movies where someone is told to wait 24hrs to file a missing persons report

May 6, 2012 1:17 PM

I'm looking for specific movies where someone is told they have to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report. (This is not true, and there are many many places that will tell you it's not true "despite what you see in the movies," but it's surprisingly difficult to find those movies.)
posted by hannahmae to media & arts (15 answers total)

This is in The Changeling near the very beginning of the film.
posted by vacapinta at 1:25 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Does it have to be movies or would episodes from TV series work? If so, pretty much every second episode of Criminal Minds, Law & Order, CSI. If I remember correctly, the backdoor pilot to Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior dealt with this; abducted men and their daughters turned up dead before the families could report them missing.
posted by MinusCelsius at 1:25 PM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Bridesmaids, the guy from the IT Crowd tells the leading lady wait 24hours when she can't find the chick from SNL.
posted by calm down at 1:27 PM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

I watch a lot of the crime dramas (including the ones MinusCelsius lists) and that factor comes up all the time.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 1:33 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

127 Hours: "Best case scenario is they notify the police and after a 24 hour hold they file a report, a missing person's report."
posted by Busy Old Fool at 1:34 PM on May 6, 2012

Movies would be best - classic/older movies even better - but anything helps. (I'm writing a story.) Thanks!
posted by hannahmae at 1:37 PM on May 6, 2012

An older movie where I believe it comes up is The Grey Man, about the life of serial killer Albert Fish. (Though, I'm not 100 % sure it's the right title, I watched quite a lot movies based on real serial killers and only recall that one of the Fish movies had a scene where a concerned family is told by the police to wait 24 hours about their daughter not coming home; despite the circumstances pointing clearly to a crime. The Grey Man is the best known Fish movie, but I assume this or a similar scene comes up in all of them since it's based on real events.)
posted by MinusCelsius at 1:48 PM on May 6, 2012

The Changeling: "I'm sorry, but our policy is that we don't dispatch units on missing child cases for twenty-four hours."
posted by Busy Old Fool at 1:56 PM on May 6, 2012

This comes up in Psych in a few episodes. I'm pretty sure it comes up in the Psych episode 'The Old and the Restless' S02E12. A guy goes to Shawn because the police won't look for his missing friend yet.
posted by Garm at 2:01 PM on May 6, 2012

About Last Night
The Vanishing
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary
The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission

I found these on subzin.com (a subtitle search site). You might get some more hits if you try other phrasings.
posted by O9scar at 2:28 PM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Using the same website like O9scar:

Bardaasht (2004)

Abandoned (2010)

The Clinic (2010)

Seres queridos (2004)

The Invisible (2007)
posted by travelwithcats at 3:08 PM on May 6, 2012

Also on subzin, with "48 hours" as the time frame: Abominable (2006) and Watchtower (2002).
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:24 PM on May 6, 2012

It's TV, but on a King of the Hill where the grandpa went missing (later found in Vegas), Luanne said he wasn't a "missing persons" until 24 or 48 hours.
posted by lankford at 8:00 PM on May 6, 2012

According to the recent A&E documentary on the Long Island Serial Killer, the NYPD does not file missing persons reports on prostitutes until they have been missing for ten days.
posted by mattdidthat at 8:31 PM on May 6, 2012

I'm way late to the party, but how has no one mentioned Bridesmaids? Cope dude tells Kristen Wiig this when she asks for help finding Maya Rudolph right before the wedding.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 7:48 AM on May 23, 2012