Flesh Gordon (1974)
The Moment: “A plague! A pox!”
Emperor Wang The Perverted speaks with his demon god, who purrs, “Oh boy, I just love murder…”
What’s It Spoofing: Flash Gordon , plus any number of Ray Harryhausen-aided fantasy flicks.
Why It’s Great: If nothing else, the stop motion is just lovely.
Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)
The Moment: Emmannuelle Prevert (Suzanne Danielle) attempts to seduce a bodybuilder, but it turns out bedroom aerobatics are off the menu.
Which doesn’t stop the chap lingering outside the apartment door getting the wrong idea.
What’s It Spoofing: Erotic French classic Emmanuelle .
Why It’s Great: If the Carry On films did one thing better than anything else, it was double entendre.
High School High (1996)
The Moment: Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz) and Victoria Chapell (Tia Carrere) fight a masked youth in a library.
What’s It Spoofing: Dangerous Minds, Lean On Me, Stand And Deliver.
Why It’s Great: Like all the best ‘bad’ white knights, Clark manages to beat Chapell up more than he actually helps her.
Mafia! (1998)
The Moment: Tony Cortino (Jay Mohr) attends his father’s funeral, where his scarred appearance upsets everybody else in attendance.
What’s It Spoofing: The Godfather Part II.
Why It’s Great: Alright, it’s not the smartest pastiche on this list, but it’s got an immature charm.
Silent Movie (1976)
The Moment: Liza Minnelli watches on as Mel Funn (Mel Brooks), Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) attempt to sit down for dinner – except they’re all wearing suits of armour, which makes it all rather difficult.
What’s It Spoofing: Silent movies in general, though Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in particular.
Why It’s Great: It’s the best gag in the film, which is otherwise hit and miss.
UHF (1989)
The Moment: George Newman (‘Weird Al’ Yankovic) dons a muscular body suit and a bandana (plus glasses and ‘tach, naturally)…
What’s It Spoofing: Rambo .
Why It’s Great: That transition shot is genuinely brilliant.
As is the old guy’s inability to hit Newman with a single bullet despite only standing inches away from him…
Dont Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood (1996)
The Moment: “Hurry up and buy!” demands a shopkeeper as Shawn Wayans peruses the counters.
Meanwhile, an innocent-looking white guy robs the store blind.
What’s It Spoofing: Hood flicks like South Central, Boyz N The Hood and Menace II Society.
Why It’s Great: “Hey! You dropped something!” The store owner hands over cash straight from the cash machine. Amazing.
Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (1978)
The Moment: As a radio broadcast plays, people run back in forth in search of a city not invaded by killer tomatoes.
Meanwhile, a guy in a library says “tomato”, effectively clearing the entire building.
What’s It Spoofing: Fifties monster movies.
Why It’s Great: If nothing else, it’s just great for the guy’s pronunciation of “to-may-to”.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
The Moment: Richie (Luke Haas) discovers that the aliens’ heads explode whenever they hear Slim Whitman’s ‘Indian Love Call’…
What’s It Spoofing: Fifties alien invasion flicks.
Why It’s Great : It’s a gem of an idea – and results in some really gooey cranial eruptions.
Lovely.
BASEketball (1998)
The Moment: Coop (Trey Parker) and Remer (Matt Stone) visit poor little Joey (Trevor Einhorn) in hospital, but do more bad than good.
What’s It Spoofing: Uh, movie scenes set in hospitals…
Why It’s Great: “Oh my God, he’s flatlining!”
We do love a good bit of slapstick.
