tneff@bfmny0.bfm.com (Tom Neff) (07/09/90)
In this summer's movie DIE HARD 2**, which supposedly takes place in Dulles International Airport (Washington DC), the payphones have a prominent Pac*Bell logo on them. Do they really provide the service in Dulles? Or was this an unavoidable glitch due to shooting in LA? Or just a plug for the highest bidder? (GTE was featured prominently on the in-flight public phone, and hundreds of other vendors had their little plugs too -- this has become par for the course in movies.) ** Mini review -- not as tight as the first one, even less believable, but still good for laughs and ouch! type thrills. See it on a hot, boring afternoon.
0001050688@mcimail.com (Ken Donaldson) (07/10/90)
It has been a while since a passed through this airport but I recall that the pay phones were provided by Contel which is the LEC that serves that area.
amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (07/10/90)
In article <9549@accuvax.nwu.edu>, tneff@bfmny0.bfm.com (Tom Neff) writes: > In this summer's movie DIE HARD 2**, which supposedly takes place in > Dulles International Airport (Washington DC), the payphones have a > prominent Pac*Bell logo on them. Do they really provide the service > in Dulles? As far as my friends & I could tell, none of the interior scenes were shot at Dulles (in particular, the ticket lobby isn't even *close* to how Dulles looks :-)). We figured it was either LAX or Denver Stapleton. Last I knew, phones in Dulles are either C&P payphones or ATT/MCI/Sprint credit card phonettes. Amanda Walker <amanda@intercon.com> InterCon Systems Corporation
cramer@uunet.uu.net (Clayton Cramer) (07/11/90)
In article <9549@accuvax.nwu.edu>, tneff@bfmny0.bfm.com (Tom Neff) writes: > In this summer's movie DIE HARD 2**, which supposedly takes place in > Dulles International Airport (Washington DC), the payphones have a > prominent Pac*Bell logo on them. Do they really provide the service > in Dulles? Or was this an unavoidable glitch due to shooting in LA? > Or just a plug for the highest bidder? (GTE was featured prominently > on the in-flight public phone, and hundreds of other vendors had their > little plugs too -- this has become par for the course in movies.) Somehow, I suspect it's because people in Hollywood don't realize that the whole world isn't California, and therefore didn't catch this minor flaw. The movie also references a plastic pistol undetectable by airport metal detectors, called the Glock 7, made in West Germany. (For those of us read Time, Newsweek, or one of the other major sources of falsehood in America, there is no Glock 7 -- there are Glock 17, 19, 20, and 21 models); it is completely detectable by metal detectors and X-ray machines; and it's made in Austria, not West Germany). Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer Disclaimer? You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!
"John R. Covert 10-Jul-1990 1747" <covert@covert.enet.dec.com> (07/11/90)
From: Greg Monti Date: 10 July 1990 Subject: Re: Pac*Bell Phones at Dulles? Tom Neff <tneff@bfmny0.bfm.com> writes: > In this summer's movie DIE HARD 2**, which supposedly takes place in > Dulles International Airport (Washington DC), the payphones have a > prominent Pac*Bell logo on them. Do they really provide the service > in Dulles? ... Nope. Phone service at Dulles is provided by Continental Telephone Company of Virginia (Contel), which is not a Bell Operating Company. They now provide both local and Washington Metropolitan service on two different prefixes. Some businesses, airport authority and pay phones may still get their Metro service the old fashioned way, by running loops to a foreign-exchange central office controlled by C&P of Virginia in nearby Herndon. However, even if these were pay phones, they used Contel-provided customer premises equipment, usually GTE Automatic Electric pay station instruments. I guess these talk to the C&P CO just fine for coin handshaking, etc. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia; work +1 202 822 2633
parker@epiwrl.epi.com (Alan Parker) (07/11/90)
The movie wasn't filmed at Dulles. The folks there didn't like the way the script portrayed the airport and its employees. But the phone service at Dulles is quite sorry indeed. Pac*Bell might be an improvement.
