Movies are packed full of references to other movies. This is logical because, as it turns out, movie directors are film fans – who knew?
And, while it makes sense for someone like Quentin Tarantino to homage the films he grew up on while basically remaking the films he grew up on, sometimes, those homages are so incongruous, so bizarre, that we have no idea why they exist.
This is a collection of some of the strangest.
1. Rango - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
We're all for including jokes that go over the heads of kids and into the minds of adults, but there's got to be a line drawn somewhere.
Having Rango smack onto the windshield of real-life drug-crazed lunatic Hunter S Thompson, riffing directly on Terry Gilliam's Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (both films star Johnny Depp) must have led to some pretty confused conversations in the playground the morning after opening weekend.
2. Star Wars - The Dambusters
We already knew that Star Wars was influenced by old war movies, but what we didn't know was how much it was influenced by one specific war movie – as the above video demonstrates, George Lucas was a really big fan of The Dambusters.
So much so he basically remade it with lasers and talking dogs.
3. Casper - Ghostbusters
Casper's a friendly ghost, Ray Stantz is a friendly Ghostbuster, so it (sort of, we guess) makes sense for him to cameo in the live-action Casper movie (sort of).
What doesn't make as much sense, is the fact that Dan Aykroyd hasn't bothered to shave off his real-life moustache.
Also, where are your mates, Ray? Surely this is a job for all of the Ghostbusters, not just the only one the producers could convince to be in the movie?
4. Charlie's Angels - ET
An epically odd one, this. A couple of kids are playing video-games in front of a large ET poster, while snacking on Reese's Pieces when a naked Drew Barrymore bursts into the room.
Except, here's the thing – the kids are in the same house ET was filmed in, the film which Drew Barrymore made her cinematic debut in as a tiny child. All very awkward, really.
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Batman
Don't tell Roald Dahl (or Bruce Wayne), but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory now exists in the Batman universe. That's because Charlie's dad works at the factory that makes Smilex toothpaste, which is the Joker's brand of stuff he uses to poison people in Gotham.
So Charlie's dad was potentially responsible for the gruesome deaths of hundreds of people at that weird parade from the 1989 movie. Killing people via stuff they've bought at the shops – just like Willy Wonka, then.
6. You've Got Mail - The Godfather
What's the first film you think of when you think about You've Got Mail? If you said Sleepless In Seattle, you get a consolation prize (mainly because it's the same film, starring the same people).
We were actually looking for, though, is The Godfather, because it's the inspiration for the above, truly bizarre scene in which Tom Hanks flirts with Meg Ryan using Godfather quotes.
It's the sort of behaviour that would get you instantly unmatched on Tinder if you tried it in real life.
Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Do they have a romantic partner? Have they ever?
7. Battleship Potemkin - Naked Gun 33 ⅓
It's a scene that's been homaged so many times that a YouTube wizard has been able to make a 10-minute montage video from all the nods (you can watch the whole thing above). There's some corkers in there, but easily the weirdest is Naked Gun 33 ⅓, mostly because it's a spoof of a tribute.
We're not sure if the Naked Gun gang actually watched the original movie from 1925, because their version is closer to Brian De Palma's Untouchables – itself a homage to Battleship Potemkin – from 1987.
But, whatever inspired it, it's ridiculous.
Freelancer writer
Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
He’s interviewed a wide range of film icons, including directors such as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Sam Raimi, as well as actors such as Meryl Streep, Nic Cage, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Margot Robbie, Natalie Portman, Kermit the Frog, all of the Avengers and many more.
Sam has also interviewed several comic creators, including Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and he has a zombie cameo in The Walking Dead comic.
In 2014, Sam went freelance, working directly for film studios including Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney, as well as covering red carpet events for film marketing company PMA Productions.
Sam is the co-host, producer and editor of the Arrow Video podcast, which has seen year-on-year growth since its creation in 2017, gaining over half a million listens in that time.
His byline has appeared in outlets such as Yahoo, MTV, Dazed, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Good Housekeeping among others.
In 2012, Sam made it to the final of the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year competition, and went on to become a filmmaker himself, directing three features that have all played major festivals, and secured distribution – starring in two of them.
Jim Carrey once mistook Sam for Johnny Cash, and John Carpenter told him to ‘Keep up the good work.’ He promises to try his best.
