List of films that break the fourth wall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List of films that break The fourth wall:

Contents

0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] 0–9

[edit] A

  • Airplane! - Also, there is a scene where two women engage in a bar fight and hit the camera in the process. In addition, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who plays the copilot, breaks character (within the script) to make a reference to his real career in basketball.
  • Alfie - The titular character (Michael Caine) talks to the audience often, beginning with the very first scene. The remake starring Jude Law also uses this technique.
  • Animal House - There is only one instance where this happens. John Belushi character "Bluto" Blutarsky during his iconic ladder scene at the girls dorms, looks directly at the camera and raises his eyebrows.
  • Annie Hall - Woody Allen breaks the wall by asking the audience direct questions. He has been often quoted in interviews as portraying this as homage to Groucho Marx. [citation needed] Whether this truly qualifies as breaking the fourth wall is debatable, as his addresses to the audience are isolated monologues akin to a narration. He does, however, address the audience during the famous scene where he produces Marshall McLuhan while in a theater line and says to the audience, "if only life were like this." He also speaks to the audience this way in other films, such as Love and Death.
  • Anguish (film) - Somewhat is similar to the Neverending Story as it could not be seen as technically, breaking the "fourth wall", but does feature around a complex plot in which the first storyline is shown about a third of the way turning out to be a motion picture being observed by a number of onlookers in a movie theater. When the film ends, we suddenly see the credits scrolling up on a completely different movie screen, together with another completely different cinema audience onlookers observing it before getting up and leaving. Implying that the real storyline was also yet another film within film.
  • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - The titular character and his superior, Basil Exposition try to explain the workings of time travel to each other before Austin says "I've gone cross-eyed." Basil replies that it's best not to think too much about how it all works, and turns to the camera and says, "That goes for you all, too" as Austin grins sheepishly at the camera. Later, as Austin and Felicity are driving down a highway, Austin remarks how England looks in no way like Southern California, where the film was shot. As he says this, he looks directly at the audience. Later, Powers also addresses the audience when he introduces a musical performance by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach. At the start, Austin talks to the audience about how his wife was really a fembot. After the credits, a shot of the cliff from which Mufasa fell is shown, with Mufasa saying, "Hello up there. Is the movie over?" before describing the symptoms of his fall, a callback to earlier in the film.

[edit] B

  • Beerfest - After Barry (Jay Chandrasekhar) gets drunk he goes into "beer-o-vision", mistakes an overweight lady, Cherry (Mo'Nique) for a sexy model Naomi (Candace Smith) and goes home with her. The next morning, the hangover flashback kicks in and he finds who he actually slept with. As realization washes over him (like a delousing hosedown at a county jail), he looks directly at the camera (and thereby the audience), and calmly scoffs, "C'mon, I knew it all the time"
  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure -At the beginning of the movie, Rufus (George Carlin) gives a monologue welcoming the audience to the future and explaining the advancements that have been made in the past 700 years: "...the air is clean, the water is clean, even the dirt is clean. Bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we make contact with." He then introduces the protagonists, Bill and Ted. At the end of the movie, when Bill and Ted (who barely know how to play guitar) are practicing with their band, "Wyld Stallyns", he turns to the camera and says, "They do get better."
  • The Big Lebowski - When on his own, The Stranger (Sam Elliott) looks directly at the camera and address the audience, he is also the story's narrator.
  • Blazing Saddles - Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) speaks to the camera several times, and, at one point, rides his horse past a full orchestra playing the score for the movie; an old woman takes a break from being beaten by thugs to remark to the audience "Have you ever seen such cruelty?", and Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) questions exactly how he will pull off his evil plan before looking into the camera and saying "Why am I asking you?" Later Lamarr tells his group of henchmen, "You will only be risking your lives, while I will be risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor!" Near the end of the film, the characters leave the fictional realm of Rock Ridge and enter the actual Warner Bros. studio, literally breaking a wall in the process. One character, just before he punches the director of another film, shouts "Piss on you; I'm working for Mel Brooks!". When Lamarr tries to escape into a movie theater, the movie he watches turns out to be Blazing Saddles itself, and he sees that the hero is still on his trail.
  • Bogus At the the story's conclusion Bogus (Gérard Depardieu) having observed Albert (Haley Joel Osment) leave with Harriet (Whoopi Goldberg) from his mother's graveside, suddenly looks directly at the camera and explains to the audience how odd it is that when it comes to farewells, there are none, imiginary friends like him are just forgotten, unlike introductions, he states although that's sad he can't complain, as that's his job. He starts to walk away, then looks round saying if anyone watching needs him...he's available. We then see him stroll off into the horizon, before switching to another scene of him coming across another child in need who he greets and introduces himself to this girl/boy.
  • Broadway Melody of 1938 included a performance by then-popular singing star Sophie Tucker. During Tucker's major musical number at the end of the film, several neon signs in the background change to read "Sophie Tucker" even though Tucker was not appearing as herself in the film.

