The part that makes me howl ...

Yes, it certainly was intended to be read that way! The people laugh because they think they are so superior to the people back then who smoked like it was nothing (and meanwhile they yak and yak on their cell phones, the new fad of the 21st Century, which will be looked back as just as stupid as smoking in the future *). Lots of people knew that smoking was probably bad for you, and the makers of this film were obviously playing on that to make a funny/ironic comment within the film. But you know, I just love the way stupid people like to laugh at the stupidity of other people, thereby revealing their own stupidity.



* the parallels between smoking and cell phone use are pretty amazing. In both cases, there are these little things we hear every now and then about it might be bad for you, but of course, the corporations that make these devices and that control the information people receive are careful to keep a lid on this type of information. But its the new thing that everyone does (everyone does it so it must be fine), so you sort of slip that into the back of your head and feel relieved anytime you hear some pablum from the MSM that, oh, we just did a study and it was shown that there is nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about, just move along ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=cigarette+ads+with+doctors&rls=com .microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&amp ;sa=X&ei=2xSxUsqgEu_lsASopYKYDA&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1226& bih=744

The problem is that although smoking doesn't cause cancer in every smoker, you never know if you will be 'the one' - and the odds are pretty good that it will. I had family members who smoked like chimneys - 2 smokers and one non-smoker all cooped up in one small house (in the NE also so the windows were shut tight 3/4s of the year).They drove with the car windows shut tight while smoking, smoked non filtered 'Lucky Strikes' AND pipes... yet none died of cancer - all lived into their 70s and one until the ripe old age of 99 (the non smoker) !!
These folks were from one side of my family. On the other side my grandfather, uncles all died relatively young
(in their 50s and 60s) and they didn't smoke as much as the other side of the family ... go figure, you just never know.

Besides the hilarious scene in this movie, theres another one out there from the 50s (can't think of its name right now) in which the hospital Doctor lights up right above the dying patient ! Last night I watched the old B&W "The Defiant Ones" from '58 in which Curtis and Poitier light up after collapsing on the ground after an exhausting run alongside a diesel train **SPOILER ALERT** not to mention the Curtis character had just been shot only minutes prior !! I still recall 'doctors' doing cigarette commercials back in the day - especially hawking 'filtered' and 'mentholated' cigarettes as being better for you.

If you are an older person like myself and ever have a conversation with a younger person about 'slavery'' and 'how could the people back then ever believed it was 'ok' to own slaves ?' ... just use the cigarette smoking analogy. We humans can be convinced of just about anything if taught to us young enough and if its part of the culture we were raised in.
I look back at the 50s and 60s and remember my friends and I sitting in diners/restaurants etc, lighting up and blowing smoke around no smokers as they were trying to eat their meal....and wonder 'What the HELL were we thinking ?' Its a surreal memory and one that I can barely believe true yet it was - 100%. Its helped me understand a lot about the people who have gone before us ... but not much good otherwise.
Hey, the 'smart phone' analogy is a good one no doubt but theres a newer one: 'Vaping'. If ya don't know what it is, just Google it - its becoming all the rage ! It has to be better than smoking tobacco though ... I think. :-)

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What makes me howl is how the General dispatches the entire Army to a house just because some anonymous jackass phones him and tells him that's where the spaceman is.