# Film Plots Lifted Almost Exactly From Other Films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469 "2005-02-23T03:02:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/1 "2005-02-23T03:02:50Z")
So, we all know that **Star Wars** (fuck the goofy subtitle added too late in the game) is **The Hidden Fortress** set in outer space. The two bumbling bickering peasants equal two bumbling bickering droids, etc. What are some others? And I’m not looking for homages, or “similar to” stories, but for films where you can point to exact plot machinations, or exact characters transplanted from one film to another. Great latitude is expected as all posters may not agree that one equals the other. I did say “almost.” Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/2 "2005-02-23T03:12:39Z")
**The Seven Samurai** has been adapted a number of times. **The Magnificent Seven** was the most obvious one, but there’s also **Battle Beyond the Stars** , which set the story in outer space, with a hero flying in a talking spaceship with tits. Also, I don’t know how common this is in the US, but the Japanese video stores are filled with copycat movies (usually from Europe) that seem to be marketed solely on the premise of looking enough like a more famous movie in the hopes that people will rent them by accident. (“Vanished in 60 Seconds” “Clones” and “Death Cube” from “Gone in 60 Seconds” “6 Days” and “Cube” respectively). I’ve never fallen for one, so I don’t know how similar the actual stories are, but great pains are taken to get the name, cover design and title font as close as possible to the “original”. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/3 "2005-02-23T03:18:33Z")
If I remember correctly, **Airplane!** was from **Zero Hour**. ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/4 "2005-02-23T05:56:13Z")
The plot of **Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle** was pretty much taken from **Mission:Impossible** , i.e. the two-part NOC list. The main difference is that high technology enabled them to encode it on two rings, instead of two disks. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@andrewdt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/5 "2005-02-23T07:24:34Z")
And Mission: Impossible 2’s plot is based on the Hitchcock movie Notorious, what with the spy using an old love of an evil man to get close to him. The scene at the dog track is meant as an homage to the dog track scene in Notorious. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/6 "2005-02-23T07:45:31Z")
WHITE NOISE was practically THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES with EVPs instead of Aerial Critters. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/7 "2005-02-23T07:45:39Z")
**Yojimbo \*\* and** A Fist Full of Dollars \*\* are basically the exact same movie. The only difference is that one is set in feudal Japan and the other is set in the American old West. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/8 "2005-02-23T08:51:22Z")
> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#): > > If I remember correctly, **Airplane!** was from **Zero Hour**. [Yep.](http://pw2.netcom.com/~rogermw/zero_hour.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/9 "2005-02-23T08:54:41Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > **Yojimbo \*\* and** A Fist Full of Dollars \*\* are basically the exact same movie. > > The only difference is that one is set in feudal Japan and the other is set in the American old West. Make it a gangster picture, and you’ve got **Last Man Standing**. **Casablanca** was remade as **Barb Wire** ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/10 "2005-02-23T08:56:48Z")
**The Fast And The Furious** was pretty much a remake of **Point Break** , with hot-rods instead of surfboards. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/11 "2005-02-23T09:08:19Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > [Yep.](http://pw2.netcom.com/~rogermw/zero_hour.html) …good grief, some of the funniest scenes in **Airplane** were _identical._ > [@](#): > > CAPTAIN [to Joey]: Come on, move up here, you can see better. [takes out a toy DC-4] Joey, here’s something we give our special visitors. Would you like to have it? > > JOEY: Thank you! Thanks a lot? > > CAPTAIN: You ever been in a cockpit before? > > JOEY: No, sir! I’ve never been up in a plane before! > [@](#): > > DR. BAIRD: I think you ought to know what our chances are. The life of everybody aboard depends on just one thing: Finding someone back there who not only can fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner. > [@](#): > > It’s a different kind of flying, altogether. > [@](#): > > He went all to pieces on one particular mission. > [@](#): > > TRELEAVEN: Yeah. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smokin’. [lights up] Classic stuff! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/12 "2005-02-23T11:02:36Z")
Evolution = Ghostbusters Mean Girls = Heathers A Date with Tad Stevens = Bye Bye Birdie ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/13 "2005-02-23T12:56:43Z")
Alien == It the Terror from Beyond Space (pissed me off to no end) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/14 "2005-02-23T13:23:26Z")
Well, “Memento” was a pretty good film, while Dana Carvey’s “Blank Slate” was one of the lamest comedies I’ve ever seen. Fact remains, the plot of “Memento” was completely ripped off from “Blank Slate.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/15 "2005-02-23T13:50:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Film Plots Lifted Almost Exactly From Other Films > > * * * > > So, we all know that Star Wars (fuck the goofy subtitle added too late in the game) is The Hidden Fortress set in outer space. The two bumbling bickering peasants equal two bumbling bickering droids, etc. Actually, I’d debate this – not that Lucas ripped off **The Hidden Fortress** (he’s admitted that), but that the entire film is a remake of it. Having watched both films I can see the similarities (and Han Solo really does feel like he’s Toshiro Mifune’s fighter, and there’s the strong adventuring princess, and the bickering peasants that R2D2 and C-3PO imitate), but there are plenty of differences, too. The first time I saw it I was watching in vain to see the plots go exactly the same way – they don’t. Lucus borrowed from lots of films in making his epic (and other sources – aside from the Samurai helmet, Darth Vader’s costume is just Dr. Doom’s from The Fantastic Four, done over in black.) The end of the film, as I pointed out in an essay in **Teemings** , is lifted from **The Dambusters** , right down to some of the dialogue. I understand a lot of the dogfighting sequences came from **Squadron 733**. **Alien/It! The Terror from Beyond Space** is the rip-opff that occurred to me. I’ve mentioned it many times on the Board before. and, overall, I prefer the older film, where the monster isn’t miraculous and the crewmen are shown as being resourceful and not incompetant. A few Akira Kurasawa’s films have been remade as Westerns – **The Seven Samurai** and \*\*Yojimbo[/B[ have already been mentiioned. But did you know his classic **Rashomon** was redone as a western? I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen pictures and part of the script. It seems amazingly miscast – William Shatner as a preacher, Howard da Silva (Ben Franklin!) as a prospector, Edward G. Robinson as a con man (OK, that one’s OK), Claire Bloom as The Woman and Paul Newman (!!!) as a Mexican Bandit (the Toshiro Mifune part). (Marge: “But you _liked_ **Rashomon**!” Homer: “That’s not the way _I_ remember it!”) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/16 "2005-02-23T14:36:31Z")
_Kimba The White Lion_ Disne\'s _The Lion King_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/17 "2005-02-23T14:59:31Z")
Well, there’s always the various versions of \*\*Rio Bravo \*\* that Howard Hawks did. 😃 How about **Assault on Precinct 13** , which is IIRC \*\*Fort Apache \*\* in a modern city. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/18 "2005-02-23T15:12:04Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Mean Girls = Heathers These movies were similar, but by no means were they exact. I submit \*\*Bull Durham \*\* and **Tin Cup**. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/19 "2005-02-23T15:17:45Z")
I don’t know if it’s intentional, but [Ringu](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178868/)/[The Ring](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/) have A LOT in common with an older movie called [The Changeling](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/). ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469/20 "2005-02-23T15:42:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > How about **Assault on Precinct 13** , which is IIRC \*\*Fort Apache \*\* in a modern city. Are you sure ? Not being a western fan I cannot confirm or deny it. But I have always tought that it was Carpenter’s _hommage_ to Romero’s _Night of the Living Dead_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-plots-lifted-almost-exactly-from-other-films/291469.md?page=2)