Sign in the movies: page 2

		Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)  Starring Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans. Directed by Julien Temple.The Sign makes a cameo appearance during the opening credits. (Contributed by Randall Branam)
			The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989)  Starring Mike Jittlov, Richard Kage. Directed by Mike Jittlov.This feature-length adaptation of the cult classic short film offers one of the most creative uses of the Sign to date, as a futuristic technology transforms HOLLYWOOD into WHOLLY ODD. ... Now why didn't CalTech think of that?
			UHF (1989)  Starring Weird Al Jankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy. Directed by Jay Levey.Amid the massive silliness that could only be imagined by Weird Al Jankovic, there is a great shot of the Hollywood Sign. Fortunately, not as the subject of a parody! (Contributed by Ryan from the U.K.)
			Pretty Woman (1990)  Starring Julie Roberts and Richard Gere. Directed by Garry Marshall.The establishing shot at the beginning of the picture uses the Hollywood Sign. (Contributed by Marcel Pazzin)
			Predator 2 (1990)  Starring Kevin Peter Hall, Danny Glover. Directed by Stephen Hopkins.The movie opens with a helicopter shot that comes up the back side of the Hollywood Hills meant to recall the jungle setting of the first movie. Then the helicopter flies over the hills to reveal the city of L.A. in the distance, and the Hollywood sign. (Contributed by Don Solosan)
			Bugsy (1991)  Starring Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley. Directed by Barry Levinson.Depicted in its original "Hollywoodland" form, the Sign is used to efficiently communicate place (Los Angeles) and time (relatively early in the 20th century) during an establishing scene in the film. (Contributed by Marcel Pazzin)
			Career Opportunities (1991)  Starring Jennifer Connelly, Frank Whaley, Dermot Mulroney. Written by John Hughes.The film's epilogue features Frank Whaley as Jim. As he reads a book, he fantasizes that the Sign's letters transform to read "Jimwood."
			The Rocketeer (1991)  Starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly. Directed by Joe Johnson.The film offers the other alternate explanation for the loss of the LAND portion of the Sign: Villain Neville Sinclair (Dalton) crashes into them with a faulty rocketpack. Whatever else she achieves during her career, Jennifer Connelly will almost certainly go down in history as the only actor/actress to star alongside the Sign in two films in the same year.
			Doc Hollywood (1991) Starring Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones.In the poster picture, they added Doc to the front of the Hollywood Sign. (Contributed by Chuck Williams)
			Chaplin (1992)  Starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Kevin Kline. Directed by Richard Attenborough.The movie features a great scene where Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. ride horses up to the sign (Fairbanks even takes a leak on the sign) and discuss the rising tide of Americanism sweeping the country as Fairbanks proceeds to climb the sign and even performs some gymnastics on one of the letters as the camera pulls back to reveal the entire "Hollywoodland" sign. (Contributed by Leslie A. Turner)
			Rescue Me (1992)  Starring Michael Dudikoff, Stephen Dorff, Ami Dolenz. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman.The Hollywood sign appears briefly when Mac and Fraser arrive in California in a pickup truck. (Contributed by Randall Branam)
			Demolition Man (1993)  Starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes. Directed by Marco Brambilla.Again, the Sign is used to establish setting -- in this case, a dystopian, violence-wracked future Los Angeles.
			Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1994)  Starring Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Dave Chappelle. Directed by Mel Brooks.There's a hilarious scene in which Robin Hood arrives at the coast of England. How do we know? A giant Hollywood Sign-style sign spells out ENGLAND on the distant hillside. It was the Sign's first comedic role ... but not its last.
			Ed Wood (1994)  Starring Johnny Depp, Sara Jessica Parker, Martin Landau. Directed by Tim Burton.The Sign is featured during the first and final shots of the film as part of a wide-angle pan. The purposefully artificial-looking, miniaturized depiction of Hollywood serves as the perfect introduction to Wood's world.
			Escape from L.A. (1996) Starring Kurt Russell, Peter Fonda, A.J. Langer. Directed by John Carpenter.This barbed satire of L.A. (and, in turn, American) pop culture features a shot of the Sign with the Hollywood hills on fire in the background --a poignant image of just how badly things have gone in Los Angeles' future as imagined by Carpenter.
			Independence Day (1996)  Starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum. Directed by Roland Emmerich.As the aliens are introduced to us by the director he gives us a great shot of the Hollywood sign to make sure that we know where the alien invasion is taking place. (Contributed by Angel Frost)
			Volcano (1997)  Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche. Directed by Mike Jackson.Remarkably, the Sign is spared. It is, however, the compositional centerpiece of a shot featuring a tower (in the foreground) that's knocked over to dam a river of molten lava.
			187 (1997)  Starring Samuel L. Jackson, John Heard, Kelly Rowan, Clifton Collins Jr. Directed by Kevin Reynolds.In this hard hitting drama, the Sign appears approximately 7 or 8 minutes into the film in a very memorable and iconic way: a helicopter shot circling around the Sign at sunrise while Massive Attack's "Spying Glass" plays in the background. Very evocative indeed. (Contributed by Rocco Battaglia)
			Orgazmo (1997)  Starring Trey Parker, Dian Bechar. Directed by Trey Parker.This comedy about a naïve young Mormon missionary who's recruited to star in a sci-fi porn movie opens with a prominent shot of the Sign, under which the humorously obvious title card Hollywood, U.S.A. fades up.
