MovieChat Forums > Torn Curtain (1966) Discussion > Formula

Formula

posted 15 years ago by hjleidt
5 replies | jump to latest

Does anybody know what the formula in this movie is all about?

I'm aware that what we get to see is probably a spoof anyway.
But what sort of formulas would have been so valuable in the 1960s that you would want to steal them? Wouldn't design and engineering secrets be more interesting? Or a chemical formula?

Calculating the power of a rocket fuel? Okay, but shouldn't you first HAVE the fuel?
Calculating trajectories for spaceships? Isn't it all in the science books already?
Nuclear power? Okay, but don't you usually have the blast first and then try to calculate what went on?

[–] ecarle 15 years ago

This was a fictional formula that had something to do with creating what would become the real-attempt "Star Wars" missile defense system in the 80s.

George Lucas was angry that his movie title was used for the 80's system; President Ronald Reagan said the HE remembered the idea from..."Torn Curtain"! and said so to the scientists who briefed him on the idea.

The formula likely had to do with the trajectories for the "anti-missile missiles" to climb and intercept nuclear missles en route to other target countries.

I suppose Newman's trying to steal a formula to "render nuclear war impossible"...except if only ONE POWER has it, it can be used for evil, not good.

[–] johne23-1 15 years ago

Can anybody make any sense out of this?

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Torn_Curtain_%281966% 29_-_frame_721

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Torn_Curtain_%281966% 29_-_frame_735

[–] ecarle 15 years ago

Let's get the math-science majors in here.

I believe that the formulas on that board are for chicken soup.

--

Thanks to that truly magnificent "1000 Frames of Hitchcock" project(in which his movies are laid out literally right before your eyes, in their entirety), you have been able to illustrate what I believe is the second best sequence in "Torn Curtain"(after Gromek's murder) and...one of the greatest sequences in any Hitchcock picture and...one of the greatest sequences ever filmed.

Here's why: this is an enjoyable, funny, suspenseful and thought-provoking sequence based entirely on our INABILITY to understand those formulas. They are "ultra-MacGuffins," and so the scene shifts to US watching Newman and the Professor react to them, thus steering US where we need to go.

A truly exciting scene to me. One of the best things Hitchcock ever did.

[–] changarromaster 15 years ago

They look like algebraic-trigonometric equations, which are very simple actually, although probably a bit difficult to solve analytically. The second one is a vector equation since it has two variables but still they are algebraic-trigonometric. Having them in vector form won't change their nature. It's kind of naive since physics uses mainly differential equations and those are not differential equations.

I think like ecarle, the formulas are just MacGuffins.

[–] ecarle 15 years ago

They're not formulas for chicken soup?

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My deep thanks to changarromaster for answering our call for a math-science expert.

"Kind of naive since physics uses mainly differential equations..."

Aha!

It is rather like in "The Birds" with Rod Taylor as a criminal defense attorney who inexplicably keeps talking like he's a prosecutor. The profession is correct, but the details are wrong.

I figure Hitchcock just wanted enough general detail to "fake it."

And yes, I believe that the formula is a MacGuffin, bigtime.

Though President Ronald Reagan remembered the concept from "Torn Curtain"(a nuclear defense shield in outer space) when discussing the "Star Wars" program with his advisors in the eighties. George Lucas protested the use of the name "Star Wars." I guess Reagan thought "The Torn Curtain Missile Defense" wouldn't sound as snappy.