User:CaveatLector/Eiffel Tower in pop culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eiffel Tower has been depicted frequently in works of fiction.

In some cases the tower is the key plot element or a significant plot element:

• 1949: In The Man On The Eiffel Tower, the tower plays a central role, and the climax involves a climbing chase that predates the Mount Rushmore scene in North by Northwest.
• 1951: In The Lavender Hill Mob, models of the tower are central to the plot, and the climax takes place on the real tower.
• 1985: The James Bond film A View to a Kill contains a scene in the tower, including scenes in the Jules Verne restaurant there (filmed elsewhere), a fight on the stairway, and a BASE jump off the top of the tower. The video for the title song feature the members of Duran Duran as assassins and spies in or around the tower.

In a notable subtype, the action of all or part of the work centers aroundthe real or threatedned destruction of the tower.

• In the 1992 episode Tower of Power of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Krang has a giant electromagnet, and wants to use it to pull the Technodrome from its Dimension X asteroid location by using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna. The Eiffel Tower begins to be pulled loose from its foundations and towards the dimensional portal. At the last minute, Donatello destroys the generator and the Eifel Tower falls down to the ground.
• In the 1992 episode Rust Never Sleeps of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Bebop and Rocksteady blast metals with Krangs "oxidizer rocket". The "oxidizer rocket" was originally planned by Krang to use to send the Technodrome to Earth, and when it failed, Krang thinks that it can be used by threatening to rust metal if the people don't surrender to Krang and Shredder. Even the Eiffel Tower gets blasted, and begins to collapse from rust. In the end, Donatello reverses Krangs device to turn the metals back to normal.
• 2004: In Team America: World Police, a rocket blows up the tower, and it falls on the Arc de Triomphe.
• 1995: In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer, the tower is one of four selectable targets for the Global Defense Initiative's hijacked Ion Cannon weapon during the ending sequence of the Brotherhood of Nod scenario.
• 2004: In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kamacuras attacks the tower.

In another notable sub-type, the tower and its destruction is used as a symbol of the real or threatened destruction of the city, or the world.

• 1980: In Superman II, the tower (and the rest of Paris) are almost blown up by a terrorist nuclear bomb, and Lois Lane almost plunges to her death under its elevator.
• 1996: The tower can be seen on TV in Independence Day (and is destroyed in the French movie version).
• 2006 The Tower is Destroyed, along with other landmarks in Category 7: The End of the World.
• 2007 The movie 28 Weeks Later ends with people infected with the fictional rage virus heading towards the Eiffel Tower
• 1996: In Mars Attacks!, the tower is Melted/destroyed by Martians.

In others, the tower is used as an embodiment of Paris, the symbol of the city, to set the scene for a film or other work centered on the city.

• 1923: René Clair's Paris qui dort starts, ends and has many scenes on the tower.
• 1939: In Ninotchka an involved flirtation takes place around a discussion of finding the Eiffel Tower around the 26 minute time point.
• 1958: At the beginning of Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows, the tower is seen between Parisian apartment blocks.
• 1995: In French Kiss, Kate misses seeing the tower several times while she wanders around Paris, but later spends several minutes rapturously watching it while on the train to Cannes (from which line it is not possible to see the tower).
• 1995: In Forget Paris, Miki and Ellen are shown in front of the tower numerous times throughout the film.
• 2003: In The Real World Paris television show on the US MTV network, the tower is seen.

In yet others, as a symbol of the city in a more peripheral way:

• 1953: At the end of The War of the Worlds, the tower is seen destroyed.
• 1965: At the end of the Blake Edwards' The Great Race [1], starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, the tower is blown up by a misfired cannon shot from Professor Fate's car.
• 1967: In The Beatles song, 'I Am the Walrus', a character called 'Semolina Pilchard' climbs the tower.
• 1968–2001: A miniature tower is the home of the puppet Grandpere in Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe.
• 1970: The tower is shown in the classic animated film The Aristocats.
• 1979: In the Doctor Who serial City of Death, several scenes were filmed at the Tower, including the final scene of the final part of the serial.
• 1985: In National Lampoon's European Vacation, Clark throws Rusty's beret off the tower. A dog, thinking it is a frisbee, jumps after it. Because a PG-13 was sought, the dog's life is saved by landing in a pond at the bottom of the tower.

