There is, for devotees of a specific type of movie arcana, a glorious moment in Jason Statham’s new movie, “A Working Man.” About midway through, his character, searching for a trafficked young woman, poses as a drug dealer looking to score a connection with a local kingpin holding court in the backroom of a biker bar. The kingpin suspects he’s a cop, but after Jason handily dispatches his goons, the kingpin, regarding his fists, says, “Look at those bricks. You ain’t a cop, you’re a working man.”
The title drop, when a line of dialogue references the film’s title, is a delicate art with a distinct cult following. When they’re good (“Dude, Where’s My Car?”), they’re very good. When they’re bad (“I’ll have my revenge, and Deathstalker, too”), they’re terrific.
Director John Waters is a title drop enthusiast. He rattled off some favorites in a phone call with IndieWire: “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,” “What’s the Matter with Helen?,” and “Bus Riley’s Back in Town.” He memorably included one in his own film, “A Dirty Shame.”
He cites Tennessee Williams as a master of the form, as when Elizabeth Taylor, in the screen adaptation of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” tells her husband, portrayed by Paul Newman, “I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof.”
His favorite, though, is “Boom!,” from the screen adaptation of Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore,” starring Taylor and Richard Burton, and which Taylor actually says in the film, making it a title-drop two-fer.
“Every time I see a wave crash (as in the film), I go, ‘Boom, the shock of each moment of being alive.’” Waters said. “What I love about it is they didn’t know what to do with the movie, so they added the exclamation point to the title (in the marketing materials), so whenever I say, ‘I love the movie, ‘Boom!,’ I say the title real loud.”
Title drops were an added attraction for participants in the former Movie Night Mob, led by Penn Jillette when he and partner Teller were appearing off-Broadway in the early ‘90s. Among the rules of these weekly midnight jaunts to seedy movie houses was to acknowledge a title drop with “very quiet — so-called golf — applause,” Jillette said in an email. “The movie ‘Dad’ was brutal. We hardly stopped applauding the whole movie.”
Comedian Dana Gould heard Jillette talk about the Movie Night Mob on some late-night talk show and was inspired to act accordingly when he and comedian friends went out to movies in Boston when he was just starting out.
James Bond films were a special source of title drop delight for Gould as when Grace Jones’ henchwoman May Day observes from a blimp above the Golden Gate Bridge, “What a view….” And Christopher Walken’s villain Max Zoren adds, “to a kill.”
“Makes no sense,” Gould laughed. “Has no purpose in the movie whatsoever. I loved title drops ironically; they always stick out like a sore thumb. It got so I was waiting for them to get to it, like an Alfred Hitchcock cameo. You’re like, ‘Just get it over with so I can relax and enjoy the movie.”
Jillette and Waters are hard-pressed to explain why title drops captivate them. “I don’t really know,” Jillette admitted. “I’ve just always liked hearing the title. It feels like it centers the experience.”
“It’s so awkward and great when it works, and it becomes iconic,” Waters said. “The bad ones are better. “‘I Never Promised You a Rose Garden’ became a hit song. People use it today as an expression.”
Title drops have become something of a lost art. Meta title drops are the worst (“You people, you’re all astronauts on some kind of star trek?”). Waters gets it. “A title drop seems melodramatic, too obvious, or too hokey,” he said, taking a well-timed beat. “I like all three.”
Below are 10 title drops done right. And who knows; maybe “A Working Man” will spark a revival, and in the inevitable sequel, someone will say, “You’re a working man, too.”
Over dinner, lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) tells his children about his first gun.
Atticus Finch: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point at anything in the house and that he’d rather I shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted, if I could hit ’em’, but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
“Some Like It Hot” (1959)
Fresh from dressing up as a woman to escape Chicago mobsters, Jerry (Tony Curtis) masquerades as Shell Oil scion “Junior” to impress comely singer Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), frontwoman for Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators.
Junior: Syncopated. Does that mean you play that very fast music… jazz?
Sugar Kane: Yeah. Real hot.
Junior: Oh, well, l guess some like it hot. l personally prefer classical music.
U.S. Senator Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) has come home to bury a friend and his own false reputation as the man who…well, you know the title. But the newspaper editor won’t print the story: “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Ranse Stoddard: I’m going to write a letter to the officials of this railroad and thank them for their kindness and for going to all this trouble.
Train conductor Jason (Willis Bouchey): You think nothing of it. Nothin’s too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance.
“Kiss Me, Stupid” (1964)
At the conclusion of Billy Wilder’s sex farce, aspiring small-town songwriter Orville Spooner (Ray Walston) is confounded to hear singing idol Dino (Dean Martin) crooning one of his songs on national TV, having nary a clue that his scheme to prevent Dino from seducing his wife Zelda (Felicia Farr) backfired wildly.
Orville Spooner: I must be going out of my mind. I can’t figure out any of this…I mean, the ring and the song and the car and Dino. How would you? When did she? Why would he?
Zelda Spooner: Kiss me, stupid.
“The Dirty Dozen” (1967)
How did the condemned-soldiers-turned-suicide-squad get their name? At one point, the “twisted, anti-social bunch of psychopathic deformities” demand hot water and refuse to shave or bathe in the cold stuff.
Sgt. Bowren (Richard Jaeckel): We are going to have that much more time for work, right? So now, if you…you dirty dozen have no objections, we will get our equipment, and we will start in right now.
“As Good as It Gets” (1997)
Obsessive-compulsive misanthrope Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) barges in on his therapist, who refuses to see him Exiting his office, he regards patients in the waiting room.
Melvin Udall: What if this is as good as it gets?
“All About Eve” (1950)
Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), theater critic and our narrator, sets the stage for how actress Eve Harrington (Ann Blyth) was honored with the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Addison DeWitt: But more of Eve later. All about Eve, in fact.
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967)
Liberals Matt and Christina Drayton (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) find their values tested when their daughter Joey (Katharine Houghton) announces she intends to marry a Black man (Sidney Poitier). Matt can’t help but be impressed by him.
Matt Drayton: Now, how do you suppose a colored mailman produced a son with all the qualities he has? Christina Drayton: You’ll find out this evening…Guess who’s coming to dinner?
Last night of basic training. Pvt. Joker (Matthew Modine) draws fire and comes upon an unhinged Pvt. “Gomer Pyle” (Vincent D’Onofrio) in the latrine with his rifle.
Pvt. Joker: Are those live rounds?
Pvt. Pyle: 7. 62mm. Full Metal Jacket.
“Do the Right Thing” (1989)
It’s a beautiful but hot day in Bed-Stuy. Pizza deliveryman Mookie (Spike Lee) is stopped by a neighborhood character, Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), with words of wisdom.
Da Mayor: Doctor?
Mookie: Come on, what? What?
Da Mayor: Always do the right thing.
Mookie: That’s it? I got it. I’m gone.
