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Wag the Dog: Difference between revisions
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* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Stanley Motss comments that "there is no Academy Award for producing." Who do you think accepts the Oscar for Best Picture?
** Probably not a case of this, since Barry Levinson was nominated for Best Picture before this movie came out. More likely, it's just Motss being egotistical.
* [[Dude, Not Funny]] [[In
* [[Everyone Knows Morse]]: "Old Shoe" ripped Morse code into his shirt.
* [[Indy Ploy]]: Sort of done by the spin man, as he has to gauge the media's reaction and then feed them.
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* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|Brean and Ames. They both successfully pull off [[The Masquerade]], which included a few deaths, some death threats and of course the manipulation of an entire nation, with no hint that they'll be caught.}}
** {{spoiler|Also the president, who was able to divert attention away from his actions with the Firefly Girl.}}
* [[Killed to Uphold
* [[Line-of-Sight Name]]: How Stanley comes up with "Old Shoe's" unit number: It's 3:03 PM, so Old Shoe was a proud member of the 303!
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Dustin Hoffman based Motss look and mannerisms on real-world producer [[Robert Evans]]. Evans is said to have joked on occasion that he was ''really'' good in that film.
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** There's another example: at the end of the film, there's a news flash telling us that an Albanian terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for a recent bombing. We don't find out if it's real or fake, who's running things now that {{spoiler|Motss is dead}}, or why, if it's real, they'd want the war to continue.
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: The main characters, and also, the President. Motss, Brean and Ames, no matter how loveable their characters come off, are still despicable people manipulating the American public to protect a President who was caught trying to make a pass at a young girl. The fact that several people end up dead as a result of their actions, {{spoiler|and that they get away with it}}, only underlines the point.
* [[War for Fun
* [[What Could Have Been]]: The original novel, ''American Hero'', involved [[George HW Bush]] starting the actual [[Gulf War]], scripted by Hollywood screenwriters with Saddam Hussein agreeing to it in exchange for secret payments and the boost to his reputation for fighting America.
* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: ''Constantly''. Almost every plan Stanley and Conrad come up with once the film gets going backfires hugely, leading to a frantic chain of improvisation.
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