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 Replies: 40 / Views: 6,177 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
I just noticed this as I was watching the movie and checking out the forums this early morning. "Yanks" (1979) -- set in WWII England. 1:23 into the movie. A slot machine pays out a pile of dimes. And what do I see? Roosevelt dimes!  'boos' to the prop people... Now by contrast, In "Titanic" (1997) Kate Winslet pays for her portrait drawn by Leonardo DiCaprio with a Barber dime.  way to go prop people! Who has other examples of coins in movies? Accurate? OR NOT?! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
In the past there have been many posts about coins on TV programs. Usually they do use a sort of realistic type coin for that period. But on TV or in the movies, you must remember that the prop people are probably not Numismatist and really don't even consider that type of accuracy. They well know that coin collectors are a minority of people that see that program or movie. And even those that are coin people seldom watch for coin accuracy.
If you watch movies closely you would see all kinds of errors with guns, knives, horse saddles, auto engines, etc.
I remember a horror type movie that was supposed to be way, way back and there was this TV antenna on a roof. I saw a cowboy/indian movie once and saw an airplane in the background shy. So a wrong coin too is sort of common.
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Moderator
 Australia
16806 Posts |
One that stands out in my mind is "Troy". There's a death scene, where two coins are placed on the eyes of the deceased, to "pay the ferryman" so they can make it to the afterlife. It didn't show a closeup of the coin, so I don't know how historically accurate it might have been. +10 points for researching the use of coins by the ancient Greeks in this way. -1000 points for not realising that the Trojan Wars purportedly occurred 500 years before coinage was invented.  Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2490 Posts |
In my youth I worked on a film called "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" We used a street lot at Shepperton studios for some external scenes involving cars and vans, one of which I spotted as saying "So-and-so, Bagpipe Makes".
Being young and enthusiastic/naive, I pointed out that it should say "makers".
"If any one spots that, then they're not paying attention to the b****y film" came the experienced answer
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
It used to be really bad being a computer guy and seeing computer errors in movies. It's harder to get away with now that everybody uses them a lot more. It seems like they make a better effort to at least put in winks to the computer guys (e.g. the use of nmap and ssh exploit in The Matrix Reloaded). I can't imagine be a doctor watching medical dramas or a cop watching cop shows.
My Dad collected fruit jars, so I'm burdened with knowledge of the right sorts of jars for different eras. I can't tell you how many movies set in the civil war era have modern ball jars in them.
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Valued Member
United States
462 Posts |
I saw in an episode of bones that the motive for murder was this guys old coin collection. They said the murderer took all of the old coins, but then they later found one in the dead guys coat pocket. It was a 1943 copper penny and Bones explained how it's so rare ane valuable.
Edited by KisNap
02/07/2012 1:00 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
One that stands out in my mind is "Troy". There's a death scene, where two coins are placed on the eyes of the deceased, to "pay the ferryman" so they can make it to the afterlife. Well you didn't give them credit for not using Kennedy halves though. Or wouldn't that have been funny if they used paper dollars? By me there are a real lot of old programs on TV. One is Dennis the Menace. This too has been mentioned on this forum before. The neighbor, Mr. Wilson, collects coins and stamps and they show his coin collection many times. Very difficult to see exactly what they are though. But since those shows were made in the 50's, Some of those could easily be what we think of today as valuable. |
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Valued Member
Australia
243 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9792 Posts |
I always thought in Back to the Future when MJF paid for his coke (Pepsi Free or Tab)! They would have questioned the money as it was obviously clad quarters that don't look like silver and sound different. Latter on in the Back to the Future series Doc had a case with all the correct currency and coins for various times he would be traveling in.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
I saw a Barber dime used on Little House on the Prairie. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
Latter on in the Back to the Future series Doc had a case with all the correct currency and coins for various times he would be traveling in.
Wonder what was in there for the future coins. |
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Moderator
United States
187607 Posts |
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Wonder what was in there for the future coins. Stuff he got in the future from selling the "older" (1985) money at a pawn shop.  |
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Valued Member
United States
268 Posts |
I saw German coins in the movie The Red Baron good war movie |
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Valued Member
United States
318 Posts |
Quote:
I can't imagine be a doctor watching medical dramas or a cop watching cop shows. I have a friend whose wife was a resident. She said all the doctor shows are completely bogus and unwatchable to anyone with actual medical training. They only one she said was halfway realistic was Scrubs. |
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
In "Back to the Future" I don't believe Marty ever actually pays for the Pepsi - First he orders a "Pepsi Free", which Mr. Caruthers thinks that Marty wants a regular Pepsi for free - then Marty asks for a Tab and Mr. Caruthers says he can't give him a "tab" unless he orders something - so I think Mr. Caruthers was just assuming Marty wanted to start up a tab by ordering a Pepsi. Or, Mr. Caruthers might have thought Marty was going to pay for the Pepsi, but then Marty ran off after his dad. We did hear the clink of some coins in the scene, but that was probably just Goldie Wilson picking up the coins that George used to pay for his breakfast.
(I've seen that movie far too many times.)
I used to get driven crazy when watching "That 70s Show" when it was obvious that all of Eric's Star Wars toys were actually 90-s era toys and not the original toys released by Kenner in late 1977 and 1978.
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Valued Member
United States
318 Posts |
Think about the tiny limited amount of history that we are experts on. We cringe when a tiny detail like the money is wrong? Holy cow, imagine how many historical inaccuracies exist in the history books of the world. Archeologists, biologists, geneticists, dinosauroligists and the like all cringed when Jurassic Park came out. Just pause to think about the myths that our revered texts on anything must contain. It's a miracle that we know anything.
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Replies: 40 / Views: 6,177 |
Posted 02/07/2012 09:24 am
