I think Spaceballs should've taken number 1. The ultimate 4th wall break is one where the characters use their own movie to progress the movie. Genius.
Dhruv George (Ezekiel) Zeke Hamish Beckley: I love that part too! Robin of Lockley: (Goes through the script then yells out pointing to the part in the script) *WAIT I GET ANOTHER SHOT!!!!* Maid Marian: He gets another shot! Does he get another shot? Prince John and Mervin the Sheriff of Rottingham: *pull out their scripts, look through them and say rolling their eyes* Yes, yes he does! *puts their scripts away*
Parodies are somewhat more free from the standard movie-making "rules", so naturally they would have a lot of 4th wall breaking. Also, I agree about Blazing Saddles. The moment I saw the title of the clip, I thought that would be #1.
limpylegs Yeah, but um, that is still considered a 4th wall break. When the character turns his head, looks directly at the camera, and then points to it and says "Que the music." I am pretty sure it is a 4th wall break. I am sure there are tons more actually in the movie but only in the trailer their are a couple.
The term 4th wall comes from the fact you can only see three walls in shot (usually) The 4th wall is the camera lens itself. Anytime they directly talk to an audience, despite the medium, they metaphorically "Break the 4th wall"
That whole ending was a reality break and perfectly surreal and hilarious. However, earlier on Harvey Korman looks at the camera as if speaking to himself asking 'How will he find such a sheriff', pausing and adding (to the audience) "Why am I asking you?"
The Simpsons movie opens up with a great 4th wall break. Homer stands up in the theater and says "if you ask me, everybody in the theater is a giant sucker! Especially you!" and he says that pointing at the camera!
@@rehansrivastava Update the list and *include* Deadpool......as the host ;) 4th wall break inside of a 4th wall break with 4th wall breaks....that's like 64 wall breaks!
***** Yeah, an I also liked the Blazing Saddles 4th wall break at the end, when the fighting cast breaks through the set of the "French Mistake" rehearsal. (Piss on you, I'm working for Mel Brooks!) I guess you could say that was a literal 4th wall break :)
My favourite 4th Wall Break moment was in the film Funny Games... In the scene where he kills the family dog and sends out the wife to look for the dog and keeps on telling her she is getting warmer and warmer... When she is about to walk right up to where the dog is... he turns and smiles at the camera/audience for just a brief second... It's very subtle but very dark and chilling at the same time. (This scene was in both the original and remake)
My favorite is from the Muppet Movie- when Kermit and Fozzie meet Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, they're asked to explain how they got there. Fozzie is about to go into a long story about what lead them to this point. Kermit quickly interrupts him and says, "You can't tell him the whole story, you'll bore the audience!" Fozzie looks right at the camera, “Oh, sorry.” , so Fozzie pulls out the movie's screenplay so Dr. Teeth can read it.
What about, "The Emperor's New Groove" where the emperor, literally pauses the movie, and highlights things, as if he's watching it with you, and drawing on your screen.
Spaceballs: Died when they did that "instant videocassette" bit when I saw it in the theaters. Convinced me to make it my very first DVD purchase when DVDs were a thing. Movies should break the fourth wall more often.
There's a good scene from George of the Jungle involving a character arguing with the narrator and the narrator messing with the character through some funny editing that I think is worth a mention on this list.
I've never really counted the ones where it is a constant part of the movie (like Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Waynes World). I think what makes it good is being inconsistent with the way the rest of the movie is handled, and having a feed in to it that kind of catches you by surprise when they make the actually break. And, in doing so make you realize the last several sentences were actually directed at you the viewer.
I love movies where they break the fourth wall. This might not be actually doing it, but I like the part in Spaceballs where they capture the characters' stunt doubles.
MichaelBrookham That scene does break with forth wall. They do not interact directly with the audience however they do show awareness that they are in a work of fiction. Thus they break down the wall between character and audience.
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My favourite 4th wall breaking moment was in Trading Places when the Dukes were condescending to him and eddy Murphy played along and looked at the audience with the priceless glance. So much communicated without saying a word!
If you hadnt seen fight club... you probably havent seen: Layer Cake Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Snatch I dont know why only british movies came to mind but they are clever,witty and edgy in the same sense that Fight Club was. If you havent seen them and watch them, let me know what you think.
