10 Parodies That Became More Iconic Than The Movies They Spoofed

From Airplane! to Blazing Saddles to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, some parodies are so great and iconic that they outshine the movies they originally set out to spoof. Usually, a parody movie only gets made because the film it’s targeting is a cultural staple. As hilarious as Spaceballs is, it was never going to outdo the Star Wars saga. But some parodies go for more obscure targets; not a lot of people know that Airplane! is practically a shot-for-shot remake of a ridiculous disaster movie called Zero Hour!, or that The Naked Gun borrows its premise from Telefon.

The spoofs tend to be more accessible (and, obviously, a lot funnier) than the originals, so audiences gravitate towards them. This is Spinal Tap is more iconic than any of the “rockumentaries” it riffs on. Singin’ in the Rain is more iconic than the glitzy Golden Age musicals it homages. Top Secret! is more iconic than the Elvis musicals and World War II thrillers it curiously amalgamates. The very best spoof movies are so great that they transcend the parody genre and become more well-known as classics in their own right than the movies they’re mocking.

10

Robin Hood: Men In Tights

Mel Brooks took satirical aim at every cinematic incarnation of the Robin Hood legend with his absurdist parody Robin Hood: Men in Tights. But it was primarily a spoof of the then-recent Kevin Costner-starring blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The plot of Men in Tights is loosely based on the plot of Princes of Thieves, and the poster for Men in Tights is a direct homage to the poster for Prince of Thieves (with a few extra arrows added).

Although it received mixed reviews from critics, Robin Hood: Men in Tights was a box office success and remains a cult comedy classic to this day. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, on the other hand, hasn’t really stood the test of time. It was a huge commercial success on its original release, but now, it’s better remembered for Bryan Adams’ theme song, “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” than the film itself.

9

Top Secret!

After the success of their first movie Airplane!, the comedy team of Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers had the clout to make whatever movie they wanted – and they took full advantage of that opportunity to make one of the zaniest movies ever made. Top Secret! is a hybrid spoof of World War II-era espionage thrillers and Elvis Presley-starring musicals. It was well-received by critics, but not everyone got the joke.

In the years since it underperformed at the box office, Top Secret! has been reappraised as a classic comedy. There’s a sharply scripted one-liner or masterfully constructed sight gag every few seconds, and Val Kilmer does a terrific job of skewering Elvis’ on-screen persona. These days, Top Secret! is much more iconic than any of the ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll movies, ‘60s beach movies, or WWII spy movies it parodies.

8

Dolemite

After hearing a regular at the record store where he worked talking about a man named Dolemite, struggling standup comedian Rudy Ray Moore decided to incorporate the character into his act as a charismatic alter ego. The Dolemite character took on a life of his own and catapulted Moore to cult stardom. In 1975, Moore adapted the character into a feature film, Dolemite, parodying the blaxploitation films that were popular at the time.

Apart from bona fide classics like Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Black Caesar, not a lot of those ‘70s blaxploitation movies still hold up today. But Dolemite remains a cult indie comedy hit. Eddie Murphy’s acclaimed 2019 biopic, Dolemite Is My Name – which chronicles the beginning of Moore’s career and the making of Dolemite – immortalized Moore’s comedic legacy and the influence of Dolemite.

7

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

Broadly, Austin Powers is a spoof of James Bond movies – Dr. Evil is a spoof of Blofeld, Basil Exposition is a spoof of M, and Random Task is a spoof of Oddjob – and no one could argue that Austin Powers is bigger than Bond. However, it is bigger than the very specific Bond movie it chose to parody. Mike Myers set out to recapture the tongue-in-cheek humor and spy movie satire of the comedic 1967 version of Casino Royale.

Although 1967’s Casino Royale features an all-star ensemble of legendary actors like Peter Sellers, David Niven, Woody Allen, and Orson Welles, it’s been slated as one of the unfunniest comedies ever made. Suffice to say, it’s not very well-remembered today. Austin Powers is more well-known than Casino Royale because it’s a much more successful spoof of the Bond mythos.

