Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David's brainchild is filled with references. Seriously, there's barely a Seinfeld episode that goes by that doesn't talk about Superman in some way. That, of course, comes from Jerry Seinfeld's real-life obsessions with The Man Of Steel. But the tremendous cast of the hit NBC show didn't just get to play with superhero references, many iconic movies were actually built into the construction of some of the series' most famous scenes. While so much of Seinfeld came from the experiences of Larry David, previous art inspired the 1990s show in ways that fans are still talking about today.
Recently, one massive Seinfeld fan named Yaron Baruch accumulated some of the most iconic and obscure movie references in the show for an excellent Youtube video. The video was quickly picked up by major news publications like The Independent. While there hasn't been a deep-dive into Seinfeld movie references like this before, many of the titles includes in the video have been the source of major conversation amongst fans on Reddit. All of them basically agree on what the best references on the show actually are...
JFK And 'The Magic Loogie' Scene Is Easily The Most Famous
There's no doubt that the most iconic Seinfeld movie reference was lifted from the 1991 film JFK. The political thriller, based on the real-life trail surrounding the conspiracy of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, came out near the beginning of Seinfeld's run. It was a huge hit at the box office and featured some of the most memorable scenes from any movie from the 1990s making it ripe for parody. But JFK also featured an incredible cast that actually included Newman himself, Wayne Knight.
In the 1992 episode "The Boyfriend", Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David decided to pay homage to both the success of the movie and Wayne's role in it by recreating the courtroom scene where Kevin Costner's Jim Garrison models how the bullet that killed JFK defied the laws of physics, proving there to be at least one more shooter. In the movie, one of the people used in this demonstration is Wayne Knight's character. So, of course, Jerry needed to recreate the whole thing for the Seinfeld audience.
In the episode, Kramer and Newman explain that their hate for baseball player Keith Hernandez stems from when he spat on them while passing by at a game. Jerry proceeds to tell Eliane that their entire spitting story is ridiculous and uses Kramer and Newman as models to demonstrate how there's just no way Keith could've spat on them. The three-minute scene is nearly identical to the one in JFK, including the use of Super8 footage from the day of the spitting/shooting. But, it's the final line that really makes it one of the funniest Seinfeld moments ever.
The Seinfeld Writers LOVED Crime Films
While nearly every genre of movie has been referenced somewhere in the nine Seinfeld seasons, it's crime films that tend to get the most attention. Clearly, Jerry, Larry, and their team of brilliant writers have an affinity for the genre.
The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 are easily two of the most acclaimed crime films of all time and both have been referenced in Seinfeld. Even the less than stellar Godfather Part 3 gets a reference when George utters a version of the famous line, "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in." But Seinfeld is known for their reuse of famous lines from movies, including from Scent of a Woman, A Cry In The Dark, A Streetcar Named Desire, Patton, The Hustler, A Few Good Men, Pulp Fiction, and even from Batman. But the really impressive movie references are those that work their way into the structure of actual scenes much like Seinfeld's JFK reference.
Most of the time, it was famous crime scenes that Seinfeld references most, such as the scene in Taxi Driver when Robert De Niro's character picks his weapon from the black market guns. The scene was replicated in Seinfeld when Kramer and Newman look through all the illegal showerheads in the back of a truck. Speaking of vehicles, Thelma and Louise got an homage when Kramer pushes the limits of his gas tank on the highway.
But of all the crime films referenced in Seinfeld, the most notable has got to be the Clint Eastwood and John Malcovich 1993 flick, In The Line Of Fire. While the episode where Kramer makes the cable guy wait for him (instead of the other way around) has nothing to do with the story of the political crime thriller, many of the scenes are copied shot for shot. This includes Kramer looking out the window at a telephone booth on the street below and especially the on-foot chase sequence.
