# Subtle jokes from movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372 "2018-06-03T21:03:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/1 "2018-06-03T21:03:23Z")
Some I noticed are: Jane said “Wha… this is your… mother?” because she thought Tarzan’s dad committed bestiality. When Jack yelled “Rose!” the people on the ship thought he was saying the past tense of rise. ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/2 "2018-06-03T21:37:01Z")
I just realized that “movies” narrows down the options too much. How about from movies & TV? ---
**Author:** ![Trisha\_Gaurav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@Trisha\_Gaurav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trisha_Gaurav)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/3 "2018-06-04T03:42:51Z")
Okay, the Titanic one may be overreaching. I mean rewatching that scene, there _were_ no people on E deck besides Jack and Rose. But I’m sure of the Tarzan one. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/4 "2018-06-04T04:17:48Z")
" You killed Mozart" “Who is Mo Zart?” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/5 "2018-06-04T04:32:41Z")
“Gremlins”. The “Time MAchine” scene. Saw it at the show, laughed my butt off. No one else got it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i8LIffvjnb8/hqdefault.jpg "Gremlins and the Time Machine") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LIffvjnb8) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/6 "2018-06-04T05:00:18Z")
In “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Wonka announces “It’s a musical lock,” and then plays a little tune on it to open the door. Mrs. Teavee pretentiously announces, “Rachmaninoff.” Nobody corrects her. Took me years to realize it was actually Beethoven. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/7 "2018-06-04T05:12:07Z")
[quote=“E-DUB, post:5, topic:815372”] “Gremlins”. The “Time MAchine” scene. Saw it at the show, laughed my butt off. No one else got it. [/QUOTE] Heh. And then it was gone. 😃 In _Bend It Like Beckham_ it shows a member of a wedding party walking around filming people with a video camera. At one point the camera (you are seeing this part as though through the camera’s view) slides past an attractive young couple vigorously necking in a corner. They’re on screen for 2 seconds, tops. Later on we see the same couple in the background fighting with the camera’s owner. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/8 "2018-06-04T05:34:42Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > In “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Wonka announces “It’s a musical lock,” and then plays a little tune on it to open the door. > > Mrs. Teavee pretentiously announces, “Rachmaninoff.” > > Nobody corrects her. Took me years to realize it was actually Beethoven. …and a few more years for anyone to point out to you that it was Mozart… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/9 "2018-06-04T05:43:40Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > In “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” … And the classic, _“I know a worse one”_ line. That movie was full of subtle shit, now that I think about it. Lots of them just looks from Gene. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/10 "2018-06-04T08:44:23Z")
Classic Superman would famously change into his superhero outfit in a phone booth. In the 1978\* Superman\* movie there’s a [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfjTfaeXbp4) where he looks for someplace to change, and his gaze falls on a modern-for-the-time public phone - which was basically an open-sided box on a metal pole, no booth. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/11 "2018-06-04T11:11:31Z")
William Holden in “Stalag 17” when he is preparing his escape from a POW camp puts on a Tyrolean hat and comments that he will look stupid yodelling over the Alps. This refers to a film director Billy Wilder made several years earlier called “The Emperor Waltz” set in turn of the century Austria. That movie was not a pleasant experience for Wilder with problems filming in Canada and star Bing Crosby was not friendly to co-star Joan Fontaine and would change his line but it made money due to Crosby’s star power. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/12 "2018-06-04T12:02:53Z")
I still the subtlest joke I’ve seen is the scene at the end of John Sayles’ _Brother from Another Planet_. His black alien is being hunted by white aliens (one of them played by Sayles), who are clearly like slave hunters who want to re-enslave the protagonist. At the end of the film he escapes on the train. It took me years to realize that the A train, a subway train, was actually an _underground railway_. I have no doubt that this was Sayles’ intentional joke. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/13 "2018-06-04T12:33:42Z")
Now we’re talking! In _Mystery Men_, Captain Amazing’s agent says: “Look, I’m a publicist, not a magician.” Hilarious, right? Oh, did I mention the agent was played by Ricky Jay? Get it? I laughed out loud. The only one to laugh in a nearly empty theater. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/14 "2018-06-04T12:36:08Z")
I _think_ this qualifies. In the French movie **City of Lost Children** , the strongman One (using the English word for his name) has lost track of the girl he’s guarding, Miette (“Crumb” in French). He’s drinking at a bar, trying to forget his troubles. A woman who’s flirting with him says something like, “Drink more to forget your troubles, you haven’t forgotten them yet!” One, on hearing those last four letters, moans, “Miette!” and bursts into sobs. It wasn’t until a later rewatch that I listened to the French–and while I don’t speak French, I heard the flirter’s line end in the syllable “Miette.” The scriptwriters and translators managed to make the same pun in two different languages, which for my money is pretty cool. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/15 "2018-06-04T13:00:34Z")
_Community_ once had an entire subplot appearing subtly in the background, where [Abed delivers a baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrVcTXXGLho). There also was the [Beetlejuice joke](http://www.tv.com/news/communitys-three-year-joke-beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice-video-27234/). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/16 "2018-06-04T13:12:21Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > “Look, I’m a publicist, not a magician.” > > Hilarious, right? > > Oh, did I mention the agent was played by Ricky Jay? Get it? No… ---
**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:** [June 4, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/17 "2018-06-04T13:38:08Z")
Ricky Jay is a magician, is the gag. In that vein: my dad never saw RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but he took me and my kid brother to INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. Anyhow, there comes a time when the [del]Bond girl[/del] love interest asks our hero about what she’s just spotted. “The Ark of the Covenant.” “Are you sure?” “Pretty sure.” The audience chuckled. My father didn’t get the joke. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/18 "2018-06-04T13:50:41Z")
Looking for subtle jokes from Airplane? Surely you can’t be serious. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/19 "2018-06-04T14:02:25Z")
[quote=“E-DUB, post:5, topic:815372”] “Gremlins”. The “Time MAchine” scene. Saw it at the show, laughed my butt off. No one else got it. [/QUOTE] Help me out here. I never saw the movie. The clip you linked is labelled "Kitchen Scene." I did see the \*Lost In Space\* Robot make a cameo appearance although I didn't laugh my butt off. Am I missing something, or was this just not the scene you meant to link? ---
**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:** [June 4, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372/20 "2018-06-04T14:05:49Z")
Look in the right corner of the screen at the convention. That’s the time machine from Pal’s _The Time Machine_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-jokes-from-movies/815372.md?page=2)