Our Favorite Movie Easter Eggs: Goodfellas, Back to the Future and more!

September 18th 2015, 10:22am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

These days, part of the fun of watching a movie in theaters or at home with the ability to freeze frames, is finding the Easter eggs hidden within. For the history buffs out there, the origin of the cinematic Easter egg dates back to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Supposedly one day on the set, the cast decided to have a traditional Easter egg hunt, as you do, but some of the eggs were never found and actually appeared in frames of the movie! So if you're obsessed with finding hidden messages, jokes, and ways to make you look smart in front of your friends, check out these Easter eggs!

Understandably some of these have been around for a while, but some may be new to other readers; there’s no expiration on sharing, so enjoy and have fun!

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

GOODFELLAS – FB..I recognize you/ Family Matters

It’s one of my favorite scenes of GOODFELLAS, yet it’s clearly not as exciting as any other scene; but seeing the way Henry is being talked to by the FBI like he’s nothing and should be happy with what they are offering, is almost heartbreaking. Facing federal charges, Henry decides to enroll in the Witness Protection Program after realizing he’s going to be killed otherwise. The FBI agent he’s talking to is the FBI agent who dealt with the real life Hill, former U.S. Attorney Edward McDonald. He reenacts his own real life actions in the scene, not being a pushover when it comes to negotiating.

For a movie that has a lot to say about family and loyalty, Scorsese certainly doesn’t shy away from incorporating his own blood.When Joe Pesci and friends stop by his mom's house for dinner, his mom is played by Martin Scorsese's mother, who also actually cooked the meal that the gangsters eat. The dinner scene was almost entirely improvised, including Tommy asking for his mother’s butcher’s knife and Jimmy’s hoof comment. His father also has a role in the movie; he’s the old guy making good with the boys in prison (see above).

BACK TO THE FUTURE – Safety Last/Take it to 11

From the opening credits, BACK TO THE FUTURE is full of great little eggs, in-jokes, and references to other movies. It’s layered so well that it continues to be a favorite movie of every generation and can live up to endless repeat viewings. That’s why I’m angry at myself so not noticing this egg until I watched the movie with commentary and it was pointed out for me. The first opens on Doc’s (Christopher Lloyd) workshop and pans across a bunch of clocks ticking. As the camera moves toward the door it lingers on one in particular. The clock shows Harold Lloyd (no relation) form the 1923 silent film SAFETY LAST, which foreshadows Doc hanging from the clock tower near the end of the movie. Watch your step, Doc.

Speaking of mad scientists, also during the opening scene Marty plugs an electric guitar into a gigantic amplifier. It’s labelled "CRM 114". The name CRM 114 is homage to Stanley Kubrick. In DR. STRANGELOVE (one of Robert Zemeckis’s favorite movies) the machine that gives the bombers their orders is called CRM 114. It’s also the name of the Jupiter explorer in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

HOOK – Guess who else can fly?

At the beginning of the movie, when Peter Banning (Robin Williams) and his family are aboard an airplane (a Pan Am of course), you hear the airplane's captain come on the loudspeaker, stating "This is your captain speaking" and apologizing for the turbulence. If you listen closely, you can tell it’s actually the voice of actor Dustin Hoffman, who plays Captain Hook later in the film. I’ve seen others point this out and if you consider the fact that there are two "Smee's" (one in the real world and one in Neverland), this make's perfect sense. Just go with it.

E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL – Get a room

Remember a few eggs ago when I showed you how George Lucas finally returned the favor to Steven Spielberg for the STAR WARS love in E.T. within STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE? Well, here’s that love I was talking about. When the kids and ET are out trick-or-treating for Halloween, they run into someone dressed up in a Yoda costume. That's the obvious reference to Spielberg/Lucas love-fest of course, but if you listen closely you can hear something more.

The track playing during this scene (track 10 of the ET soundtrack – The Magic of Halloween), Yoda's theme from numerous Star Wars films is lightly played (0:45 – 0:51). Of course, John Williams wrote and conducted the scores for E.T. and all of the STAR WARS movies, so this was an easy (and cheap) tribute.