Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 December 19

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December 19

Blazing Saddles question

There's a joke that I don't get in Blazing Saddles. When Hedley Lamarr is administering the oath of allegiance to his army, he tells them to raise their right hand. In the next shot we see the Nazis raising their left hand, and then Hedley repeats "Right hand!", at which point they switch hands. But the Nazi salute is made with the right hand, so… why were they raising their left hand? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 09:43, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

I don't know that it's anything specific to the Nazis. His posse is pretty stupid altogether; they screw up the whole "pledge of allegiance to evil" thing several other ways. --Jayron32 10:29, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Most people wouldn't know which hand is raised in the Nazi salute. Wouldn't have been much of a joke if they had raised their right hands. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:38, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Getting left and right mixed up that way is an old joke, as is the literal response "your name" rather than stating one's actual name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:03, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Here's a question: At the end of that deputizing speech, Hedy Hedley exhorts them to "go do that voodoo that you do so well." I think that's from a song, but I don't know which song. Does anyone here know it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:05, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Cole Porter's "You Do Something to Me" --Jayron32 17:09, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Aha! First stated about 30 seconds into Frankie's version:[1] Thank you! Just another example of how loaded that movie's script was, with endless cultural references and quotable quotes. Great writing makes for great movies. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:42, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

When Hedley starts his speech, all the Nazis are saluting with their right hand. When he tells them to raise their right hand, the shot shows them with their left hand raised, so they quickly change back to their right, which is what they were doing at the start of the speech. A visual joke. Widneymanor (talk) 17:20, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

What is Track and Field?

My TiVo includes information about each program in the TV listings. in the case of a movie, it might be comedy, drama, romance, action, fantasy, family or horror. But I've never heard of "track and field". The movies for which that term is used are not about The Olympics or a school sports event.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:22, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

There are multiple reports of this since October on Tivo forums. See for instance this and this. Nanonic (talk) 21:26, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. I had no idea that site even existed. I didn't want to call tech support over this.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:30, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

I wonder what it says for Chariots of Fire?    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 23:03, 22 December 2014 (UTC)