[edit] C

  • Carry On Screaming - At the very end, Joan Sims' character, who has supposedly been turned into a dummy so that her husband can set up with Fenella Fielding's character, winks at the audience to indicate she is awake and biding her time.
  • The Cat in the Hat - At the end, the cat is seen to have been narrating the entire film. When he sees the camera centered on him, he smiles sheepishly and leaves.
  • Child's Play 2 - An after credit final scene shows another mold of a doll head being made. Which then becomes the next new face of Chucky. This then faces the audience and an evil grin spreads across it's face before winking at the camera.
  • Clerks II - When Jay is bored, Silent Bob gets his boom box and plays "Goodbye Horses". While the song plays, Jay gets interested and acts like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs while staring at the camera and tells the viewers in a sarcastic way that he wants to engage in sexual intercourse with "us".
  • Coming to America - In a scene where the young prince (Eddie Murphy) is presented with the woman who is to become his new bride, he makes her jump on one foot and bark like a dog. At this point, Murphy gives a pointed stare into the camera. Also, right at the end of the movie, after being helped by Patrice (Allison Dean), Darryl (Eriq La Salle) looks into the camera, and shrugs helplessly.
  • Confidence - During the opening credits, Jake Vig (Edward Burns) the main protagonist looks directly at the audience in two separate opening scenes and explains, the rules of Confidence tricks and the slang words used behind it. He also narrates the story for us not just for the character of Travis (Morris Chestnut), as noted after Travis has left the scene and Jake continues narrating.
  • Crank - At one point, the protagonist reads the onscreen subtitles in order to understand what a Chinese man is saying.
  • The Creation of the Humanoids - At the film's conclusion, the two major characters learn that they are robots, and are offered the chance to be upgraded with the ability to reproduce. The character of Dr. Raven addresses the camera and tells the audience that of course the operation was a success, or the audience wouldn't be here: presumably the audience consists of the robotic descendants of the characters.
  • A Christmas Story - When getting away with his lie about nearly shooting his eye out Ralphie looks right into the camera and smiles.
  • Cromwell - after the beheading of Charles I, the film ends with an actor breaking character and speaking to the audience, asking them initially if they're all right after having watched the execution, and then discussing the historical aftermath of the events in the film.

[edit] D

  • Dawn of the Dead - Features a trailer which simulates the film projector reel stopping and starting before suddenly breaking, with a series of shadowy figures, which turn out to be zombies who begin appearing behind the movie screen, to start pawing it. In The closing credits, the zombies appear to be charging directly at the camera.
  • Death Wish 3 - In the climax of the movie Charles Bronson's character shoots a gangster and some blood splatters onto the camera.
  • Dungeons & Dragons - After returning from the enchanted scroll and finding out where to find the Rod of Sevrille, the group decides to go after it. Sitting in a tree the dwarf Elwood Gutworthy (Lee Arenberg), asks "Who'll pay me if I go?" Being left alone with an unsatisfactory response of working out the details later, Elwood turns to the now zoomed-in camera, closes his eyes and shakes his head; opening his eyes to the camera again he remarks, "That's a terrible way to do business."

