Trivial Pursuing
I was drawn into a debate yesterday, to settle a matter. I didn’t much like being drawn into the debate, because there was a good chance I would not be authority on the matter, but there I was — two strangers called me over with one guy saying, “Okay. Help us out here.”
“You watch movies?”
A strange question, and one with the obvious answer of “yes.” But this is vague and it’s as likely I haven’t seen whatever movie they’re going to give me as it is that I have. Are they talking a Fellini classic or Weekend at Bernie’s 2?
“You see the movie… The Godfather?”
Oh God, no. I don’t like the spot I’m in. Yes, I’ve seen The Godfather, but I’m not going to be able to provide anything substantial to settle a debate. “Yes, but… um… not for a while.”
“Okay. Fine. Now… when was that made? What decade?”
Is that it? I just have to say when it came out? “Early 1970s. I’m thinking, maybe 1973. 1974?” (A quick google check just now shows that it was 1972.”
“Get out!”
“No. See. I told you.”
“It did not. It came out in the 1980s.”
“You’re just upset because he gave you the right answer.”
“No. Look. Al Pacino. Scarface. Think about the age. Scarface came out in 1988.”
“Um,” I said. “No. That sounds… a lot later than it came out.” As I said that, the other guy shouted out, “Scarface came out in, like, 1982! Jeez-Uz!”
A google search just now shows it came out in 1983.
As this went on, I wasn’t quite sure what the terms of the debate were, or what the misguided man’s mindframe on the matter was — he thought Scarface came out in 1988 and extrapulated back to The Godfather with Al Pacino’s age, but I sort smiled and walked away, knowing what the issue at stake was. And I breathed a sigh of relief that I had a reasonably accurate answer, even if my guage was that this was a pointless debate that demeaned anyone who wanted to argure over it.  (People who care enough to argure over The Godfather or Scarface should be beyond its release date and be delving into other issues of minituae.) But for me it is a bit of hit and miss, and I dodged a bullet in terms of providing something useful.