Norman Jewison
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Produced in 1975 at a time when the rising levels of violence in professional sports inspired both public outcries and a solemn, big-budget epic of speculative science-fiction based on that concept in Norman Jewison’s “Rollerball,” Paul Bartel’s “Death Race 2000” was a low-budget extravaganza from Roger Corman’s New World Pictures that combined bloody action and jet-black comedy to tell the story of a futuristic government-sanctioned cross-country auto race in which there were no rules, the contestants were free to knock out their competition by any means necessary and bonus points were scored for every pedestrian that they struck and killed along the way.
Death Race has more in common with homage-movies like Doomsday, the Rollerball remake, and Escape From L.A. than it does Mad Max, 1975's Rollerball, or Escape From New York.
Carradine, as fans of the original Death Race 2000 (produced by Roger Corman and directed by Paul Bartel in 1975) already know, played the masked driver Frankenstein, a racer in a two-lane-blacktop version of the equally nihilistic Rollerball (which came out the same year).
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
Directed by Tom Gormican
influenced by Moonstruck (1987)
"Massive Talent" is a house of mirrors where he's able to poke fun at himself, his persona and his career, and there are references to his gonzo work in "Moonstruck," "Leaving Las Vegas," "Face/Off," "National Treasure," "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" ("underrated for sure," Cage quips), "Croods 2" and more.
Where Nic sulks over a meeting that ended in a whimper, Nicky is fired up, flipping his floppy hair and wiggling in his leather jacket and yelling the reminder that they are " Nic fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Cage! " With some CGI smoothing, Cage is made to look younger, perhaps harkening to the '80s, when he was firing audiences up as the hot-tempered stud of Moonstruck or the voracious creep of Vampire's Kiss.
He has a lot of fun with this one, stuffing the screenplay with Cageian references from Moonstruck to The Croods 2 .
There is a smattering of soft-centred references to a few Cage films ( The Rock ; Moonstruck ), Cage is visited by a younger version of himself and Javi has a museum dedicated to him.
But with all the hysterical nods to the actor’s previous works, as well as through embracing his perceived quirkiness (and desire for scenes in which he can freak out unreservedly), it’s difficult not to recommend this flick to anyone who has followed the star’s career – from such acclaimed comedies and romances like “Raising Arizona” and “Moonstruck” to his Oscar-winning turn in “Leaving Las Vegas” to his action hero transformation in “The Rock” and “Con Air” to the riveting weirdness of “Mom and Dad” and “Mandy.”
Although their biggest debt is to the light-emitting diode and the 21st-century cyber mindset, the Wachowskis imagine an international racing circuit that combines the dystopian violence of Norman Jewison’s Rollerball (1975) and the old-world, competitive glamour of John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966).
Sparks fly, of course, and before long Ronny and Loretta share a bed and a date to see La Bohème.
Musically, "Moonstruck" is built around "La Boheme," whose themes we see and hear at every turn.
…n line with the conceit that it's something like an opera, the original cut of "Moonstruck" opened with music from "La Boheme."
Green Book (2018)
Directed by Peter Farrelly
influenced by In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Dialogue Themes
And when they do speak -- Tony sounding like an extra from “The Sopranos,” Dr. Shirley eloquently suggesting “In the Heat of the Night”-era Sidney Poitier -- you can feel your pulse quicken.
You’d be forgiven if watching this film you were reminded of films like In the Heat of the Night or Driving Miss Daisy , which features none of the hard edges one would expect from modern explorations of race relations during the Civil Rights Era.
For, the Oscar winning film that “Green Book” really hearkens back to is from decades earlier, the 1967 Best Picture winner, “In the Heat of the Night.”
A cover version of “The Windmills of Your Mind,” best known as the theme song of the classic 1968 con-artist flick “The Thomas Crown Affair”?
The movie's main selling point is an ambience of affluence, personified by Smith, who glides across the screen as smoothly as Steve McQueen in "The Thomas Crown Affair," wrapped in various sleek outfits and sports cars.
…including the remakes of Death Race 2000 and Rollerball…
…has aged significantly better than its po-faced counterparts like Rollerball…
Hamilton (2025)
Directed by Thomas Kail
influenced by Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Characters Themes
You’ll definitely notice the vibes of King Herod from Jesus Christ Superstar more with the close-ups on Jonathan Groff’s face.
