Air Duct Scenes

CamVader

CamVader

I was watching "Get Smart" (the movie) last night and, yes, it had one of my pet peeve scenes in it. You know, the ones with air ducts so large people can crawl through them on there hands and knees.

And they're always clean. Real duct work would also sound like someone throwing a metal trash can down a flight of stairs with people moving around in them - and - they're usually trying to sneak around when they are utilized in the movies.

It's as cliche as the fruit cart being toppled or the hijinks of a man carrying a plank.

There are dozens of movies with a memorable air duct scene. Let's see if we can compile a list and I'll give a running number as an update as we progress.

I'll start off with two. The afformentioned "Get Smart" and one of my favorite movies of all time, the original "Star Wars." Remember the scene where they were breaking Leia out of lock-up and she shot out the air duct grate and they all jumped into the trash compactor?

Why would you vent a trash bin into a hallway anyway? ;)

Running total: 2
 
CamVader said:
Remember the scene where they were breaking Leia out of lock-up and she shot out the air duct grate and they all jumped into the trash compactor?
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Nah, sorry, I don't recall that scene. Was Jar Jar there?

;)

You know they made an entire movie based on an air duct escape. It spawned three successful sequels.

Yippy-kayay, motherfucker.
 
Yup. Near the end. When theyre talking about the Himalayas and thinking it wont be so bad because they have gambling places there, like a town called Tibet. To bet.

It's the only joke i remember from the movie.
 
Cracker Funk said:
I already said that, brother.
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no you referenced it.. not the same.. your choice to be obtuse does not require me to chose to deconstruct your references.

Its like your Jesus teaching in parables. Your hiding wisdom in plain sight, giving the sinners among us the chance to act like we didn't understand what you meant, thereby granting even more mercy as we now have "plausible denialbility" before the Judgment Seat of God.. er.. something like that ;)
 
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CamVader said:
It looks like a running total of 12 so far. Why does it seem to be so much more pervasive? :lol:
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Because it is. We just can't think of them at the moment. It happens all the time. Totally cliche.

I'm not against cliche, depending on the movie. There is a moment in the climactic finale for Antihero in which the good-guy is chasing the bad-guy on foot. Bad guy throws a garbage can in the path, which the good guy has to hurdle. SO cliche, and cheesy as hell. At the screening, exactly one person in the audience laughed his ASS off at that moment. Nobody else got it. But inside, I was like, "Yes! Somebody got it!"
 
You stole my Dr. No!

Anyone mention Austin Powers yet? The Simpsons had one too.

The thing is, most of these movies are satirizing this cliché, so it's hard to argue that they are perpetuating it. On the other hand, maybe the air duct gag itself is a cliché.

Personally, I'm fed up with the sick profusion of clichés that surround romantic comedies. The genre cannot be saved. A white cross must be drawn across its doors, and its rotting corpse must be burned in a pit outside the city wall.
 
Pandorum.

Although, I'm not sure if they're supposed to be air ducts or utility duct thingies. At least it does push out of the cliche a bit; they're not dusty but they are full of hoses and they're definately not comfy but instead they're claustrophobia inducing.

Speaking of having difficulty of recalling more films in which that cliche has turned up in...I'll bet it's been used in television plenty, too.
 
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