[edit] F

  • Fantastic Four - In a deleted scene, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) looks directly into the camera with a smile as his character morphs to look like Wolverine from X-Men during a flirtatious exchange with The Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba). It's possible, however, that this scene was filmed as a joke and was never intended for inclusion in the final film.
  • Father of the Bride - The first shot of the movie pans through the party room in the wedding until it ends up on George (Steve Martin), who, while tying his shoes, introduces us to the story of the film, then tells us the story as it happens, even continuing in a voice-over.
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Ferris (Matthew Broderick) addresses the audience directly on several occasions, including a famous scene at the end where Ferris comes out in his bathrobe, looks directly into the camera, and says "You're still here? It's over. Go home."
  • Fiddler on the Roof - Tevye's opening monologue about the traditions of his village are addressed directly at the audience. At times, the background action freezes, allowing the main character to talk to the audience about "on the other hand."
  • Fight Club - Edward Norton's character frequently addresses the audience directly, and his character's name is never given, but credited as "Narrator". Also, the character Tyler Durden is a film projectionist who splices frames of pornography into other films, near the end of Fight Club a few frames showing a penis are obviously spliced into the film, as well as 4 single frame appearances of Tyler in the beginning of the film.
  • Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter - Somewhere in this movie, there features a scene in particular which simulates the film projector reel suddenly breaking, and a shadowy figure (presumably Jason) suddenly showing up, directly behind the movie screen.
  • Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives - Early in the film, the caretaker of the cemetery Jason is buried in covers the grave back up. In doing this, the caretaker says "Why'd they have to go dig up Jason anyway." He then looks directly to the camera and says "Some people have a strange idea of entertainment." Also in the film, when Darren and Lizbeth nearly run Jason over, Lizbeth makes the comment "I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly"
  • Funny Games - Paul (Arno Frisch) winks at the camera prior to Anna (Susanne Lothar) finding the dead family dog. When Paul has taken the family hostage, he states their chances of surviving are nil prompting him to suddenly look at the camera and bluntly state, "You're on their side so who will you bet with?" Most notably, Paul actually rewinds the film at one point. When Anna seizes the rifle and shoots Peter (Frank Giering), Paul frantically searches for the VCR remote control and then rewinds the scene back to the point before Anna made her move. In the second play through, Paul does not let Anna touch the gun. The movie in fact ends on Paul (ready to kill another home owner), looking directly at the camera with a cruel evil smile crossing his face.
  • Funny Man - At times during the movie the Funny Man Speaks directly at the camera or at times just looks in it's direction. In one instance he gives a frustrated look after failing to shoot a lady with a blunderbus, as she keeps unknowingly moving out of his firing line. During the closing credits a song called "Funny man" is played, during which The Funny Man suddenly starts talking over the top of this song telling the audience to amongst other things, sing along. After the last of the credits have finished, we see Funny Man standing in a garden. He suddenly glares directly into the camera and says along the lines of, "How many times do I have to tell you? There's, NO rest for the wicked!" he then walks off camera.

[edit] G

  • Gangster No. 1 - At one point Gangster 55 (portrayed by Malcolm McDowell) goes the restroom and urinates with his glass of champagne sitting on the floor near the urinal, some of his urine splashing into the glass. He is then about to take a drink from the urine-sprinkled champagne when he changes his mind, looks into the camera, and angrily demands of the viewer "What do you take me for?, A cunt?" before dropping his cigar into the drink and sneering at the camera as he walks away.
  • Garfield - After looking at a cat on TV and asking who would want that kind of exposure, Garfield smiles at the camera. At the end of the film, he talks to the audience about himself.
  • George of the Jungle - There are multiple references in this film where the characters either talk to narrator or the audience. One such is where Shef is chewing on a dog-bone and the narrator comments that it is too much and orders to lose it. During the sequence where the two hunters are hopelessly lost, they get into a fight with the narrator. The narrator also appears in two more scenes: one in which he corrects a crowd ("They reacted with awe." "Awwww..." "I said, 'Awe.' A-W-E." "Oooh..." "That's much better.") and other in which he talks with George. After Lyle falls in elephant poop, a Swahili person says, "Bad guy falls in poop: Classic element of physical comedy. Now comes the part where we throw our heads back and laugh. Ready?" and the Swahili people laugh.
  • Gremlins 2: The New Batch - There are numerous instances of the film's self-awareness, including one scene where, the projector breaks, causing the current frame of the film, to burn up, and a pair of gremlins appear behind the movie screen, laughing hysterically. Prompting a character to run into the lobby of the movie theatre to find Hulk Hogan, who is then brought into the film to fight the little monsters. At the end after he triumphs, he looks directly at the camera and states as the other cinemagoers cheer, "I'm sorry folks...it won't happen again". This scene was replaced in the video release by a scene in which the gremlins break the video tape and make shadow puppets against the static. It ends with them changing the channel to a John Wayne movie. Wayne (in archive footage, with a soundalike actor dubbed over the top) shoots the gremlins and restores the film, saying as the surviving gremlins boo and hiss, "I don't want these little critters in my movie and you don't want 'em in your TV set...let's start that movie up again."

[edit] H

  • Hedwig and the Angry Inch During the musical number "Wig in a Box", Hedwig looks at the camera and says "Ok, now everybody", and the audience is prompted to sing along with the film.
  • High Anxiety - In one scene, a camera zooming in breaks a window, and the characters look over at it. Also, on several occasions when dramatic music plays, all of the characters on screen look directly at the camera to acknowledge it.
  • High Fidelity - Rob (John Cusack) constantly engages in "conversation" with the viewer. For instance, when Rob's ex-girlfriend tells him that she and her new boyfriend haven't had sex "yet", he engages the viewer to try to figure out what she meant and whether she intends to have sex with the new boyfriend.
  • History of the World, Part I - Comicus (Mel Brooks), upon hearing that Miriam is a Vestal virgin, turns to the camera saying "I'm really sorry to hear that." Later, Brooks again, this time as Louis XVI, turns to the camera and boldly states, "It's good to be the king!"
  • Hitch - Hitch played by Will Smith talks to the viewers about his life in the beginning including the end.
  • The Holy Mountain - At the very end of the film (when the immortals are revealed to be dummies) the Alchemist tells the group that "Real Life Awaits Us" and the camera crew is shown.
  • House of Wax - Among the scenes featured in the film that make the best use of 3-D are a paddleball man who directs his ball towards the audience and invites them to the opening of the wax museum.