Adam Floro You cannot break the forth wall in a piece where the intention or purpose of which is to address an audience and by convention which is not a work of fiction. Otherwise silly scenarios arise like news readers breaking the 4th wall, narrators in documentaries, people giving public speeches and so forth. So no, she did not break the forth wall because this is not a work of fiction and the purpose of the clip is to address an audience.
Mr Prototype Not all narrators address the audience. Most narrators address the subject. For example, Ferris Bueller vs A Clockwork Orange, or various moments in The Lord of the Rings vs Lemony Snicket. The fact that she dildn't just talk about the movies, and started talking about the viewers is, actually, breaking the fourth wall.
Buster Keaton did it early in "One Week" (1921). Breaking the fourth wall to cover the camera with a hand while co-star Sybil Seely was stepping out of the shower.
What's really funny is, when I was a kid, I went to see "Gremlins 2" in theaters and before it really got started the film broke and we all had to go home and come back the next night. Low and behold we get to the part of the movie where the film breaks in movie and everyone moaned thinking it was real. :)
I love the 4th wall break in Harold and Maude when Harold looks at the camera and gives the audience an evil smirk, just a slight smile and a devilish glint in the eyes.
Robinhood: Men in Tights had a funny one, if this one counts. Basically, Robinhood missed his shot during the shooting contest. Lamenting about how "it's not supposed to be like this!", the characters decide to check the movie script, and discover that Robin is allowed to take another shot.
Enrico Alessio In that scene, the characters acknowledge the fact that the events are part of a movie and that they're supposed to follow a movie script. That might be technically wrong, but I'd say that counts.
The 4th Wall in that movie is when his merry men are practice jousting and miss the dummies. Acho says, "Hey Robin, maybe we should take the dummies into battle." Robin's reacts by looking at the camera and shrugging. :)
TheAmazingBBP No, I've taken Film Media Studies college, and you are not wrong at all. Anytime the actors of a production acknowledge that they are in fact part of a production is also included in breaking the 4th wall. Just as when they directly address the audience. You were correct.
Blazing Saddles was a good one as well. Hedley asks us why he's asking us a question. Actually, you could put a lot of Brooks' films on here where he does that.
Last Action Hero was the ultimate 4th wall break in. The film was ABOUT the 4th wall break in, where the Hero actually (Schwarzenegger) breaks through to the real world, even though it's the movie world. It even goes from the characters in the film going into the action film, the kid is watching and back out to the real world, to the kid from the real world, talking to the actor from the film about a film the actor was also in, that the character he was talking to, didn't know about. The kid in the film, says to the character John Practice, played by F Murray Abraham, "you killed Mozart" and he says something like "I killed a lot of guys". This is a reference to F Murray Abraham also starring in the film Amadeus as Salieri. So there's a 4th wall, within a 4th wall, within a 4th wall there. If this doesn't even warrant a mention, the 4th wall video is shit!
+Antony Booth Yeah, good point. However this list seems more to do with people talking directly to the audience. I remember no one in this movie doing that
+Antony Booth Well Deadpool the Movie is now out and in this Movie !! I mean it's Deadpool he talks so often to the audience it is just amazing even in the Scene after the Credits xD
May now have to add Deadpool (2016) to the 4th Wall Breaks in Film!! Think about it... it's a 4th Wall break inside a 4th Wall break... that's like 16 4th Wall breaks!
My personal favorite was when Colossus said "we're taking you to the professor" and Deadpool was like "which one? McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines confuse me."
I've got to say one of my favorites is the big one in Funny Games, where Peter places the bet with the family, then asks the fans who they bet on. Not as iconic as ones such as Ferris Bueler, but the mood made it memorable to me.
I've always interpreted "breaking the 4th wall" not so much as simply talking to the audience (that would usually be categorized as either a monologue or aside) but more in terms of character self-awareness. It's usually when a character or event does something or happens to point out its own fictional nature, like an actor pointing out the boundaries of a set or a character referencing something about either themselves as an actor or another real life part or member of the production. Only about 2 or 3 of the ones that made it onto the actual list were what could be accurately called "breaking the 4th wall". In fact, most of the in-betweens and honorable mentions were more 4th wall breaking than anything on the list itself. In short, this is a list of top 10 asides, not top 10 4th wall breaks.
