# Movies with the same plot. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839 "2010-08-20T05:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 20, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/41 "2010-08-20T17:13:01Z")
1968 movie in which people uncover a long-buried black alien artifact. Although at first it seems incredibly inert (nothing sticks to it, no magnetic interaction), something triggers it and it sends out a signal that has important and long-lasting effects. It emerges that the aliens had a hand in shaping Man’s evolution before he became _Homo sapiens_, and are responsible for our becoming super-intelligent. There is a suggestion that the artifact is tampering with our evolution even now, in the present day. **2001: A Space Odyssey** of course, but also the motion picture version of **Quatermass and the Pit** , released in the US as **Five Million years to Earth**. Not really the same plot, although the above description (right down to the details) applies to both. I suspect one or both of these influenced Stephen King when he wrote **The Tommyknockers** , which was later a TV movie, although he played it for horror. (With his customary xenophobia, which I find annoying – aliens are always Eeeeevil in King). He’s even got the ancient buried alien spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/42 "2010-08-20T17:40:59Z")
It may have been on this board or another, but I remember that **Star Wars** ’ plot was ripped off almost completely by **Eragon**. Not having seen Eragon, I can’t list the similarities ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/43 "2010-08-20T17:50:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (With his customary xenophobia, which I find annoying – aliens are always Eeeeevil in King). Jeez louise, he’s a horror writer. Of course they’re going to be evil!\* That’s like complaining that his books have too high a body count. “Why can’t people just have tea and not be murdered in gory ways like always happens in his books?” \*or, to put it another way: Can you name one story that (a) takes place on earth, (b) is of the horror genre, and (c) only refers to aliens from outer space in a positive light? ---
**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:** [August 20, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/44 "2010-08-20T17:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Jeez louise, he’s a horror writer. Of course they’re going to be evil!\* Actually, yeah – there are horror stories set in space in which the aliens aren’t evil. And, as King himself keeps saying, he isn’t just a horror writer. It just bugs me that he takes the view that aliens are evil as a given – he doesn’t even have the naive few going up to them (like in Wells’ _War of the Worlds_, or Cornthwaite’s character in _The Thing_) under the assumption that they’re benevolent, before being blasted away. In a King story, everyone assumes they’re evil. When everyone automatically attacks the alien in _From a Buick Eight_, my immediate reaction was “what the hell are you doing?”, but to him, that was a normal reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/45 "2010-08-20T18:22:33Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Improbably beautiful prostitute falls for an American schnook who wants to “save” her, after she sings the theme song which becomes a huge international hit. **Breakfast at Tiffany’s** and **Never On Sunday**. Both circa 1961. > > Video game takes on a life of its own. **The Last Starfighter** and **War Games.** Both circa 1984. > > An under-appreciated singer is redeemed by True Love. **I Walk the Line** (2005) and **Beyond the Sea** (2004). > > Family isn’t what you’re born into, it’s where you find it. **My Life as a Dog** (1985) and **Boogie Nights** (1997). > > Human guy falls hard for cartoon chick. **Who Framed Roger Rabbit?** (1988) and **Cool World** (1992). > > New girl in school sucks up to the popular clique to subvert them from within. **Heathers** (1989), \*\*Mean Girls \*\*(2004). > > Eccentric trio saves city from pseudo-science gone berserk. **Ghostbusters** (1984), **Evolution** (2001). > > Fake teacher instills a love of music. **The Music Man, The School of Rock**. > > Sleazy rock star meets his number one fan. \*\* Bye Bye Birdie, Win a Date with Ted Hamilton!\*\* > > Sexually precocious teenaged girl finds out men are scumbags. [Too numerous to mention.] > > **Big Momma’s House** and any **Madea** movie. Wow.. some of these are impossible stretches. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/46 "2010-08-20T18:29:56Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Wow.. some of these are impossible stretches. Kiss kiss bang bang - every movie here: [www.imdb.com](http://www.imdb.com) ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/47 "2010-08-20T19:05:36Z")
My favorite example of this the pair of John Wayne movies Rio Bravo and El Dorado. The town used-to-be-good-guy-but-is-now-a-drunk gets helped by John Wayne in a dispute with the local bad guy. John Wayne has a sidekick named after a state (Mississippi and Colorado), and there’s a crabby deputy who helps out too. Upon a little searching I see there is a thread specifically about these two movies: [John Wayne Throwdown: Rio Bravo vs. El Dorado (50 year old spoilers) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539701) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/48 "2010-08-20T19:11:03Z")
