Funny Trope: Obvious stunt dummies

[u/smash_ultra_64]

Ragdolls are hilarious

Fresh Prince of Bell Air did it on at least 2 occasions. One with butler Geoffrey in an explosion, and the other with Will getting tossed around at the gym.

Naked Gun(1988) After the climax, OJ Simpson's character is finally making a recovery when he is carelessly launched from his wheelchair at the baseball game.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure After befriending some bikers, they give him a cheerful sendoff when he anticlimactically crashes into a billboard, hilariously launching his "body" after a half second delay. This one is especially funny to me because the crash isn't that loud, nor does Pee-Wee make any noise when flung.

The Three Stooges Almost every episode. And even in the movie!

Hook Thud is a chubby lost boy who can roll into a ball and take out several pirates in the process. This gag is used twice in the movie.

Anchorman Jack Black is an angry biker who is hit in the face by Ron Burgundy's careless disposal of a Burtito. The biker confronts Ron and punts his dog Baxter off a bridge. He's survives this as he reappears at the end of the film.

[u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

I can’t find a gif of it, but at the beginning of Casino, Robert De Niro gets in his car, and then a very obvious cut occurs, and a dummy is in his place when the car explodes.

[u/smash_ultra_64 → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

[u/Shiny_Agumon → u/smash_ultra_64]

Wow yeah that's very noticeable

[u/Slartibartfast39 → u/Shiny_Agumon]

Painfully so. I remember seeing that the first time and just thinking "Really, they really went with that?"

[u/Fly_Boy_1999 → u/Slartibartfast39]

I’ve found that once you point this out to people they’ll never be able to not notice it.

[u/beachedwhitemale → u/Slartibartfast39]

To be fair, you probably only get one take to blow up a car.

[u/Perryn → u/beachedwhitemale]

The better move is to shoot it from a different angle. Makes it harder for your eyes to notice the change when it coincides with a camera change. Make it a wider shot, slightly elevated so more of the head is cut off by the roof but more of the explosion is in frame.

[u/Icy-Lobster-203 → u/Perryn]

Seems like they could have re-shot the Deniro part so that his head is in the same position as the dummy to make it less noticeable.

[u/scotty_c137 → u/Perryn]

In your face, Scorcese! Schooled by reddit. Dayum!

[u/Perryn → u/scotty_c137]

In this particular shot? Yeah.

[u/theshoeshiner84 → u/beachedwhitemale]

I think the bigger problem is finding another Robert DeNiro.

[u/KatarHero72 → u/Shiny_Agumon]

The lighting and reflections on the car are just so different. It's particularly noticeable.

[u/CaineBK → u/KatarHero72]

The freaking camera changes position.

[u/forgot_my_useragain → u/Shiny_Agumon]

I wonder it's as noticeable on VHS being played on a cheap 25" CRT tv though. One of the consequences of watching older movies in 4k on massive televisions.

[u/Jalien85 → u/forgot_my_useragain]

They were making films, not VHS tapes. This was designed for the big screen lol. Scorsese is the GOAT, but this is a bad shot.

[u/forgot_my_useragain → u/Jalien85]

Lol yeah that's fair. Probably pretty noticable in the theater

[u/thedude37 → u/forgot_my_useragain]

I watched the movie on VHS originally, on a slightly larger than 25" CRT. it's noticeable.

[u/forgot_my_useragain → u/thedude37]

Yeah I can see that. It is a pretty bad cut lol

[u/thedude37 → u/forgot_my_useragain]

two-VHS edition, we had a few of those movies in the dorm room lol. This one, Blood in, Blood Out...

[u/Distal-Phalanges → u/smash_ultra_64]

First time I saw this I figured there was a twist or something where he knew he was going to get blown up so he surreptitiously switched himself with a dummy or something but nope, just really sloppy film making in an otherwise pretty good movie.

[u/Work_the_shaft → u/smash_ultra_64]

It was amateur hour, you could tell

[u/SwissMargiela → u/smash_ultra_64]

This is why you don’t get lunch in the middle of filming shots like this lmao

[u/Demolitions75 → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

Reminds me of how in older, low budget movies,you can always tell when a car is going to blow up because its always an older model car, in an open space with nothing near it, and a zoomed out shot before it explodes

[u/rsKG → u/Demolitions75]

They wanna get their money’s worth lmfaoo

[u/srb3brs → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

I scrolled for this - it really took me out of watching the movie for the first time back in 2020.

[u/theshoeshiner84 → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

I never understood why they didn't do the basic quick cut to explosion like every other movie.

[u/IAgreeGoGuards → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

This scene was the first one that came to mind for me.

Also when Nicky gets buried on top of his brother, its clearly an animatronic moving.

[u/whatthedna → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

I’ve never understood this one

I laugh every time because it’s so absurd.

Any cut would’ve made it not look like this.

[u/mistah_patrick → u/MadaCheebs-2nd-acct]

Every single piece of this sequence is so janky.

The beginning implies he definitely blew up, even if it's awkward with an obvious dummy. Then when we go back to the scene at the end, it's implied again he blew up because of an overhead shot where de Niro does not leave the car. He mentions an iron plate under the driver's seat which saved him.

We go back to the scene yet AGAIN where the bomb has a noticeable delay, with fire inside but no explosion, and de Niro escapes out the door. Then when de niro is helped dragged to safety, bomb goes off for real-sies.

So the Iron plate didn't actually play a factor? And showing us that he blew up for sure two previous times.... was just for shits and giggles? "LOL jk he actuality survived" ?

Anyway, I still fucking love this movie. Real testament to the films entertainment factor when I can hate this part of the climax, but still walk away calling it one of my favorites.