12 hidden movie in-jokes that went right over our heads
We love a good Easter egg – the little references for the fans scattered throughout movies. But sometimes filmmakers put in in-jokes that the normal viewer couldn't reasonably be expected to spot.
Here are 12 of the most obscure, highbrow, blink-and-you'll-miss-it in jokes in the movies, and we just love every single one.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Hal and 'Daisy Daisy'
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, when ship's computer Hal 9000 becomes dangerously sentient and is disconnected from his higher functions, he sings the song 'Daisy Bell' ("Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do…" etc.).
But it's more than just a slightly eerie song sang by an insane murderous computer.
In 1961 an IBM computer was in fact programmed to sing 'Daisy Bell' in the first example of speech synthesis. Arthur C Clarke saw the demonstration and included it in his narrative. (Also HAL is IBM, only one letter back along the alphabet – H/I, A/B, L/M)
It's a scary, prescient nod to say "This is already happening".
2. Fight Club – Starbucks
David Fincher has said there's a Starbucks cup in every shot of Fight Club – there's even a tumblr dedicated to spotting them all. "I don't have anything against Starbucks per se," he told The Guardian's Andrew Pulver, "because finally there's good coffee in LA. But do we need three on every corner?"
It's a reference to the dehumanising effect of homogenous corporate culture, innit.
3. Toy Story – The Shining
That carpet, eh? Sid the next-door neighbour shares the same taste in flooring with the owners of the Overlook Hotel. And talking of which, Toy Story 3's security camera (in the daycare centre) is called the Overlook R237. Room 237 is where it all kicks off in The Shining. There are more 237s scattered throughout the Toy Story films, which is… dark.
4. Fast and Furious 5: Rio Heist – Han Seoul-Oh
Geddit? This fan favourite, played by Sung Kang, died in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift but returned for eps 4, 5 and 6 (because of timeliney business).
In the fifth film, a very brief glimpse of his ID card revealed that his full name was Han Seoul-Oh (like Han Solo obvs) – though prior to that he'd been known as Han Lu, so it was probably a pseudonym. But still.
5. Dumbo – The civil rights movement
The crows who taunt Dumbo with the song 'I Ain't Never Seen An Elephant Fly' have often been criticised as crude stereotypes of African-Americans. But was there more going on? Their leader is called Jim, and 'Jim Crow' is the name given to the racist segregation laws of the Southern states.
Jim is the only crow voiced by a white actor (Cliff Edwards, who also played Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio). So was Disney making a subtle point?
Not so subtle, actually – the 'Jim Crow' reference wouldn't have passed unnoticed by anyone in the States in 1942, but getting a white actor to 'do a black voice' still looks problematic, as they say, no matter how positive the portrayal of the crows.
6. Tron – Pac Man
Look! It's Pac Man! This is essentially a movie about a dude who gets sucked into a computer game in the '80s, so of course it's Pac Man.
7. Anchorman – Exotic cuisine
The name of the restaurant shown in one scene is called 'Escupimos en su Alimento'. This means "We spit in your food" in Spanish. Which a highly educated man of the world like Ron Burgundy will have spotted in an instant... right?
8. Catch Me If You Can – Frank Abagnale
When DiCaprio's character is finally caught, he is arrested by a French policeman played by the real life Frank Abagnale. He's the one the movie is about!
9. Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Gwen Stacy dies at 1.21
The brutal climax to Marc Webb's Spider-Man sequel sees Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy taking a fatal dive from a clock tower, with its hands coming to a stop at 1:21. The original story 'The Night Gwen Stacy Died' was in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
10. The Lion King – Claus von Bulow
It's Hamlet. You got that. But we bet you didn't get that it also references Reversal of Fortune, a 1990 biographical thriller about Claus von Bulow, a wealthy socialite accused of murdering his wife Sunny by giving her an overdose of insulin.
Not an obvious link? It comes down to Jeremy Irons, who played both von Bulow and Scar – and to this moment of creepiness that the two movies share.
"You're a very strange man," says von Bulow's lawyer Alan Dershowitz (and Simba, paraphrasing).
"You have no idea," purrs Scar-von-Bulow.
11. The Harry Potter series – Pretty much everything
It's no secret that JK Rowling likes a classical reference, but most of her erudition sailed past us without our even noticing. Here are a few of the better ones:
• Bartemius Crouch, Sr.
Named after the biblical Bartimaeus, the blind man healed by Christ. Like the gospel character, Crouch was 'blind' to his son's evildoing.
• Alecto Carrow
The Death Eater sent to take care of Hogwarts on behalf of Voldemort is named for one of the Furies of Greek myth, who punished oath-breakers.
• Sybill Trelawney
The sybils were oracle-women who were believed to tell the future. Unlike Trelawney, who just tries to.
12. Reservoir Dogs – Dead as Dillinger
Mob boss Joe Cabot (played by Lawrence Tierney) refers to Mr Blue being as "dead as Dillinger" in the movie that put Quentin Tarantino on the map. Tierney made his own breakthrough back in 1945, playing the infamous 1930s bank robber John Dillinger in the movie Dillinger.
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