# Insider References in Movies...latest edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538 "2012-09-03T13:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/21 "2012-09-05T23:21:39Z")
> [@phxjcc](#): > > Archie Leach reference in His Girl Friday by…Cary Grant [describing Bruce, played by Ralph Bellamy] Walter Burns: He looks like that fellow in the movies - Ralph Bellamy. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/22 "2012-09-05T23:42:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Depending on how recent, **Flushed Away** has Roddy looking through his closet for clothes. One of the outfit’s that flash by are those worn by Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit films, which were produced by the same company, Aardman Animations. And, as far as I recall, there’s also a blue & yellow Wolverine costume in there. Roddy is voiced by Hugh Jackman, of course. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/23 "2012-09-05T23:44:26Z")
In Bladerunner, J.F. Sebastian (I think that’s his name) lives in the Bradbury Hotel. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/24 "2012-09-05T23:45:15Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Okay - hadn’t processed it that way. I assumed Forrest, if still alive, would’ve enjoyed the shout-out. I can see where it can also be seen as associating his name with a dick movie character, and him not being alive to defend himself. Simply hadn’t thought of it that way… 4E would have loved it. Remember, he made his reputation with monsters and he was a constant self-promoter. The TV series **The Middleman** was the insider reference champion. The number of references was amazing. In the [first episode,](http://middleman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Pilot_Episode_Sanction) for instance, the plot involve a gorilla gangster (referred to in passing as “Gorilla Grodd”) and the following are listed: > [@](#): > > Wendy: “He sleeps with the fishes.” (When she thinks Spanky has died). References a classic line from The Godfather. > Andolini Social Club, where Middleman goes to investigate, is named after The Godfather himself, Vito Andolini Corleone. > Spanky’s line of dialogue as we see him at the strip joint is a line direct from The Godfather. > Spanky is wearing a track warmup suit, just as The Godfather did in most of his appearances. > Spanky: “Say hello to my little friend!” is a line from Scarface > Spanky: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” References a very famous line from The Godfather Part III. My two favorites from the show were when they introduce themselves as “Alexander Scott” and “Kelly Robinson” (from **I Spy** and when they go to a parallel universe where all the men wear goatees. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/25 "2012-09-05T23:55:21Z")
In Mr. 3000, two of the guys in the dugout are always doing trivia. One asks the other about a soap opera star - the other IS the soap opera star. It was a set-up scene, and you have to watch him try to keep a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/26 "2012-09-05T23:57:06Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > [describing Bruce, played by Ralph Bellamy] > Walter Burns: He looks like that fellow in the movies - Ralph Bellamy. A running gag in SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL is that (a) the character played by Tony Curtis keeps getting described as looking like the guy from SOME LIKE IT HOT, and (b) they routinely go on to specify that they mean Jack Lemmon. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/27 "2012-09-05T23:59:01Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > In Bladerunner, J.F. Sebastian (I think that’s his name) lives in the Bradbury Hotel. It’s the Bradbury Building – a real historic building in Los Angeles, and it’s the actual interior of that building that we see, with all the stairs and balconies. I’m not sure it’s an insider anything. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/28 "2012-09-06T05:04:00Z")
**Karl Malden** , probably most remembered as the “_Don’t leave home without it_” spokesman for American Express, always managed to work his real last name (Sekulovich) into the movies he was in. [Karl Malden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Malden) (second paragraph in Early Life) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/29 "2012-09-06T05:22:23Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Luke also mentions Cell Block 1138 when he and Han bust Leia out of the detention center. It was where they were transferring their prisoner, Chewbacca, from. “Prisoner transfer from Cell Block 1138.” I am sure I read this somewhere, but now can’t find supporting evidence of it, that the cell number Princess Leia is in, 2187, is the title of one of George Lucas’s “experimental” films he made in College. (Oh wait, [here it is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21-87), but not his, instead it’s a film that Lucas was inspired by) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/30 "2012-09-06T10:05:52Z")
Mentioned in Boris Karloff’s biography - they convinced him to take the part of Johnathan, the insane brother with the line about him looking just like Boris Karloff. I have to admit, Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite movies. I just wish they had gotten Boris Karloff to play Johnathan. But the comedy timing is wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/31 "2012-09-06T11:06:09Z")
