History Main / InterrogationByVandalism

* ''Blue Ice'' (1992): After a humiliating drug interrogation by a member of MI-5, Michael Caine pays a visit to the interrogator at his house and gets ''him'' to talk by [[VinylShatters smashing his irreplaceable jazz recordings]] -- the victim is more concerned about losing the music than the financial damage he's taking.

* In the first season of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'', [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Hazel and Cha-Cha]] abduct [[TheStoner Klaus]] and torture him for hours trying to get information on Five, but [[TooKinkyToTorture he mostly just really enjoys it]]. They finally get somewhere when Hazel realizes that they should threaten to destroy his drugs.

* In an episode of ''Series/HighlanderTheSeries'', the third-season ArcVillain Kalas interrogates a bookstore owner and scholar of history by tearing pages out of an antique book. Unlike most examples, Kalas isn't doing this out of reluctance to commit violence, and when the scholar doesn't talk, Kalas escalates to physical torture.

A character needs to get information from someone, but ColdBloodedTorture or the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique would make him or her seem too nasty, or would simply be ineffective. So instead they threaten to destroy... the {{priceless Ming vase}}!

Often PlayedForLaughs (see TortureForFunAndInformation), with a common punchline being the victim's retort that [[VandalismBackfire "that wasn't even mine"]]. However, nobody actually ''does'' this in real life except for maybe your parents throwing something of yours in the trash, or during a lovers' quarrel. The police ''especially'' do not do this - it's illegal to destroy property.

* ''Film/{{Gallipoli}}'': One of the diggers finds he's been ripped off when he's sold an expensive souvenir in Cairo that's being sold for a pittance elsewhere. They return to the shop where, despite the shopkeeper protesting that he didn't sell the item, Creator/MelGibson's character starts 'accidentally' breaking things until the shopkeeper gives back the money just to get rid of them. As they're leaving the shop, the digger who was ripped off belatedly realises it was [[IdenticalLookingAsians actually another shopkeeper who was the culprit]].

Often PlayedForLaughs (see TortureForFunAndInformation), with a common punchline being the victim's retort that [[VandalismBackfire "that wasn't even mine"]]. However, nobody actually ''does'' this in real life except for maybe your parents throwing something of yours in the trash. The police ''especially'' do not do this - it's illegal to destroy property.

[[quoteright:310: [[Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d4283d25d2605cc0b04d4f3d1929b35f.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:310:No! Not the picture description, you fiend!]]

-->'''Owner''': Young man, I do not believe even you are enough of a Philistine to destroy my sculptures.
-->'''Nightwing''': You're right. [[GoodCopBadCop But my friend here?]] He's ''real'' Philistine.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'':

* In ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'', Snively tortures Antoine by cooking escargot ''[[FelonyMisdemeanor in margarine]]''.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}: The Wolf Among Us'', Bigby uses a cricket bat to smash up Georgie's nightclub till Georgie tells him what he wants to know.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' -- the original comic -- has V take Lewis Prothero, formerly a death camp commander and currently the "Voice of Fate" for the government's radio broadcasts, hostage and threatens him with the incineration of his collection of priceless dolls unless he tells him everything that happened at Larkhill. And then he does it anyway, driving Prothero insane and depriving Norsefire of its major voice of propaganda. Prothero's concern for the dolls is in stark contrast to his callous disregard for the human beings he disposed of in similar incineration chambers.

* ''Film/FortyEightHours'' (1982). Reggie starts to trash the redneck bar until he gets the information he wants.

* ''Film/{{Gallipoli}}''. One of the diggers finds he's been ripped off when he's sold an expensive souvenir in Cairo that's being sold for a pittance elsewhere. They return to the shop where, despite the shopkeeper protesting that he didn't sell the item, Creator/MelGibson's character starts 'accidentally' breaking things until the shopkeeper gives back the money just to get rid of them. As they're leaving the shop, the digger who was ripped off belatedly realises it was [[IdenticalLookingAsians actually another shopkeeper who was the culprit]].

* In ''Film/KissMeDeadly'' Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) starts smashing valuable 78 r.p.m discs of classic opera performances treasured by down-on-his-luck opera singer Carmen Trivago (played by real-life opera singer Fortunio Bonanova) in order to extract information from him.

