# Best examples of movie 'title reveals'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491 "2006-08-12T22:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/61 "2006-08-14T13:31:37Z")
[QUOTE=ambushed] “i.e.”?? Really? Surely you’re leaving an awful lot out? [/QUOTE] I didn’t want to give away the ending with a too detailed explanation of how the postman rang twice for the couple in question. That is, however, the quote as I found it; I don’t have the movie to check it exactly and if someone has a more extensive version, I’ll stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/62 "2006-08-14T17:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=ambushed] I don’t think the movie ever explained the precise meaning/relevance of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, and neither did “Apocalypse Now” or (to tbe best of my recollection) “Midnight Cowboy”. [/QUOTE] In the book \*\*One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest \*\*, the Chief remembers a rhyme his grandmother taught him about (I think) geese - “One flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest”. There’s this whole theory about Nurse Ratched and McMurphy being two of the birds and the Chief being the one stuck in the middle, pulled both ways, but in my mind, I always thought the “Cuckoo’s Nest” just referred to the asylum. In **Apocalypse Now** , I seem to recall it painted on something at some point in the movie, like “Our motto is: apocalypse now”, which I only noticed on the third or fourth viewing of the movie. And I’ve not seen Midnight Cowboy so I don’t know about that. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/63 "2006-08-14T18:13:46Z")
_The Stand_. The title seems to be apropos of nothing until: Mother Abagail tells Stuart, Glen, Ralph and Larry that they have to go west to make a _stand_ against the Dark Man. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/64 "2006-08-14T18:18:26Z")
For fairly obvious reasons (if you’ve seen the films): **The Wicker Man The Last of the Mohicans The Crime of M. Lange The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek The Naked Kiss Koyaanisqatsi** And to a lesser degree (references made mid-way through the films): **The Lady Eve Passion Fish Ashes and Diamonds Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind** And even more opaque examples: **American Beauty Magnolia Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon** ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/65 "2006-08-14T22:06:36Z")
How about **Mr Holland’s Opus**? I think it’s obvious by the end that the title doesn’t refer to the music he’s been writing throughout the film. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/66 "2006-08-14T22:18:56Z")
It’s been ages since I’ve seen either, but it seems that both **Vanilla Sky and The Ghost and The Darkness** would fit. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/67 "2006-08-15T12:33:09Z")
Jacqueline Susann must have loved doing this. She has Valley of the Dolls, The Love Machine, and Once is Not Enough. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/68 "2006-08-15T13:21:47Z")
**Junebug** takes its title from the name that Amy Adams’ character intends to give to her unborn child. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/69 "2006-08-15T14:56:46Z")
_The Day After Tomorrow_. I love this title. The phrase in the film is never spoken in the film, but it just refers to the idea that the events could happen sooner than we think. _Ghost in the Shell_. Sounds at first like a nonsensical (yet cool) title for a futuristic police procedural, but makes more sense as the movie’s main plot and theme become clear. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491/70 "2006-08-15T14:58:39Z")
[QUOTE=wm–] The phrase in the film is never spoken in the film [/QUOTE] Whoops, gotta strike the first “in the film.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-examples-of-movie-title-reveals/368491.md?page=3)