Breaking the 4th wall: characters use forefinger to draw a square (the "fourth wall") no less than three times in the film. Also, lots of self-conscious screenwriting terms and phrases like "Every story needs a hero", "What our story needs is conflict", "It is metaphor", etc.
Here are the film references I spotted starting from the beginning:
Cat Ballou/Blazing Saddles: musicians singing story are visible to us and to the players in the film.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: when Rango is flung against a windscreen
Big Lebowski: Chameleon/rock creature sounds like Jesus Quintana ("dios mio!")
Sergio Leone's "No Name" Trilogy:
(Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More & GB&U)
Spirit of the West = The "Man with No Name" i.e. Clint Eastwood
Rattlesnake Jake = Lee van Cleef
Good, Bad & Ugly (Il buono il brutto il cattivo) = bird's cry used to bleep swear word
Once Upon a Time in the West = squeaky windmill from opening sequence
Django: the gattling gun in Rattlesnake Jake's tail
Star Wars IV: visual echoes of Mos Eisley Cantina in the Saloon
ALSO the fight in canyon is like final Death Star canyon sequence
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| Jabba the Hut (Star Wars IV) & Buford the Barkeep (Rango) |
Jurassic Park: dinosaur/bird uncovers someone on the toilet
Chinatown: Ned "The Mayor" Beatty mimics John Huston's villain AND
Chinatown: theme of water in desert, drowned man in desert, etc...
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: hero is a fraud
Apocalypse Now: bats/helicopters fly out to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"
I have heard there are also references to Ghostbusters, Planet of the Apes & Deliverance. (But I didn't get those...)
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteguitar/banjo playing in the airborne The Hills Have Eyes characters on bats - Deliverence, Appocolypse Now, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars in a single sequence.
ReplyDeleteChase sequence with Jake (Jake as in Chinatown) is Raising Arizona. What with the "We Ride" sequences - the long shots seem really familiar but I can't remember. Alice In Wonderland with the rolly-polly bugs instead of hedgehog golf.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pricia!
ReplyDeleteHow about The Three Amiga suit Rango wears!
ReplyDeletelord of the rings with the sequence underground with the snake eye opening behind them
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure I heard a tune from the Bladerunner soundtrack in there.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about a little nod to Dune as well?
ReplyDelete"he who controls the spice controls the universe"
DeleteThe half buried boat in the desert is right from the early Shia Lebouf film "Holes."
ReplyDeleteThese are all great! Thanks, pards!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Klaus Kinsky playing the Hunchback in one of Leone's dollar trilogy film (maybe For a few dollars more, I don't remember)? It's one of the guys in the Mayor's crew.
ReplyDeleteThe Clock is from "The Quick and the Dead"
ReplyDeleteGood catch! Thanks!
Delete