# Movies with "Watching the Movie" framing sequence **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361 "2005-03-07T14:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [March 7, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/21 "2005-03-07T21:33:25Z")
How about **Strange Brew**? It starts with the Great White North TV show, then they show the home movie they made, (“most of the bowling alleys had been wrecked…so’s I spent most my time…lookin’ for beer”), then it shows the audience watching the Great White North TV Show and complaining about it. Bob & Doug are in the audience and then the rest of the movie follows their exploits. However, it doesn’t end the same way - during the closing credits they’re back on the set of Great White North but don’t refer to the movie - it’s more of a credit cookie. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/22 "2005-03-07T21:54:16Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Yeah, I don’t know how you put up with me. Fenris gives me about $100 a month. Er, I mean, you’re a wonderful, wonderful person. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/23 "2005-03-07T21:55:45Z")
Lol! ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/24 "2005-03-07T21:58:54Z")
_The Princess Bride_ follows a structure similar to that requested in the OP. The main story is framed by scenes of the grandfather reading the story to his grandson, and the narrative is interrupted several times for reactions by those two. Part of the story is even replayed as the grandfather tries to find his place after one such interruption. ---
**Author:** ![bclouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@bclouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bclouse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/25 "2005-03-07T22:13:18Z")
It’s a long while since I’ve seen it but I believe **Cinema Paradiso** falls into this category. Doesn’t the main character go into a movie theater at the start of the film, thinking about the town and people that he left behind and the movie ends with him watching the movie that the projectionist made? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/26 "2005-03-08T00:08:11Z")
Juzo Itami’s _ **Tampopo** _ opens with a gangster dressed in white in a movie theater directly addressing the audience about the movie itself; but I can’t remember if this opening framing sequence occurs again before the end of the movie. I haven’t seen this movie since I was on my early 20s foreign movie kick. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/27 "2005-03-08T00:53:39Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I just saw the Spongebob Squarepants movie on DVD with my kids this weekend, and as anyone who’s alreasy seen it knows, it’s “framed” by a sequence of a pirate crew getting tickets (in a treasure chest), going to the theater and watching the movie itself. Did you sit through (or fast-forward past) the end credits? The pirates eventually get hustled out of the theater… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/28 "2005-03-08T01:06:02Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Not excatly but there is a horror film called Anquish that has something similar. > > The move starts and it is going along and then it jumps to two girls watching the movie in a theatre. They have their own plot besides the one that is on the screen. > > Then it gets weird. This is like saying _The Wild Bunch_ is a little gorey… ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/29 "2005-03-08T02:42:06Z")
> [@bclouse](#): > > It’s a long while since I’ve seen it but I believe **Cinema Paradiso** falls into this category. Doesn’t the main character go into a movie theater at the start of the film, thinking about the town and people that he left behind and the movie ends with him watching the movie that the projectionist made? But the movie that Salvatore watches in the theater is _not_ **Cinema Paradiso** , which it would need to be to fit the OP’s criteria. There’s no self-reference or “breaking of the fourth wall” in Salvatore’s actions. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/30 "2005-03-08T02:52:24Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Juzo Itami’s _ **Tampopo** _ opens with a gangster dressed in white in a movie theater directly addressing the audience about the movie itself; but I can’t remember if this opening framing sequence occurs again before the end of the movie. I haven’t seen this movie since I was on my early 20s foreign movie kick. Well, there’s closure, but not exactly a second frame. The gangster is shot several times, and collapses in the street. As he’s dying he says something like, “Shhh, be quiet. My movie is about to begin.” alluding to what he said in the theater about how when you die, you entire life unfurls before you like some long movie. It’s hard to say, though, whether he’s addressing the audience, or his girlfriend, who’s cradling his head, and it definitely isn’t in the theater where the movie began. DD ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/31 "2005-03-08T02:59:31Z")
Dunno if this counts, but **The Man of La Mancha** (stage version, and to some extent the movie version) is a play within a play. In **End of Evangelion** , there’s a very weird sequence (in the midst of all the other very weird sequences) of three women in a theatre (watching EoE, supposedly), while someone tries to make a meaningful monologue about the nature of existence. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/32 "2005-03-08T03:10:04Z")
**Monty Python & the Holy Grail** has the “Book of the Film” device which is referred to periodically, complete with the zoom shots onto the film visible on the page; as the camera zooms close-in, the movie rejoins itself. Plus, that film had fourth-wall tomfoolery in the opening credits (“We apologise. Those who were responsible… have been sacked…”) and the closing credits, with the police arresting King Arthur, et al at the end. Not to mention the goofy bit of Arthur assassinating the historian in front of the TV documentary crew… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/33 "2005-03-08T03:38:07Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > As to your first, I can’t remember if it’s an actual part of the original cartoon, or if it was tacked on when that cartoon was later shown on TV as part of one of the various Bugs Bunny and Friends shows - either way, it’s available on the Golden Collection, Vol. 2… It was an unsold TV pilot called _The Adventures of the Road Runner_. It was released theatrically with the film _Lad, A Dog_, then the print was cut and edited into two cartoons. _Zip Zip Hooray_ is the short which reuses the two kids footage. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/34 "2005-03-08T04:01:32Z")
**Rushmore** doesn’t exactly qualify, but it is made to suggest that we’re watching a play: a curtain opens on the first scene and on subsequent acts. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/35 "2005-03-08T04:04:42Z")
Well, if “play within a play” counts, “Kiss Me, Kate” would be on the list… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/36 "2005-03-08T05:22:48Z")
_Moulin Rouge!_ opens with the conductor who later appears in the film conducting an orchestra through the opening 20th Century Fox fanfare, curtains part and we start with sepia-toned film stock. IIRC Luhrman’s _Strictly Ballroom_ has similar curtains closing at the end but I don’t know that’s meant to signify film-within-a-film. _Jeffrey_ has a moment when Jeffrey and Steve first kiss when we cut to two straight couples in the audience. The girls go “aw!” and the guys go “ew!” Jeffrey also addresses the audience frequently. If we want to include basic “breaking the fourth wall” moments, _Airplane!_ has a moment after Elaine leaves Ted in the airport and Ted looks into the camera and says “what a pisser.” ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/37 "2005-03-08T14:28:16Z")
The VeggieTales _Jonah and the Whale_ is similar to this. They’re on a trip, have a breakdown, then stagger into a diner to get help. While there, they meet another guy (I think) that tells them the tale of Jonah. (Either that, or one of them starts the tale to distract the kiddies and keep them from running amok. I forget.) We then jump into the tale, with interruptions at certain points to return to the diner. After the Jonah tale ends, we return to the diner and lo! help appears and they get back on their way. It’s pretty cute. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/38 "2005-03-08T14:44:48Z")
I recall a public TV movie of The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. There, as in the book, it is being told to a man on the street. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/39 "2005-03-08T14:46:22Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > This is like saying _The Wild Bunch_ is a little gorey… Someone besides me has seen this movie? I’d almost accuse you of being my sock. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361/40 "2005-03-08T14:54:03Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Someone besides me has seen this movie? > > I’d almost accuse you of being my sock. Saw it during a New Years movie night with friends around…yikes…1990 or so. Incredibly confusing and weird. And I don’t even like horror movies! :eek: The execrable femmebot revenge movie “Steel and Lace” was also on the VCR bill of fare. Good OG, what was Bruce Davison thinking? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-watching-the-movie-framing-sequence/293361.md?page=1)