• From: Buffalo, NY
  • Registered: 2010-01-08
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Topic: Character types you don't see much anymore

The other week I managed to track down a copy of the old Disney made for TV movie "Child of Glass". Haven't seen it since it first aired in 1978 but the memory had stayed with me (and my sister: once I mentioned one scene she suddenly recalled a few others that had stuck with her) and I figured it would be a good not too scary ghost story for my 8 year old niece. So, we sit down to watch this old classic, do the usual "hey, isn't that" thing, then... the drunk handyman shows up. Cindy and I looked at each other and said, man, you just don't see that character anymore. You know the guy- been working on the farm/estate for years and just came with the place when the hero buys it. Prefers to drink and lear at the lady of the house or her daughters instead of actually working, but if you fire him he's libel to burn down the barn or rape the wife, possibly at the same time. I haven't seen his kind in a story in so long that having him pop up in a kids movie was rather startling.

Any other characters we just don't see around much anymore?

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  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
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Re: Character types you don't see much anymore

Well, the obvious related one is the bum who, seeing something outlandish, takes a hard look at his liquor bottle and tosses it away.

Angry black police captains are few and far between these days.

Oh, and gypsy fortune tellers.

Also, I've watched a few movies from the early '70s lately, and it's hilarious to hear people talking about zodiac signs. There's a moment in The Mephisto Waltz where a 60-ish male florist suggest that a certain flower arrangement would be perfect for Jacqueline Bisset because of her sign.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • Registered: 2010-03-31
  • Posts: 164
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Re: Character types you don't see much anymore

Zarban - I just rewatched the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and i think there's at least 2 out of 3 of those.  The drunk women who sleeps through the whole thing, the angry black captain... plus, it's got jerry stiller and walter matthau...good stuff

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  • From: Bristol. Again.
  • Registered: 2010-06-17
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Re: Character types you don't see much anymore

great thread idea!

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  • fcw
  • fcw
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  • From: A dimension ..., but of mind
  • Registered: 2010-08-25
  • Posts: 613
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Re: Character types you don't see much anymore

Middle-aged leading men that all the women in the cast swoon over, sometimes after being forcefully kissed by the leading man in question (see any Bond movie with Roger Moore as an example).

Walter Brennan-type goofy geezers, especially in cartoon form (such as 'Old BOB' in 'The Black Hole').

Using 'bellowing into a large mobile phone' as shorthand for 'douchebag' when introducing a character.

Band-aided spectacles + pocket protector + nasal whine as standard dress code for 'geek'.

COM-PU-TER VOI-CES *chunka-chunka-chunka* like the one on the original 'Star Trek'.

Printers that sound like dot-matrix Epsons.

Printers are characters, right? At least, they're more interesting than progress bars.

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