Can't say I'm familiar with the films mentioned but I do know a thing or two about sliding glass patio doors and I can understand when folks believe a dowel laid in the track on the resident's side of the door will prevent anyone outside from opening it..... But anyone that has worked with those doors (or learned how to defeat them from experienced burglars...) will know that generous sized suction cups or the right pry bar will allow anyone to quietly lift that door right out of its 1/2" track without making a sound.... I needed a patio door slide cleaned (as they get older and build up debris, hair, etc.) I watched a pair of workers, who just happened to be eastern european immigrants... quickly remove my door and set it aside as they worked to sort it out.... It was an eye opener...
On the other side of the coin down here in hurricane land new construction is required to have impact resistant glass (believe the standard is it must survive a two by four at one hundred miles an hour... ) and here we're talking double paned glass that's much heavier than a normal window in very strong metal frames well secured into the strongest part of your window's casement. Pretty sure I may have to upgrade my windows as so many have done if I ever want to sell the house we've been in since the late eighties as well. At any rate a good friend has done the upgrade and his patio door alone feel like something from a bank's security set-up -its that heavy and air tight.. Something to look into for folks who don't live in hurricane land as well...
When I was working the street all those years ago I'd advise any homeowner who asked about physical security issues to do a bit of thinking about the actual threat they face and plan their security on that basis... I'd have a lot different set of suggestions for an apartment with young female roommates than I would for someone with a collection of firearms in the structure as an example... The great majority of break-ins happen when no one is home (unless our bad guy makes a mistake and enters where he (or she) thinks no one's home...) and your only threat is to your property and peace of mind... The very small (thank heavens) number of entries into an occupied structure are terribly dangerous since those deals involve someone planning on attacking, robbing, raping, or killing anyone they encounter... That's the nightmare scenario that will keep you up at night.
Lastly, I'd make a point of taking a hard look at friends or family under your roof and it any of them are involved in questionable activities....have them living somewhere else... The risk to yourself or your family from a bad character's friends or competitors goes way way up if they're living under your roof... No matter how close they are to you and your family - even if it's one of your own kids... Not something most of us want to think about...
Down here in south Florida many homes have serious steel barred exterior window and door security. I used to advise anyone looking to buy a house to avoid any neighborhoods where every house sports barred windows since it means they've had, at least in the past, serious burglary problems. For anyone that thinks bars on your windows is a good idea you might want to ask what would you do in case of a fire? Lastly I've actually participated in raids on armored houses years ago. We simply did a discrete survey of the property (in movies they'd say we "cased the joint") then made our plans on how to defeat the barred exterior door or window. Usually we'd use a tow truck (but any vehicle will do...) equipped with heavy chains and big hooks... At the go signal the operator would very quickly back into position, place the hooks on the bars - then snatch the entire setup right out of the walls it was mounted on. The entire operation takes less than a minute... Those bars were never installed to prevent them being snatched...
Glad I'm long out of that world...
