# Best use of clichéd movie elements **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330 "2009-11-20T20:44:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/21 "2009-11-22T19:32:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Best Appearance of the Real Life Subject in a Bio-Film > Larry Flynt as the judge in The People vs Larry Flynt I am going to have to go with Chuck Yeager in **The Right Stuff** where he played a waiter who glares at the government fellows when they suggest that Yeager is unqualified to be an astronaut. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/22 "2009-11-22T20:00:28Z")
Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the perfect Hollywood movie. It is entirely cliche including the circumstances of the two stars falling in love. It was just a perfect storm of every cliche Hollywood throws at you, and on top of it all, it was an entertaining move. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/23 "2009-11-22T21:36:10Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > **Best Spontaneous Musical Number in a Non-Musical Film** > While I know that Pippin’s song in _The Return of the King_ will be the most popular choice, I nominate the _Non Nobis Domine_ from _Henry V_. OK, how about Sean Connery’s 007 singing _Underneath The Mango Tree_ in one of the James Bond movies? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/24 "2009-11-22T23:14:44Z")
Best movie intentionally built entirely out of cliches: _ **Dancer in the Dark** _ ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/25 "2009-11-23T00:19:45Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Best Spontaneous Musical Number in a Non-Musical Film > > I nominate the scene in Zulu where the British respond to the Zulu’s war song with a rendition of “Men of Harlech.” I would have to nominate “The French Mystique” in **Blazing Saddles**. Just because, it’s **Blazing Saddles**. _ **Best Cameo Appearance of an Original Cast Member in a Remake** _ I’ll nominate (because somebody has to nominate it) Ann B. Davis as a truck driver and Florence Henderson as Grandma in **The Brady Bunch Movie**. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/26 "2009-11-23T00:32:01Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > For best use of gratuitous nudity, I nominate _The Whole Nine Yards_. While everyone, both onscreen and in the audience, is gaping at Amanda Peet’s body, someone (I think it was Ms. Peet herself) produces a gun and kills the bad guy. If I may nitpick over the definition of the term “gratutious,” the nudity in that scene doesn’t really qualify since there was a point to Peete’s character being naked (i.e., distract the bad guy and mentally get the jump on him). It also important in that, contrary to what the movie’s other characters and the audience previously thought of her, she was actually a cagey hit women. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/27 "2009-11-23T06:31:52Z")
Best use of a car exploding in a giant fireball after a minor traffic collision: The rear-ending of a [Pinto](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0J0rcJTLo)in **Top Secret!** ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/28 "2009-11-23T13:56:16Z")
_An American Werewolf in London_: Jack and David have just left the creepy pub where they’ve heard tales of monsters roaming the moors. They realize they’ve wandered off the road in the fog and then hear strange noises. Getting more and more freaked out, they quicken their pace bit by bit, mirroring the building tension of the scene, until they are flat-out running through the moors. Suddenly, David screams and falls to the ground! Jack turns and then realizes David has just tripped and is OK. He and the audience heave a sigh of relief. Forcing a smile, Jack reaches to help David up and says, “Man, you scared the shit out of --” _and the werewolf attacks him from nowhere!_ The idea is not original but the timing of this scene is perfect. Gets me every time. For **Best Cameo Appearance of an Original Cast Member in a Remake** , I am compelled to nominate the mostly-dreadful _Beverly Hillbillies_.Buddy Ebsen (the original Jed Clampett) makes a quick appearance as his post-BH character of Barnaby Jones. One of the very few laughs in the film, and an out-loud one for me. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/29 "2009-11-23T14:48:41Z")
Best Historic Figure In A Cameo With Someone Playing The Younger Him: Jim Lovell in Apollo 13. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/30 "2009-11-23T14:52:54Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Best use of a car exploding in a giant fireball after a minor traffic collision: The rear-ending of a [Pinto](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0J0rcJTLo)in **Top Secret!** While I agree wholeheartedly that this was great, it violates the no parodies rule in the OP. Disqualified! ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/31 "2009-11-23T14:53:44Z")
> [@Alistair\_McCello](#): > > I am going to have to go with Chuck Yeager in **The Right Stuff** where he played a waiter who glares at the government fellows when they suggest that Yeager is unqualified to be an astronaut. I’ll have to go with **JFK** , where Jim Garrison played Earl Warren. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/32 "2009-11-23T15:12:11Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > [li]Best “Aha! You only THOUGHT I was dead!” moment[/li] The railway scene in _Reds_ ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/33 "2009-11-23T16:09:06Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > **Best Spontaneous Musical Number in a Non-Musical Film** I wish to nominate Paul Newman’s rendition of “Plastic Jesus” in **Cool Hand Luke**. (Though I I will probably vote for “Zulu”) [quote] \*\* [li]Best use of gratuitous nudity\*\*[/li][/quote] **Starship Troopers**. No competition IMO. But I think we should define “gratuitous nudity”. I propose that the dialogue/scene should need to work (albeit less effectively) without the nudity. So “ST” qualifies as gratuitous because the same scene could have been set in a laundry or just walking along a road and an audience wouldn’t have thought it odd. “W9Y” or “Fight Club” or any actual sex scenes don’t qualify because the nudity is an integral part of the scene, and thus not truly gratuitous. [quote] **[li]Best “Aha! You only THOUGHT I was dead!” moment**[/li][/quote] **Aliens** , where the queen announces her presence by bisecting Bishop. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/34 "2009-11-23T16:27:07Z")
Best spontaneous musical number: That Scene from _Magnolia_. I know lots of people hate it, but to me it makes the movie. (Of course, if the Marseilles scene from \*Casablanca \*counts, then that.) Best use of a car exploding in a giant fireball after a minor traffic collision: \*Raiders of the Lost Ark \*- the truck that was supposedly carrying Marion. Actually had a reason for exploding (it was full of munitions). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/35 "2009-11-23T16:38:47Z")
**Best Spontaneous Musical Number in a Non-Musical Film:** “Say a Little Prayer For You” in _My Best Friend’s Wedding_ **Best use of gratuitous nudity:** Jamie Lee Curtis in _Trading Places_ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/36 "2009-11-23T17:30:50Z")
> [@Alistair\_McCello](#): > > I am going to have to go with Chuck Yeager in **The Right Stuff** where he played a waiter who glares at the government fellows when they suggest that Yeager is unqualified to be an astronaut. Are you serious? I never knew that. Now I have to watch it again. . ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/37 "2009-11-23T17:44:54Z")
**Best use of gratuitous nudity:** Halle Berry in _Swordfish_ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/38 "2009-11-23T19:00:44Z")
For a twist ending, I’d have to go with Fight Club. Its a really good twist and once you know what it actually is, it makes watching the movie second time even better IMO. And for someone who has never seen it, don’t worry, its really NOT a stupid movie about people who join a club just to beat the shit outa each other for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/39 "2009-11-23T19:06:03Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I think the best “Aha! You only THOUGHT I was dead!” moment has to be what I always think of as the original - Wait Until Dark. Nooooo – the true original: _Diabolique!_ ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330/40 "2009-11-23T19:13:33Z")
My vote for best use of gratuitous nudity goes to Rene Russo in the Thomas Crown Affair. She spends about the middle third of the movie topless on a beach. It’s pretty nice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-cliched-movie-elements/518330.md?page=3)