List some music videos that rip off movies

November 26, 2006 6:21 PM

List some music videos that rip off movies.

"16 Military Wives" does a "Rushmore" thing, "Into Your Eyes" does "They Live." What are some other good examples?

posted by RobotHero to Media & Arts (49 answers total)

"The Way I Am" by Eminem, sorta ripping off The Hudsucker Proxy.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:25 PM on November 26, 2006

I have ZERO idea why this is the first video that came to mind. Maybe it was my poor taste in music in jr. high or a Keanu Reeves crush when I was 12, but Paula Abdul's video for "Rush, Rush" rips off "Rebel Without a Cause."

p.s. My taste in music has improved dramatically over the years.
posted by awegz at 6:29 PM on November 26, 2006

The Pipettes' video for "Pull Shapes" parodies Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
posted by Bizurke at 6:29 PM on November 26, 2006

Muse's Knights Of Cydonia rips off all the bad 80s scifi-western-robot-unicorn movies they seemed to be making in the 80s.
posted by smallerdemon at 6:32 PM on November 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if this counts but Geri Haliwell (yes, the Spice Girl) rips off the dance scene from "Flashdance" in her video of "It's Raining Men."

Jennifer Lopez does the same thing in some video too, if I recall correctly.
posted by champthom at 6:38 PM on November 26, 2006

Foolish by Ashanti is almost a scene for scene rip off (homage?) of Goodfellas (including an obviously inferior imitation of the one-shot Copa scene)
posted by twoporedomain at 6:52 PM on November 26, 2006

(the JLo video champthom is thinking of is I'm Glad)
posted by twoporedomain at 7:02 PM on November 26, 2006

Not quite what you're after, but maybe close enough:
Weezer - Buddy Holly video
Beastie Boys: Sabatoge
posted by blaneyphoto at 7:07 PM on November 26, 2006

Quarashi's Mr Jinx pays homage to Run Lola Run.
posted by iconomy at 7:09 PM on November 26, 2006

Madonna's "Living in the Material World" video is an homage to Marilyn Monroe singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:13 PM on November 26, 2006

Thriller is all about the old drive-in thrillers.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:16 PM on November 26, 2006

I don't advocate listening to 30 Seconds to Mars, but their video for The Kill rips off The Shining.
posted by SoftRain at 7:18 PM on November 26, 2006

Taking Back Sunday's Cute without the 'e' rips Fight Club.
posted by SAC at 7:21 PM on November 26, 2006

Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted" was a very deliberate homage to the "Air America/Erotica" sequence from "All That Jazz."
posted by frogan at 7:26 PM on November 26, 2006

Metallica's "One" video uses footage from Johnny Got His Gun.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:28 PM on November 26, 2006

Thank you, frogan! I was starting to worry that I'd be the only one who'd cop to sitting through an entire Paula Abdul video.
posted by awegz at 7:28 PM on November 26, 2006

Thank you, frogan! I was starting to worry that I'd be the only one who'd cop to sitting through an entire Paula Abdul video.

Sometime in the early 90s...

Me: Hey!
Her: What?
Me: In this Paula Abdul video, there was a split-second shot of two guys doing it. Did you see it?
Her: Yeah. So what?
Me: It was one guy making like he was ramming the other guy in the ass.
Her: You know what this is based on, right?
Me: No.
Her: It's from All That Jazz.
Me: The Neal Diamond movie?
Her: No, that was The Jazz Singer.
Me: All That Jazz?
Her: Yeah. The whole video is taken from a scene in that movie. It's, like, an homage.
Me: So, it's a gay movie?
Her: No, not at all.
Me: But it has guys doing it.
Her: Girls, too. And the dance number ends in an orgy. It's a great movie.
Me: We need to rent this.
posted by frogan at 7:39 PM on November 26, 2006

Not sure if this qualifies, but Muse's Time is Running Out uses a mock-up Dr. Strangelove's War Room set.
posted by SAC at 7:44 PM on November 26, 2006

"Rammstein's song videos also tie in quite closely with films as they frequently "quote" from movies, including Quentin J. Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in "Du hast" and From Dusk Till Dawn in "Engel". "Du hast" is also a hint to Lost Highway from David Lynch. The video for Feuer Frei also contains many shots taken from the action scenes of xXx." (from the Wikipedia - there's definitely a Reservoir Dogs 'feel' to the Du hast video, but I don't know quite how homagey others might see it.)
posted by cobaltnine at 7:48 PM on November 26, 2006

Georges Melies' "A Trip To The Moon" --> Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight"
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:01 PM on November 26, 2006

I have not seen Metropolis, but a lot of people feel that Madonna's Express yourself is an homage.
posted by saffry at 8:09 PM on November 26, 2006

Audioslave's "Show Me How to Live" = Vanishing Point.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:14 PM on November 26, 2006

Dr. Dre and Tupac's 'California Love' = the Mad Max movies, especially the Thunderdome one
posted by box at 8:18 PM on November 26, 2006

Metropolis

Queen, "radio gaga," the band are pretty much in the actual movie, if I remember correctly.