[edit] I

  • Idlewild - The film closes on a music video style song & dance number performed by Percival (André Benjamin) who ends the song looking directly into the camera pointing his finger like a gun at it, as he speaks the last lyric.

[edit] J

  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - Jay and Silent Bob talk with Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) about the movie, McNeil says "A Jay and Silent Bob movie? Who'd pay to see that?" and then the three of them glance at the camera with Silent Bob poorly suppressing a giggle. In addition, when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reprising their roles from "Good Will Hunting", they make a joke about having to star in a movie because their friend (Kevin Smith) says they owe him a favor, then they both look directly at the audience for a moment. At another point, the wildlife marshall (Will Ferrell) argues with a policeman about a diamond heist, claiming it sounds like something out of a bad movie, at which point they both directly look at the camera.
  • Josie and the Pussycats - Wyatt Frame, played by actor Alan Cumming looks directly at the camera after stopping abruptly, in front of his SUV are Josie, Melody and Valerie walking across the street, guitars and drums in hand, wind blowing their hair back dramatically, as two workers carry a huge glittering sign that says "Best Band in the World". In the DVD commentary, the directors say that Alan Cumming is one of the few actors that can get away with breaking the fourth wall. Another reference is made when Alexandra Cabot (Missi Pyle) is asked by her brother what she was doing on the plane (with the group along with Frame and Fred). Her response to both her brother and the viewers watching the film: "It's in the comic book."

[edit] K

  • Kill Bill Vol. 2 - At the start, The Bride (Uma Thurman) speaks to the audience, making a metafictional reference to the trailers for the first Kill Bill film. At the end of the film, when the Bride is shown driving away during the closing credits, she winks at the audience.
  • Kuffs - Throughout the film, whenever main character George Kuffs (Christian Slater) is alone, he looks directly at the camera and speaks to the audience, bemoaning the current situations he's got into (with the exception of the final scene where he speaks whilst cradling his baby daughter). The film ends with George waving goodbye and saying "SEE YA" as he walks off set. In another scene a series of dubbing involving sound effects suddenly occurs when George is bickering with his demoted cop partner, Ted Bukovsky (Tony Goldwyn) and the argument leads to a swearing match between them both.

[edit] L

  • Last Action Hero - The concept of this film is about breaking the fourth wall. Danny, a fan of the fictional "Jack Slater" action movies, is magically transplanted into the latest movie, interacting with his hero. Eventually, the film's villain escapes into the real world, and contacts one of Jack Slater's other film villains in an attempt to assassinate Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor who plays Jack Slater. Throughout the film, numerous references to action film clichés are made, including several attempts on Slater's part to say something other than predictable one-liners or the fact that his gun never runs out of bullets.
  • Layer Cake - Towards the very end of the film, when XXXX (Daniel Craig) is leaving with his girlfriend, he turns to the camera and breaks off from narration to regular dialogue, stating, "My name? If you knew that, you'd be as clever as I am."
  • The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse - The entire concept is built around breaking the fourth wall. After characters in Royston Vasey discover that they are fictional and the fate of their world is under threat due to the writers planning to abandon the series, they find a way into the real world to confront them. One character even takes over the life of the actor who portrays him. - strictly speaking however this is a metafiction - the 'real' fourth wall is never broken.
  • Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Snicket keeps telling the people to leave the theater, because the movie is unhappy, and to go see "The Littlest Elf", which he says he thinks they may be still seating at theater 2. (It wasn't really. The Littlest Elf wasn't even made, and doesn't even exist.) - This may not count as breaking the 4th wall however, as Snicket is a narrator.
  • The Libertine - The film opens with Johnny Depp's character addressing the audience as a prologue, and telling them that he doesn't want or expect them to like him. He then closes the film by asking what the audience thought of him.
  • Little Rascals - When one of the rascals' mothers played by Whoopi Goldberg cheers her son on, he replies "Oh... Whoo-pee".
  • Looney Tunes: Back in Action - Bugs explains about pointillism then says "I think when you go to the movies, you should learn something." Also, just before the end credits, Porky does his "That's all, folks!" line, but the studio's about to close, so he just says "Go home, folks." Then, the final light goes out, and the movie ends. Also, after Bugs puts popcorn in an alien helmet, he persuades moviegoers to get a refreshment at the snack bar.

