Comments on: Movies with Rube Goldberg Machines in them.

Question: Movies with Rube Goldberg Machines in them.

allthewhile — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:46:04 -0800

What feature length films have Rube Goldberg machines in them? Can you think of movies that have scenes with machines/devices that are either rube goldberg machines or rube goldberg-esque?

By: weston

weston — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:53:39 -0800

Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

By: toddshot

toddshot — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:54:23 -0800

The only one that comes to mind for me right now is the obvious one - Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. But others are gnawing away at the edges of my memory, so I may come back to this thread later...

By: Paragon

Paragon — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:58:21 -0800

There's the classic cooking-breakfast-with-contraptions scene. Back to the Future has one, as does Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

By: rossination

rossination — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:02:13 -0800

Wallace and Grommit movies.

By: oflinkey

oflinkey — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:02:43 -0800

Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:03:47 -0800

Various evil-doer's machine in the James Bond films? In particular machines designed to kill Bond.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:06:48 -0800

Goonies

By: allthewhile

allthewhile — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:06:52 -0800

Is there one in that movie Young Einstein?

By: Freedomboy

Freedomboy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:08:52 -0800

Batteries Not Included, little flying machines making repairs on the building and each other.

By: djb

djb — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:09:51 -0800

I seem to recall the dad (Rick Moranis) in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids having lots of breakfast-gadgets like Paragon mentioned.

By: Jon Mitchell

Jon Mitchell — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:20:46 -0800

Apparently the "Breakfast Machine" is also in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - there are also lots of other references at Wikipedia. I can't vouch for their accuracy, but they seem to tie in with the other answers here.

By: davey_darling

davey_darling — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:25:44 -0800

Waiting has one, but you only see it on the special features disc.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:27:05 -0800

Brazil

By: ceribus peribus

ceribus peribus — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:28:22 -0800

Would some of the ancient traps in Raiders of the Lost Ark qualify? In particular, the one that starts the giant boulder rolling while the door lowers to seal the entrance?

There could be many examples from the Egyptian mummy / tomb raider genre.

By: cacahuete

cacahuete — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:28:31 -0800

The Goonies

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:41:03 -0800

One of the Back to the Future movies opened with a rube goldberg device, possibly the first.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:44:06 -0800

The Way Things Go defines the genre.

By: shanevsevil

shanevsevil — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:52:39 -0800

Some of the deaths in Final Destination reminded me of Rube Goldberg machines...

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:56:53 -0800

Keyword: Rube Goldberg @ IMDB

By: krisjohn

krisjohn — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:09:31 -0800

Yeah, the Final Destination "trilogy" all have long, complicated series of events that result in death. From memory, number two has two scenes the most Rube Goldberg-esque (I also think it's the best of the three).

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:14:55 -0800

The life drain machine in The Princess Bride touches on being RubeGoldbergest.

By: beniamino

beniamino — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:51:01 -0800

'Delicatessen' has several scenes of a woman who tries to kill herself with Rube Goldberg machines. The whole film is RG-esque. 'City of Lost Children' (same director) also features a RG machine at some point.

Jacques Tati's films are also often RG-esque.

By: wuzandfuzz

wuzandfuzz — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:52:18 -0800

Home Alone! Various burglar torture devices. Remember Macaulay Culkin as a child? Still inspires abstinence when rational thought can't corral my testicles.

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:52:43 -0800

Several of the kid's traps in the Home Alone movies could qualify.

By: stray

stray — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:06:36 -0800

I believe there was an X-Files episode in one of the later seasons called Goldberg Variations that had a device in it.

By: concrete

concrete — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:16:16 -0800

There's a Family Guy episode with one, but I can't find a clip on YouTube. I think it ends up shooting him in the arm or something.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:26:40 -0800

Here are ones that I seem to remember, but can't be certain:
- Darkman? haven't seen it in ages but I think there's a small Rube Goldberg machine as ignition for a bomb.
- Real Genius has some elements of this in backgrounds and pan shots.
- Around the World in 80 Days, 2004?
- Hudson Hawk?

Some Buster Keaton shorts have mechanical sequences -- I'm thinking especially of The Electric House. Not strictly Rube Goldberg machines, but goofy gadgets.

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:30:04 -0800

Matthew Modine's character in Married To The Mob had some kind of whacky breakfast-and-getting-dressed machine.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:52:46 -0800

The Inventor's early cookie-making machines in Edward Scissorhands qualify as -esque :)

By: JackarypQQ

JackarypQQ — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:18:23 -0800

The thief and the cobbler. There was a post about it a little while ago. 52489. You can get a link to the torrent in that thread.

By: krisjohn

krisjohn — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 02:23:42 -0800

stray is thinking of the X-Files episode "The Goldberg Variation", which is a great episode (and even features on Wikipedia's Rube Goldberg Machine page -- a decent source of answers to this question, btw), but not a feature length film

By: jaded

jaded — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 03:53:41 -0800

While not really rude-goldbergy in any way - the opening credits of "Lord of War" may be interest to you. They follow the path of a bullet from its creation to its inevitable insertion in a young "freedom fighter's" head.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 05:05:37 -0800

Did Wild Wild West have some? I didn't watch it, but the bits I couldn't avoid seeing looked like it.

By: adipocere

adipocere — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 05:35:41 -0800

Ahem. The Money Pit.

By: jvilter

jvilter — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 06:33:50 -0800

I have a vague memory of Dennis Hopper making one in Speed to blow something up.

By: JJ86

JJ86 — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:20:36 -0800

Both Willy Wonka movies obviously.

By: jamaro

jamaro — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:22:28 -0800

Robots, an animated feature length, has a really cool sequence where a RG machine serves as the public transportation system of a city.