The following is an extract from The Guardian article: Running times: when to go for a pee during classic movies
Even the corniest summer blockbusters now regularly clock in at two-and-a-half hours. So perhaps it should be no surprise that RunPee, an iPhone app advising film viewers when to step out for a wee, is a runaway success. Start the app when you sit down to watch a film, and it will buzz in your pocket when a boring bit long enough for a loo break is coming up. The app was launched in 2008 by American developer Dan Florio and has attracted positive testimonials from stars including Rashida Jones and Stephen Fry. Hugh Jackman says it was recommended to him by Anne Hathaway.
Updated regularly, RunPee already recommends two wee-appropriate moments each in new releases. Yet even classic movies allow for a quick sprint to the loo and back.
The Godfather
Just after he has helped to whack his former protege Paulie in the car, capo Peter Clemenza cooks for the Corleone family’s made men. If you nip out after the line “Take the cannoli”, the most you will miss is Clemenza’s meatball recipe. To many Godfather fans, this scene is a classic that settles for ever the question of whether to add sugar to tomato sauce. But it was a creation of director (and legendary gourmand) Francis Ford Coppola, and does nothing to advance the plot.
Casablanca
Casablanca is a mere 102 minutes, but if you still can’t make it through without a pit-stop, then go at minute 59, just after Ilsa and Laszlo have failed to get a pair of exit visas from fez-sporting kingpin Ferrari. You’ll miss a bit of inconsequential business at Rick’s bar, albeit with some world-class repartee between Bogey and a twinkly Claude Rains. Be sure to get back before Laszlo comes looking for Rick’s hidden letters of transit.
The Shawshank Redemption
Andy has just done a spell in solitary. Red has failed to win freedom at his latest parole board hearing. It’s time for a montage. Leave the room when Andy gives Red a harmonica. You will miss Red returning the favour with a Marilyn Monroe poster, followed by a section about Andy securing funding for a prison library and some light banter between the inmates about a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo (another prison break classic) by “Alexandra Dumbass”.
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