[edit] M

  • Mary Poppins - The character of Bert greets the audience at the start of the film, and leads them to the house where the Banks family lives. In a later scene as he is working on his sidewalk chalk drawings, he says "'Ello, art lovers!" and sings a song that explains the concept of a "screever".
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail - In one of the rare extended cuts, Dingus addresses the audience, asking, "Do you think this scene should have been cut?" This spiel continues for a few moments then cuts to other characters who have previously appeared saying why their scene was better and then, finally, to numerous characters (who have not yet at that point appeared in the film) screaming, "Get on with it!" When we meet all of the knights of Camerlot (through use of a book), there is a Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film. Later, King Arthur (Graham Chapman) talks about a man at the Bridge of Death who was also in "scene 24". At another point, the Knights escape an animated monster due to a freak heart attack suffered by the cartoonist. At the end of the film a seemingly medieval battle is broken up by police cars and one policeman says, "That's enough, sonny!" and smashes the camera with his hand, whereupon the film "breaks" and the movie ends abruptly.
  • Monty Python's The Meaning of Life - During a sketch in the jungle, a native is revealed to be a white man in a white suit who announces that this is the middle of the film. The next scene is of a woman (Michael Palin) sitting in a room, who introduces a scene where the audience has to shout out where they think the fish is. Throughout the next scene, the audience can be heard, saying that the fish is in ridiculous places. The next scene, in which the fish from the first scene in the film say how terrific the last scene was, also state the film has not had much to do with the meaning of life. During the cleanup from the restaurant scene involving Mr. Creosote, one of the waiters gives the audience his view on the meaning of life (which involved urging the camera to follow him through the city and countryside to his rural childhood home), followed by telling the audience off. At the end of the film, the women returns, reads the meaning of life and goes off on a large diatribe on how much more violent cinema had become in the early 1980s. She then leads into the theme music from Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is played on a television set in space.
  • Mr. & Mrs. Smith - John (Brad Pitt) smirks at the camera as Jane (Angelina Jolie) dances sensuously with him, though he doesn't technically break the fourth wall as the scene immediately reveals that he was actually smirking at two other characters off camera. However, this look at the camera took on new meaning for audiences when the film was released following months of rumors that Pitt and Jolie began a relationship while filming the movie.
  • Murder 101 - After Pierce Brosnan's character finds that one of his students has not only written and published a murder mystery based on his experiences solving a series of murders, but has also sold the movie rights, one of the other characters says "I wonder who'll play me... Myrtle Streep?" and an off-screen voice says "Meryl Streep" as a boom mike drops into frame. The film ends showing a film being made.

[edit] N

  • The NeverEnding Story - Although not technically broken, the movie is itself about the breaking of a "fourth wall" in a book, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, and ultimately (albeit subtly) challenging the viewer to question his own fourth wall.

[edit] O

  • O Lucky Man! - Lindsay Anderson's surreal film contains many instances of the fourth wall being broken. Frequently the camera will cut to a recording studio where Alan Price and his band are recording the film's soundtrack while the director looks on. Later, the film's main character Mick Travis (a role Malcolm McDowell reprised from Anderson's earlier If...) hitches a lift with the band in their bus, and visits the same studio. In the final scenes, Travis attends an open audition for a film after being told to try his luck. Lindsay Anderson is casting and Travis is told to pose with a book and a machine gun, exactly how McDowell was portrayed in the promotional images for If....
  • Oceans 12 - Throughout the film, many characters remark that Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts) bears a striking resemblance to Julia Roberts. To take the joke further, Tess later impersonates her. This is brought home when Julia Roberts, playing Tess, is complaining about the Julia Roberts role she is expected to perform and tells Matt Damon's character, Linus, "No, you're playing a role, I'm apparently playing a real person!" To take it one step further, in the film's credits, Tess Ocean is credited as having played Julia Roberts.
  • Orlando - The title character frequently looks at the camera to comment about the situation at hand.

[edit] P

  • Persona - It is bookended by two shots of a projector turning on and off; halfway through the film, the camera turns around and shows the director (Ingmar Bergman) and his crew.
  • The Producers - After Max leaves, Ulla and Leo are alone. When Leo becomes uncomfortable, he moves away from her. She asks why "Bloom go so far camera right." - Also, Max tells Roger de Bris: "I've seen you at rehearsal always moving your lips along with the actors." While Max is saying this, Roger is moving his lips along with the actor Nathan Lane who plays Max. Max points this out by gesturing at Roger who sniggers. - Also, when Leo interjects during the court case, samba music starts playing without apparent source. The judge bangs his gavel to gain order and says to stop that samba.

