# Movie Scenes Inspired by Another Movie's Poster **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [October 19, 2023, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790 "2023-10-19T11:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/1 "2023-10-19T11:48:16Z")
The scene in **Cloverfield** (2008) where the head from the Statue of Liberty gets tossed into a New York Street was admittedly inspired by the poster for John Carpenter’s **Escape from New York** (1981) , which showed the head in a New York Street, a scene which doesn’t occur in that film, nor with any explanation. > **[Statue of Liberty](https://cloverfield.fandom.com/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty)** > > The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. It was gifted to the United States by the... > **[Escape From New York Movie Poster 24x36](https://theposterdepot.com/products/xl23escapefromnewyorkptr02?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6rnHy4CCggMVmU1yCh36TgTtEAQYASABEgK06vD_BwE)** > > Escape From New York Movie Poster. Brand New Condition. Measures 24inx36in. Great quality poster. Shipped Rolled. Movie posters are made to be v isually compelling and to arrest the attention of passers-by, so it’s not surprising that other artrists might see them and draw inspiration from them. Movies, after all, are themselves supposed to be visually striking. The problem is that in pre-CGI years, it was often hard to impossible to make the actual movie live up to the advertising hype. Another case of the poster inspiring a scene in a later movie occurs with the low-budget 1962 film **The Brain that Wouldn’t Die**. The poster features the heroine from that film as a decapitated head (“Jan in the pan”, as the MST3K crew called her) . Behind her is a brain in a jar of fluid with a giant eyeball, something that doesn’t appear in the film, and isn’t even hinted at. Apparently it just looked cool and eye-catching. > **[The Brain That Wouldnt Die Vintage Movie Poster Licensed - Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1562373892/the-brain-that-wouldnt-die-vintage-movie?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_c-art_and_collectibles-prints-music_and_movie_posters&utm_custom1=_k_EAIaIQobChMI-oij6YGCggMVI0RyCh1EDg4WEAQYBSABEgLzMfD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_304499675_22746191075_78727424795_aud-2087868701683:pla-106555092995_c__1562373892_12768591&utm_custom2=304499675&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-oij6YGCggMVI0RyCh1EDg4WEAQYBSABEgLzMfD_BwE)** > > This Music & Movie Posters item is sold by Hometechmart. Ships from Connersville, IN. Listed on Sep 27, 2023 In 1990 schlock filmmaker Frank Henenlotter essentially remade TBTWD as **Frankenhooker** , and he included a scene with that eyeball-enhanced Brain In A Jar > **[Frankenhooker is a great 'bad movie' - 90s Reviewer](https://90sreviewer.com/frankenhooker-review/)** > > Frankenhooker is self-aware b-movie trash of the best variety. It's full of bad jokes, over the top acting, sex and violence. Enjoy! It’s a cheap effect, not done with CGI or anything, and it fits Henenlotter’s jokey tone more than that of TBTWD’s. I suspect, in fact, that the earlier film’s poster was drawn after the film had been finished. **Attack of the 50 Foot Woman** (1958) was such a low-budget film that its effects weren’t even up to the standards of the time. You can see images bleeding through the optical effects, and the giant props, like the rubber hand, look embarassaing. But it had a helluva poster, which has since become iconic: [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_50_Foot_Woman#/media/File:Attackofthe50ftwoman.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_50_Foot_Woman#/media/File:Attackofthe50ftwoman.jpg) The film couldn’t even begin to hope it could reproduce that image of the highway-straddling Allison Hayes picking up cars and dwarfing the city beneath her more than 50 foot height. The poster has inspired a lot of drawings, images, political cartoons, and the like. The film inspired a Darryl Hannah remake, and a couple of imitators, _Attack of the 50 foot cheerleader_, _Attack of the 50 foot centerfold_. It had already inspired a comedy remake the very same year it was made, with _The Thirty Foot Bride of Candy Rock_, Lou Costello’s last film. None of these films tried to reproduce that image in the film – they were all low-budget films themselves. Hannah’s film did copy the poster of the original. Alas, Daryl Hannah didn’t bestride a superhighway, either. So none of these films really qualify – they didn’t include that iconic image. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/2 "2023-10-19T19:56:56Z")
