# Self-Referential Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 21, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403 "2007-08-21T18:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/61 "2007-08-24T19:12:50Z")
During the end credits of _Rock Star_, they show an outtake of one of the performance scenes where Mark Wahlberg’s character is singing. Instead of playing the Steel Dragon track that Wahlberg was supposed to lipsynch, the sound guys unexpectedly play one of old Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch tracks, cracking him up. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/62 "2007-08-24T19:14:40Z")
The three Austin Powers movies are full of them but the scene from the **The Spy Who Shagged Me** where Basil Exposition (the character’s name itself is self-referential) tries to explain time-travel to Austin immediately comes to mind. > [@](#): > > **Austin** : So, Basil, if I travel back to 1969 and I was frozen in 1967, presumeably, I could go back and look at my frozen self. But, if I’m still frozen in 1967, how could I have been unthawed in the '90s and traveled back to the '60s? > _[goes cross-eyed]_ > **Austin** : Oh, no, I’ve gone cross-eyed. > **Basil** : I suggest you don’t worry about those things and just enjoy yourself. > \*[turns to camera] \* > **Basil** : That goes for you all, too. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/63 "2007-08-24T20:22:39Z")
Well, if this counts: In **Gremlins 2: The New Batch** , there’s a moment where the film goes wonky, then appears to freeze and burn up, as film would do if it got stuck in front of a super-hot movie theater projector bulb. The screen is white for a few seconds, and then shadows of gremlins appear, apparently responsible for the film break. They make shadow puppets for a bit, and they put on an old black and white “sun worshipper” film. Then there’s a little sidetrack in a movie theater where Hulk Hogan threatens the naughty gremlins, and then the movie picks up again. Two side notes about this one: when the movie came out, I was still working in a movie theater, and it was customary at that time (for certain much-anticipated releases) for the managers to put the film together the night before the premiere and have a screening just for the other managers in town. When our local managers screened **Gremlins 2** , the manager of the host theater thought it was a real film break (it looks very realistic, and oh the trouble that can be caused by messing up the film the night before the premiere) and sprinted halfway up the aisle shouting obscenities before the gremlin shadows popped up and gave away the gag. Also, although I’ve never seen it, I hear tell that when the movie went to VHS (this being in the era before DVD), they changed that scene to make it look like your VCR was eating the tape. I bet that freaked a few people out. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/64 "2007-08-25T02:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Adaptation. The movie (you come to realize as you watch it) is about writing the movie. [/QUOTE] This is perhaps the ultimate self-referential movie, including soliciting advice from real-life screenwriting guru Robert McKee (within the film) on how to end the film, and then “wow[ing] them in the end” with a sex, drugs, a car chase, gunfight, people overcoming odds to succeed in the end, et cetera. The actual story of the writing of the fim is even more interesting; Charlie Kaufman (the real one) was convinced he’d never work again after trying and failing to adapt _The Orchid Theif_ so he just went for broke with being “the king of making up crazy shit” as his (fictional) agent advises him, and interjecting a (fictional) coarse, superficial twin brother alter ego who he kills off after he succeeds at writing the kind of film that Charlie abhors. The whole thing is basically one big therapy session. It makes a Patricia Highsmith or Philip K. Dick protagonist seem sane in comparison. Plus, Charlie gets great fun out of mocking his twin brother and making himself look like a tiresome, self-hating bore at the same time. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/65 "2007-08-25T12:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] In the movie “Rosemary’s Baby,” Rosemary meets a neighbor, Terry Gionoffrio, in the laundry room. She stares at her and then apologizes saying, “I thought you were Victoria Vetri, the actress.” Terry responds by saying, “a lot of people think I’m Victoria, but I don’t see the resemblance.” In fact, the actress who played Terry is Victoria Vetri (credited as Angela Dorian), the actress and 1968 Playmate of the Year. [/QUOTE] Brief hijack: in the book, people keep telling that character she looks like Anna Maria Alberghetti. But by the early Seventies, practically nobody remembered Anna Maria Alberghetti, except as “the lady in those salad dressing commericials.” ---
**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:** [August 25, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/66 "2007-08-25T13:34:36Z")
**Rocky and Bullwinkle**. I can’t remember which story it was, but in one of the episodes Boris gets fed up with losing all the time and tears up his contract _and_ the script. The narrator is caught flat-footed. “Bu-- but what are we gonna do?” “I don’t care!” responds Boris as he walks out of frame, then a quick cut to R & B sipping coffee. “Hey! We’re not on for another three minutes!” “I’m sorry, boys, but Boris tore up the script and–and I . . .” So the two of them gamely ad-lib for a couple minutes unti Boris is persuaded (I don’t remember how) to pick things back up again. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/67 "2007-08-25T18:08:57Z")
Mel Brooks movies tend to have a lot of self-referential humor. _Spaceballs_ has already been mentioned, so I’ll just name a few from _Men in Tights_: The opening credits, where the names are spelled out in fire arrows, and the townspeople are very irate: "Every time they make a Robin Hood movie they burn down our village! :mad: " The “Unlike other Robin Hoods, _I_ have an English accent.” line The sherrif’s mole changes places on almost every shot. (This echos Igor’s moving hump in _Young Frankenstein_.) The sherrif’s castle has emergency exit signs and the film crew is intentionally visible during one shot of the duel. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/68 "2007-08-25T18:28:32Z")