[edit] R

  • Reefer Madness - At the end, Dr. Carroll warns that marijuana addiction could happen "[points to one of the people listening] to your son, [points to another] or yours, [points and speaks directly at the camera] or YOURS!"
  • Repossessed - There are occasions when the fourth wall is broken for comic effect. When Nancy Aglet (Linda Blair) is first introduced, gothic music plays prompting her to freeze and look around to see where it's coming from. Another scene has the possessed Nancy being challenged to display her powers; goaded on, she growls, "Well how about I...", then suddenly looks directly at the camera and snarls "...break the film?", at which point the film projector stops at the current frame of the film, burning up to the sound of tormented moaning.
  • "Road movies" - Bob Hope and Bing Crosby frequently made comic asides to the camera, such as saying, "At our age? Paramount wouldn't dare!" In Road to Utopia, they are traveling across frozen land on dogsled, when a mountain appears. Hope says, "Get a load of that bread and butter!" Crosby remarks, "Bread and butter? That's a mountain!" Then the words "Paramount Pictures" appear on the mountain and Hope comments, "It may be a mountain to you, but it's bread and butter to me!"
  • Robin Hood: Men in Tights - As a comedy, the film breaks the fourth wall on several occasions, such as mentioning other Robin Hood films in general, or in particular, during the archery contest where Robin checks "the script" to see if he gets another shot, causing everyone else to pull out their movie script and do the same.
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Several times, Dr Frank N Furter (Tim Curry) addresses the camera with passing comments like "how nice!", and "it's not easy having a good time, even smiling makes my face ache!" he also throws a cup of water over the camera, when he notices the audience watching. During the dinner scene, Dr. Scott turns directly to the camera and says "I knew he was in with a bad crowd, but it was worse than I imaged. Aliens!" Half of the audience replies to the screen by saying "Who the fuck are you talking to?" while the second half of the audience repsonds to the first with the line "Who the fuck are YOU talking to?"