Not terribly recent, but one that made me spew my drink. In the 2010 version of _Clash of the Titans_, Perseus is digging through a trunk for stuff to take on his quest. He pulled out a mechanical owl and tosses it aside, muttering “We don’t need this…” The mechanical owl was a major plot element in the 1980s version of the same movie. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/32 "2012-09-06T16:37:46Z")
In the 2011 remake of Fright Night, Jerry Dandridge (played by Colin Farrell) kills a motorist played by Chris Sarandon, who portrayed Dandridge in the 1985 original. In Coming to America (1988), Prince Hakeem (Eddie Murphy) drops some money that is picked up by a pair of homeless men, played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche, who it is implied are reprising their roles as Randolph and Mortimer Duke from Trading Places (1983), also directed by John Landis and starring Eddie Murphy. The movie Maverick (1994) is so full of inside jokes involving the original Maverick series, the Lethal Weapon movie series, and director Richard Donner’s personal life and work that it can’t easily be summed up. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/33 "2012-09-06T22:59:02Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > It’s the Bradbury Building – a real historic building in Los Angeles, and it’s the actual interior of that building that we see, with all the stairs and balconies. I’m not sure it’s an insider anything. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/34 "2012-09-07T15:33:03Z")
In some of the display panels seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation, some things would be displayed as “in-jokes” that only the actors would be able to see clearly. I found an example through Google: [okudagram | Walking down the Enterprise-D corridor was unrea… | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_radcliff/2611174926/) Notice the pictograms of odd stuff [circled] inserted into the display of the _Enterprise_ deck plan. (Sorry. TV, not movies. \>\< ) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/35 "2012-09-07T15:52:15Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > In some of the display panels seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation, some things would be displayed as “in-jokes” that only the actors would be able to see clearly. From the original Star Trek: some of the conduit pipes along passageways were labeled “GNDN” for “goes nowhere, does nothing.” Also, the Jeffries tubes were named for Enterprise designer Matt Jeffries. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/36 "2012-09-07T16:37:02Z")
In the movie [Exit to Eden](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109758/), based on the book by Anne Rice, Lisa and Elliott are walking through a crowd in New Orleans. Someone asks, about the reason for the crowd, “is that Tom Cruise?” Someone else replies “Nah…I think that’s Brad Pitt.” Cruise and Pitt were both in “Interview with the Vampire,” also an Anne Rice book, which was shooting nearby at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/37 "2012-09-07T17:06:25Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > And there’s **See You Next Wednesday** , a fictional movie whose title appears in many John Landis movies. Is it always a movie title in his movies? It’s a line from 2001 that Landis picked for some reason to always appear in his movies. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/38 "2012-09-07T17:54:11Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Is it always a movie title in his movies? It’s a line from 2001 that Landis picked for some reason to always appear in his movies. [Wiki on SYNW](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Next_Wednesday). I guess it doesn’t always appear as a movie title, but often. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/39 "2012-09-07T19:43:29Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > The mechanical owl was a major plot element in the 1980s version of [_Clash of the Titans]_. _Star Wars_ had cute robots, so \*Clash \*had to have a cute robot owl. It didn’t make the movie a blockbuster. In _Romancing the Stone_, the Kathleen Turner character offers to pay the Michael Douglas character with travelers’ checks. He turns and asks, “American Express?” She replies, “Of course!”, and he accepts the deal. Michael Douglas was partnered with Karl “Don’t Leave Home Without Them” Malden in _Streets of San Francisco_. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538/40 "2012-09-07T23:52:39Z")
> [@DiggitCamara](#): > > In Bladerunner, J.F. Sebastian (I think that’s his name) lives in the Bradbury Hotel. > [@Scupper](#): > > It’s the Bradbury Building – a real historic building in Los Angeles, and it’s the actual interior of that building that we see, with all the stairs and balconies. I’m not sure it’s an insider anything. I wonder if Diggit thought he was seeing a reference to Ray Bradbury, and switching him with Philip K. Dick for authoring Electric Sheep=\>Blade Runner. I make that kind of convoluted mistake all the time. The Bradbury is a fascinating building. A few years ago we walked around the interior. It was a weekend, the offices were all closed, but the building was open. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insider-references-in-movies-latest-edition/633538.md?page=3)