What's the word for this?

[Sepiatone]

There's got to be some word for this sort of thing....I'll 'splane.

 

 

While watching an old episode of McHALE'S NAVY on AntennaTV this morning, there was a scene which had ERNEST BORGNINE'S McHale and TIM CONWAY's Ensign parker sitting by themselves in the PT-73, each playing their own game of solitaire.  Borgnine looks at his watch and turned to Conway and said, "It's three hours 'till all the guys get back Chuck.  What do you feel like doing?"  And Conway replied, "I don't know, Skip, what do YOU feel like doing?"

 

I kind of chuckled at wondering if this obvious referrence to MARTY was Borgnine's idea or not.

 

The same thing happened once on an episode of THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN, in which the alien infiltrators were waiting for the arrival of their leader THE BIG GIANT HEAD played by WILLIAM SHATNER.  When he arrives they ask him, "how was your flight?" and he replies that it was horrible. "I kept seeing this LITTLE MAN running around on the plane's WING."  of course a referrence to his iconic TWILIGHT ZONE episode.  The leader of the infiltrators, played by JOHN LITHGOW then blurts out, "THAT'S odd!  The SAME THING happened to ME!"  Obviously harking back to HIS reprisal of Shatner's role in the remaking of that episode in TWILIGHT ZONE:The MOVIE.

 

So I got to wondering if this sort of vehicle had a specific name or not.  It may also have been done in other TV shows or movies where an actress or actor makes referrence to a character they played in some OTHER movie, probably done in fun.

 

Anyone know what it would be?  Or can cite other examples?  Would LOVE to know of them!

 

 

Sepiatone

 

 

[darkblue]

Could be called an "homage".

 

Also could be called an "appropriation".

 

Possibly an "adoption".

 

Also could be termed "sampling" which in more recent parlance is the practice of interjecting material from another work - often by a completely different artist - into a newer piece of work.

[Fedya]

Sounds like an inside joke to me.

[laffite]

The reference might be too specific to be called an allusion, the latter is sometimes used for more oblique or nuanced references. But it might fit. Or how about throwback.

[Dargo]

Not sure dark's suggestion of the word "homage" quite fits, as this word usually implies some reverence for the original referenced subject.

 

However, and while I think dark's suggestion of an "appropriation" might fit, and as would laffite's suggestion of the word "allusion", the former would suggest a more direct lifting from the original referenced source, and the latter a more nuanced one.

 

But all in all, and because the "appropriated allusion" in both of Sepia's examples seem to wish to elicit a laugh from those who understand and know of the original source material, I'm going with Fedya's "inside joke" suggestion here. Although, yeah, I know Sepia. That's TWO words here, isn't it.

 

(...and NOW if anyone can tell me just ONE word which implies the thought of someone like me here having too much freakin' time on their hands, I'LL be grateful)

 

[Sepiatone]

Sounds like an inside joke to me.

Yeah, sure.  And I should have asked if there's a word or phrase.  And I was wondering too, if the industry uses such a mundane and "simply put" phrase, or do they have some "highfalutin'  " term they pretentiously use.

 

And I'll reiterate----

 

Know any OTHER examples?

 

 

Sepiatone

[Dargo]

Here's one just off the top of me widdle head here, Sepia...

 

 

Recognize a similar alphanumerical sequence on the license plate of John Milner's Deuce Coupe to the title of another of the same director of this movie's earlier films?

 

(...uh-huh...it's just missing another "1" there, isn't it)

[darkblue]

If we're gonna expand to a 2-word description I'd nominate "inside reference". That way it doesn't have to be a joke.

[Dargo]

If we're gonna expand to a 2-word description I'd nominate "inside reference". That way it doesn't have to be a joke.

 

Heeeey, whaddaya talkin' 'bout here, dark?! Somethin' "not bein' a joke".

 

Now what kind'a talk is THAT?!

 

I just do NOT understand THAT kind'a concept at ALL!

 

(...as you may have noticed after all these years)

 

[darkblue]

Heeeey, whaddaya talkin' 'bout here, dark?! Somethin' "not bein' a joke".

 

Now what kind'a talk is THAT?!

 

I just do NOT understand THAT kind'a concept at ALL!

 

(...as you may have noticed after all these years)

 

 

Yeah, well - it's probably easy for you to keep up the jokey mood. You probably live in a house full of mirrors.

[Dargo]

Yeah, well - it's probably easy for you to keep up the jokey mood. You probably live in a house full of mirrors.

 

Well, I DID once a long time ago.

 

(...but that's why I stopped inviting that darn gun-tottin' Everett Sloane over for dinner) 

[Sepiatone]

Here's one just off the top of me widdle head here, Sepia...

 

 

Recognize a similar alphanumerical sequence on the license plate of John Milner's Deuce Coupe to the title of another of the same director of this movie's earlier films?

 

(...uh-huh...it's just missing another "1" there, isn't it)

 

Thanks, Darg!  Made me think of another.....

 

In the TV movie DUEL,  Weaver pulls off the road in one scene where a car is parked that has a sign on it's side that says, "GREBLEIP'S EXTERMINATOR SERVICE".   You may(or may not) notice that  "Grebleip's" is SPIELBERG spelled backwards!