[edit] S

  • Scary Movie - At one point in the film when Cindy sees the Killer in her house, she starts to scream and the camera pans in too close on her and hits her in the face, as she runs off she also pushes the camera out of the way.
  • Scrooged - As the credits roll at the end, Frank Cross (Bill Murray) comes forward from the singing crowd and asks theatre audiences to sing along, saying, "All right, everybody start singing. Ok, how 'bout this side of the theatre? No, no, how 'bout this side? Let's hear the men. Ok, the REAL men. Let's try the women. No, the REAL women. All right, YOU, who was making noise throughout the whole movie!"
  • Severance - After consuming some Psychedelic mushrooms Steve (Danny Dyer) starts to hallucinate, during which he suddenly becomes aware of the camera and on catching sight of it jolts backwards in surprise.
  • Shirley Valentine - The title character narrates much of the movie while on screen. She explains this behavior to other characters by saying she is literally "talking to the wall".
  • Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth - Martina (Majandra Delfino) remarks that the cast is in a "parody situation", and then recounts the rules for survival. At another point, there is a brief montage showing the entire cast's reaction to a comment, and the movie's crew is shown as well. At the end, Dawson (Harley Cross) says that he and Martina are safe, "At least until the sequel." And finally, the entire post-credit lag is a fourth wall-break.
  • Short Circuit - After Johnny 5 makes S-A-I-N-T Prototype Number 3 run into an outhouse, he looks straight at the camera and says “Well, when ya gotta go, don't squeeze the charmin”.
  • Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 - At one point of the film Richard 'Ricky' Caldwell goes to see a film with his girlfriend, Jennifer Statson to see a movie which is not only based on the events of the previous film, but depicts the exact events from it.
  • Sixteen Candles - Anthony Michael Hall turns to the camera and says "this is getting good."
  • Sling Blade - Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) turns his head and gazes directly into the camera while walking down a street. Parts of Karl's monologue are also directed toward the camera. When asked about these techniques on Inside the Actors Studio, Thornton said that he was simply attempting to connect with the audience and that he did not understand why some film purists criticize the breaking of the fourth wall. [citation needed]
  • Spaceballs - There are several instances where the actors know they are making a movie, such as Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) accidentally killing a camera man during a lightsaber scene, crashing into a camera during a close-up, etc. At one point, after a lengthy, obvious piece of plot exposition by Colonel Sandurz (George Wyner), Helmet turns to the camera and says "Everybody got that?" During the diner scene, John Hurt (playing himself) says "Oh no, not again", due to the fact that this has happened to him before in Alien. When they have lost Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga), Dark Helmet and Colonel Sandurzz watch "Spaceballs, the Video" to find out where their quarry has gone. Also, the video collection in which Spaceballs was found included several other Mel Brooks films. In a particularly ironic moment, as they fast-forward through the video, they come to the exact moment when they are watching the video and they watch themselves watching the video of themselves watching the video of themselves, etc. Later in the movie, Yogurt (Mel Brooks) reveals the several pieces of merchandise made for the film to our heroes, including Spaceballs the Cereal, Spaceballs the Coloring Book, and Spaceballs the Flamethrower. Also, as Lone Starr leaves, he asks if they'll ever meet again. Yogurt replies by saying they'd definitely meet again in the sequel Spaceballs II: The Search for More Money. Yet another such moment is during a chase where Vespa, Lone Starr, Barf and Dot Matrix jump through a closing hatch, only to be captured by soldiers. They are paraded in front of the general, who asks them to "turn around", and it is revealed that they are not the real characters, for example Vespa being shown as a man with facial hair, smoking a cigar. The general responds to this by shouting at the guards: "You idiots! These are not them! You've captured their stunt doubles!" Also, in Spaceballs, after Barf (John Candy) rescues the Druid Princess, he turns his head and says to the audience, "Funny. She doesn't look Druish", a play on words of "Jewish Princess", a term used to poke fun at the Princess' outlandish demands despite having just been saved.
  • Space Jam - Bill Murray (playing himself) says that he got into the movie because the producer was a friend of his. In another scene, Mr. Swackhammer (animated; voiced by Danny DeVito) looks at the camera and says (referring mistakenly to Bill Murray), "I didn't know Dan Aykroyd was in this picture." When Bugs Bunny is chased by Elmer Fudd, he stops and says to the audience "I'll be with you in a minute, folks, after I'm done with nature boy here." At another point, Tweety gives a sly look to the audience when he begs Michael Jordan (playing himself) to help the Looney Tunes characters. Daffy Duck even spits on the camera as he talks into it because of his speech impediment. In one scene, where the monster known as Bang runs to the net to make a slam dunk, he says "Don't try this at home" to the audience. When Bugs kisses Lola Bunny, she acts like Daffy and pulls down the next scene. At the end of the movie, after the credits finish rolling, Bugs delivers the classic "That's all Folks" line, followed by Porky Pig, who usually says it himself, followed by Daffy, then the Nerdlucks. Then Michael Jordan pops up from the bottom from the screen and asks "Can I go home now?".
  • Spiceworld - While the ending credits are rolling, the Spice Girls look at the audience, referring to them as "tiny people" and address one (nonspecific) audience member, asking where their clothing was purchased.
  • Spy Hard - When the con artists are torturing a character representing Macaulay Culkin (but played by another child actor), they make several comments about getting back at him for Getting Even With Dad, My Girl, and My Girl 2 (which Culkin wasn't in, but the thugs don't care anyway). In the introduction song, Weird Al Yankovic sings to the viewer that the movie is called Spy Hard and that they are watching Spy Hard.
  • Stranger Than Fiction - The entire movie breaks the fourth wall as Will Farrell's character argues with the narrator, discovering in the process that his life is merely scripted.
  • Superman - Clark saves Lois from being shot by a burglar. After asking him if he's all right, Clark looks at the camera and reveals the bullet captured in his hand. In the final moments of the film, Superman flies into space and gives a smile to the viewers before departing. This end sequence is repeated in the sequels.
  • Support Your Local Sheriff! - Jake (Jack Elam) narrates the epilogue of the film direct to camera, and then attempts (rather self-consciously) to strike a dashing pose in time for the titles to roll.
  • The Sweetest Thing - An after the credits have rolled scene, shows four of the main members of the cast sitting on a couch, on noticing the camera the speak directly too it, telling the audience that; "It's (the movie) over...go home!"