6

The Naked Gun

After his tragically short-lived police procedural spoof Police Squad! was canceled, David Zucker adapted the series for the big screen under the title The Naked Gun. The title was designed to emulate old-school police noirs like The Naked City, The Big Combo, and The Asphalt Jungle. But the plot was ripped from a more recent effort: Don Siegel’s 1977 spy thriller Telefon. Like The Naked Gun, Telefon revolves around sleeper agents being unwittingly activated by phone calls.

Panned by critics and dismissed by audiences, Telefon is best known today as a low point for both Siegel and his lead actor Charles Bronson. The Naked Gun is much more beloved than Telefon ever was. Whereas Telefon gets unintentional laughs with its ridiculous plot, The Naked Gun gets intentional laughs with a knowing riff on that plot.

5

Blazing Saddles

Mel Brooks satirized the western genre’s longstanding tradition of whitewashing American history with his parody masterpiece Blazing Saddles. While it’s not a spoof of any particular western movie and instead acts as a lampoon of the entire genre, Blazing Saddles is full of references to western classics. It has nods to Stagecoach, Rio Bravo, High Noon, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. These are all great movies that are still well-regarded today, but they’ve got nothing on Blazing Saddles.

All these years later, Blazing Saddles still holds up as a timeless comedy masterpiece. Its tale of a crooked politician hiring a Black sheriff to sabotage a town, then getting foiled when the sheriff turns out to be amazing at his job, is the perfect satire of the absurdity of racism. Blazing Saddles’ upending of the western genre’s myths is still just as incisive and razor-sharp today.

4

Singin’ In The Rain

Set during Hollywood’s transition into the talkie era, Singin’ in the Rain is a loving homage to the glitzy, beautifully choreographed musicals of the Golden Age. It recreates the colorful wonder of those movies so spectacularly that it’s now become more iconic than any of them. Singin’ in the Rain has been praised as both a great homage to the musical genre and arguably the greatest movie musical ever made.

A lot of people don’t even realize that most of the songs on the Singin’ in the Rain soundtrack are taken from other movies. “Temptation” is taken from Going Hollywood, “All I Do is Dream of You” is taken from Sadie McKee, and “Singin’ in the Rain” itself is taken from The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds made these numbers so iconic that they seem like the originators.

3

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the cornerstones of cult cinema. Half a century after its initial release, it’s still in limited release and being shown on a big screen somewhere in the world, with diehard fans attending in costume and singing along with the musical numbers. There are very few films as beloved or iconic as Rocky Horror.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show isn’t a spoof of any one movie in particular; it’s a blanket homage to the sci-fi and horror B-movies of the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. It has references to Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, King Kong, Flash Gordon, Tarzan the Ape Man, The Day of the Triffids, Tarantula, When Worlds Collide, and It Came from Outer Space. They’re all fan-favorite B-movie classics, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show is arguably more iconic than any one of them.

2

This Is Spinal Tap

Rob Reiner’s classic mockumentary about England’s loudest band, This is Spinal Tap, was conceived as a take-off of the rock documentaries (or “rockumentaries”) that were popular in the 1970s. These movies include the Led Zeppelin concert film The Song Remains the Same and Martin Scorsese’s documentary about The Band’s farewell performance, The Last Waltz. While these films remain popular and revered among fans of the rock genre, they’re nowhere near as iconic as Reiner’s laugh-a-minute satire.

Like all the best comedies, This is Spinal Tap has a deep understanding of its satirical target. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer’s spontaneous improvisations, paired with the authenticity of Reiner’s portrayal of the music industry, had some viewers convinced that This is Spinal Tap was a straightforward documentary. And ironically, it would become more famous than any straightforward documentary about the same subject matter.

1

Airplane!

David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker’s Airplane! is widely regarded to be one of the funniest movies ever made. But most of its fans aren’t even aware that it’s a spoof of the 1957 disaster film Zero Hour!. ZAZ’s Airplane! script ripped so many plot points, characters, and lines of dialogue from Zero Hour! that they had to secure the remake rights just to protect themselves from legal action. The story of a flight being doomed by dodgy fish seemed inherently hilarious to ZAZ, so they made very little changes in the parody process.

These days, Zero Hour! has been almost completely forgotten, while Airplane! endures as a timeless comedy classic. Airplane! also spoofs the Airport series, which was the closest thing to the MCU in the 1970s. But even the Airport series can’t match how iconic Airplane! has become.