Last Updated on August 2, 2021
These days part of the fun of watching a movie in theaters or at home with the ability to freeze frames, is finding the hidden Easter eggs hidden within. For the history buffs out there, the origin of the cinematic Easter egg dates back to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Supposedly one day on the set, the cast decided to have a traditional Easter egg hunt, as you do, but some of the eggs were never found and actually appeared in frames of the movie! So if you're obsessed with finding hidden messages, jokes, and ways to make you look smart in front of your friends, check out these Easter eggs!
Understandably some of these have been around for a while, but some may be new to other readers; there’s no expiration date on sharing so enjoy and have fun!
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
KILL BILL – Here comes the *beep*
There has been a lot of speculation on exactly why Quentin Tarantino decided to bleep The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) real name in the first volume of KILL BILL. Some say because the Bride is on a revenge mission where she is hunting her victims, her identity would have to be a secret to make sure she doesn't get followed or caught. It might also be Tarantino's way of breaking the 4th wall and including us in the element of mystery. Or he could just be doing what he does best and doing things his way.
However, her name does in fact appear twice in the movie. The first time is when she buys a plane ticket from Texas to Japan where she visits Hatori Hanzo. If you're fast enough or use the pause button you can see can read the name on the ticket as Beatrix Kiddo, which is eventually revealed to be the Bride's name in Vol. 2. The second time her name appears in when she buys another plane ticket from Okinawa, Japan to Tokyo – her name is once again visible on the ticket.
DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE – Butch Coolidge is John McClane
This is a small one, but fun nonetheless. In DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) accuses McClain (Bruce Willis) of being out of shape for a cop. McClain replies that he has been on suspension so he has been sitting around "smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo." In PULP FICTION, which stars both Willis and Jackson, the song "Flowers On the Wall" where this quote is from is playing on the radio in Butch Coolidge’s car just before he runs it into Marsellus Wallace at the crosswalk. Note: The video starts moving after 5 seconds.
THE DEPARTED – X marks the homage
We know that Martin Scorsese’s 2002 crime drama THE DEPARTED is a remake of the 2002 film INFERNAL AFFAIRS. Did you know it also paid tribute to one of the best crime movies that came before it? We’re talking about Howard Hawks’ original 1932 version of SCARFACE in which the director included a bunch of Xs in scenes to imply that a character was going to end up dead.
Take a look at just some of the times an X appears in Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED.
That movie has a serious death count; I didn’t even notice that the first few times I watched it. I’ve seen the original SCARFACE and noticed it almost immediately as it’s not very subtle at times or perhaps it’s the slower pace we got from movies back then.
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE – A throwback 17 years in the making
Towards the end of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE , Bart and Homer are forced to cross the Springfield Gorge on a motorcycle. This was instantly familiar with anyone who grew up watching the Simpsons as it was a nod to the 1990 episode "Bart The Daredevil". Not only that, but in the scene you can see a tree with a white vehicle crashed into it. This is the ambulance that crashed while carrying away an injured Homer in that very episode.
BACK TO THE FUTURE – One is the loneliest
I've watched BTTF more times than any other movie and I never noticed this until the spectacular 25th anniversary Blu-ray hit; I guess I was watching very closely that time. When Marty (Michael J. Fox) first goes to meet Doc Brown at Twin Pines Mall we can clearly see that it's called "Twin Pines Mall". After Marty comes back from 1955 to try and save Doc Brown from getting shot, it’s now called "Lone Pine Mall."
It’s all there for us to figure out why. The land that the mall is on was owned by Old Man Peabody a long time ago Doc explains at the beginning of the movie. When Marty unintentionally goes back to 1995, he crashes into the Peabody farm. After being shot at, because he’s obviously an alien, he gets the hell out of there and take out one of a pair of pine trees in Peabody’s front yard (he had a crazy idea of breeding them).
Got a cool Easter Egg discovery? E-mail us at: [email protected] with any you'd like to see featured in future columns!
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