Top 10 Hidden Movie Secrets That Make the Movie Better
Top 10 Hidden Movie Secrets That Make the Movie Better
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Don’t blink, you might miss it. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Hidden Movie Secrets That Make the Movie Better. For this list, we’ll be looking at Easter eggs or moments of foreshadowing that may have been missed on a movie’s first viewing. Since some of these secrets give away key plot details, a spoiler alert is in order.
#10: Nooses on the Billboard
“A Star Is Born” (2018) This Lady Gaga led reimagining of this musical classic maintained the gut-puncher of an ending, but though this adaptation presented a new take on the male lead’s tragic suicide, the method was quite literally signposted early on. When viewers are introduced to Bradley Cooper’s Jack, he and his driver pass a colorful rainbow billboard adorned by nooses. It’s an easily missed yet poetic hint towards the film’s climactic scene which sees Jack dispatch himself from this world with a makeshift noose of his own. The rainbow backdrop may also serve to highlight how Ally’s music career flourishes as Jack’s fizzles out, and this same symmetry is displayed as Jack’s decision is cut with Ally’s successful concert. As heartbreaking today as it’s always been.
#9: X Marks the Spot
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“The Departed” (2006) They didn’t call it “The Departed” for nothing. Throughout the movie, many characters face grizzly ends, but only a handful of viewers may notice the “x”s present somewhere in a shot with a character destined to die. A string of main players from Costigan to Costello, and yes even Sullivan, all meet their maker after being “crossed out” at multiple points throughout this thrillingly violent game of Whac-A-Mole. Scorsese has gone on record to not only acknowledge the red flags, but also admit that it serves as an homage to the original “Scarface,” which used the same technique to foreshadow character deaths. It’s a cool visual Easter egg, but also symbolizes that these men are marked men. Talk about getting caught in the cross-fire...
#8: The Breakfast Scene
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“Reservoir Dogs” (1992) The calm before the storm, we spend ten quiet minutes over breakfast with our team of jewel thieves before everything is set to go south. Though seemingly random on the surface, in hindsight this scene tells us everything important to know about our three leads: Mr. Pink's refusal to automatically tip shows his pragmatism and apathetic way of doing things, Mr. White sticking up for the waitresses shows his compassionate side that will be his undoing, and Mr. Orange ratting out Mr. Pink to Joe is a clue of his informer status. Tarantino also makes clever use of some props at the warehouse to hint that Mr. Orange is separate from the others. All in all, creative ways to show a man’s true “colors.”
#7: Parroting TV Dialogue
“Baby Driver” (2017) For a kid that’s almost deaf, Baby is certainly quick on picking things up. While watching TV with his foster dad, the young getaway driver flips through several movie channels and later repeats all of the dialogue he hears back to different members of his heist crew. None of them seem to get the references, save for an infuriated Doc towards the film’s climax. It’s one of the hundreds of tiny clues that litter the film, in a style that has become a trademark of director Edgar Wright; he used similar audial tricks over a decade earlier with his first hit “Shaun of the Dead,” when Ed inadvertently lays out the whole plot beat-for-beat.
#6: The Loop
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“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) For the uninitiated, Charlie Kaufman’s reverse-love-story sees a broken couple erasing their memories of each other, only for them to meet up down the line and get back together despite knowing it will probably end badly all over again. It’s a sweet note to end on, but the implications of that decision are eerily touched on in the film’s final seconds: The last shot of Joel and Clementine running through the snow repeats itself three times, implying the pair will repeat the cycle of memory erasures and getting back together for the rest of their lives. The interpretation is different depending on if you’re an optimist or a pessimist, but it’s like they always say: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
#5: Nick Fury’s Epitaph
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“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014) Samuel L. Jackson has played everything, from cops and robbers to Jedi masters and shark food, and though he’s known to audiences these days as Nick Fury, the role that defined him remains that of Bible-quoting gangster Jules Winnfield from “Pulp Fiction.” Rather than disregard the actor’s mature iconography when taking on a family blockbuster, the Russos instead chose to pay tribute to Jackson’s legacy by adorning Fury’s fake grave with Jules’ favorite Bible verse. It’s a clever nod to the OG BMF, and fans went nuts for it. The Russos even took it up to eleven when they picked Fury’s final word during Infinity War’s famous dusting.
#4: The Overlooked Carpet
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“Toy Story” (1995) These days Pixar has become famous for its abundance of Easter eggs, from the animator’s classroom number A113 to the Pizza Planet van, but the film that started it all saw the creators pay tribute to one of their collectively favorite horror masterpieces. When we leave the safety of Andy’s room and venture into the home of infamous toy torturer Sid, fans of “The Shining” will notice the carpets of the house are adorned with the same pattern featured on some floors of the Overlook Hotel; a clever way to emphasize the terror that awaits Woody and Buzz within these walls. The carpets in the house may signal bad news, but the kid’s living inside it could have been a lot worse...
#3: Two Denny Crooks
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“Pulp Fiction” (1994) The first time around it’s easy to forget about the opening diner robbery after going through the ensuing and seemingly unrelated tirade of burgers, boxers, and black medical books. But it masterfully comes back into relevancy in the final scene as we discover that Yolanda and Ringo are robbing the diner where Jules and Vincent are trying to unwind their rough morning with some breakfast. But going back to the first scene, the evidence is there: Jules can be heard laughing in the background, and Vincent can be seen walking by their table on the way to the restroom. Seems like every time that fool answers nature’s call, the proverbial dookie hits the fan (Vincent’s death scene).
#2: Starbucks Cups
“Fight Club” (1999) Coffee, coffee everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Following the success of his cult phenomenon “Fight Club,” David Fincher revealed that there is a Starbucks cup in every shot of the film. The presence of the famous twin-tailed mermaid helps to aid the film's social satire regarding consumers and their codependent relationships to corporations. The search for cups has also become something of an Easter egg hunt among die-hard fans, and the fact they are hidden throughout the film further illustrates the point that branding has become so common in our world we don’t even notice it’s there. Genius work from Fincher, though it’s not the first time he’s hidden little secrets in plain sight: but let’s not get “ahead” of ourselves... Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Lethal Weapon Reunion “Maverick” (1994) E.T. Senators on Coruscant “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999) Pac-Man on the Monitor “Tron” (1982) Twin Pines Becomes Lone Pine “Back to the Future” (1985) Twins & Triplets in the Agent Program “The Matrix” (1999)
#1: Orange Is the New Whack
“The Godfather” (1972) “Reservoir Dogs” was not the first movie that attributed this color to bad news! Orange is notorious for being synonymous with death in Coppola’s cinematic masterpiece. Vito Corleone is buying oranges from a street vendor during the attempt on his life, and he finally succumbs to old age in his garden among the same fruit. But the curse doesn’t just apply to the Godfather himself. Either the fruit or color is present to mark several characters for death, including Luca Brasi, Paulie, Sal Tessio, the Heads of the Five Families, Rocco, and even Jack Woltz’s horse. This now-famous trend carried over into Coppola’s two sequels, with oranges being handled by dead-men-walking Don Fanucci and Michael Corleone among others. Nothing personal boys, it’s just business.
