KotCS: Homages, Similarities, and References

Indy's brother

New member
Stoo said:
The request for applications has been terminated. It is finnished.
Well, within the last hour SOMEONE (for some ridiculous reason) changed the title of the OTHER thread! Its previous title was almost identical to this one. How 'bout them apples?:rolleyes:

Curios, indeed! Also I must confess that I had at one point started a thread entitled "Homages to Other Films" that was merged with that one.:eek:

Stoo said:
Here we go with repeating ourselves...

More than you are aware:

Stoo said:
"Journey to the Center of the Earth". Escape by underneath pressure in a cylindrical hole of rock.

...as was pointed out 2 years ago in said thread:

Indy's brother said:
In KOTCS, there is also a scene directly inspired by this 1959 adventure classic. At the end of both films, the adventurer and his companions escape a crumbling subterranean death trap by being expelled through a vertical cave. In "Journey", lava propels them. In "Kingdom" water propels them.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Indy's brother said:
Curious, indeed! Also I must confess that I had at one point started a thread entitled "Homages to Other Films" that was merged with that one.:eek:
There is no logical reason why this thread was not merged with the previously existing one. Changing the other thread title is extremely poor form. (Where is Attila or Moedred when you need them?:confused:) How does the old saying go? "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.":p
Indy's brother said:
More than you are aware:
...as was pointed out 2 years ago in said thread:
Oh, I'm aware, Indy's brother. We even talked together about it there.;)

"Knife to a gun fight". Guess where there was a similar line...
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Raiders112390 said:
Never understood the fascination with thread necromancy on this forum.

'tis the black arts. Witches and brooms go hand in hand. A tidy workplace is a safer workplace.

With repetition the order of the thread:

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Wilhelm

Member
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) the wedding of James Bond is similar in tone / editing.

We see the wedding ring in a window shop and then we cut to the hand of the bride in the wedding. Like the close up of the Bible and then the priest in KOTCS.

Also there's a hat symbolic moment: Bond throws his hat to Moneypenny and Indy gets the hat from Mutt.

The pastel tone and colour are similar and the use of comments between the guests (M and Draco / Ox and Stanforth)

Of course after the wedding Tracy is murdered and Marion not.

About The Atomic Kid: it's funny because now everybody says that the inspiration for Doomtown was the first draft of Back To the future (Even the screenwriter Bob Gale says so), but the truth is that both movies (BTTF and KOTCS) are paying homage to The Atomic Kid (In BTTF we see the title in the movie marquee)

In Spielberg's biography by Joseph McBride Spielberg said: "Phoenix, Arizona, is not exactly the culture centre of the United States. We had nothing! Except, probably, the worst television you've ever seen. They showed one movie on 3 different chanels, THE ATOMIC KID. They kept repeating that for years!"
 
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Stoo

Well-known member
"Green Hell" (1940)

Indy's brother said:
I've never seen it, but this summary from IMDB tells me that it's likely no coincidence,

any chance you can find a screenshot of this scene to put here? I'm coming up empty....
Indy's brother, here are a just a few scenes from "Green Hell" to tantalize you with...

In "Crystal Skull", the Ughas' descend from the temple in an attempt to destroy their invaders...SIMILAR to this scene!:eek:

GreenHell_00.jpg


Discovery of the tomb...(I made this triptych from 3 different images during a scrolling shot.);)(y)

GreenHell_02.jpg


Running up stairs against a cascade of flowing water...:cool:

GreenHell_03.jpg
 

Indy's brother

New member
Stoo said:
Indy's brother, here are a just a few scenes from "Green Hell" to tantalize you with...

Running up stairs against a cascade of flowing water...:cool:

GreenHell_03.jpg

Of them, this one seems like the smoking gun/bullseye! (y)
 

Goodeknight

New member
Nathan Drake said:
- The heroes in National Treasure also followed riddles to reach the goal.

- The flesh eating ants were very similar to the scarabs in both Mummy films.

- The traitor hording the treasure at the end of the film only to die when the temple collapses also happened in the first Mummy film.

- El Dorado was featured in the 2007 video game Uncharted.