**Airplane!** and **Zero Hour!** ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/49 "2010-08-20T19:13:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Thunderball** and **Never Say Never Again** have the same plot, and many of the same names, but that really is pretty much a remake. First one I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/50 "2010-08-20T19:22:13Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > It may have been on this board or another, but I remember that **Star Wars** ’ plot was ripped off almost completely by **Eragon**. Not having seen Eragon, I can’t list the similarities Young dreamer, being raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle (just an uncle in Eragon). Crazy neighbor who everyone thinks is an old senile buffoon, but the boy finds romantic escape in his tales of a former era. Old buffoon turns out to be a former elite fighter, and trains the boy to fight the current evil regime, particularly in use of the force/dragons… I don’t remember the rest. I was also going to mention three undersea monster movies that all came out in 1989: _Leviathan_, _DeepStar Six_, and _The Abyss_. Granted the third one had a bit more substance to it, but the first two were practically identical. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/51 "2010-08-20T19:23:33Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > **Airplane!** and **Zero Hour!** and **Airplane II** **Home Alone** and **Home Alone 2** ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/52 "2010-08-20T19:30:13Z")
What was that show about an illegal cross country road race? **Drive**? Or was it **Gumball Rally**? **Cannonball Run**? ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/53 "2010-08-20T19:30:52Z")
The Title of the thread is “Movies with the same plot,” not "movies that have one thing in common. > [@Krokodil](#): > > Improbably beautiful prostitute falls for an American schnook who wants to “save” her, after she sings the theme song which becomes a huge international hit. **Breakfast at Tiffany’s** and **Never On Sunday**. Both circa 1961. I don’t remember Audrey Hepburn singing the theme song which becomes a huge international hit. If anything Never On Sunday is closer to Pygmalion > [@Krokodil](#): > > Video game takes on a life of its own. **The Last Starfighter** and **War Games.** Both circa 1984. Wow. What a stretch. Starfighter is about a video game that is used as a tool to find the next star fighter. War games is about a kid who hacks into NORAD and uses the computer against itself to stop nuclear destruction. > [@Krokodil](#): > > An under-appreciated singer is redeemed by True Love. **I Walk the Line** (2005) and **Beyond the Sea** (2004). That’s a pretty vague statement to say the story has the same plot. Let’s include Crazy Heart in there; as well as Eddie and Cruisers, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, This is Spinal Tap; etc. > [@Krokodil](#): > > Family isn’t what you’re born into, it’s where you find it. **My Life as a Dog** (1985) and **Boogie Nights** (1997). Unless there is a version of My Life as a Dog that’s about doggy style sex in the movies, these aren’t the same plot. > [@Krokodil](#): > > Human guy falls hard for cartoon chick. **Who Framed Roger Rabbit?** (1988) and **Cool World** (1992). Again, yes there’s a similarity because of real life characters and cartoons, but the PLOT of Roger Rabbit is about WHO FRAMED HIM. Cool World is about a character who want to become ‘real.’ > [@Krokodil](#): > > New girl in school sucks up to the popular clique to subvert them from within. **Heathers** (1989), \*\*Mean Girls \*\*(2004). IMO This is the closest so far of a similar plot > [@Krokodil](#): > > Eccentric trio saves city from pseudo-science gone berserk. **Ghostbusters** (1984), **Evolution** (2001). I don’t think I’ve ever seen Evolution. Anyone want to jump in on this one? > [@Krokodil](#): > > Fake teacher instills a love of music. **The Music Man, The School of Rock**. Not. Even. Close. > [@Krokodil](#): > > Sleazy rock star meets his number one fan. \*\* Bye Bye Birdie, Win a Date with Ted Hamilton!\*\* I didn’t know there was a sleazy rock star in Ted Hamilton. > [@Krokodil](#): > > Sexually precocious teenaged girl finds out men are scumbags. [Too numerous to mention.] > [@Krokodil](#): > > **Big Momma’s House** and any **Madea** movie. I haven’t seen any of these. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/54 "2010-08-20T19:33:04Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > What was that show about an illegal cross country road race? **Drive**? > > Or was it > > **Gumball Rally**? **Cannonball Run**? **Speed Racer**. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/55 "2010-08-20T19:45:53Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > What was that show about an illegal cross country road race? **Drive**? > > > > Or was it > > > > **Gumball Rally**? **Cannonball Run**? > > **Speed Racer**. And if we want to stretch it a little, **It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World**. And **Rat Race**. But stretching it this far, we’re almost talking about a genre, not a repeated plot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/56 "2010-08-20T19:54:28Z")
_ **Crash** _ and _ **House of Sand and Fog** _. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/57 "2010-08-20T20:09:36Z")
Last hope for humanity is menaced by time-traveling assassins. Since they have help (in the form of a time-traveling hero, albeit under-powered in comparison to the assassin), they barely manage to survive. The hero dies in the climactic fight, set in an automated factory. **Terminator** & **Terminator II** ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/58 "2010-08-20T20:42:04Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > > [@Krokodil](#): > > > > An under-appreciated singer is redeemed by True Love. **I Walk the Line** (2005) and **Beyond the Sea** (2004). > > Musician struggles a little, gets some fame, then is ruined by substance abuse. > > Amadeus > The Doors > Sid & Nancy > Bird > Lady Sings the Blues > Ray > Round Midnight > The Runaways > Walk the Line > Walk Hard > > What other 75 movies have this plot? “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?” ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/59 "2010-08-20T21:13:55Z")
What substance was Mozart abusing in _Amadeus_? Ink? You’re not confusing him with Falco, are you? ---
**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:** [August 20, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839/60 "2010-08-20T22:33:35Z")
The Taming of the Shrew = The Iron Strain = Impossible Catherine = You Made Me Love You = Second Best Bed = McLintock! = 10 Things I Hate About You = Deliver Us From Eva and about a dozen more. I won’t even start with Romeo and Juliet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-the-same-plot/550839.md?page=4)