>Roger Ebert used to hang out on a Compuserve forum about the movies. (He even had a section named after him). One of his bemused pet peeves was that whenever there is a movie car chase, they almost always manage to knock over a fruit stand.

Jeez! I forgot about the car chases! They always burst through some obstacle too (a shed, factory, hairdressers, restaurant, perimeter wall of a multi-storey parking lot) not knowing:

1) if there's an innocent just on the other side of the wall who will NOT conveniently manage to get out of the way

2) what's beyond that obstacle - a death drop, a lamppost, a tank, but there's always something that saves them (e..g. a ramp to the death drop)

and not caring how many other cars they cause to halt, skid, spin round, crash, or how many businesses (such as fruit stand - but basket stall suffices in the middle east) they destroy, just so they get their man.

I think the Death Wish movies were prime culprits for this.