Continuity & Geography Goofs in "Blown Away"

[Ron Newman]

Last week, I had the misfortune to view the movie "Blown Away".
Besides the vapid plot and desultory characterizations, I was
struck by the large number of errors in continuity and
Boston-area geography that the movie evidenced. Considering
how much money the film-makers spent, I expected a lot better.

Some of the following are what I saw; some are things other
people have noticed, or that were written up in newspaper articles.
Can you add more?

Obligatory ^L follows, in case you really care enough about
this movie not to want any spoilers.


One of the bombs is supposedly on the "River Street bridge", but the
actual scene is the Lechmere Green Line viaduct near the Science
Museum. That's a good two miles from River Street.
(BTW, they missed a great opportunity to add to the tension by having
a Green Line train approach as the bomb was about to go off.)

The Green Line trains keep running on top of the viaduct while
Jeff Bridges is inspecting it for bomb damage. Sure.

The black officer lives in South Boston. Right.

The Boston Pops are practicing in the Hatch Shell, with nobody
watching, three weeks before the July 4 concert.

Boston City Hall is relabelled "Boston Police Headquarters".

The Boston bomb squad responds to at least two bombs in Cambridge,
without anyone saying a word about assisting the Cambridge police
force.

People go back and forth to a ship in East Boston without apparently
driving through any tunnels.

A sign in the harbor reads "Boston Port Authority". It should have said
"Massachusetts Port Authority" or "Massport".

Someone who lives on Beacon Hill tries to drive home from the
Hatch Shell during the July 4 fireworks, and encounters
no traffic.

John Williams is conducting the Boston Pops in one scene, but
replaced by an actor a few minutes later.

The musician leaves right after the 1812 Overture, but in fact
the Boston Pops always play at least one more piece of music
after that.

No cannons were fired during the 1812 Overture.
--
Ron Newman MIT Media Laboratory
rne...@media.mit.edu

[Marie Lamb]

One thing I've learned is filmmakers/tv producers have no regard for
geography if it gets in the way of the storyline.

I remember watching "Spencer for Hire" one night and getting a
big chuckle when Robert Urich jogged up to the State House to get
to the Area D police station. :-)

Marie

[Peter A. Cohen]

In article <30ek5l...@life.ai.mit.edu>, ma...@ai.mit.edu wrote:

> One thing I've learned is filmmakers/tv producers have no regard for
> geography if it gets in the way of the storyline.

I don't really see why geography must be precise for movies and tv shows.
Consider that the characters that populate tv and movies are fictional and
the plots are fictional. Why must the sets be any different, even if they
exist in a 'real' setting?

--
____ _ ___ ____ ____ _
| __)| \ (_ || ___)| () || |___ || "Free your mind,
(_ _) | |_ / || \ \__ || _ \ || and your ass
|_| \___)(_()_||_| (____||_| |_| || will follow."
== fla...@tiac.net === Peter Cohen == || - George Clinton

[Jay Rose]

In article <flargh-1907...@peanut.tiac.net>, fla...@tiac.net
(Peter A. Cohen) wrote:

> I don't really see why geography must be precise for movies and tv shows.
> Consider that the characters that populate tv and movies are fictional and
> the plots are fictional. Why must the sets be any different, even if they
> exist in a 'real' setting?

I think what makes a difference is whether or not the movie is
_entertaining_. If it isn't, people don't have anything better to do than
spot errors.

Steve Martin managed to walk Goldie Hawn through Waterfront Park on his way
from the Lenox Hotel to Beacon Hill, and nobody complained...

[Brent S Noorda]

In the case of Blown Away one of the goofs simply made the plot unbelievable.
Immediately after the 4th of July Pops concert, one of the musicians walks
to her car and drives off down clear streets. The plot device is that the
vehicle cannot stop, but after a 4th of July at the esplanade I contend that
the car never could have got moving in the first place.

[David W. Mitchell]

Quite right; and then they drove downhill for an incredibly long time.
How can you go downhill from the Esplanade (and stay dry)? Presuming
they had teleported to the top of Beacon Hill, it would have to have
grown substantially before you could drive downhill for that long,
even allowing for the "telescoping time in an emergency" phenomenon.

But worst of all was the way Guinness was served in the faux-Irish
bar: no head, and down a good inch from the top. Ridiculous!

dave
--
Dave Mitchell Open Software Foundation - Research Institute
d...@osf.org 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, USA 02142