Re: OT: Calculator as a plot device Message #5 Posted by james summers on 5 May 2012, 2:21 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ethan Conner
In 2004 Namir posted:
Quote:
I remember seeing a French movie (while I lived in France in 1978) starring Jean-Louis Trintignant who was a statistician for an insurance company and used an HP-65 to calculate the probability that people around him would die what "seems" a natural death (I may be off on the plot ... it's been a while since 1978). The movie was certainly a big plug for the HP-65. It even had a nice closeup shot of the calculator. It made you want to go out an buy one. Of course in that year the HP-67 was being sold. I remember staying glued to the TV set.
From a bit of Googling I think the film may be L'Ordinateur des Pompes Funèbres. The synopsis on the Fandango site reads: "In this black comedy, Fred (Jean-Louis Trintingnant) works for an insurance company as a computer engineer. Fred is bored with enduring the trials of his shrewish wife, so, after using actuarial tables to calculate the most common means of death, he cleverly prepares the family bathroom and brings about her demise. For a while he is content with his new freedom, but then he recognizes that a friend is in a similar situation. However, he is interested in the man's wife, so with her cooperation, it is his friend who dies. After he moves in with the new widow and his other girlfriend, the two women decide that he is much too dangerous to have around, so they calculate a fitting end for him." Cheers James
Edited to add this link which shows some stills of the 65 from the film.
Edited: 5 May 2012, 4:24 p.m.
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