* Happens at least twice in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. In the short story "Last Call", Murphy knocks some delicate geodes off a shelf while Harry questions the shop owner. (She gleefully declares herself "the good cop.") In the novel ''Literatute/SmallFavor,'' Harry is trying to get past an administrative assistant who is insisting that her boss is out of the building. He asks his vampire friend, Thomas, to "give her a visual." Thomas promptly twists a pair of heavy barbells together, while Harry details what ''else'' he can break.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''

* In one episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', House tries to blackmail Wilson by taking one of his patients, who was confined to a hospital bed. Wilson retaliated by taking House's guitar. Hilariously, throughout the entire episode, the patient is referred to as being "stolen" while the guitar is referred to as being "kidnapped."
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': In "Hammer" Raylan questions the clerk in a smoke shop. He keeps picking and dropping bongs till the man tells him what he wants to know (he does pay for what he broke before he leaves the store).

* Downplayed on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. Vincent D'Onofrio's character is always walking around grabbing things in the suspect's home, office, etc. Sometimes it leads to {{Eureka Moment}}s, but usually it just annoys the person.

* Used in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', where Lois tries to interrogate the boys to find out who lit her dress on fire and put it in the toilet. One of her methods is to go through the room and begin throwing things into the trash, and another threat was to smash the television with the hammer. Does she ever get an answer? No, because it was actually ''Hal'' who did that!

* The fastest way to make [[TheChessmaster Rumplestiltskin]] / [[CrazyPrepared Mr. Gold]] from ''Series/OnceUponATime'' comply? Threaten his beloved chipped cup. Sure enough, it gets smashed and magically repaired so many times it becomes redundant, but when there is no magic to fix it, that's SeriousBusiness: in season one Regina forces Gold to admit he remembers his true identity, and in season five Merida gets him to fight, all by threatening to casually drop the cup.

* ''Series/PieInTheSky''.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Killer With A Long Arm", [[CowboyCop Doyle]] is interrogating a Greek restaurant owner, and decides to carry out the [[NationalStereotypes Greek tradition of plate-smashing]].

* ''VideoGame/TheWolfAmongUs'': In episode 2 Bigby threatens to destroy several items in Georgies club with a baseball bat. Whether or not he does is up to the player.

-->'''Viviana:''' [[ContrievedClumsiness Oops.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', "Oh No, Yono": Monkeyfist manages to escape the museum by having his monkey ninjas pitch priceless pottery so that Kim and Ron have to catch them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* In ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', Detritus uses this to coerce a troll drug smuggler (and pottery merchant) into assisting the Watch. Though that was more a case of "accidentally" smashing a rather valueless statue, thereby revealing a massive cache of drugs, and using that evidence of trafficking to ''blackmail'' said smuggler into cooperating.

* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', Michael once did this while pretending to be a criminal.
* On ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Crow is inspired by the episode's movie to torture Mike by pouring beer all over his most precious possession. Since Mike's most precious possession is an antique beer stein, he's not too upset. He then takes it further by noting that ''Crow himself'' is a precious possession, and Crow immediately demands that beer be poured all over him.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Reese interrogates a gang courier by taking a blowtorch to... the money the courier was supposed to be delivering. Both he and the courier know that the courier's boss will assume that the burned money was stolen by the courier rather than destroyed.
* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': In "Hammer" Raylan questions the clerk in a smoke shop. He keeps picking and dropping bongs till the man tells him what he wants to know (he does pay for what he broke before he leaves the store).
* Employed in an episode of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', when Kara and Lee are interrogating a would be assassin, ripping the wad of banknotes they found on him while pointing out that paper money is worthless now. In a somewhat realistic application of this trope, this turns out to be just the opener and they gradually upgrade to ToThePain and JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', House tries to blackmail Wilson by taking one of his patients, who was confined to a hospital bed. Wilson retaliated by taking House's guitar. Hilariously, throughout the entire episode, the patient is referred to as being "stolen" while the guitar is referred to as being "kidnapped."
* In one episode of ''Series/KenanAndKel'', when Kel refuses to Kenan a secret he knows, Kenan simply takes out a bottle of Kel's [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Trademark Favorite Drink]] orange soda and starts pouring it on the floor.
-->'''Kel''': "What did orange soda ever do to YOU?!"
* ''Series/{{Longmire}}'': In "The Cancer", Branch interrogates some teenagers by confiscating the case of beer they had bought illegally and starting to empty each can on to the ground till they tell him what he wants to know.
* ''Series/{{Witchblade}}'': When crooked cops within the department are looking for Sara, they interrogate her friend Gabriel by destroying his antique merchandise.
* The 1985 TV movie ''Operation Julie''. The operation has been a success except there's a massive stash of LSD hidden somewhere in a forty acre forest. So Detective Inspector Lee takes the ringleaders to the forest and revs up the bulldozers.
-->'''Lee:''' Now you may not care about [[DrugsAreBad destroying kids' brains]], but ecology freaks like you don't want trees damaged, do you? Either you tell me where you buried it, or this lot comes down!
* The fastest way to make [[TheChessmaster Rumplestiltskin]] / [[CrazyPrepared Mr. Gold]] from ''Series/OnceUponATime'' comply? Threaten his beloved chipped cup. Sure enough, it gets smashed and magically repaired so many times it becomes redundant, but when there is no magic to fix it, that's SeriousBusiness: in season one Regina forces Gold to admit he remembers his true identity, and in season five Merida gets him to fight, all by threatening to casually drop the cup.
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Killer With A Long Arm", [[CowboyCop Doyle]] is interrogating a Greek restaurant owner, and decides to carry out the [[NationalStereotypes Greek tradition of plate-smashing]].
* A more serious version in ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. Kovacs finds that the body he's been downloaded into belonged to a cop called Ryker. He starts to slice his body up with a knife until Detective Ortega breaks down and admits that Ryker used to be her lover.

