Physics in Movies: The Blues Brothers & The Man With The Golden Gun

[ƒ(x) → ∞]

Is it just me or does physics seem unrealistic when involved in movies?

I have two examples: The Blues Brothers (with a classic scene) and the James Bond Classic The Man With The Golden Gun

The Blues Brothers Problem

The clip I will be talking about is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil9wlfa0yo&NR=1"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil9wlfa0yo&NR=1

In the Blues Brothers movie, Elwood tries to convince Jake that his car is great and then proceeds to perform an incredible stunt of jumping over half-opened 95th Street drawbridge over Calumet River in Chicago.

But was this possible?

I suppose my goal would be to construct a model based on this event. I have done some research and have came up with the following facts about the situation.

• The rive width between bridgeheads is 60m
• There is 50m between the starting point and the ramp inwhich speed can be built up
• The car is a Dodge Monaco Sedan of length l=5.75 m and wheelbase d=3.10 m, weights w=2000 kg and has P=260 kW of power at its disposal. For this we must assume that the car is symmetrical and is of uniform weight distribution
• At the moment of the jump the bridge decks are lifted by an unknown angle which is close to 45 (Angle \varpi)
• And finally the velocity at the moment of the jump is unknown

(1)To check if it is possible I suggest that we calculate if there is enough power available to accelerate the car to a speed high enough to make a jump
(2)And to check if the tilt motion, caused by the fact that for a short time front wheels are not supported and rear ones are still on the ramp, can be matched to an angle of the second ramp so the landing is safe

It will be interesting to see if it is possible with these assumptions

The Man With The Golden Gun

The second situation that I am talking about is from what I consider a classic film The Man With The Golden Gun. I am not going to question the unreasonable physics involved with the laser beam, but rather the mechanics of the jump made half way through the film, which can be viewed below.

See if you can find the strange sound effect and the clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU&feature=related"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU&feature=related

I will leave the assumptions to you this time

 

[WhoWee]

The list of Hollywood movies that fit your description is long, for instance http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/ "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Physics errors in movies? Next you're going to be telling me that animals can't really talk!

 

[Born2bwire]

I'm pretty damn sure that the jump in "The Man With the Golden Gun" was real.

 

[jasonz777z]

How about the bus jump from 'Speed'?

 

[Edgardo]

Here is a website that reviews the physics in movies:
http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/

 

[Creator]

Is it just me or does physics seem unrealistic when involved in movies?

And I suppose you want me to believe Iron Man really can't fly.
So what was that on my F-15 radar? And what about these videos?
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2196046105/

...

 

[sophiecentaur]

It's relatively easy to make a car jump over a large gap. The problem is in making sure that it is driveable after it has landed!
I remember hearing that in every episode of The Dukes of Hazard (quaint example) they had to use about half a dozen fresh cars in order to film the chases because each landing would take out the suspension completely.