"Nods" in Movies

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 9:39am

In the movie Grease, they do a nod to the 1950s by casting actors who were well known in that time period: Sid Caesar, Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Edd Byrnes, Dody Goodman

What are some other movies that do a nod?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 9:56am

"I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" [1988] was a parody of the blaxploitation genre and featured many stars from that era: Bernie Casey, Ja'Net DuBois, Isaac Hayes, Jim Brown, Antonio Fargas, Clarence Williams III, Eve Plumb, Peggy Lipton

[jnb9872]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 10:22am

Mel Brooks' SILENT MOVIE only has one line of audible dialogue; spoken by Marcel Marceau, of course.

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 10:25am

Franco Nero (star of the Italian Django films) in DJANGO UNCHAINED

Updated On: 2/13/14 at 10:25 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 2:03pm

The card players in Sunset Boulevard are all former silent film stars.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 2:43pm

Do Chita Rivera in Chicago and Loretta Devine in Dreamgirls count as "nods" or are they just cameos?

I'd better think harder. Ah, these threads make for good procrastination.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 3:23pm

There's a ton a film that have nods to French New Wave Cinema:

The Truth About Charlie- This Charade remake gets more into the Paris of the period that first film was made. Charles Aznavour of Shoot the Piano Player makes an appearance, as does Anna Karina, and Agnes Varda

Potiche- This period political drama is extremely playful with the occupation of the film's matriarch Catherine Deneuve, a woman trying to run an umbrella factory when her husband takes ill. A definite nod to her in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Pulp Fiction- Pulp Fiction is an homage to many things but the most visible is the wig Uma Thurman's Mia Wallace wears; that is the same hairdo Anna Karina had in those early Godard films. Plus the famous dance sequence is a nod to Karina's non-stop dancing in Vivre Sa Vie.

Frances Ha- The film being in black and white is not just a stylistic choice but is stylistically tied to early French New Wave such as the jump cuts and editing. There's also a poster of Truffaut's Small Change seen in the film along with using music directly from, The 400 Blows, one of the most influential French New Wave films.

There's actually quite a ton of these but those immediately spring to mind.

The moment post-modernism happened, I think there became an infinite amount of films that had 'nods'. Brian DePalma's whole filmography is pretty much that.

[D2]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 3:39pm

Not exactly a nod, but Miriam Hopkins played Martha Dobie in "These Three," the first film version of Lillian Hellmann's play THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, and then played the aunt, Mrs. Lily Mortar in the remake, which reverted to the original title and lesbian themes.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 3:40pm

And ever one to pat itself on the back as much as send itself up, Disney feature animation has "nodded" from one film to another with either visual cameos in the background or audio references. It's a long list.


LINK

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 4:06pm

"Do Chita Rivera in Chicago and Loretta Devine in Dreamgirls count as "nods" or are they just cameos?"

I would definitely count them as nods to the original productions.

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 4:24pm

Then I'd add Jaclyn Smith's cameo in the 2nd Charlie's Angels movie as a nod to the original TV series.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 4:33pm

Here's one from TV rather than movies:

In a recent episode of Modern Family, they went to an exhibition of photos by Hailey, the older daughter of Phil and Claire. One photo showed Claire looking at Gloria's cleavage. The composition of the photo was exactly like the iconic shot of Sophia staring down Jayne Mansfield's cleavage.

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 4:41pm

Pulp Fiction is an homage to many things but the most visible is the wig Uma Thurman's Mia Wallace wears; that is the same hairdo Anna Karina had in those early Godard films.

And, of course, that hairstyle is a nod to Louise Brooks (specifically her hairstyle in PANDORA'S BOX), Karina's character in VIVRE SA VIE being modeled on Brooks' character. (The Cahiers du Cinema crowd also being largely responsible from rescuing Brooks and her films from obscurity in the fifties and sixties)

[NoName3]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 5:43pm

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is three hours of "nod casting."

[SNAFU]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 5:56pm

Speilberg and Lucas always nod to each other movies Elliot plays with Star Wars Figures and in Temple of Doom Indy is seen walking by a bar called Club Obi-Wan.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 6:08pm

Fun thread!

How about Margaret Hamilton in BREWSTER MCCLOUD wearing ruby slippers?

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 6:26pm

Airplane! took a lot from The High and the Mighty, the Airport films, and Zero Hour! but casting Robert Stack in particular, who seemed to play a lot of pilots in his film career but most notably as John Wayne's co-pilot who had a nervous breakdown during that whole in The High and The Mighty, was in it. Robert Hays' character in those sweating scenes was pretty much playing Stack and Dana Andrews (who bore the name Ted Stryker to Hays' Ted Striker).

Updated On: 2/13/14 at 06:26 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 7:11pm

SNAFU---you reminded me that Elliot in E.T. is playing with Star Wars action figures.

Reg, I don't think I've ever seen Brewster McCloud, but it's worth it just to see that!

Another TV nod, I remember Peter Scolari had a role in Tom Hanks's From the Earth to the Moon.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 7:19pm

I think one of the best "nods" ever on TV is the final moment of the "Newhart" series when Bob wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette from The Bob Newhart Show.

That was brilliant, and such a great surprise.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 7:33pm

Speilberg nods to his Jaws franchise in Back to the Future Two with Marty McFly seeing Jaws 19 is playing at the movie theatre directed by Speilberg's son Max.

Richard Dreyfus appeared in a cameo as his character from Jaws in Pirannah 3D

In 9 1/2 weeks, Mickey Rouke claims he can fart the Jaws theme song.

Updated On: 2/13/14 at 07:33 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 7:41pm

I know we're moving away from casting to other "nods," so I have one, too ...

A really powerful image in "Pleasantville" is the black & white courtroom scene toward the end with all the "colored" people sitting in the balcony. It's a shot taken directly from "To Kill a Mockingbird," where the African Americans are all sitting in the balcony for Tom Robinson's trial.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 7:50pm

Spielberg nods to himself at the opening of 1941 with the Jaws takeoff.

Updated On: 2/13/14 at 07:50 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 8:10pm

Airplane! does a Spielberg nod in it's opening with the plane's tail fin protruding from the clouds to the Jaws theme.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 8:54pm

Pixar puts all kinds of visual nods/Easter eggs in their movies. The constant one is the Pizza Planet truck that is in pretty much every film, if not all of them, at one point or another. They also often hide a character from an upcoming release in the current film: Boo hands Scully a clown fish toy at the end of Monsters, Inc, there is a Lotso Bear in Up, things like that.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/13/14 at 9:26pm

Rapunzel from TANGLED is in the crowd at the coronation in FROZEN.