Lockpicking in Motion Pictures?

[squelchtone]

LOL PLEASE watch Macgyver, Season 4 Episode 10 "The Battle of Tommy Giordano" at about 28:35 on YouTube and watch Macgyver pick a lock with a single pair of tweezers! LOL

wow, he's fast too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzukTyHUX5g

[raimundo]

there are some things that movies do in a symbolic way rather than showing the truth, and picking locks is one of them, the writers should specify a high sec lock and specialist picks so we can see some interesting detail during the three frames of visuals they flash on the screen.

Bombs are typically symbolic in movies, they have red led countdown timers to help the audience get the urgency of the situation, and the redwire bluewire thing. they arent going to show someone lighting the fuse on a satchel charge and throwing it in some place, its just too simple.

What else do they represent symbolically, sex usually, explosions are always gussied up with gasoline for orange flame, not the real blast of black dirt and cloud of dust. In fact violence in films usually the hero takes about ten hits that would have killed a normal man, thats symbolic,

lockpicking is a motif, its supposed to make the hero look cool, and bad guys get the electropicks to be bad guys,

[unlisted]

LOL PLEASE watch Macgyver, Season 4 Episode 10 "The Battle of Tommy Giordano" at about 28:35 on YouTube and watch Macgyver pick a lock with a single pair of tweezers! LOL

wow, he's fast too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzukTyHUX5g

This video contains content from CBS, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

[Evan]

LOL PLEASE watch Macgyver, Season 4 Episode 10 "The Battle of Tommy Giordano" at about 28:35 on YouTube and watch Macgyver pick a lock with a single pair of tweezers! LOL

wow, he's fast too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzukTyHUX5g

This video contains content from CBS, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

Video works fine here in the US unlisted...

I guess the CBS network execs don't want Canadians to be allowed to watch their programming posted on YouTube for whatever reason...

~~ Evan

[Phatphish]

Not so much lockpicking in the movies but lockpicking on the radio. Last Saturday 19th there was a play on BBC Radio 4 at 2.30pm called Mountain of Light. It is set in 1851 at The Great Exhibition.

1851: London buzzes with the wonders at The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. To John Rayverne, housebreaker par excellence, it's harvest time as fine houses stand empty while the occupants attend the spectacle. But his activities have come to the notice of a Governor of the Bank of England, George Galloway. Galloway has Rayverne abducted In return for not to hand him over to the police - and in order to protect the people he cares about - Rayverne is forced to agree to the impossible. He must steal one of the Exhibition's most famous exhibits: the world's largest diamond, the Koh-i-Noor. Galloway professes idealistic reasons for the theft: he fears cutting the diamond to fit the centrepiece in the Queen's crown (where it has its place today) will degrade the priceless original. But the theft appears impossible. By day the gem is sealed in an iron cage, at night it sinks into a vault. Rayverne, hounded by the police, spends much time among the mechanical wonders of the Exhibition looking for the necessary technical inspiration to carry out the theft. But has he bitten off more than even he can chew?

During the play the cracksman meets Alfed Hobbs (The Bramah Challenge Padlock lockpicker) and is shown the tools he has invented. Mentioned are a hook, rake and tension wrench.

The link, for anyone that can access the BBC's Iplayer, is http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _of_Light/

This link is good until 3:32pm Saturday 26th June 2010

For those that cannot access Iplayer PM me and I can give you a link to an MP3 download.

[gilduran]

I saw The Fantastic Mr Fox last night. Was amused to see Foxy shim a door open with a credit card

One of the fast food restaurants in my area uses a credit card, or anything similar, to open it's restroom door. I was shocked when I asked for the key, and a worked walked over and used the card to open the door. Needless to say, I don't ask for the key anymore.

[Legion303]

In "Persons Unknown" (episode 3, I think) the journalist broke into the private eye's office after kneeling down and holding his hands up to the lock. But the director should have told him it takes more time than just turning the knob...or maybe the P.I. forgot to lock up.

-steve

[SAM PICK]

Well, in a TV show. Last night (July 1, 2010) on the ABC show "Rookie Blue" Mcnally enters a building picking a big brass deadbolt. They do show her using two tools, a pick a tension wrench (surprising). Sadly he inserted the tension wrench (held in a fist and inserting the long leg of the tension wrench above the keyway and held it in a way that kept her knuckles in the way from inserting the pick at a decent angle until just before it goes out of frame and it just didn't look right. Total time to pick from the moment she put the tension wrench in... 4 seconds.

[raimundo]

the concept is just a stock piece of theater now, its not like the rockford files where it was more unique.
they never intend to show it correctly, and this should also make you skeptical of any other manipulation you may see in movies, that stuff just dosen't work in the real world. Movies require a deliberate suspension of disbelief.

[00bluebeast]

From what i have seen it varies, seen movie where people hold tension wrenches across the lock not even in the keyhole haha, gone in 60 seconds though is got to be one of my favorite movies though its classic.

[raimundo]

I saw some show recently, cant remember the name but they show the protagonist approaching the door then they cut to the interior shot and show him coming through the door while packing up picks into a zipper pouch.
The audience no longer needs more explanation.

[raimundo]

there are laws and industry rulz that affect the rating system on movies, and there are some conventions that are followed,

You seldom see anyone smoking in american movies now a days.

There was once and may still be a convention that you can show people pouring whiskey into a glass, and lifting the glass, but you cannot show the glass touch the lips on tv.

believe it or not, sex and violence were once handled with a lot of rulz about what you could film.

[Pixtiva]

Read the original post, didn't read any of the others...

Movie lockpicking?

Now, my real-world experience says that to get through most doors, you ever need to make a lot of noise with a big ram for a dynamic entry, or you use a bumper jack and take 3-4 seconds and spread the heck out of the door frame... (which tends to be a little rough on the door frame, and whoever does the entry has to uncinematically squat...).

But lockpicking is usually more dramatic than the "bubba wants in " mode...

[apb]

Was watching the movie Deep Rising the other day on daytime tv (please don't ask why). It's an older movie like '98,'99. Famke Janssen (Jean/Phoenix on X-Men) picks a lock while on the ship. It looked like she used two tools so apparently someone, somewhere made an attempt at getting it right.

[HirosStorageUnit]

In the TV show "The Riches" the character of the oldest son breaks into a school using "the Bump"
as it shows a quick bump key entry.

done really fast but cool.