Sometimes, it is used as a symbol of continuity, or to establish an historical setting:

• The Eiffel Tower is seen in establishing shots of Paris and from the Office of the President of the United Federation of Planets in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" (1996).
• 1991: In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the tower is shown as still standing in the 23rd century and is visible from the office of the Federation President. The tower is seen in 24th-century Paris in the episode "We'll Always Have Paris" (1988) of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• 1992: The Tower is featured heavily in The Timekeeper ride at Disneyland. in 1900, the present day, and 2189 when it celebrates its 300th anniversary.

Other uses, to establish the tower simply as a well known visual element.

• 1991: In Company Business several mentions are made of the Eiffel Tower, all of them towards the end of the film starting after 1 hour and 16 minutes.

* 1994: In the French film Un indien dans la ville (aka Little Indian, Big City) 13-year-old Mimi-Siku (Ludwig Briand) who has been raised by a Native South American tribe, climbs partway up the tower in tribal costume. (The film was remade in English in 1997 as Jungle 2 Jungle, but the venue is changed to New York City and Mimi-Siku climbs the Statue of Liberty.)

• 1995: In La Haine, the main protagonists lament the fact that they cannot switch the lights of the tower off like people can in the movies. The lights switch off just after they have given up and turned their backs on the tower.

[edit] (in process of classification)

• 2001: In Moulin Rouge!, a pistol thrown from Montmartre by Christian (Ewan McGregor) during the finale bounces off the tower underneath the smiling moon.
• 2003: In Le Divorce the tower features on the movie promo poster and is also mentioned a few times in the film. Two mentions are due to the purported tour guide audio for the tower being audible in the soundtrack.

• 1980: Sexy Eiffel Tower, by the pop group Bow Wow Wow.
• 1981: Condorman attempts to fly off the tower in the movie by the same name.

• 1996: The tower appears in the Paris level in the PlayStation game Twisted Metal 2. The tower can be blown up using a remote bomb and falls as a bridge to other buildings.

• 1998: The tower is destroyed in Armageddon.
• 1998: The tower is stolen by Rex the Runt and his associates in order to replace Blackpool Tower after it is destroyed by an explosion at Bob's International Hiccup Centre following Doctor Dog's takeover of the facility. After the Eiffel Tower is put into place at Blackpool Beach, the Union Jack is flown from its top and Bad Bob comments that "no one will even notice the difference."
• 2000: In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies are atop the tower while using the giant Reptar invention.
• 2000: In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Soviet forces turn the tower into a giant tesla coil capable of destroying all French forces in the area. For copyright reasons, it is called the "Paris Tower" in the game.
• 2001: In The Royal Tenenbaums, the tower appears reflected on the window in a brief scene of Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) with her French lover.

• 2003: The tower is seen in the Paris map of Midnight Club.
• 2003: The tower features in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
• 2004: In Van Helsing, the tower is under construction.

• 2004: In Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, the tower is turned into a stronghold time-portal built by Genma Head-Scientist Guildenstein.
• 2004: The tower flies and moves around Paris in the puppet version of Without a Paddle, in a scene that starts only after the credits end.

• 2004: The tower is seen in Eurotrip and mentioned when a protagonist ask whether they should "check out the huge line at the Eiffel Tower".
• 2005: The tower features in A View from the Eiffel Tower by Montenegrin director Nikola Vukčević.
• 2005: In Evil Genius, the tower can be shrunk and stolen.
• 2005: The tower can be built as a World Wonder in Civilization IV.
• 2005: The tower can be seen in the background, in a scene in the movie Munich
• 2006: In the game Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, part of the French Resistance level requires the player to destroy German anti-aircraft guns on and around the tower.

[edit] other uses

• 1984 Robert J. Moriarty flew a Beechcraft V-35 Bonanza, N111MS, owned by Mike Smith of Mike Smith Speed Conversions in Johnson, Kansas, through the arches under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. [2]video