Randomly calling people like that in the US is going to put you in contact with MORE than one psychopathic killer. Was actually pulling for Ireland's character to teach these dumbazz kids the ultimate lesson. Would have improved the gene pool too!
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Back during the 196's, it was literally impossible to tell where a call
was coming from unless it was set up for tracing by the law enforcement
authorities.
I remember as a child....I am 62...my cousins and I, making random calls
and when a person answered, we would say dumb stuff like...."better hurry
up, your refrigerator is running!" REAL DUMB....but fun at the time!
"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
You're right, but the town was small so there was a real possibility of being found out by the killer. The kids talking about their calls to other kids being overhead by the killer's neighbor and then retelling the children's activity to Ireland's character.
But again, you are right. I'm 51 and my brother used to make such calls.
My brother once called the local 7-11 and tried the old "Do you have prince Albert in a can?" gag, but the old man who ran the store was ready for him,
Old man: Hello?
My bro: Do you have Prince Albert in a can?
OM: Yes we do.
Mb: Well you better let him out ...
OM: WHY?
Mb: HUH? um, well he might suffocate.
OM: Oh no, there's no danger of that.
Mb:Uh, why not?
OM: well we put air holes in the lid.
Mb: Oh, well maybe you have Dr. Pepper in a bottle?
Om: Well I'm sorry but he drowned.
Mb: Oh, well I gotta go now, bye.
<<My brother once called the local 7-11 and tried the old "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" gag, but the old man who ran the store was ready for him>>
I had a similar experience as a kid. We called the local bowling alley and asked the man who answered the phone if he had 20-pound balls, and, without missing a beat, he answered, "No, try the city zoo."
OMG, those were the days. We used to have such fun with the telephone jokes. I'm 59 so we're same generation.
shareThe "dumbness" I saw wasn't the phone calls....it was going to have a look at him and his house and the dumb things they were saying in the car on the way there.
They're going to meet some strange man in the first place (because if he wants to do more than kiss one of them and they say "no" of course he'll stop???).
Then, later when he shows up uninvited at your house just bring him right into the house....
Even though he wasn't going to kill them until he overheard the girl go to call the cops.
And they say parents today don't bother to raise their kids right.
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Last night, I was lying back looking at the stars and I thought...where the *beep* is my ceiling???
You are aware that it was fiction, right? When people talk about how parents raise their kids, they're talking about real life.
As for the rest... sometimes you have to have your characters do things that don't make sense, so you'll have something to make a movie about. Suspension of Disbelief is supposed to cover all that.
Those kids, Tess, Libby and Kit, had 0% street smarts. They had no clue what was appropriate behavior with strangers.
Today, a 5 year old would know better than to tell a random person on the phone that both parents were out and wouldn't return until the morning. But there was Lib, blabbing away on the phone.
The kids stupidness and naivety annoyed me too much for me to be scared.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
It's a small town, who would ever think that your phone call actually went to a man who had just murdered his wife!
This was a pasttime in a different age, but at least the kids weren't out doing drugs, destroying property, etc. Adults were aware of such "pranks" and often played along when called by a "prankster".
As for why the girls would drive to see the man, I'm sure they never dreamed of the danger ahead. The more recent movies where the teenagers who spread out and go looking for a murderer who is killing their friends, now that seems far more unrealistic and stupid!
Although I am glad they changed it from the original novel. It is definitely more likely that somebody who calls and says they saw what you did, would be about you just killing your wife, instead of in Ursula Curtiss' book, the secret was when the man was 13 years old he killed the woman he was staying with because she took his cigarettes away from him. You want to talk about stupid teenagers?
shareLOVE the movie-never read the book. I always wanted to, but the ''plot point'' you revealed makes me think it's not worth reading. Every once in a while, the movie IS better.Looks like this is one of those times.
shareThese kids really acted atrociosuly in every way (not necessarily the prank calling...I am betting most of us did this as kids at one time or another). Libby's verbal abuse of her sister was appalling calling her an idiot several times along with other numerous insults and stabs. This is unusual for a movie of its time in my experience. I am sure Libby went on to fully experience the debaucheries of the late 60's. She was primed for it.
shareFrom my experience, sibling can be really nasty to one another. The verbal abuse from the older girl directed to the younger one is not that out of the ordinary.
shareThat wasn't verbal abuse. Kids talk that way to each other, and the little girl didn't seem a bit upset. Also, Libby seemed a caring elder sister, although she didn't have the sense G-d gave a goose. It had been said earlier in the movie that the family lived out in the wilderness, practically on a farm, miles away from all the things a teenager would consider fun, so this might explain she was bored out of her skull, and those prank calls were her only diversion. Because calling wives and pretending to be the husband's mistress... you'd think a 15-year-old girl would be old enough to realize she might be causing real trouble. At least, now us boomers can't claim that modern young people invented being dumb and uncaring and cruel.
shareOh, I should clarify that I was not saying that siblings are not cruel to each other. This is nothing new to mankind. I just thought it was unusual for a film of this time, so I must give some credit to the writers et al for reflecting the reality of family dynamics. Oh, BTW, it still qualifies as abuse. There is no excuse or justification for hurling insults and names at anyone, a very young impressionable child in particular...and so casually too...it is not like she was pushed to annoyance really, it was just her usual vernacular. Pretty sad if you think about it.
On the heels of "Leave it to Beaver" and even afterwards in "Happy Days" (I know television references, but they are more accessible) this is a little unusual.
I don't know, Wally would call Beaver a name every now and then. And Eddie Haskel really was abusive in his talking to Beaver!
shareWow!. After seeing (and loving) the 1965 movie all these years, I have always wanted to read the novel. If THAT is an example of the differences between novel and screenplay, I no longer have any desire to obtain the book. Sometimes, the movie DOES improve on the original source material. What a STUPID premise for a murder.
shareDumbest Kids Ever In A Movie
Hmmm....A bold statement. You're kind of going out on a limb there.
cinefreak
I agree nateba. "Rebel without a Cause" pops into my mind.
"Why are we doing this?"
"You've gotta do something, right?"
(before playing car chicken towards a deadly sheer bluff into the ocean)
Whatever happened to just sitting around the malt shop bs-ing? Also, kind of groundbreaking in its potrayal of the typical 50's teen in filmdom I suppose.
I did it all the time as a kid. One time I quoted an episode of Sanford and Son and called this dude up repeating "I want my daddy's records." and he replied "What records?" I even recorded it, hehe.
Now kids use Skype to anonymously prank call people.
IMO, the psychos are usually the ones who do the prank calls, not including me, of course.
ghost stories..WEIRD stories..
http://tinyurl.com/wtradio
Our neighborhood had a cute blonde Australian girl who would prank call everyone. Everyone knew it was her, she was the only one with an accent. No one understood what she was driving at. I think it's hilarious, but it drove my parents up the wall. This was in the early 90s, before caller ID and back when having two phone lines was a luxury.
These days, you hear more about radio show hosts who make prank calls and end up getting people killed.
i.imgur.com/wfqHbFL.jpg