I love the scene where he is playing darts against Dr. Frankenstein, and keeps emphasizing words just as Dr. Frankenstein is throwing, causing the darts to fly everywhere, including out the window,
As the scene ends, the Inspector gets into his car and all the darts he caused to fly off target are sticking in his tires.
The Wallace and Gromit movies have some sly gags they don’t draw attention t, but are there for the eagle-eyed to spot (though I must admit they may only work for Brits):
I forget which movie, but in one there’s a kitchen with a huge fridge looking just like a Smeg - only the letters spell SMUG. In others we’re shown that Gromit’s record collection includes Puppy Love, and music by Poochini; and that he reads a comic that looks exactly like the old comic Eagle - only this one’s the Beagle
In Chicken Run, the only chicken to “go on holiday” as a poor layer is called Edwina (coincidentally the name of a government minister who had to resign when her accurate linking of a salmonella outbreak to egg production nearly collapsed the market). Also in that movie, when their escape "plane " takes off, the villain goes with it, clutching on to something, leading one of the characters to say “Cling-on on the port bow, Cap’n”
In the latest, there’s an advertising slogan for Madame Butterpies (butter pies are a thing in Lancashire)
Is it just me, or was it a sly dig, in Curse of the Were-Rabbit to get (of all actresses) Helena Bonham Carter to voice the line “Just call me Totty!”?
In a Scottish accent.
I had to google that. To me, ‘Smeg!’ is an exclamation.
In The Road to Bali a man wearing hunting gear comes out of the jungle and shoots his rifle in the air and then leaves. Bing says " That’s my brother Bob, I promised him a shot in the picture."
My spouse’s and my favorite line from Chicken Run is when the chickens stage a rebellion, and the farmers react as follows:
Mr Tweedy: The chickens are revolting!
Mrs Tweedy: Finally, something we agree on.
When they throw one of the chickens in solitary, doesn’t she play atch by bouncing a ball off the floor and the wall? That’s a direct reference to The Great Escape.
There was a little-seen film from Aardman called The Pirates! Band of Misfits (it had a different title in the UK). There’s a scene at a pirate award ceremony where one of the awards is for roaring. IIRC, the levels are “soft”, “medium”, “loud”, and “Brian Blessed”.
I really should see that again.
Doesn’t Paul McCartney reference them in Band on the Run?
More than that. The tunnels themselves, with the carts on ropes and pulleys were a direct steal from The Great Escape (not to mention from real life – they’re pictured that way in Paul Brickhill’s book The Great Escape), not mentionthe design of the “camp” and “barracks”.
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Chicken Run, so I’m not surprised I don’t remember all the deliberate similarities with The Great Escape. Bouncing the ball in the cell (or was it a corn crib) probably sticks in my head because that was the first giveaway that the filmmakers had done their homework.
In Chicken Run, Mel Gibson’s character’s first line is the same as his last line in Braveheart:
“FREEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!”
Note that Brian Blessed did the voice of the Pirate King in the movie.
Another great subtle joke there is them talking about how sometimes women disguise themselves as men and join a pirate crew. What no one seems to notice is the “surprisingly curvaceous” pirate among them.
Maggie Simpson in, “The Great Escape”:
Which, of course, morphs into, “The Birds.”
I need to see it again to be sure, but I seem to remember that the closing credits were done with the camera tracking along a brick wall. In addition to the names of cast and crew, there were some bills posted with humorous, Victorian-era advertising on them. One of them was partially missing, but I swear it was an ad for laudanum, and described it as “soothing”. One of those jokes that was slipped in for the adults.
There’s also the list of pirate rules seen in one scene:
- The captain is always right. 2. Players must take turns rolling the dice. 3. Don’t use pigs as cannonballs. 4. Don’t over accessorize. 5. Don’t rain on the Pirate Captain’s parade. 6. No Parades. 7. Use your inside voice below decks. 8. No whelk balancing. 9. Don’t throw over empty yoghurt pots - they make excellent containers for small plants. 10. No matter how much they cry, no matter how much they beg, never feed them after midnight.
I found it, pretty much as I remembered. Skip ahead to 5:30.
There’s also a pauper repellant called “Urchin-Be-Gone”.
From IMDb about RoboCop (1987):
The standard copyright notice at the end of the film includes a warning that “This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries and its unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution by enforcement droids.”
There’s a cartoon version of “Charlotte’s Web” from 1973 with Debbie Reynolds (Charlotte) and Paul Lynde (Templeton) doing the voice acting. We had this on VHS when my kids were little (yeah, I’m old). There’s a scene where Wilbur’s family is at the state fair and they’ve won something and are being called up to the stage to get their prize. The mom is flustered and asks her husband “Does my hair look all right?” He replies hurriedly that sure, it’s fine, whereupon she complains “You didn’t even look at my hair.”
That line always made me laugh because it was so clearly written for the moms who had to watch this stuff with their kids.
The Sopranos is full of malapropisms in the dialog. They go by quickly but if you have closed captions on you can spot them. Paulie, Christopher and Tony have the most. Example: Tony complaining to his psychiatrist Dr. Melfi about how his son is taking everything on the news so seriously that he’s getting all upset and depressed about world events. Tony: “He’s making a molehill out of everything!”