The Greatest Movie Rip-Offs

Groundhog Day has produced a few clones. One that was released recently is Before I Fall, based on the novel by the same name. It's definitely aimed at a younger audience, but I enjoyed it. It brought a tear or two to my eye. Like Groundhog Day, the main character is forced to live the same day over and over until she gets it right. Unlike Groundhog Day, the day she's forced to live over and over is the last day of her life.

 

Everyone likes to add 12 Monkeys and La Jetee to these lists, even though in the credits it clearly states that the movie was based on La Jetee, and Gilliam never hid the fact that it was the source material.

 

Watched that twice now and its still funny.

 

And we love them for it.

Indeed, the untouchable Jaws (1975) didn't spawn mere rip-offs - it gave rise to an entire genre of killer fish movies! And no-one did them better (well...no-one made more of them!) than low-rent Italian schlockmeisters who had previously cut their own teeth on westerns, gialli and crime thrillers. (To be fair, the Spaniards had a crack at it, too).

I could cite Devouring Waves, Tintorera, The Last Shark, Tentacles, Killer Fish, Great White Death, etc., etc., but the whole squalid cycle is best illustrated by the following clip.

Please note: This clip involves schlock shark violence that may offend, terrify or (most likely) amuse. You have been warned!

Spoiler

At 1:03:20!

 

Disney's The Lion King vs. Kimba The White Lion

The obvious similarities that apparently went unrecognized by Disney angered quite a few anime fans back in the 1990's.





Some fans felt a bit forgiving later when Disney arranged to distribute Hayao Miyazaki's films in North America.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Magnificent Seven being a rip-off of The Seven Samurai. Years later there was a sci-fi version (which also started Robert Vaughan) called Battle Beyond The Stars. Which itself could also be seen as a rip-off of Star Wars.

 

Was flipping through movie channels the other night and I came across a Matthew McConaughey movie from 9 or 10 years ago called Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Obvious ripoff of A Christmas Carol. He treats all his girlfriends like dirt (casual sex and throws them away after tiring of them, etc.) His dead uncle (Michael Douglas - a "Jacob Marley" type of character) taught him everything in life he knows about girls. In death, he visits him and warns him about how wrong he was ala Marley to Scrooge. Hell, in the movie, he is even visited by 3 ghosts (a past girlfriend, a present girlfriend and a future girlfriend.)

 

I just picked up Severin's Blu-ray release of this film (plus the Shout Factory release of Women's Prison Massacre)… so I'm now up to 14 Mattei films in my collection:
Film Aficionado

 

Don't forget "Scavenger Hunt" from 1979, which I like, though it was criticized at the time as being an inferior ripoff of IAMMMMW.

 

I remember after JAWS, there was an achingly similar movie about a grizzly bear. Basically what would happen if someone had told Spielberg, We can't afford this water shoot so make the exact same film set in a national park. Only in this case Spielberg said no and they also didn't have the money for name actors. My guess is that a made-for-TV movie crew did it quick and cheap, minus the content restrictions.

 

I recall a lot of Jaws rip-offs at the time. But Spielberg ripped-off Duel! The scoundrel!

 

'sliding doors' is a rip off of 'blind chance' by krzysztof kieslowski

 

I am going to say that this one counts because these were both made into movies, more than once.

The Incredible Hulk is a ripoff of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

And there's a bit of Moby Dick in Jaws. (Watch how you say that, mister!)

 

I remember the joke being DANCES WITH SMURFS . . .

 

I never could resist an opportunity to parade out the ol' Bob Odenkirk bit:

 

The first half of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket lifts the bullying/suicide plot from part two of Masaki Kobayashi's 1959 epic The Human Condition.

 

The first half of Stargate is Raiders of the Lost Ark. The second half of Stargate is Star Wars. I never imagined they'd make multiple TV series based on a movie that didn't have an original idea in it.

 

This entire thread could consist of Italian rip-off films. Whatever was popular in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s and 80s (murder mysteries, Westerns, spy movies, sci-fi, zombies, slashers, shoot-em-up action flicks, etc., etc.) they were all over it.

My favorite Spaghetti ripoff is "Robowar," which is essentially a remake of the original "Predator," replacing Ahh-nuld with Reb Brown and the Predator with a malfunctioning military robot. Otherwise it's pretty much the same movie, made on 1/100th of the budget and with 1000x the suck.

 

Escape From Alcatraz | The Shawshank Redemption

 

When I saw Dead Again when it came out it struck me as essentially a remake of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (without the music and a little added suspense).

 

How about Mirage and Spellbound? With Gregory Peck in the lead role, it seems even more similar. I’ll admit I like Mirage better.

 

Jacobs Ladder and Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which I originally saw as a short film.

 

+ The Count of Monte Cristo