An episode of **Monk** when Monk met Tim Daly on a plane and has a conversation with Sharona: Sharona: Oh, my God. It’s Tim Daly Monk: Who’s Tim Daly? Sharona: He’s an actor - he was in “ **Wings**.” Monk: Was it any good? Sharona: Well, he was. The actor who plays Monk, Tony Shaloub, was of course in “ **Wings**.” ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/69 "2007-08-26T03:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=Bill Door] An episode of **Monk** when Monk met Tim Daly on a plane and has a conversation with Sharona: Sharona: Oh, my God. It’s Tim Daly Monk: Who’s Tim Daly? Sharona: He’s an actor - he was in “ **Wings**.” Monk: Was it any good? Sharona: Well, he was. The actor who plays Monk, Tony Shaloub, was of course in “ **Wings**.” [/QUOTE] Don’t know if it’s a different episode, but I seem to remember Monk claiming he’d never heard of “Wings.” Another episode of Monk had Sarah Silverman’s character complaining about her favorite show changing theme songs. Monk itself changed had theme songs a few episodes earlier, to an annoying Randy Newman tune\*. [sub]\*but I repeat myself[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/70 "2007-08-26T04:12:44Z")
In \*The Seven-Year Itch, \*Tom Ewell says, “The blonde in the kitchen . . . maybe it’s Marilyn Monroe!” Of course it really is Marilyn Monroe, his co-star. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/71 "2007-08-26T11:28:42Z")
The greatly underrated Return of the Killer Tomatoes actually stops down mid movie because they “run out of money”, then has the characters shamelessly doing product placement for the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/72 "2007-08-26T12:37:55Z")
I just watched **[One, Two, Three](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055256/)**, Director Billy Wilder’s hugely underrated cold-war comedy. There’s a lot of self-referential humor in it, including James Cagney threatening someone with a grapefruit, like in **[The Public Enemy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022286/)**. It also had [Red Buttons](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000999/) doing a dead on James Cagney impression, and a reference to the end of Rico, who was played by Edward G. Robinson in **[Little Caesar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021079/)**. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/73 "2007-08-26T19:25:21Z")
In the 2002 remake of \*The Time Machine, \*the (future) photonic info guy at the New York Public Library mentions the time-travel writings of H.G. Wells, who of course wrote _The Time Machine._ ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/74 "2007-12-09T23:51:10Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] A current thread notes that Julia Roberts’ character in _Oceans Twelve_ is told that she looks like Julia Roberts, and goes on to “impersonate” her. [/QUOTE] At the end of the original _Ocean’s Eleven_, as Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis and the rest of the extended Rat Pack are walking down the sidewalk, we see their names on Vegas marquis behind them. In the movie _Stakeout_, the cops played by Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss are playing a game of guessing movies from a quote. Estevez’s character comes up with “This was no boating accident!” and Dreyfuss’s character is stumped. (Dreyfuss delivered that line in _Jaws_.) ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/75 "2007-12-10T10:30:42Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] **Hellzapoppin** …Great movie, one of the few that was even better than the memories I had of it. [/QUOTE] I was going to mention this - great film, with some strangely modern gags. But instead I’ll put in **Pee Wee’s Big Adventure** where the film ends at the premiere of the film of his adventure, featuring a super-cool Bond-like version of Pee Wee. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/76 "2007-12-13T00:20:46Z")
In the Muppet Wizard of Oz, as Dorothy and Toto (played by Pepe the Prawn) are about to start down the Yellow Brick Road, Pepe turns to the audience and says “For those of you who have Dark Side of the Moon, press play… NOW.” Zev Steinhardt ---
**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:** [December 13, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/77 "2007-12-13T03:37:59Z")
At the end of _What’s Up Doc?_ not only does Barbra Streisand tell Ryan O’Neal “Love means never having to say your sorry” but the in-flight movie is a cartoon with Bugs and Daffy singing “What’s Up Doc?” ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/78 "2007-12-13T12:23:01Z")
Hope I didn’t miss this in an earlier post, but how about the beginning of _Tango and Cash_, where the cops ridicule Sylvester Stallone, saying, “He _thinks_ he’s Rambo!” Stallone’s reply to this: “RAMBO is a pussy!” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/79 "2007-12-13T16:45:28Z")
Big Giant Head: I had a horrible flight. I kept seeing something on the airplane wing. Dick Solomon: The same thing happened to MEEEEEEEEE! Played by William Shatner and John Lithgow. ---
**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 13, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403/80 "2007-12-13T16:58:34Z")
Groucho Marx in **Horsefeathers** just before Chico does a piano solo: "I’ve got to stay here, but there’s no reason why you folks shouldn’t go out into the lobby until this thing to blows over. " [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-referential-movies/416403.md?page=5)