The real-life moped accident in American Graffiti
Scooters are arguably the most ridiculous mode of transport right after unicycles. When watching the coming-of-age movie American Graffiti, one thing that took the audience by surprise was the Vespa accident. Charles Martin Smith foolishly crashed the scooter into a completely inanimate object, he played rather coolly.
As you might have guessed by how genuinely surprised he looked on screen, this wasn’t a part of the script. He wasn’t hurt since he was already off the scooter, but his pride definitely took a hit that day and for many decades after (American Graffiti was released in 1973).