mingo@uunet.uu.net> (07/12/90)
In article <9549@accuvax.nwu.edu> Tom Neff <tneff@bfmny0.bfm.com> writes: >In this summer's movie DIE HARD 2**, which supposedly takes place in >Dulles International Airport (Washington DC), the payphones have a >prominent Pac*Bell logo on them. Do they really provide the service >in Dulles? Or was this an unavoidable glitch due to shooting in LA? >Or just a plug for the highest bidder? (GTE was featured prominently >on the in-flight public phone, and hundreds of other vendors had their >little plugs too -- this has become par for the course in movies.) According to today's {Washington Post} Style section, this was a plain screw up. Apparantly, Dulles wouldn't let them film on location after the airport management figured out the plot, so they were forced to do the rest elsewhere. (Also, they had enormous difficulty in finding snow, and had to shoot the blizzard in _four_ separate locations.) The movie was edited unusually quickly to get it out for summer (was still shooting in March). Charlie Mingo Usenet: mingo@well!apple.com 2209 Washington Circle #2 CI$: 71340,2152 Washington, DC 20037 AT&T: 202/785-2089
alex@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Alex Pournelle) (07/12/90)
Alan Parker <parker@epiwrl.epi.com> writes: >The movie wasn't filmed at Dulles. The folks there didn't like the >way the script portrayed the airport and its employees. Being a resident of La-La Land (and columnist-on-hiatus of "Computing in La-La Land -- another story), I get (?) the pleasure (?) of reading the Los Angeles Chandler Shopping Network, commonly called The Times by itself and "that rag" by anyone else... The Sunday Calendar section column "Outtakes", which first broke :-) the Pac*Bellophone coin-op phone story in Die Harder 2: The Expensive Version, mentions that much of the interior was shot at the Bradley Building, the international terminal at LAX. Anyone who's been through there should recognize it, too -- look for the occasional triangle-ladder supports along the walls, and the upper concourse. As far as phones are concerned -- who makes those spacy new Pac*Bellerophon coin/credit phones? They are sure Art Direction Award Winning devices. The new baggage handling and retrieval area at Union Station has 'em, too -- though the just-as-new (both are just finishing construction) UC Irvine Student center building has the older, traditional, coin-op phones in its lobby. Wonder how P*B*J has decided who gets 'em? Oh, and only two of the Irvine Payphones I played with were misprogrammed, one had no transmit audio after connection to the operator, the other didn't accept DTMF after dailing 0+number+#. Compare this to oh-for-four on one bank of (*^&& coCOTs, and eight-for-eight on the new spacyphones at Union Station. (Yes, I reported all of them. It's bloody difficult to page somone when you can't dial DTMF after call completion!) Alex Pournelle, freelance thinker Also: Workman & Associates, Data recovery for PCs, Macs, others ...elroy!grian!alex; BIX: alex; voice: (818) 791-7979 fax: (818) 794-2297 bbs: 791-1013; 8N1 24/12/3
Will Martin <wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil> (07/13/90)
Programs about the filming of this movie (such as Entertainment Tonight) mentioned that the film crew moved from airport to airport, basically following the snow for outside shots. So they probably filmed interior scenes in nearby areas (like Pac*Bell territory) and as economics dictated. Probably what you see is an amalgam of many different airports. Since most airport areas are indistinguishable (and undistinguished :-) its possible to get away with this except for details like the phone logos. One wonders how such blatant slipups get by when they spend $30 million or so to make a film these days.... Regards, Will
abg@stc06.ctd.ornl.gov (BANGS A L) (07/19/90)
See last week's {Newsweek} for a miniarticle about the screwup. It said
that neither the director nor producer would comment on the error.
Alex L. Bangs ---> bangsal@ornl.gov Of course, my opinions are
Oak Ridge National Laboratory/CESAR my own darned business...
[Moderator's Note: I don't read News Weak very often, but I did check
out the article in particular. However, to deprive Kay Graham of the
profit from a sale, I read it at the 7/11 magazine rack while I was
having my luncheon sandwich a few days ago. PT]