5 Onscreen Antics That Literally Saved Lives
Movies and TV are written off as mindless entertainment, and for the most part, that’s exactly what they are. Let’s face it: Nobody expects a James Franco movie to have any positive effect on the world. Sometimes, though, movies can have a huge impact, up to and including saving lives.
127 Hours
Through a series of events that must have been their own wild ride, special effects artist Tony Gardner kept hearing from doctors who’d seen 127 Hours that the prosthetics in the amputation-happy movie were really good. Like, way better than what they had to practice on. Deciding that slicing off Franco’s limbs wasn’t necessarily the only mark he wanted to leave on the world, Gardner started a business making “neonatal training aids” (dummy babies). Yes, a James Franco movie is saving babies’ lives.
Halloween
“What would Jamie Lee Curtis do?” is always a question worth asking, but it became critical for one fan when he found himself facing down a home invader. Remembering Curtis’ performance in Halloween, he stabbed the intruder with a knitting needle and then ran screaming to a neighbor’s house, just as she did as Laurie Strode. It’s certainly better than the Drew Barrymore method.
50 First Dates
Speaking of Barrymore, the type of amnesia her character experiences in 50 First Dates isn’t only somehow real, so is its treatment. Inspired by the movie, staff at one memory care facility began asking patients’ families in 2015 to record videos explaining their conditions. They found that the videos did indeed help patients to feel safe and reliably take their medication, which is pretty important when it comes to keeping them healthy.
A Short Film About Killing
Every filmmaker with a political message hopes their movie will move hearts and minds to the point of real reform, and A Short Film About Killing succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. It’s a Polish film comparing a murder committed by a man to the state’s murder of him by capital punishment, and the controversy it stirred is widely cited as the reason Poland soon stopped carrying out death sentences before abolishing the death penalty altogether. Sure, the fall of communism helped, but it can’t be overlooked.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
In 2003, Juan Catalan was sitting in jail, awaiting trial on capital murder charges, desperate to prove he hadn’t killed a 16-year-old girl. He was at an L.A. Dodgers game at the time of the murder, but he couldn’t prove it — until he remembered walking past a camera crew. It turned out an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm was filmed at the stadium that day, and Catalan appeared ever so briefly in the background, granting him the alibi he needed to save his life. If only it could have done the same for Jerry Seinfeld’s career.
