It's a convenient way to include your token black in a film without having to give him a big part. By giving a black actor an exhalted role as 'Captain' film makers can say "well here is a black man playing a respectable, senior role" whilst at the same time giving him as little airtime as possible because the white guys on the street (Starsky and Hutch, or whoever) are the ones on whom the action will centre. The black captain appears at the begging, once or twice briefly in the middle and then at the end when the crime has been solved thus giving the illusion that he was actually in the film, whereas his total screen time amounts to 4 minutes and 34 seconds.
The phone ones are good, but nobody has mentioned this one. Why do people keep hitting the receiver hooks when the line goes dead? Has this ever brought the line back to life?
Why is it that old gits always pull birds that are at least 30 years younger? You never see Sean Connery/ Harrison Ford/ Jack Nicholson etc pull a bird who is over the age of 55