[edit] T

  • The Taking of Beverly Hills - In the opening of the film corrupt cop Ed Kelvin (Matt Frewer) does a voiceover monologue about Beverly Hills. He end it by saying "Of course if you're a beverly hills cop like me you just can't afford to live here...makes you think doesn't it?" with him sounding like his addressing the audience as he does so.
  • Tapeheads - After the attack on their studio, Ivan Alexiev (Tim Robbins) and Josh Tager (John Cusack) simultaneously turn to the camera and say "We love The Swanky Modes!"
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Just before rescuing Sarah Connor from the asylum, John Connor makes the Terminator swear he won't kill anyone. This memorable scene, featured prominently in the previews for the movie, had the Terminator turn and look directly at the audience and say, "I swear I will not kill anyone."
  • Thoroughly Modern Millie - When the characters are thinking, they look directly to camera, and their thoughts appear on silent cinema-style caption cards. When Millie Dillmount (Julie Andrews) is undressing for bed, she looks coyly at the camera before closing her dressing room door on the audience.
  • Three Stooges - In the short film "Rhythm and Weep", Larry turns to the camera while hugging his suicidal sweetheart and says, "This I like. And I get paid for it, too." In another short, the Stooges are stuck in prison, breaking rocks off of Curly's head. When Larry reaches for the next rock, Curly suddenly tells him "that's a real rock" (as opposed to a prop).
  • Through the Olive Trees - During the action of the film the camera pulls back to reveal the film crew and director. As this happens more than once the viewer is left wondering whether they are watching a fictional drama or documentary.
  • Tom Jones - Various characters break off in the middle of their scenes to look into the camera and address the audience. Most famously, Tom Jones (Albert Finney) takes off his hat and hangs it on the camera lens to prevent the audience from seeing his tryst with Mrs. Waters (Joyce Redman).
  • Top Secret! - Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) spews out an absurd summary of the plot of the movie thus far. Hillary Flammond (Lucy Gutteridge) replies "I know. It all sounds like some bad movie", at which point there is a long pause, followed by both actors looking directly at the camera.
  • Two Can Play That Game - Shante Smith (Vivica A. Fox) routinely addresses the camera as she doles out her daily rules for keeping control of a man. At one point, as she and attorney-boyfriend Keith are starting to become amorous in his office, she reaches out to cover the camera with her hand saying, "You know what? This ain't none of yo' business."
  • Trading Places - The owners of the commodity trading company are explaining to Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy), "Pork bellies, which are used to make bacon; which you might find in a bacon and lettuce and tomato sandwich." Murphy looks directly at the camera for a single second, as if to share with the viewer the sense of being patronized. Earlier in the film, upon being arrested, he looks directly at the camera as the police car leaves.

[edit] U

  • Undercover Brother: The title character gives the camera looks throughout the movie. After Sistah Girl says "I could break you in half" Undercover Brother replies "That'd be long division", then looks at the camera and emphasises "Long."

[edit] V

[edit] W

  • Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie - Steve Carell's character Brick, who is mentally retarded and often ignored, while seated in the back of the news van looks directly into the camera, which is shooting through the front windshield, and says "Hey look, a camera", and his comment is ignored by the others.
  • Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2 - Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers), Garth Algar (Dana Carvey), and several other characters frequently talk directly to the audience. At one point in Wayne's World, a sadistic baker begins addressing the audience but Wayne breaks in and says, "What do you think you're doing? Only Garth and I get to talk to the camera!"
  • What's Up, Tiger Lily? - Halfway through the movie the fourth wall is broken as Woody Allen is interviewed breifly in regards to the film. The interviewers ask if he could explain what the previous scene was about, to which Woody Allen replies "No.". The film resumes.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit - At the end of the movie, Porky Pig, dressed as a police officer, shooes the crowd away in standard police procedure. Then, after he says "That's all folks!" (apparently for the first time, though the film was set in the 1940s), he turns to the camera and says it again as he did at the end of many Looney Tunes cartoons.
  • The Wizard of Oz - When the "Optimistic Voices" begin singing "You're out of the words, you're out of the dark, you're out of the night..." the characters, especially the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), look around, wondering for a moment where the music is coming from. Later, after the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) accepts his medal for courage, he gives the camera a glance, and says, "Shucks, folks, I'm speechless!"

[edit] Y

  • You, Me and Dupree - An after credit scene shows (Lance Armstrong) himself reading Dupree's self-help book (as Dupree had been reading Lance Armstrong's own novel earlier on), while sitting on a grass lawn. He then looks directly at the camera and wonders aloud how to pronounce his "ness" name and begins trying to find a proper way to pronounce it.

[edit] Other examples

  • Oliver Hardy, in innumerable Laurel and Hardy films, looks directly at the camera in despair, seeking audience sympathy at his ongoing endurance of Stan's antics. It is the 'fourth wall' version of his plea: "Why don't you do something to help me!" Additionally, Stan also frequently sobs directly to camera in moments of apparent hopelessness.
  • In Gilligan's Island, the Skipper frequently mimicks Oliver Hardy's disparaging look into the camera.
  • Groucho Marx was also responsible for some of the earliest breaking of the fourth wall in cinema, in films such as The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers. In The Big Store, Groucho comments to the audience that a dress is red although the film cannot show it the because "Technicolor is so expensive." In Horse Feathers, at the beginning of a musical number, Groucho looks towards the camera and says, "I have to stay here, but there's no reason the rest of you folks shouldn't go out into the lobby until this blows over." This behavior was probably a natural progression from the Marx brothers' days in vaudeville, when it would have been quite natural to address the live audience from time to time.
  • No Muppet movie has ever left the fourth wall intact, with such lines as "This is supposed to be a kid's movie!", "I hope you appreciate that I'm doing all my own stunts", and "[I'm doing] a very brief cameo." Also pointing out that fellow muppets aren't really who they are playing, "Hey, wait a second. You're not Charles Dickens", "I am too". In one Kermit tells Piggy she's over acting.

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/i/s/List_of_films_that_break_the_fourth_wall.html"