* ''VideoGame/ActionDoom2UrbanBrawl'': An informant gives you a lead, but he's not being entirely sincere, and the only way to get him to tell you the truth (and get the best ending) is to smash his priceless car.

* In ''VideoGame/LateShift'', the protagonist may interrogate someone by smashing their valuables with a golf club.

* In ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'', our hero gets out of visiting his librarian girlfriend's family by slooowly destroying the spine of a hardback book (that he bought himself).
* [[http://samandfuzzy.com/1668 This]] ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'' strip.
* [[http://nielsg.com/uncle-and-nephew-bonding This]] installment of ''Webcomic/{{Niels}}'' has the titular crime boss interrogating an unscrupulous archaeologist by handing ancient pottery to a small child, with predictable results.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''
** Happens when The Lobe coerces Norm Abrahms into helping with his evil scheme using ''a block of precious wood'' and a nasty-looking, rusty, rugged chainsaw. And it wasn't even Norm's block of wood: it was one that The Lobe bought himself. Norm just has a deep respect for carpentry. And it really was a ''very'' nice block of wood.
** Arms Akimbo sells "Oops Insurance" -- he moves around the room, destroys something and then goes "Oops" until the proprietor pays him off. Later in the episode, he apparently ''blows up a building'' this way.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Parodied, as always, with a private eye visiting Skinner. When he doesn't get any information, he reshuffles the pages on Skinner's desk. When Skinner blandly says he can reorganise them, the private eye uses a stapler. Cue the BigNo.
** Homer attempts this technique during "Hungry, Hungry Homer". He razzes Marge's hairdresser by unscrewing caps and dropping a hairnet on the floor (only to get a confused reply from the hairdresser). He tries again to the owner of the local baseball team but is immediately intimidated into undoing his vandalism.
** A parody came when Homer was utilizing ShameIfSomethingHappened on Mister Burns, coupling it with PokeThePoodle when that "something" is setting a glass on his desk without a coaster. Naturally, it gets the desired reaction.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', "Oh No, Yono": Monkeyfist manages to escape the museum by having his monkey ninjas pitch priceless pottery so that Kim and Ron have to catch them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'', Snively tortures Antoine by cooking escargot ''[[FelonyMisdemeanor in margarine]]''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', Mordecai & Rigby are plagued by a park vandal who keeps spray painting all over the park. When they track him down and end up going into his dimension, ''everything'' is pure white, making it impossible for the two to even tell that they were in the vandal's living room, much less where everything was. After bumping into a few things, they take a can of spray paint and start spraying all over the place to highlight everything, much to the vandal's annoyance. When the vandal refuses to talk, Mordecai tells Rigby to keep spraying.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "The Unnatural", Tina threatens to break Linda's [[KitschCollection collection of porcelain babies]] if she doesn't tell the truth about her hocking Bob's new espresso machine to pay for Gene's baseball lessons.
* ''WesternAnimation/AlmostNakedAnimals'': Bunny forces Howie to tell Duck to turn off the machine that is speeding up the earth's rotation (ItMakesSenseInContext) by threatening his Dirk Danger doll.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "A Lot Going on Upstairs", Lois traps Peter and his friends in the attic, and they try to get her to let them out by threatening to poop on her wedding dress.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': When the RoguesGallery put [[JokerJury Batman on trial]], the District Attorney hired to "defend" him makes Poison Ivy crack on the witness stand by ripping the petals off a flower.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'' series finale, Duke Igthorn finally gets Grammi to give him the real Gummiberry Juice formula by threatening to burn the Great Book of Gummi.
* Zuko pulls a successful Blackmail By Vandalism ploy in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Waterbending Scroll," getting the pirates to help him find Aang by threatening to burn their valuable scroll.
-->'''Zuko:''' ''(lighting a flame under it)'' I wonder how much money this is worth... ''[[MassOhCrap (pirates all gasp in horror)]]'' A lot, apparently.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' -- the original comic -- has V take Lewis Prothero, formerly a death camp commander and currently the "Voice of Fate" for the government's radio broadcasts, hostage and threatens him with the incineration of his collection of priceless dolls unless he tells him everything that happened at Larkhill. And then he does it anyway, driving Prothero insane and depriving Norsefire of its major voice of propaganda. Prothero's concern for the dolls is in stark contrast to his callous disregard for the human beings he disposed of in similar incineration chambers.
* It wasn't an interrogation, but in ''[[Comicbook/XForce X-Statix]]'', Vivisector was tied to a chair and forced to watch as his prized book collection was burned. He had recently been administered the mutant cure, and his powers can be activated by emotional distress; the idea was to see if he had truly been cured (he had).
* From "[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Officer Down]]", Nightwing and Azrael are interrogating a dealer of stolen art at his gallery.