- The opening scene for both the original Tomb Raider and it's 2007 remake featured an atomic bomb being detonated at a nuclear test site in the 1950s. In the original scene, the explosion causes Queen Natla's metalic prison to go flying in the air and crashing outside the blast zone (much like the fridge). The remake version features a dummy town.

- Area 51, the "grey" aliens and a UFO all appear in Tomb Raider III.

- The "well" and the platform stairs goes into the wall was very similar to the Tomb of Ancients in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.

Good observations, Nathan. The ones I picked out above bring up one of my biggest problems with the movie, though.

First came the original serials Spielberg and Lucas loved. Then came the Indy movies. Then came Indy ripoffs like The Mummy, Tomb Raider, and National Treasure. Some were pretty good. But then for Indy movies to rip off the movies that ripped them off??? It's like a fifth generation Xerox copy.
 

Darth Vile

New member
goodeknight said:
Good observations, Nathan. The ones I picked out above bring up one of my biggest problems with the movie, though.

First came the original serials Spielberg and Lucas loved. Then came the Indy movies. Then came Indy ripoffs like The Mummy, Tomb Raider, and National Treasure. Some were pretty good. But then for Indy movies to rip off the movies that ripped them off??? It's like a fifth generation Xerox copy.

You are aware that one can do exactly the same with Raiders, TOD and TLC i.e. highlight the direct influences/homages and plagiarisms??? KOTCS suffered from 'been there done that' syndrome for sure... but I don't think you can blame the movie for using the franchises staple diet of booby traps, creepy crawlies, ancient artifacts etc. etc. If one wants to critique in this area, then it's probably more apt to examine how successfully those elements were used (or argue that they should have gone in an entire new direction).
 

Goodeknight

New member
Darth Vile said:
You are aware that one can do exactly the same with Raiders, TOD and TLC i.e. highlight the direct influences/homages and plagiarisms??? KOTCS suffered from 'been there done that' syndrome for sure... but I don't think you can blame the movie for using the franchises staple diet of booby traps, creepy crawlies, ancient artifacts etc. etc.
I agree with you Darth. I'm just saying that KOTCS goes beyond the standard booby traps and creepy crawlies. You watch stuff in Skull and say, "That's a direct ripoff of National Treasure, which was a total ripoff of the Indy franchise, which was an homage to the old serials." Like I said, fifth generation Xerox.
 

James

Well-known member
Much of the general weirdness was likely inspired by Quatermass and the Pit, a 1958 television serial that was later adapted into a 1967 film.

The plot revolves around a scientist who is tasked with examining a long-buried spaceship containing alien skeletons. These are ultimately revealed to be remants of a hive mind capable of creating a powerful telekinetic link with humans. (The latter produces a violent, uncontrollable shaking in the subject.)

It's eventually theorized that the aliens arrived on earth and began influencing humanity, possibly bestowing psychic powers upon us in the process.
 

Darth Vile

New member
goodeknight said:
I agree with you Darth. I'm just saying that KOTCS goes beyond the standard booby traps and creepy crawlies. You watch stuff in Skull and say, "That's a direct ripoff of National Treasure, which was a total ripoff of the Indy franchise, which was an homage to the old serials." Like I said, fifth generation Xerox.

I really don't believe Spielberg and Lucas were 'ripping off' National Treasure. I think it's more to do with National Treasure ripping off, or riffing on, Indiana Jones type scenarios... which results in similar types of ideas being presented. I think more than anything; KOTCS shows that Spielberg/Lucas weren't willing to be influenced by anything other than themselves/their own work. A problem common with many artists who have reached the summit of their professional mountain i.e. where do they draw their inspiration from when aspirations have been achieved?
 

Goodeknight

New member
Darth Vile said:
A problem common with many artists who have reached the summit of their professional mountain i.e. where do they draw their inspiration from when aspirations have been achieved?

Nicely put, Darth.

When my family watched the Star Wars prequels, my wife noticed the original trilogy was about a goofy kid trying to do something significant in the face of great odds (Lucas at the time). The prequels were suddenly about galactic leaders bickering in a conference hall (Lucas at the time).