How about a twist: movie posters in a bunch of movies, inspired by another movie. [See You Next Wednesday](http://www.filmsinfilms.com/see-you-next-wednesday/) This line from _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (spoken by Frank Poole’s father in a recorded message) was the title of an unfinished script by director John Landis, who turned it into a running gag in many of his films, as seen in the list, including _Trading Places, The Blues Brothers,_ and _Coming to America._ As enumerated on the [Wikipedia page](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Next_Wednesday), the gag was taken up by [other directors](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Next_Wednesday#References_in_non-Landis_works) as well, including in _Doctor Who, Babylon 5,_ and _Hellboy II._ ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/3 "2023-10-19T20:03:37Z")
Since I can’t think of anything directly on point, but we’re already going off on a tangent: the opening credits to WATCHMEN have a costumed hero foil what presumably would’ve been like unto Thomas and Martha Wayne leaving the theater and getting murdered by a gun-toting mugger, as hinted at by, as it were, the poster in the movie: [![](https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a1oyr9b_460swp.webp) ](https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a1oyr9b_460swp.webp) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/4 "2023-10-19T20:19:07Z")
From _Twins._ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KWvinZQ2KxM/maxresdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KWvinZQ2KxM/maxresdefault.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/5 "2023-10-19T20:32:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The scene in **Cloverfield** (2008) where the head from the Statue of Liberty gets tossed into a New York Street was admittedly inspired by the poster for John Carpenter’s **Escape from New York** (1981) … > **[Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: The Statue of Liberty on Pre-1968...](https://sciencefictionruminations.com/2012/10/01/adventures-in-science-fiction-cover-art-the-statue-of-liberty/)** > > (Still from the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, dir. Franklin J. Schaffner) For more covers on the same theme see Part II I suspect that virtually all science fiction fans and film cineastes recall t… I wish I could think of an example fitting the op, but none comes to mind. This thread is too hard. My brain hurts. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/6 "2023-10-19T21:14:52Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > This thread is too hard. My brain hurts. Yes, tough ask. First thing I thought of was the “Kiss her, you fool” sign in LA Story with Steve Martin and Victoria Tennant yet that’s one of those traffic road signs. Only other thing I could think of is John Landis’ recurring gag of “See you next wednesday”. In the Blues Brothers it’s a billboard, sometimes it’s dialogue (It is the last line of Kubrick’s 2001), in “American Werewolf in London” it’s a porn film (!), sometimes it is a movie poster yet I don’t recall it ever “inspiring” anyone. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/7 "2023-10-19T21:16:47Z")
There was a Brain In A Jar, with eyes, in _Robocop 2_. I don’t know if there was any direct influence. Brain In A Jar is a pretty hoary cliche in science fiction and comic books. The 1970 film _Waterloo_ (Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington) has a scene of a cavalry charge designed to replicate Lady Butler’s painting [Scotland Forever!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland_Forever!) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/8 "2023-10-19T21:17:35Z")
And in the underrated _The Last Action Hero,_ Sly played the Terminator. [![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f22f1533f14bdf2d167660b3c5586f22/tumblr_n44ldurb8Z1rrov60o1_500.jpg) ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/f22f1533f14bdf2d167660b3c5586f22/tumblr_n44ldurb8Z1rrov60o1_500.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/9 "2023-10-19T21:20:46Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > And in the underrated _The Last Action Hero,_ Sly played the Terminator. - > > [https://68.media.tumblr.com/f22f1533f14bdf2d167660b3c5586f22/tumblr\_n44ldurb8Z1rrov60o1\_500.jpg](https://68.media.tumblr.com/f22f1533f14bdf2d167660b3c5586f22/tumblr_n44ldurb8Z1rrov60o1_500.jpg) I had this nagging feeling I was forgetting another scene but I couldn’t come up with it. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/10 "2023-10-19T22:58:16Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > There was a Brain In A Jar, with eyes, in _Robocop 2_. I don’t know if there was any direct influence. Brain In A Jar is a pretty hoary cliche in science fiction and comic books. Yeah, I wrote an article about the trope in the now sadly-departed ezine _Teemings_ ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/11 "2023-10-20T08:18:41Z")
