Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2014 June 24

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June 24

James Gang

Where did James Gang get their name? The only thing our article says about the name is "Reportedly, it was Silverman who suggested the name James Gang." Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 07:21, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

The "James Gang" relates to Frank & Jesse James. Note: only historians and Wikipedia refer to the outlaw gang as: "James–Younger Gang". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.20.250.51 (talk) 10:23, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

And presumably because the group's leader was James (Fox). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:14, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, both. Dismas|^(talk) 02:20, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Ben-Hur and other stuff

Two questions: (1) Did the spinning blades attached to Messala's chariot in Ben-Hur inspire the tire-slashers installed on the Bondmobile in Goldfinger? (2) Did the chariot race scene in Ben-Hur influence the podracer scene in The Phantom Menace? 24.5.122.13 (talk) 23:50, 24 June 2014 (UTC)

Googling the general subject, it seems that the Mythbusters guys though so. FYI, in the filmed they refer to Messalla's bladed wheel hubs as a "beaked" chariot. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:23, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

According to Star Wars sources and analogues, the pod race scene was inspired by Ben Hur. But it is unreferenced. --Jayron32 01:35, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Just like I thought. Thanks! 24.5.122.13 (talk) 23:23, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

And don't forget Grease_(film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsYC-hVEpQM&feature=kp 196.214.78.114 (talk) 06:20, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Although almost certainly not used in the ancient world ancient Britain, depictions of scythes-on-wheel-hubs have been around for a while; see Thomas Thornycroft's statue of Boudicca in London which was completed in 1905. Alansplodge (talk) 12:40, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

That statue (and the legend that inspired it) have always been my first association for both the scenes mentioned in (1). AlexTiefling (talk) 12:44, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

I think your claim is reasonable but how do you know? Merely lack of reference to scythe-on-wheel-hubs in contemporary contemporaneous ancient sources? On the one hand, it seems to gimmicky to be useful in battle (as opposed to battle racing, or whatever you call that scene in the Ben-Hur movie). On the other hand, it seems like a logical thing to try... (p.s. cool statue!) SemanticMantis (talk) 16:02, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

We do have an article Scythed chariot, which traces them back to Xenophon, some 500 years before Ben-Hur's setting. Tevildo (talk) 18:14, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

OK, I have amended my statement above with a dollop of humble pie. Alansplodge (talk) 23:02, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

That's just manly chariot racing. No wimps allowed. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:06, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

As Ben-Hur's Arab friend [Sheik Ilderim] put it, "There is no law in the arena - many are killed." Or was he talking about soccer? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:29, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Ben-Hur's Arab friend thought that Romans were weird. He thought that a man should have fifty wives and One God. A Roman had one wife at any given time and fifty gods. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:45, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I like Sheik Ilderim's idea. There's a price to be paid for having fifty wives, though... It's having fifty mothers-in-law. (Credit to Jay Leno for that one.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:49, 27 June 2014 (UTC)