# Movie inside jokes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429 "2017-08-23T03:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/41 "2017-08-23T22:52:48Z")
In the movie “Gremlins” there’s a scene where the father calls his son from an inventors convention. They cut back and forth as the father and son converse. In the background at the convention there’s a device that looks like the Time Machine from the film of the same name. It disappears during one of the cuts. I laughed my rear off and I think I was the only one in the theater that got it. Not the son. the wife. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i8LIffvjnb8/hqdefault.jpg "Gremlins and the Time Machine") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LIffvjnb8) ---
**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:** [August 23, 2017, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/42 "2017-08-23T23:20:03Z")
Robbie the Robot from _Forbidden Planet_ also shows up in that scene. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/43 "2017-08-23T23:23:07Z")
In the movie version of “Annie,” Albert Finney played Daddy Warbucks. Through the entire movie, he was imitating director John Huston. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/44 "2017-08-23T23:33:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Robbie the Robot from _Forbidden Planet_ also shows up in that scene. And director John Landis. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/45 "2017-08-23T23:52:07Z")
Speaking of Landis, a lot of his movies have the phrase “[See You Next Wednesday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Next_Wednesday)”. From wiki: > [@](#): > > In Landis’s first film, Schlock (1973), SYNW is mentioned twice and is also shown as a poster. Brief casting and plot descriptions are given each time that it is mentioned, making it clear that this is in fact two different films, both titled See You Next Wednesday. > In the sketch comedy film The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), the film is a melodrama presented in “Feel-Around,” a technique where an usher stands behind each movie patron and does things to them as they occur in the film, enhancing the movie-going experience, at least until the scene where the woman puts a knife to the man’s throat. > See You Next Wednesday billboard as seen in The Blues Brothers > In The Blues Brothers (1980), SYNW is glimpsed on a billboard which also features a huge gorilla. It also appears on the cinema sign behind where the Nazi Pinto crashes through the road. It also says under the title on the marquee “Starring Donald Sutherland”. Since Sutherland took $50,000 cash for his role in the Landis film Animal House instead of the offered 15%, he lost millions when the film became a huge hit. The film is directed by the fictional Carl La Fong, a reference to the W. C. Fields comedy It’s a Gift (1934) and a character name that Landis has used as an anonymous credit on some of his other films. > In An American Werewolf in London (1981), SYNW is a porn film being shown in a seedy London porno theater. Advertised as “A Non-Stop Orgy”, scenes from the movie are actually shown as the characters talk in the theater. A poster of SYNW can also be seen on the wall in the Tube station. > In Trading Places (1983), a poster for SYNW is glimpsed in Ophelia’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) apartment. On this poster it is directed by William Wyler and stars Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven (the real director and stars of the 1939 version of Wuthering Heights). The poster features the quote L’un des 10 meilleurs Films du Monde (“One of the 10 Best Movies in the World”). > At the end of Coming Soon (1982) there is a series of clips from recent Universal Studios film trailers with the final being watercolor poster art for See You Next Wednesday, followed by Jamie Lee Curtis giggling at the inside joke. > In the Michael Jackson music video Thriller (1983), the phrase is spoken by a deputy in the horror movie that Michael and his girlfriend are watching. It is also visible as a poster on the outside of the cinema as they leave. > In Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), a German character says “see you next Wednesday” in German. > In Spies Like Us (1985), an army recruiting poster can be seen behind Colonel Rhumbus (Bernie Casey) right after the vertical impact simulation scene that says “The army can teach you a skill. See You Next Wednesday.” > In Into the Night (1985), posters for the movie are shown. > In Coming to America (1988), a poster for SYNW is shown on a subway station. It stars Dan Aykroyd, Sybil Danning, Jamie Lee Curtis, Moe Howard, and James Brown. > In the first episode of the 1990 TV series Dream On (which Landis directed), Martin (Brian Benben) says to his maid (Marianne Muellerleile), “See you next Thursday”. She corrects him saying, “Wednesday”. > In the Michael Jackson music video Black or White (1991) SYNW is shown on the window which Michael Jackson throws a garbage can through, the window is that of a company named “See You Next Wednesday Storage Co.” > In Innocent Blood (1992), SYNW is shown on a marquee. > In The Stupids (1996), the phrase is seen on the back of the bus to which the kids chain their bikes. > In the Masters of Horror episode “Family” (2006), the phrase is spoken by a cartoon character on TV. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/46 "2017-08-24T00:02:08Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > In SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL, folks note that the character Tony Curtis is playing sure looks like that guy who was in SOME LIKE IT HOT, which is unremarkable. > > The gag comes in when people specify _“Jack Lemmon”_. And doesn’t Curtis say something like “Oh, yeah. He was in that movie where the men dressed up like women!” Or am I thinking of a different movie? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/47 "2017-08-24T00:58:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The classic Hollywood example is _His Girl Friday._ > > 1. Cary Grant responds to a threat by saying, “The last person to tell me that was Archie Leach, just before he blew his brains Out.” Archie Leach was Grant’s real name. > … > [@Colibri](#): > > In the movie version _Arsenic and Old Lace_, Jonathan Brewster is played by Raymond Massey. Everyone remarks how much he looks like Boris Karloff, who played the equivalent role in the stage play on which it was based. Also one scene in the graveyard where Cary’s character sits on a headstone for Archie Leach. > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > The title of “O, Brother, Where Art Thou?” is an inside joke. It’s the name of the book in the movie “Sullivan’s Travels” that the character John L. Sullivan wants to use as the basis of a movie. \*Swordfish \*is from the classic Marx Brother’s line “The password is always Swordfish” _Usual Suspects_ and _Play it again Sam_ both reference Casablanca. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/48 "2017-08-24T01:14:15Z")
