.  In horror movies, whenever the killer is killed, he is
     never dead.  This rule is as old as the movies, but was given its
     modern shape in HALLOWEEN (1978) when the killer arose from apparent
     destruction to jump up behind Jamie Lee Curtis.  Since then, all of
     the Dead Teen-ager Movies, most of the Bond pictures, and many other
     thrillers have used a false climax, in which the villain is killed -
     only to spring up for a final threat.  In an ordinary thriller the
     cliché of the Undead Dead is part of the game - but its use in FATAL
     ATTRACTION was unforgivable.

UNMOTIVATED CLOSE-UP.  A character is given a close-up in a scene where
     there seems to be no reason for it.  This is an infallible tip-off
     that his character is more significant than at first appears, and
     is most likely the killer.  See the lingering close-up of the
     undercover KGB agent near the beginning of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.
     (Cleland)

UNSILENCED REVOLVER.  Despite dozens of movies which think otherwise, a
     revolver cannot be silenced, because the sound escapes, not from the
     barrell where they fit the silencer, but from the gap between the
     frame and the cylinder.  Only closed-breech weapons, like pistons
     and magazines in the grip, can be silenced - unless you wrap them
     in a pillow.  (Dawson E. Rambo, Las Vegas)

"WAIT RIGHT HERE!" RULE.  One character, usually male, tells another
     character, usually female, to "Wait right here.  Do NOT follow
     me into the warehouse, cave, house, etc."  The woman inevitably
     does so, is captures, and must be rescued.  Often inspires the
     line "I thought I told you to wait outside."  (Donna A. Higgins,
     Prairie du Chien, WI)

WE'RE ALIVE! LET'S KISS!  Inevitable conclusion to any scene in which
     hero and heroine take cover from gunfire by driving side-by-side
     into a ditch, and find themselves in each other's arms, usually
     for the first time.  Cf. HIGH ROAD TO CHINA.

WEDDING CAKE RULE.  In any movie comedy involving a wedding, the cake
     will be destroyed.  (Weckmueller)

WET.  In Hollywood story conferences, suggested alternative to nude, as
     in: "If she won't take off her clothes, can we wet her down?"
     Suggested by Harry Cohn's remark about swimming star Esther Williams:
     "Dry, she ain't much.  Wet, she's a star."

WRONG-HEADED COMMANDING OFFICER.  In modern police movies, the commanding
     officer exists solely for the purpose of taking the hero off the
     case, calling him on the carpet, issuing dire warnings, asking him to
     hand over his badge and gun, etc.  Cf. the Dirty Harry series, BLUE
     STEEL, etc.  (Whitehouse)

WUNZA MOVIE.  Any film using a plot which can be summarized by saying
     "One's a..."  For example, "One's a cop.  One's an actor."  Or "One's
     a saint.  One's a sinner."  (David King, Los Angeles)

X-RAY DRIVER.  In many thrillers, the hero crashes his car or truck through
     the window or wall of a building at the precise time and place to
     allow him to rescue a victim or kill the bad guys.  How can he see
     through the walls to know exactly where his car will emerge?  Why
     doesn't he evern drive into a load-bearing beam?

YOUNGBLOOD RULE.  No movie with a hero named "Youngblood" has ever been
     any good.  Cf. YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE, YOUNGBLOOD, etc.

Z.  Pronounced "zed" in British movies, something most American audiences
     do not know.