* In ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'' #6, Marion escapes from the mansion of a mob boss by holding a pistol to his treasured (and irreplaceable) recording of opera singer Enrico Caruso and threatening to shoot if anyone attacks her.

* ''Blue Ice'' (1992): After a humiliating drug interrogation by a member of MI-5, Michael Caine pays a visit to the interrogator at his house and gets ''him'' to talk by [[VinylShatters smashing his irreplaceable jazz recordings]] -- the victim is more concerned about losing the music than the financial damage he's taking.

* ''Film/{{Fanboys}}'': When caught breaking into Skywalker Ranch, they threaten to destroy an original Millennium Falcon model when cornered by Ray Park. Taken to extremes when one of the guards then threatens to destroy the original Yoda puppet in retaliation. It fails when one of the fans tries to threaten an Ewok head and nobody cares.

* ''Film/WalkingTall2004'': Chris and Ray tear Booth's [[CoolCar very tricked out]] [[WatchThePaintJob pickup truck]] apart while he watches, ostensibly to search for any drugs he migth have concealed, including cutting bits and pieces of it off with a circular saw. [[spoiler: It doesn't work. Booth decides to just laugh it off, figuring that [[BigBad his boss]] will get back at them for it.]]
* In ''Film/KissMeDeadly'' Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) starts smashing valuable 78 r.p.m discs of classic opera performances treasured by down-on-his-luck opera singer Carmen Trivago (played by real-life opera singer Fortunio Bonanova) in order to extract information from him.

* Nick Carter in ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet'' manages to get vital information from Irma after he starts cutting off feathers from her fancy hat and slowly destroying her boa.
* The Frog from ''Film/{{Red 2}}'' is extremely fond of wine and an avid collector of old vintages. When the protagonists capture him for information, Katya smashes two of his bottles to pressure him. He's upset, but doesn't break.

* In ''Literature/WolvesOfTheCalla'', Enciro Balzar pressures Calvin Tower by threatening to burn Tower's most valuable books.

* In ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'', Detritus uses this to coerce a troll drug smuggler (and pottery merchant) into assisting the Watch. Though that was more a case of "accidentally" smashing a rather valueless statue, thereby revealing a massive cache of drugs, and using that evidence of trafficking to ''blackmail'' said smuggler into cooperating.
* Happens at least twice in Literature/TheDresdenFiles. In the short story ''Last Call,'' Murphey knocks some delicate geodes off a shelf while Harry questions the shop owner. (She gleefully declares herself "the good cop.") In the novel ''Small Favor,'' Harry is trying to get past an administrative assistant who is insisting that her boss is out of the building. He asks his vampire friend, Thomas, to "give her a visual." Thomas promptly twists a pair of heavy barbells together, while Harry details what ''else'' he can break.
* Several ancient sources record an anecdote about a dinner party attended by the emperor Augustus, where the host ordered a slow and painful death for a slave who accidentally broke one of a set of valuable drinking cups. In one version of the story, Augustus had his own servants gather up the remaining cups and smash them one by one until the host agreed to let the slave off.