			Lost Highway (1997)  Starring Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Louis Eppolito, Henry Rollins. Directed by David Lynch.A climactic car chase scene ends when Mr. Eddy rams a tailgater's car, forcing the driver off the road. Mr. Eddy proceeds to beat up the driver and yell at him, while the Hollywood Sign stands as silent witness in the background. Contributed by Randall Branam.
			Bean (1997)  Starring Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Burt Reynolds. Directed by Mel Smith.The Sign's comedy calvacade continues. ... Actually, the Sign isn't featured in the film itself, but it's the focus of a promotional poster. In the poster, Bean (Atkinson) proudly marches down Hollywood Blvd. with a giant O under his arm. In the background, we can clearly see the Sign -- which now reads HOLLYWO D.
			The Truman Show (1998)  Starring Jim Carrey, Lara Linney. Directed by Peter Weir.The film is about a man who discovers that what he thought was his life is, in fact, a TV show. His existential crisis is punctuated by a shot revealing that his hometown (Seahaven) is actually a set built inside of an enormous dome ... located just north of the Hollywood Sign.
			Mighty Joe Young (1998)  Starring Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron. Directed by Ron Underwood.The Sign is once again destroyed, but at least it's in an interesting way. Joe, the giant, enraged gorilla, picks up an O and hurls it at his attackers.
			South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999) Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Directed by Trey Parker.When Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny see the R-rated Canadian movie "Terrance & Phillip: Asses of Fire", they are pronounced "corrupted". Kyle's mom Sheila, with the rest of the parents, pressure the United States to wage war against Canada. The Sign is used as a backdrop when the Canadian Air Forces bomb the Baldwin brothers' mansion. (Alec, Stephen, etc.). (Contributed by Steve Etzkorn)
			RKO 281 (1999)  Starring Live Schriebner, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith. Directed by Benjamin Ross.The Sign (again depicted in its original Hollywoodland incarnation) serves as the perfect backdrop for this film about Orson Welle's struggle to make Citizen Kane. The film is accurate in that the LAND portion of the Sign, which wasn't scrapped until 1949, would have been standing during the time of Citizen Kane's filming (1940-41). Still, the Sign would have looked much worse for wear than it appears here.
			Man On The Moon (1999)  Starring Jim Carrey. Directed by Milos Forman.It is a helicopter shot from behind the sign on Mt. Lee and the camera nearly passes through. The purpose of the shot is to establish the all-powerful presence of Hollywood as an industry, a place where anything can happen. (Contributed by Daniel Ferry)
			Bowfinger (1999)  Starring Steve Martin, Heather Graham, Eddie Murphy. Directed by Frank Oz.One of the actresses that Steve Martin's character was hiring for his movie is sitting on a park bench underneath the sign. (Contributed by Dave Lepkowski)
			Scream 3 (2000)  Starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox. Directed by Wes Craven.The main plot of the movie is in Hollywood and the sign appears at the very beginning of the movie right before the scene with Cotton weary in his car. (Contributed by James Stewart)
			Mulholland Drive (2001)  Starring Naomi Watts. Directed by David Lynch.The Hollywood Sign appears in about 20 minutes in. It is shown after Naomi Watts arrives in Los Angeles. (Contributed by Julie King)
			Joe Dirt (2001)  Starring David Spade, Brittany Daniel, Dennis Miller. Directed by Dennie Gordon. The sign appears in the opening scene of the movie. It is featured on a "Greetings From" postcard that gradually dissolves into the actual Hollywood sign as lead character Joe Dirt (played by Spade) is driving through LA. (Contributed by Steven Etzkorn)
			The Hollywood Sign (2001)  Starring Tom Berenger, Jacqueline Kim, Rod Steiger, Burt Reynolds. Directed by Sonke Wortmann. This Hollywood-themed heist film has three washed up actors trying to steal $10,000,000 using their acting skills. In addition to the movie title, the film begins with a cool tracking shot of the Sign as a car with a trunk full of smuggled cocaine rolls past into Los Angeles. (Contributed by Duff Ferguson)
			The Majestic (2001)  Starring Jim Carrey, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn, Hal Holbrook. Directed by Frank Darabont. The Hollywood Sign can be seen when Peter Appleton (played by Jim Carrey) arrives at HHS Studios. (Contributed by Randall Branam)
			Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)  Starring Mike Meyers, Beyonce Knowles. Directed by Jay Roach.Dr. Evil's secret lair was built into the hill behind the Sign ... Talk about your glamorous digs.
			Crossroads (2002)  Starring Britney Spears, Anson Mount, Zoe Saldana. Directed by Tamra Davis.The sign is seen as the girls enter Los Angeles for the first time, setting the stage for glamorous adventure.
			The Italian Job (2003) Starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def, Edward Norton. Directed by F. Gary Gray.
			S.W.A.T (2003) Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J. Directed by Clark Johnson. Once again, the Sign sets the scene. At the very start of the movie, we hear a police radio requesting S.W.A.T. assistance, and the camera flies over the Sign into downtown Los Angeles to show a thrilling bank robbery taking place.