Also seems filmmakers sometimes lose the vision they originally had, and can't seem to capture it again when they try to go back.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
James said:
Much of the general weirdness was likely inspired by Quatermass and the Pit, a 1958 television serial that was later adapted into a 1967 film.
Nice one, James. For anyone in the U.S. or Canada interested in seeing this great film, the '67 verison is titled, "Five Million Years to Earth", in North America.
 

Darth Vile

New member
goodeknight said:
Nicely put, Darth.
Thanks goodeknight.

Stoo said:
Nice one, James. For anyone in the U.S. or Canada interested in seeing this great film, the '67 verison is titled, "Five Million Years to Earth", in North America.

Yep - it's a great little Hammer movie. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in 1950's British horror/sci fi.
 

TheMutt92

New member
Even though it prolly wasn't intended, the film has many similarities w/ 1959's classic western "Rio Bravo." Both made by veteran filmmakers returning from a brief hiatus from filmmaking (3 years in Spielberg's case, 4 years in Hawks case). The film represented a turning point in John Wayne's career where he started playing an older character (Indy full embraces his older self). There is a youthful sidekick that appeals to the masses (Ricky Nelson and Shia Labeouf), an old friend w/ troubles (Dean Martin's drunkenness, Ray Winstone's gambling/betrayal). I'm sure there are others, but like I said prolly unintentional.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
TheMutt92 said:
Even though it prolly wasn't intended, the film has many similarities w/ 1959's classic western "Rio Bravo." Both made by veteran filmmakers returning from a brief hiatus from filmmaking (3 years in Spielberg's case, 4 years in Hawks case). The film represented a turning point in John Wayne's career where he started playing an older character (Indy full embraces his older self). There is a youthful sidekick that appeals to the masses (Ricky Nelson and Shia Labeouf), an old friend w/ troubles (Dean Martin's drunkenness, Ray Winstone's gambling/betrayal). I'm sure there are others, but like I said prolly unintentional.

The Wayne films that offer the more interesting comparison are Hawk's <I>Hatari!</I> and Ford's <I>Donovan's Reef</I>.

From a commenter at davekehr.com:

Personal Faves of 2008: (of what I saw–missed a lot)

[...]

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (it’s Spielberg and Lucas’ Hatari, or Donovan’s Reef, okay?)

Comment by JJ 12.30.08 @ 9:37 pm

From Popdose.com, No Concessions: Indy (and indies):

If the movie dawdles on its way to the kingdom of the crystal skull, well, so did Howard Hawks’ Hatari!, or John Ford’s Donovan’s Reef, two autumnal delights from old masters in repose. Today’s aging masters are entitled to their tomfoolery. And this boy-at-heart (and his parents—could they, in 1981, really have been three years younger than I am now?) got a kick out of enough of what they’ve given us to forgive the lapses.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
I don't know if this was deliberate considering Spielberg's upcoming Tin Tin movie but here it goes:

I've been geting back into Tin Tin lately as I was a fan of the books and cartoon series as a kid, and found a rather interesting similarity in "Flight 714 to Sydney".

In this one, Tin Tin and Captain Haddock are spirited away to an island in the Pacific and while trying to escape the baddies, they hear a voice in their heads who guides them and evetually meet a scientist (who is the voice in their heads) who believes in aliens and is waiting for them to come to the island. They escape the inside of a volcano and see a lake, with a whirlpool, the water being sucked away. The hole then explodes with the water and it rainswith heavy clouds. The scientist is able to communicate with the aliens via telepathy and they all go on the ship however the scientist hyponotises all of them so they have no idea they're on the ship at all.

Also throughout the book, as they go through the ruins, there are mentions to 'Chariots of the Gods.'

So the similarities- a scientist who can communicate with the aliens (as in Oxley), hypnosis in both and the lead characters all were on spaceships and the spaceships in both, appear above a lake.
 

TheMutt92

New member
Attila the Professor said:
The Wayne films that offer the more interesting comparison are Hawk's <I>Hatari!</I> and Ford's <I>Donovan's Reef</I>.

You're right, the film is more like Hawks later body of work (starting w/ Rio Bravo, going on through El Dorado and Hatari, and finally ending w/ Rio Lobo).

I had actually forgotten that we almost had this same conversation almost two years ago:

http://raven.theraider.net/showthread.php?t=18702&highlight=shia+ricky+nelson
 
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