I don't know if My Chemical Romance's "I'm not OK (I promise)" rips off any one particular movie, but it's an homage to/parody of school movie in general.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:39 PM on November 26, 2006

Quoting the Wikipedia entry on the classic Truffant film Jules and Jim: The music video for the popular song "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer pays tribute to the film and recreates many of the classic scenes.
posted by General Zubon at 9:31 PM on November 26, 2006

I forget which song, but Fu Manchu have one that is a direct rip of OVER THE EDGE
posted by polexxia at 10:24 PM on November 26, 2006

The vid for Hughes Corporation - What a Feeling is a direct rip off of Flashdance (and samples the song from the movie).
posted by radioamy at 10:47 PM on November 26, 2006

in a similar vein (though not quite as good/funny) as the My Chemical Romance "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" is Something Corporate's take on the same genre If You C Jordan

The Killers "Mr Brightside" vid is a take on Moulin Rouge
posted by haveanicesummer at 10:59 PM on November 26, 2006

GENTLEMEN... I give you the work of Marc Webb.
posted by nathancaswell at 11:23 PM on November 26, 2006

And quickly, The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance = Saving Private Ryan... and there's a Thrice video that is City of Lost Children.
posted by nathancaswell at 11:26 PM on November 26, 2006

Faith No More's video for "Last Cup of Sorrow" (youtube) is based on the Hitchcock film Vertigo.
posted by camcgee at 12:50 AM on November 27, 2006

No one's mentioned Fountain of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom," which parodies a very famous sequence from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Also, there was a rap video this summer, I don't remember who it was by, that parodied "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Oh, and Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" didn't exactly recreate scenes from that movie, but might still count.
posted by kimota at 4:28 AM on November 27, 2006

Pretty much all of the Stereophonics videos back in the day were based off movies such as 'Pick a Part' which rips off the Italian job, 'Bartender and the Thief' does a take on Apocalypse now and I think 'What's worth waiting for' was supposed to be M*A*S*H.
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:08 AM on November 27, 2006

The song kimota is thinking about is Busta Rhymes' "I Love My Bitch."
posted by itchie at 6:09 AM on November 27, 2006

Redman and Method Man's 'Whateva Man' = The Blues Brothers
posted by box at 6:12 AM on November 27, 2006

Everything in Lenny Kravitz's Believe (except for Lenny) is right out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
posted by Mapes at 6:55 AM on November 27, 2006

EPMD's video for "Symphony 2000" references several classic horror movies. It was previously discussed here.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:02 AM on November 27, 2006

Nouvelle Vague's version of "Dance With Me" lifts footage directly from Bande A Part.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 7:41 AM on November 27, 2006

Oh, I totally blanked on the Beastie Boys Body Movin'. That rips off DANGER: DIABOLIK! to the point that the video was included on the recent DVD release of DANGER: DIABOLIK! :) Great video and great movie.
posted by smallerdemon at 8:45 AM on November 27, 2006

The Scissor Sisters' I Don't Feel Like Dancin opens with a flash based on one of the President's dreams of nuclear annihilation in Dreamscape.
posted by Rash at 9:13 AM on November 27, 2006

The Killers' "All These Things That I've Done" is in the style of Russ Meyer's films.
posted by ChuckLeChuck at 9:13 AM on November 27, 2006

Seconding the Rammstein comment. The video for "Ich Will" certainly feels like it's ripping off a movie, but I couldn't tell you which one.

All their videos are cool.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 10:46 AM on November 27, 2006

There's a Foo Fighters video (i'm sorry, can't remember which one) that always reminded me of Evil Dead.
posted by clh at 11:01 AM on November 27, 2006

The Goo Goo dolls video for Slide is clearly a homage to various Wong Kar Wai movies, in particular Fallen Angels and Chungking Express.

Chungking Express is awesome, by the way.
posted by chunking express at 11:06 AM on November 27, 2006

I'm not sure it's quite so direct as to be a rip-off, but any music video with super-fast motion (Madonna's "Ray of Light" comes to mind, but there's many others) was probably influenced by Koyaanisqatsi.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:12 AM on November 27, 2006

Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" is based on The Graduate.
posted by divabat at 4:09 PM on November 27, 2006

Berlin's "No More Words" - Bonnie and Clyde
posted by SisterHavana at 12:13 AM on November 29, 2006

There's a Foo Fighters video (i'm sorry, can't remember which one) that always reminded me of Evil Dead.

That's the video for Everlong (directed by Michel Gondry, I believe)-- there's a part of the dream sequence that is an homage to Evil Dead.
posted by camcgee at 1:30 PM on December 1, 2006

When Gondry does it it's an homage, when anyone else does it it's a ripoff!

PS, joking... Obviously Gondry has proven himself to have no shortage of ideas of his own.
posted by nathancaswell at 1:52 PM on December 1, 2006