# Movies where a character acknowledges they are in a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809 "2006-12-04T14:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/21 "2006-12-04T17:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] Also, there was a point in the movie where the heroes stunt doubles got captured. [/QUOTE] “Merchandising! Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!” “God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money” Or, during their epic Schwartz-saber duel, Lonestar and Dark Helmet accidentally whack one of the camera crew. “Ahh…he did it!” ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/22 "2006-12-04T18:29:00Z")
**The Ape Man** (1943) From an earlier thread: …And the ending was wild. After the usual thriller-type ending, the movie goes on to completely explode the fourth wall. A rather goony-looking character, who has appeared at odd moments to provide hints and guidance to our hero, turns to the camera and reveals himself to be the Author!!! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/23 "2006-12-04T18:34:23Z")
Did someone call for a pedant? > [@](#): > > Top Secret! - As Nick and Hillary are floating to earth in parachutes, there is a bit of dialogue that goes like this: You’re conflating two scenes. They were on the ground when that dialog took place. [QUOTE=Otto] That being said, in “The Pirate Movie” Mabel breaks the fourth wall pretty continuously (as does the Pirate King I think, and possibly Frederic) and toward the end she starts demanding a happy ending for her story (which, since it’s a dream, may not actually indicate awareness of being in a movie as much as being in the dream within the movie). [/QUOTE] It’s called The Pirates of Penzance, and is taken from the operetta of the same name. It’s pretty standard in operas, operettas, and plays to break the 4th wall. G&S did this as a matter of course. Unless you’re thinking of something else. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/24 "2006-12-04T18:34:58Z")
In the **Wayne’s World** movies Mike Myers frequently addressed the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/25 "2006-12-04T19:01:49Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > In the Wayne’s World movies Mike Myers frequently addressed the audience. Not only that, but there’s an extended gag about product placement. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/26 "2006-12-04T19:09:12Z")
In the beginning of Mel Brooks’ **To Be Or Not To Be** , Mel and Anne Bancroft are speaking in Polish. A voice-over then announces that, from this point on, the rest of the film will be in English (and Mel and Anne react to it). This is driving me crazy: Wasn’t there a recent comedy where one of the characters pulls out the film’s shooting script and begins reading from it? I remember this, but can’t place the film. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/27 "2006-12-04T19:09:20Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] … It’s called The Pirates of Penzance, and is taken from the operetta of the same name. It’s pretty standard in operas, operettas, and plays to break the 4th wall. G&S did this as a matter of course. Unless you’re thinking of something else. [/QUOTE] Otto is referring to a movie [loosely based](http://imdb.com/title/tt0084504/) on _Penzance_. I don’t recall a 4th wall break in the [Kline/Lansbury/Smith/Ronstadt movie version](http://imdb.com/title/tt0086112/). Not quite the same, but in _Kate & Leopold_, Meg Ryan, playing Kate, says at one point “Well, _I’m_ not a character in a romantic comedy.” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/28 "2006-12-04T19:12:18Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] In the beginning of Mel Brooks’ **To Be Or Not To Be** , Mel and Anne Bancroft are speaking in Polish. A voice-over then announces that, from this point on, the rest of the film will be in English (and Mel and Anne react to it). This is driving me crazy: Wasn’t there a recent comedy where one of the characters pulls out the film’s shooting script and begins reading from it? I remember this, but can’t place the film. [/QUOTE] In Brook’s _Robin Hood: Men in Tights_, much of the cast does this when Robin checks the script to find that he does get another shot. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/29 "2006-12-04T19:13:21Z")
In _The Opposite of Sex_ Christina Ricci is a character in the movie and narrating the story. At one point it looks like she has died, when she says something like, “use your head, I didn’t die. I’m narrating the story dumb ass.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/30 "2006-12-04T19:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] Otto is referring to a movie [loosely based](http://imdb.com/title/tt0084504/) on _Penzance_. [/QUOTE] Ah. I was wondering about that. Thanks. In Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety, the 4th wall is broken – literally – by the camera crew during a zoom in. Then later while zooming out. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/31 "2006-12-04T19:24:30Z")
In **High Fidelity** John Cusack’s character addresses the camera several times. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/32 "2006-12-04T19:24:48Z")
In _George of the Jungle_ (the Brendon Fraiser movie, not the cartoon), two of the bad guys get into an argument with the narrator. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/33 "2006-12-04T19:28:38Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Ah. I was wondering about that. Thanks. In Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety, the 4th wall is broken – literally – by the camera crew during a zoom in. Then later while zooming out. [/QUOTE] In the same movie there’s also a scene shot looking up through the top of a glass table where the characters keep putting things on the table until it’s all covered up. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/34 "2006-12-04T19:40:06Z")
Yet another Mel Brooks film: _Blazing Saddles_. When the chaos of _Blazing Saddles_ gets out of control and escapes its sound stage on the studio property. It spreads to another sound stage where a musical is taking place, and the musical’s tuxedoed dancers end up fighting with the cowboys. Shortly after that, Harvey Korman’s character ducks into a theatre showing–naturally–_Blazing Saddles_. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/35 "2006-12-04T19:48:11Z")
Another TV show: **Eerie Indiana**. In one episode, Marshall discovers he’s on the set of a TV show “Eerie Indiana” and that his family are just actors. It was written by Vance DeGeneris, Ellen’s brother. Movies: **The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle** , the characters interact with the narrator, just like they did in the cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/36 "2006-12-04T19:52:11Z")
[QUOTE=Earthworm Jim Or, during their epic Schwartz-saber duel, Lonestar and Dark Helmet accidentally whack one of the camera crew. “Ahh…he did it!”[/QUOTE] : This is also done in the Mel Brooks movies Blazing Saddles, Robinhood: Men in Tights. Not sure if it counts but in Wayne’s World , Wayne and Garth are talking about how they don’t want to do product placements in their movie just before doing product placement. Whoopi Goldberg and Tim Curry does it in **Loaded Weapon** telling the audience to pay attention because they’re discussing the plot. Several characters in I’m Gonna Get you Sucka. First when Kim Wayans is singing and again when Keenan Wayans, John Vernon and Kaddeem Hardison are discussing Blackploitation films. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/37 "2006-12-04T20:25:59Z")
Not a movie, but the TV show _Moonlighting_ was rife with this sort of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/38 "2006-12-04T20:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] This is driving me crazy: Wasn’t there a recent comedy where one of the characters pulls out the film’s shooting script and begins reading from it? I remember this, but can’t place the film. [/QUOTE] The Insurance Sketch in Monty Pythons Flying Circus had this joke. Graham Chapman playing the Straight Man (Ha!) asks if he has any more lines. They check the script and see that he’s done. So he leaves. ---
**Author:** ![el\_nombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@el\_nombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_nombre)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/39 "2006-12-04T23:30:53Z")
In Coming to America, after Eddie Murphy talks his new bride into barking like a dog and hopping on one leg, he looks into the camera for a second because he knows everyone in the audience are having dirty thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809/40 "2006-12-04T23:40:49Z")
My vote: Any Laurel & Hardy flick. It’s when Oliver Hardy makes eye contact with the audience and rolls his eyes in that well-known gesture of exasperation over Stan’s stupidity. I don’t recall a time when he actually spoke to the audience, but that non-verbal expression spoke volumes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-a-character-acknowledges-they-are-in-a-movie/382809.md?page=3)