Yes. The gas pumps were not inside the station. Danger of fire or explosion would only occur around the pumps.
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He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
Today, no one can or would smoke anywhere on the property of a gas station or in an elevator, in an ambulance or hospital room. We have seen smoking in all of these places in movies and in the recent past.
shareThe gas station, when there was an attendant who pumped gas, cleaned windows, checked the oil, etc., where I got gas in the 60's used to have a lit cigar when he was pumping!
shareI also like the way she lights his cigarette as they walk up the hill from the river and then throws the match over her shoulder right before they get in the car and drive back to town. Pretty galling watching that today considering the wild fires that have been happening out west.
In fact people throw lit objects around several times in this film.
Wikipedia says Roger Ebert called this the "greatest smoking movie of all time".
The scene when Whit offers Jeff a cigarette and he's already smoking one is hilarious.
Ebert: "There were guns in Out of the Past, but the real hostility came when Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas smoked at each other."
So funny.
This film and The Killers are currently my all time favorite noirs.
In fact people throw lit objects around several times in this film.
Why do they smoke inside a gas station?
Was it normal in the past?
This was the era when "nine out of ten doctors recommended ___ brand of cigarettes." It was simply *everywhere*.
shareCan't think of what classic movie I just saw, but it showed Drs conversing in the clean-up / prep room smoking cigarettes like it was normal as breathing. Not ironic - just the way it was.
Smoking is The Worst Scourge Ever Brought About By Man, and despite all the info and evidence, it still persists.
People are dumb - and stubborn.
And get some tattoos while you're at it (different convo).
as long as you smoked the toasted tobacco varieties, you wouldn't get cancer, and starting fires was virtually impossible.
http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_web/images/tobacco_ads/doctors_smoking/20679_physicians/large/lucky_20679.jpg
Probably no smoking allowed outside. A cigarette will lite tinder but not gasoline!
I've seen "no cell phones" signs on gas pumps! Never going to ignite anything.
True, I've actually put out a lit cigarette in a tiny cup of gasoline many years ago.
I was just messing around to see if it would ignite.
I think if fumes were thick enough that might possibly be ignited by a cigarette?