Amazing to go to the trouble of doing this list without getting the premise! As for the real thing, I am not sure anyone can claim to play the 4th wall like Mel Brooks. Those dissenters who feel Spaceballs should be first have a good case. Still, Bueller deserves credit for actually breaking the 4th wall in the last scene, despite engaging the audience directly throughout.
Despite your "interpretation" breaking the 4th wall is by definition acknowledging the audience. What you describe as character self-awareness does not absolutely define the actor being self-aware. An aside is merely meant to be heard by the audience (not other characters) but is not an actor actually engaging in conversation with the viewer. The term you are looking for is "breaking character". Actors can break the 4th wall without breaking character. Yes, its more subtle but that doesn't change its very definition for your convenience. By giving attention to the audience they are indirectly displaying their own sense of self awareness as a character. All of these movies broke the 4th wall.
I agree. An example of a frequent fourth wall breaker, though not a movie character, would be Deadpool. In the comic books he makes several references to being a comic book character as well as talking to the audience, and in the majority of games he features in he is aware of the fact that he is a game character. I don't remember the name of the game but one of his finishing moves in a fighting game is to grab his health bar and beat the opponent to death with it...
John Bender The problem is that in most of these movies the fourth wall never existed in the first place. When you engage the audience in conversation from start to finish, it's not breaking the fourth wall, it's making the audience a permanent additional character.
"I'm not the first guy who fell in love with a girl he met in a restaurant, who then turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist only to lose her to her childhood lover who she'd last seen on a deserted island and it turned out 15 years later to be the leader of the French underground." "I know, it... it all sounds like a bad movie" 10:58
Talking to the camera is not the only form of 4th wall breaking! Granted, Mel Brooks already made the list, but Men and Tights also has the flaming arrows from the opening credits actually burn down a village.
Adam Murphy I wouldn't call it self narration if your pretty intro animations affect the scenery behind it. That absolutely was a fourth wall break, and a creative one at that. In a way it's similar to Alfie refering to the subtitles getting shown, since in both cases the subtitles become part of the fictional world.
The Wolf Of Wall street should have been on this list! Leo tries to explain plot points to you, then basically laughs at the fact you still don't understand and then reassures you that it doesn't matter!
Yeah surprised that one did not make the list, but maybe they wanted to only do one per director and spaceballs did it a little better in a couple of places
Idk, I think the best 4th wall breakers are those that are accidental or non-constant. Movies that specifically do it throughout the movie, usually in a way to express their inner thoughts, feelings or opinions, aren't as random or strange, making them less funny or not funny at all. The joke in Spaceballs, for example (though there are other 4th wall breakers) is completely hilarious because, though its part of the plot, comes from nowhere and is riddled with questions about how they even obtained a VHS copy of a movie they're in though its really just their reality
How could you possibly forget the Marx Brothers? They pioneered it! Groucho was one giant 4th wall break - one knowing wink at a time. Harpo used it famously and to great effect in Horse Feathers (1932).
Considering how many people in these comments didn't know the Deadpool parody was from Ferris Bueller, I doubt anyone these days even knows who the Marx Brothers were.
I like the more subtle 4th wall breaks. The best one I can think of off the top of my head is in Trading Places when Eddie Murphy looks at the camera when Randolph and Mortimer give him an example of bacon.
there's a moment in the movie "into the wild" when he eats an apple and talk to it and than looks straight to the camera. it's very subtle and in a way not entirely a fourth wall break, but i think that what makes it so great. a beautiful moment.
I would have rather omitted movies where the main character narrates to the audience, and instead focused on actual 4th wall breaks in movies that have established a 4th wall.
+Marc O'Quinn I think he's just trying to spoil the movie for people who haven't seen it yet, but the jokes on him because anyone who even knows who Han Solo is has probably seen it by now.
At first, I was like SPACEBALLS SHOULD HAVE BEEN NUMBER 1!!!!! And then I realized the Ferris Bueler was number on, and then I'm like OMG THAT IS PERFECT!!!!!!
The Anvil The game? He has been in more than one game, and in more than one movie. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED WITH THE COMICS! His best cameo so far was in Marvel Vs Capcom 3.