Leslie Odom Jr. (“Harriet”) turns Burr into a reluctant antagonist like Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” admitting that he’s “the damn fool that shot him,” while Miranda (“Mary Poppins Returns”) charts the title character’s inspiring rise and tragic fall, plummeting into scandal and fatal hubris.
Kail, who is slated to direct a new version of Fiddler on the Roof , harnesses the energy and life that pours out of the performers, moving his cameras through the onstage characters and angling things to best capture the beat and flow of the music and drama.
Theater fans who mourn that so many Broadway shows are retreads of the oldies; “South Pacific,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Music Man,” will cheer that “Hamilton” is thoroughly original.
(Unfortunately, the final showdown, like the Steve McQueen- Edward G. Robinson confrontation in "The Cincinnati Kid," features card combinations you wouldn't see in a real poker game if you played every day for a thousand years.)
Finding Steve McQueen (2019)
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
influenced by The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The protagonist (he’s not quite active or admirable enough to be called the hero) of this crime flick, Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), is fixated on the eponymous star, so Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair are referenced.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
influenced by The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Visuals
Set in Europe in the early 1960s, it exhibits meticulous care in terms of its costumes, sets and cinematography, creating a sumptuous cinematic environment more reminiscent of Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair or vintage Bond than the clunky TV show from which it takes its name and lead character.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
influenced by Rollerball (1975)
Themes
While the first Hunger Games movie owed a weighty (if unacknowledged) debt to Kinji Fukasaku's controversial Japanese hit Battle Royale (and Koushun Takami's source novel), this second instalment leans more towards the themes of Norman Jewison's dystopian 70s offering Rollerball .
But this mix of Ultimate Fighting with demolition derby, played by souped-up cyborgs on a super-fast track, basically amps up the savage roller-skating of Norman Jewison’s 1975 Rollerball.
Hugo and Alita also fall under the spell of a violent game named Motorball that attracts millions of fans (a ripoff of the 1975 film “Rollerball”).
There is food, drink, and, motorball, a viciously violent sport that calls to mind the James Caan classic, Rollerball .
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Directed by Joel Zwick
influenced by Moonstruck (1987)
Plot Themes Characters
Short, cute and completely inoffensive, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a dusty tale of intermarriage that should be familiar to anyone who’s stepped anywhere near Moonstruck or even Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The results are predictably sloppy, all expansive gestures, big emotions, and ethnic sitcom generalities that were handled with more intelligence and wit by Moonstruck.
(Even Cher's character, in "Moonstruck," who lived at home like Toula, knew just how to handle her bossy pop.)
Joel Zwick directs this romantic comedy that has the same ethnic charm as Moonstruck (1987).
Cut from a similar mold as Moonstruck , My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a touching love story reaffirming the notion that in the Greek culture a marriage is never just between the husband and the wife but is a bond of both families.
It is reminiscent of Kubrick's "The Killing," but Jewison's film pales in suspense when compared to the former.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Directed by Mel Gibson
influenced by Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Visuals Themes
Yet I have to admit that I was probably more moved by the lashing depicted with suggested intensity in Norman Jewison’s Jesus Christ Superstar than I was by Gibson’s graphic presentation.
This movie is no more anti-Jewish than Jesus Of Nazareth, or King Of Kings, or Jesus Christ Superstar, or The Greatest Story Ever Told.
There are better films about racism in the south (In the Heat of the Night, Mississippi Burning), yet none have taken on the woman’s perspective.
Yes, it contains the kind of cathartic, crowd-pleasing moments we remember from “In the Heat of the Night,” “Driving Miss Daisy” and other Oscar-winners about a time when African Americans sat at the back of the bus and suffered the daily humiliation of drinking fountains and toilets “For Whites Only.”
Earlier films such as The Hunger Games (and its precursor, 2000’s Battle Royale), 2009’s Gamer, 1987’s The Running Man and 1975’s Rollerball reverberate – but here, the puppet master pulling the strings isn’t some overarching corporate villain.
Jewison captures some of the same qualities of Ingmar Bergman ’s “ Smiles of a Summer Night ,” in which nature itself conspires with lovers to bring about their happiness.
Ashman and composer Alan Menken did all the songs for "Beauty and the Beast," but half the lyrics for "Aladdin" ended up being written by Tim Rice, responsible for "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita."
Half the film's lyrics are by Tim Rice ("Evita" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"), whose style is so much more conventional than Mr. Ashman's that the difference is instantly apparent.