Just checked Donovan’s Brain, heavily referenced in Steve Martin’s _The Man with Two Brains_, to see if the influence extended to the posters. You could argue a general tropey Brain-Jar-Mad Scientist similarity but I don’t think it fits the OP’s tight parameter. On the other hand, I’m just watching a cheapie comedy-horror flick called _There’s Nothing Out There_. The pre-credit attack scene takes place in the horror aisles of a video store, with elements of the attack mimicking cut-away shots from posters / covers. Modest, but probably counts. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/12 "2023-10-20T08:52:03Z")
How about movie scenes inspired by the movies poster? The horror film Ghoulies was created poster first, and features a monster coming out of the toilet with the tagline “They’ll get you in the end!” Apparently this scene wasn’t in the actual movie itself though, and test audiences complained that the poster was the only memorable part of the movie. So they reshot a scene of a Ghoulie monster coming out of the toilet and inserted it into an already existing montage scene. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/13 "2023-10-20T11:39:03Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > This thread is too hard. My brain hurts. Sorry, I definitely did not intend that. Usually when I write such OPs, they’re intended to be nuclei for people chiming in with examples and trivia from Pop Culture, with the criteria meant to only supply guiderails to keep things from veering off too quickly. I was able to come up with a couple of quick examples, and figured that, as usual, there would be several examples I was unaware of, or had forgotten. Evidently there aren’t so many in this case. Thanks to everyone who suggested odd bits of trivia , even if they were only peripherally linked. Feel free to vamp. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/14 "2023-10-20T13:09:13Z")
A few months before **1776** opened on Broadway, songwriter Sherman Edwards decided that the second act needed an upbeat number to lighten the mood. He glanced at the poster’s image of a cartoon eagle emerging from an egg, and the rest was history: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vM09UBbQA9I/maxresdefault.jpg "1776 - The Egg") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM09UBbQA9I) ---
**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:** [October 20, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/15 "2023-10-20T13:37:46Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > He glanced at the poster’s image of a cartoon eagle emerging from an egg, and the rest was history: Very good. I’d heard that story, but forgot it when I wrote the OP – probably because it was a play, rather than a movie ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/16 "2023-10-20T21:41:10Z")
Not a scene, but I can’t help thinking that this [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/21812142/r/il/8b4f16/2684675022/il_794xN.2684675022_jwp1.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/21812142/r/il/8b4f16/2684675022/il_794xN.2684675022_jwp1.jpg) Inspired this [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91P4FsFIxwS.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91P4FsFIxwS.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg) ---
**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:** [October 21, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/17 "2023-10-21T04:36:57Z")
Unlikely. The trope of Monsters Carrying Unconscious Girls goes back way before 1953’s _Robot Monster_. Forrest Ackerman’s monster magazine, _Famous Monsters of Filmland_ had a semiregular feature, “Carry On”, that consisted of nothing but publicity stills of monsters carrying inert women, going back to the 1940s at least. Incidentally, although the image of Robby the Robot, with two of the gyros in his transparent head looking like “evil” eyes and carrying Anne Francis makes for an eye-catching image, no such moment occurs in the movie. Near the end of the film he does carry Doc Ostrow, but that would have violated the cliche – Monsters NEVER carry guys! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/18 "2023-10-21T04:44:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > going back to the 1940s at least. Or even further. Here’s an illustrated list that includes _The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_ (1921) and _Dracula_ (1931). > **[Scary Monsters, Robots, and Apes Carrying-Off Women - Flashbak](https://flashbak.com/scary-monsters-robots-and-apes-carrying-off-women-447156/)** > > According to a recent survey I’ve just made up, 90% of males like horror movies because it makes them feel protective towards their partners. I figure this is more than probably true, because as Doctor Lovecraft of the Innsmouth University once... ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-inspired-by-another-movies-poster/991790/19 "2023-10-21T11:02:36Z")
[Son of Rambow](https://youtu.be/CsAChn35HSo?si=Me7rd3GziwqId-Zz) is a charming low-budget film from the UK, released in 2008. It follows two young lads, inspired by a dodgy pirated video, as they attempt to recreate _First Blood_ with a camcorder and some imaginative special effects. Doesn’t match the OP but thought it worth a mention.