List of movie clichés
In many films it can be observed that with relative frequency that certain plot idioms, gimmicks, and "clichés", often for no justifiable reason, repeated time and time again. They are often seen with such regularity that they are expected and disliked for that very reason. For any given genre of film there will often be an associated litany of "clichés" that often help to define the genre itself.
This list contains the movie cliché along with the most notable or originating movie in which the cliché can be observed:
General clichés
- All American phone numbers start with "555", or a prefix equivalent to 555 such as "KLondike 5" (this was done to avoid viewers attempting to call the number given, after one incident in which this actually happened).
- All beds have special "L" bedsheets- they can cover up to a woman's shoulders, but only up to a man's waist.
- If a woman is alone and [...] in bed, if she has to get out of bed she will use the bedsheet to cover herself.
- All computers have unrealistically high processing speed and fantastic user interfaces that don't exist in reality.
- When they don't, they will often be Macintosh computers.
- Even when they do, they are sometimes still Macintosh computers.
- During a thunderstorm, lightning and thunder always occur simultaneously
- Any house fire either has no smoke at all or the characters cough on invisible smoke.
Genre clichés
Action
- Bullets never hit the hero unless to create dramatic tension
- Die Hard
- True Lies
- The good guy can pick off bad guys from far away with a dinky pistol.
- When the hero is fighting multiple villains hand to hand, the villains will take the hero on one and two at a time, instead of all piling on him at once.
- The hero's gun will never run out of ammo, no matter how many times he fires it, until the fight is over.
- The hero will feel no pain when wounded in a fight, but will wince when the heroine cleans his wounds.
- In martial arts movies, only significant heroes and villains will actually be proficient martial artists, regardless of their social or cultural background. No one else has any martial arts training.
- Sword fights often pause for no apparent reason, allowing the participants to make threatening poses with their swords.
- Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer
- Bad guys wearing a bulletproof vest will get killed even if shot where they are protected.
- No bad guy is killed in the movie after the super-villain is killed.
- Bullets flash and spark as they hit metal
Disaster Movies
- No one believes the protagonists until it's too late.
- Day After Tomorrow
- The protagonists boss will give them "24 hours" to prove their theory.
- The "crew" consists of experts from different backgrounds who have never met, and don't like each other.
- Ten Little Indians Theme (members of the crew are killed one by one - usually in descending order of the actors' billing).
- The Core
- Rivalries between characters are resolved by film's end.
- Only major cities or landmarks are affected by the event.
- Disabled or ailing child worked into the plot somehow.
- Divorced couple reuniting.
- An unplanned disaster/mistake will alter the mission, and kill at least one crew member.
- Numerous "Race against the clock" scenarios.
- The disaster being neutralized seconds before its too late.
- The US Government's contingency plan will kill the crew.
- The stubborn old man/woman who will not leave their home despite imminent danger.
- The President of the United States makes an address.
Horror
- Unbeknownst to the victim, when he/she is near a mirror it will reveal the presence of the killer to the audience.
- What Lies Beneath
- Anyone who gets [...] for any reason ([...], shower, skinny-dipping) will be killed.
- Friday the 13th
- At least one woman will encounter the killer while she's wearing a towel, underwear, a bathrobe, or [...].
- No matter how fast the people run, the lumbering killer will be right behind them.
- When running from said killer, people will choose dead-ends and dark places rather than the logical exit.
- Any woman running from a killer will be unable to run without falling over multiple times for no particular reason.
- If staying in a haunted house, women should only investigate strange noises in their most revealing underwear.
- Teens won't notice their friend being killed nearby.
- The last person to survive is usually a virgin female who never did drugs.
Romance
- An ex-lover trying to leave on an airplane will be stopped just before going through the gate by the reformed guy/girl who wants to profess their love.
- Romantic kisses are closed mouth and look like they are pressing their faces against each other.
- Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back.
- All [...] is done under the sheets.
- When a man gets out of bed after [...], it will be observed that he has kept his underpants on.
- The pretty office woman always wears a miniskirt to work.
Science fiction
- There is sound in space
- Star Wars
- Star Trek
- Galaxy Quest
- Farscape
- Laser beams are visible in space, in spite of a total absence of anything that scatters the light and makes them visible.
- It is possible to dodge a laser beam when you see it coming.
- Aliens speak English.
- All women wear miniskirts, tight pants or suits, or bodysuits, and sometimes thigh-high boots with it.
- No matter where a starship gets hit, sparks will fly in the control room and the ship will quake.
- Spaceships manoeuvre and bank as though moving through an atmosphere.
- Spaceships fighting or communicating are always really close to each other, instead of barely visible specks they would usually be.
- The captain of the ship will go on expeditions to other planets along with the reconnaissance crew, despite potential life-threatening danger.
Sound clichés
- Blades on knives and swords make a sound when swung in the air.
- In hand-to-hand fights, every swing, kick, block, or hit makes an unrealistically loud and clear sound effect
- Martial artists yelp and wail with every move they make in a fight
- Beams of light from flashlights also make a sound when waved across the screen.
- For years after cathode ray terminals had replaced teletypes, they made a chattering teletype noise as they displayed text.
- A computer will beep and blip as it performs its operations.
- When a villain falls to their death they make the Wilhelm scream.
- See List of films using the Wilhelm scream
- All frogs make a "Ribbit, ribbit" sound, yet only the species of frog native to Hollywood, California makes this call.