* In ''Series/TheGoodies'' episode "Scoutrageous", the two renegade Scouts whittle Tim's staves until he relents (they also damage his hat). They also threaten to take a Brillo pad (steel wool) to Tim's shiny shoes. ''[[SeriousBusiness They threatened the shiny shoes.]]''
* Used in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', where Lois tries to interrogate the boys to find out who lit her dress on fire and put it in the toilet. One of her methods is to go through the room and begin throwing things into the trash, and another threat was to smash the television with the hammer. Does she ever get an answer? No, because it was actually ''Hal'' who did that!
* Used in ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}''. The Marquis de Carabas uses an antique vase to guarantee his safety when negotiating with the art-loving PsychoForHire Mr Croup. The interesting bit? [[spoiler:Mr. Croup ''was'' genuinely concerned by the threat... ''He'' wanted to destroy that beauty, and not let anyone else do it.]]

* Downplayed on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. Vincent D'Onofrio's character is always walking around grabbing things in the suspect's home, office, etc. Sometimes it leads to {{Eureka Moment}}s, but usually it just annoys the person.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': In the episode "Dolls", the detectives are tracking a mentally unstable man who kidnaps young girls, dresses them up as china dolls, and keeps them locked up until they die of starvation. He's also something of a doll collector, so when they finally track him down, Munch starts smashing his dolls to convince him to reveal where his current captive is.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'': In the episode "Paradise", the detectives and CP Alesha Phillips have arrived at a store that is believed to be a front for a local mobster's operation. When the shop owner feigns ignorance, the detectives begin "accidentally" knocking over the equipment, all the while offering fake apologies, until the guy gets fed up and tells them what they want to know.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''
** In "Cygnus Alpha", a cult leader captures Blake with a bagful of teleport bracelets. He doesn't know what they are, but realizes they must be valuable to Blake, so starts crushing them one at a time to encourage Blake to talk. This is a more serious example of this trope because the teleport was Blake's only means of getting off the planet. Blake does talk, but when he refuses to cooperate in other ways he's subjected to more brutal forms of persuasion.
** In "Bounty", Blake starts destroying Sarkoff's antique collection to make Sarkoff reassume leadership of the planet Lindor. (Sarkoff assumed Blake was a Federation assassin, and was resigned to his death, but not the loss of his antiques.)
** Subverted in "Games". Federation guards are smashing up Belkov's control room to encourage him to reveal the location of the MineralMacGuffin. Belkov pleads with them not to touch his computer, the only thing he values. A guard promptly tries yanking out its circuits, only to suffer [[BoobyTrap fatal electrocution]]. Well he did warn them not to touch it...
* ''Series/BostonLegal'': A man confessed to a priest after kidnapping a small child. Brad Chase tries to get the priest to betray confidentiality by threatening to damage a priceless wood door with an axe. Then the priest tries to stop him by [[WhatAnIdiot holding his hand in the way of the swing...]]

In ''Film/HowToRobABank'', Jason regains control of Jessica, and manages to coerce a few answers out of her, by threatening to smash her PDA, which holds the codes she needs for opening the safety deposit boxes.

See also ShameIfSomethingHappened, CoolAndUnusualPunishment.

Usually only used by heroes on characters that show a distinct [[KitschCollection regard for possessions]] [[TheCollector over human life]], so it seems a bit like they [[AssholeVictim deserve it]]. However, when push comes to shove, villains are vastly more likely to actually go through with the threat.

** [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward think that Mr. Krabs is a robot. They destroy Mr. Krabs' stuff, because they think that they are his robot friends and that would make him confess that he's a robot.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' Tina threatens to break Linda's [[KitschCollection collection of porcelain babies]] if she doesn't tell the truth about her stealing and selling Bob's new espresso machine.

-->'''Nightwing''': You're right. But my friend here? He's ''real'' Philistine.