Film and Television In-Jokes: Nearly 2,000 Intentional References, Parodies, Allusions, Personal Touches, Cameos, Spoofs and Homages

by Bill van Heerden

Overview

In Only the Lonely (1991), Ally Sheedy appeases prospective mother-in-law Maureen O'Hara by going along to see the 1939 film How Green Was My Valley--starring Maureen O'Hara. Richard LaGravenese, slighted by critic Gene Siskel over his screenplay for The Fisher King (1991) wrote an unsavory character named Siskel into The Ref (1994).

Movies and television shows often feature inside jokes. Sometimes there are characters named after crew members. Directors are often featured in cameo appearances--Alfred Hitchcock's silhouette can be seen in Family Plot (1976), for example. This work catalogs such occurrences. Each entry includes the title of the film or show, year of release, and a full description of the in-joke.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786438945
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	09/11/2008
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.64(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jacobus Willem Schalk “Bill” van Heerden writes “So You Think You Know Everything About Sports,” for The Sports Pages. He lives in Toronto.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Introduction     

I. In-Jokes in Films     
II. In-Jokes in Television     
III. In-Jokes in Music Videos     

Appendix: Alan Smithee Credits     
Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

packed with wonderful anecdotes and insider information from everyone’s favorite movies and television shows...a treasure...interesting”—ARBA; “fact-packed...fascinating”—Burlington County Times.

From the Publisher

Examines internal film and television references, as well as those in music videos. The author delineates between trivia, mistakes, and in-jokes, and includes only the latter. The entries are presented dictionary-style. Most are about a paragraph long and include only a single reference, such as a cameo by the director or a textual reference to another work. Some entries, such as those on spoof movies or entire television series, are necessarily much longer. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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