 

 

Sepiatone

[scsu1975]

In the last scene of Elopement, Clifton Webb comments on his daughter (Anne Francis) by saying that her favorite movie is Cheaper By The Dozen.

[Dargo]

Thanks, Darg!  Made me think of another.....

 

In the TV movie DUEL,  Weaver pulls off the road in one scene where a car is parked that has a sign on it's side that says, "GREBLEIP'S EXTERMINATOR SERVICE".   You may(or may not) notice that  "Grebleip's" is SPIELBERG spelled backwards!

 

 

Sepiatone

 

Yep, and the Lucas/Spielberg collaboration do another self-referential thing here in INDIAN JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM...

 

 

(...the nightclub's name) 

[Dargo]

And then of course there's the famous self-referential in-joke in HIS GIRL FRIDAY in which Cary Grant says the line:

 

"Listen, the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat."

 

(...and as we around here all know was Cary Grant's real given name)

[RoyCronin]

It's being self-reverential.

[Dargo]

It's being self-reverential.

 

Hmmm...now Roy. Would not this terminology imply the thought that the person speaking of themselves believe themselves due some "reverence", and as in the thought that they somehow deserve being thought of reverently?

 

And whereas the term "self-reference" or "self-referential" would seem more neutral in regard to any "value system" one might wish to apply to one's self?

 

(...jus' askin'...and aah, nope, if you're wonderin'...I'm not really a lexicographer...I just play one on the Internet)

[cigarjoe]

I've heard the term "quotes" used also.

[SansFin]

I do not recall such from movies other than what has been mentioned but the television program: Castle contained many such from television show: Firefly. Nathan Fillion was star of both series. Many actors who were in: Firefly were guest stars also on: Castle.

 

One may Google: "firefly castle references" to find a number of lists and videos of these.

[Movie Collector OH]

I'm going to keep it simple and just call it a "reference", like IMDB does.  Col Needham has thought this out pretty well.

[MilesArcher]

Sometimes there are "In jokes" or "Inside references", and sometimes there are homages.  You may recall that Don Ameche starred in "The Life Of Alexander Graham Bell" in 1939.  In 1943, Ameche was in a musical called "Something To Shout About".  Early in the movie, he gets into a fight with another man and they both get hauled in to the police station.  The other man gets bailed out, but Ameche doesn't have any money, so he asks if he can call a friend for the money.  When the desk sergeant points out the location of the telephone, he asks Ameche "You sure you know how to use that thing?"  To which Ameche replies "Are you kidding?  I INVENTED it."

 

In one episode of the TV series "Lois And Clark", Lois has to go investigate an incident on Bessolo Boulevard.  TV's original Superman, George Reeves, was named George Bessolo before he became an actor.  In another episode, the mother of Lois was played by Phyllis Coates, who had been TV's first Lois Lane on the old "Adventures Of Superman" series.

 

I just thought of another "inside line"  In the Abbott And Costello" film "It Ain't Hay", Eugene Pallette plays Mr. Warner.  In one scene, Bud tells Lou to "Go answer the door. It might be Warner". To which Lou replies, "It won't do no good.  We're all signed up with Universal".

[Dargo]

...I just thought of another "inside line"  In the Abbott And Costello" film "It Ain't Hay", Eugene Pallette plays Mr. Warner.  In one scene, Bud tells Lou to "Go answer the door. It might be Warner". To which Lou replies, "It won't do no good.  We're all signed up with Universal".

 

Yep Miles, and then of course, you probably can't watch any Hope and Crosby road picture for any ten minutes in length without hearing some Hollywood in-joke.

[speedracer5]

And then of course there's the famous self-referential in-joke in HIS GIRL FRIDAY in which Cary Grant says the line:

 

"Listen, the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week before he cut his throat."

 

(...and as we around here all know was Cary Grant's real given name)

 

There's also another joke in His Girl Friday when Cary Grant's character describes Ralph Bellamy's character as "looking like that Ralph Bellamy fellow from the movies" (or whatever it is that he says). 

[sewhite2000]

I saw one today in the film Almost Christmas. As Christmas dinner starts going horribly wrong and family dysfunction is at its most chaotic point in the whole movie, family patriarch Danny Glover sits passively in the middle of it all and shakes his head and mutters, "I'm too old for this sh**", which, of course, is a line he uttered in four different Lethal Weapon movies.

[Sepiatone]

Yep Miles, and then of course, you probably can't watch any Hope and Crosby road picture for any ten minutes in length without hearing some Hollywood in-joke.

 

Thanks all.  Forgot about some of those, and I did  catch the Danny Glover allusion in the TV's trailer.

 

And now to respond to Darg---

 

I do recall in one of those Hope and Crosby "road pictures" that Bing, on a deck of some ship with Dorothy Lamour,  says something about being anxious about getting back to the states..to."See how the Pirates are doing."  Lamour asks, "You have pirates in America?"  and Bing replies, "Yeah but, they  aren't anything to be afraid of." 

 

Alluding both to his part ownership of the baseball team and their long record(at the time) of being in the "cellar".

 

 

Sepiatone