Another TV show: Peanut’s [It’s the Great Pumpkin](http://www.tvguide.com/news/5-facts-you-didnt-know-about-its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown/) (last image) has Lucy looking at a 1966 TV Guide magazine that has her as the cover story in real life. They must have put that in at the last minute. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/49 "2017-08-24T01:26:59Z")
Also TV: In one episode of _Green Acres_, the Douglases go to Washington DC to meet with then congressmen (and see the Eiffel Tower). Lisa asks him “What actor are you?” (This was at a time when a couple of actors went into politics). Lyle Talbot says, “Lyle Talbot.” Very obscure, but in one Fred Astaire film, Edward Everett Horton says, “This makes me a big hit with the ladies.” Astaire incredulously says, “_You?_” It was well-known throughout Hollywood at the time that Horton was gay. The Hope and Crosby Road pictures had various in-jokes. In one case, they went by a mountain that looked exactly like the one used for the Paramount logo. Roman Polanski’s _The Tenant_ has some parallels to his _Rosemary’s Baby_, notably a sweet old couple that isn’t what they seem. It’s not done for laughs, though: it sets up the audience for the twist to come. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/50 "2017-08-24T03:41:36Z")
The barn-raising scene in Witness. Harrison Ford was a carpenter. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/51 "2017-08-24T03:57:46Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > I know. > What I’m flummoxed on is the actual word that describes such a configuration. I’m pretty sure there is one. Acronym transposition. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/52 "2017-08-24T04:11:14Z")
Buster Crabbe, who played Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and Tarzan, appeared on the 1979 tv series “Buck Rogers” as Commander Gordon. He and the Buck Rogers in the show (Gil Gerard) banter about him being from a different time and shooting down alien spacecraft before Rogers was born (one of the characteristics of Buck Rogers is that he is from 20th century Earth in the 25th century). Gordon: I was doing this before you were born Rogers: You think so? Gordon: Young man, I know so. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/53 "2017-08-24T04:22:00Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > The barn-raising scene in Witness. Harrison Ford was a carpenter. How is that an inside joke? ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/54 "2017-08-24T04:34:52Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > I know. > What I’m flummoxed on is the actual word that describes such a configuration. I’m pretty sure there is one. > > oh - and Clarke was lying.😛 According to wikipedia, it still is just an acronym. "Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters ``` Amphetamine: **a** lpha- **m** ethyl **ph** enethyl **amine** Gestapo: **Ge** heime **Sta** atsp **o** lizei ('secret state police') Interpol: **Inter** national Criminal **Pol** ice Organization Nabisco: N **a** tional **Bi** scuit **Co** mpany" ``` > [@Colibri](#): > > In the movie version _Arsenic and Old Lace_, Jonathan Brewster is played by Raymond Massey. Everyone remarks how much he looks like Boris Karloff, who played the equivalent role in the stage play on which it was based. What’s even cooler, Boris had just been released from the stage role in time to star in House of Frankenstein while Bela Lugosi took over the role, missing out on playing Dracula in the film. Bela played a few tours in the 40s and 50s, to supposedly bigger box office than Boris. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/55 "2017-08-24T05:03:20Z")
Re The Usual Suspects: > [@](#): > > The name “Söze” resembles the Turkish word sözel, meaning “verbal,” which was Kint’s nickname. Additionally, the same term has a Hungarian-sounding pronunciation, when it is spelled with an “ö.”. The name “Keyser”, derives from the Turkish Ottoman title “Qaysar” [from Qaysar-in-Rum] and resembles the spelling and pronunciation of the German word Kaiser, which descended from the Latin word Caesar, meaning “emperor.” The name Kint also resembles the word “King”. Thus, Kint’s names could mean “Verbal Emperor” or “Verbal King.” Söze’s name in the script had originally been “Keyser Sume”, the name of a lawyer Christopher McQuarrie had been introduced to while writing the script. It was changed before production. > **[Meaning of both Kaiser and Soze names](http://kaiser-soze.blogspot.com/2007/03/meaning-of-both-kaiser-and-soze-names.html)** > > "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze. " The Usual Suspec... So perhaps it was there in the name all along. Otherwise, isn’t THX1138 also the call sign of the stormtrooper Luke Skywalker has overcome, and then purloined his armour, after arriving on the Death Star? (The scene is from the first \*Star Wars \*movie.) > [@zoid](#): > > How is that an inside joke? Its not. Discussion about the motion picture in the lead up to its release noted that Ford had no problems in making the scene very believable because of his carpentry career. The script was not altered to accommodate Ford’s prior career as some sort of gag or homage. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2017, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/56 "2017-08-24T07:14:08Z")
The trooper that Luke takes the armor of is TK-421 Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/57 "2017-08-24T07:17:14Z")
Ah, apologies. Faulty recollection. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/58 "2017-08-24T08:46:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Hope and Crosby Road pictures had various in-jokes. In one case, they went by a mountain that looked exactly like the one used for the Paramount logo. And Hope said something along the lines of, “that mountain’s my bread and butter!” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/59 "2017-08-24T14:03:55Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > How is that an inside joke? Because Ford’s character was not a carpenter. ---
**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 24, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429/60 "2017-08-24T14:08:43Z")
No, Harrison Ford’s character in Witness was not a carpenter, but was shown to have some skills. As I remember, when he tried to drive off at the beginning of the film, he knocked down the elaborate bird feeder and was later shown repairing it. I do not think that showing his character helping raise the barn was meant as an “inside joke”. (It was a beautiful scene though. And did you notice Viggo Mortensen in the background?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-inside-jokes/794429.md?page=4)