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In 1994, Roger Ebert published a small book entitled, " Ebert's Little Movie Glossary: A Compendium of Movie Clichés, Stereotypes, Obligatory Scenes, Hackneyed Formulas, Shopworn Conventions, and Outdated Archetypes ". This wonderful compilation, which unfortunately is currently out-of-print, reveals and brings together many of the movie formulas that we have come to accept over the years. These include:

"Fruit Cart"
An expletive used by knowledgeable film buffs during any chase scene involving a foreign or ethnic locale, reflecting their certainty that a fruit cart will be overturned during the chase, and an angry peddler will run into the middle of the street to shake his fist at the hero's departing vehicle.

Dead Werewolf Defense
In any horror film involving a human transforming into a monster, the hero never has to explain to the police the naked dead human body that is left after he has killed the monster. This despite the fact that no one in authority ever believes in the monster in the first place.

One Size Fits All (1)
Any stolen clothing or shoes will perfectly fit any male character whether they were stolen from a clothesline or removed from a Nazi guard, police officer, lookout, etc., who was overpowered and whose identity the clothing thief has now assumed.

One Size Fits All (2)
If a woman character steals clothing to disguise herself, the clothing, if male, will be too big. If female, it will be much too skimpy and revealing.

Here are a couple from us:

Milk in the Face Syndrome.
If a movie character has never milked a cow, goat, etc., when they try to do it the first time no milk will come out until they point the teat of the animal at their face.

The Mad Scientist's Question:
In horror films that feature a mad scientist there is always a scene where the scientist explains the rational for his bizarre experiments. After the explanation, the scientist will always turn to his guest and say, "You think I'm mad, don't you?"

Well, you get the idea.

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