To call this breaking the fourth wall is an understatement. These masters of the meta completely destroy it. The Meaning of Life (1983), written by Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Idle & Terry Jones & Michael Palin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRDXohpWAIo LADY PRESENTER: Hello, and welcome to 'The Middle of the Film', the moment where we take a break to invite you, the audience, to join us, the film-makers, in 'Find the Fish'. We're going to show you a scene from another film and ask you to guess where the fish is, but, if you think you know, don't keep it to yourselves! Yell out so that all the cinema can hear you. So, here we are with... 'Find the Fish'. STRANGE MAN: I wonder where that fish has gone. STRANGE WOMAN: You did love it so. You looked after it like a son. STRANGE MAN: And it went wherever I did go. STRANGE WOMAN: Is it in the cupboard? AUDIENCE: Yes! Yes! No!... STRANGE WOMAN: Wouldn't you like to know? It was a lovely little fish. STRANGE MAN: And it went wherever I did go. MAN IN AUDIENCE: It's behind the sofa! STRANGE WOMAN: Where can that fish be? MAN IN AUDIENCE: Have you thought of the drawers in the bureau?! STRANGE WOMAN: It is a most elusive fish! STRANGE MAN: And it went wherever I did go. STRANGE WOMAN: Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish! STRANGE MAN: A-fish, a-fish, a-fish, a-fishy, ooooh. STRANGE WOMAN: Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish! STRANGE MAN: That went wherever I did go. MAN IN AUDIENCE: Look up his trunk! MAN IN AUDIENCE: Yeah, it's hidden in his trousers! FISH #1: That was terrific! FISH #2: Great! FISH #4: Wonderful. FISH #2: Yeah! FISH #5: Yeah. FISH #3: Best bit so far. FISH #2: Fantastic! FISH #1: Yeah. FISH #2: Yes! Really great! FISH #6: Very piscine. FISH #5: Ha ha hah. FISH #6: Yeah. Hee, hee, hee, hee. FISH #4: Oh! FISH #6: Ahh. FISH #1: Heh. FISH #2: They haven't said much about the meaning of life so far, have they? FISH #1: Well, it's been building up to it. FISH #4: Has it? FISH #2: Has it? FISH #3: Yeah, I expect they'll get on to it now. FISH #5: Personally, I very much doubt if they're going to say anything about the meaning of life at all. FISH #6: Oh, come on. They've got to say something. FISH #3: They're bound to. FISH #2: Yeah. FISH #4: Yeah. FISH #1: Yeah.

Funny Games (2007) Written by Michael Haneke http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTTEMNxV1rY Paul: Okay, we bet- what time is it? Peter: 8:40. Paul: That in, let's say, 12 hours all three of you are gonna be kaput. Okay? Anna: What? Paul: You bet that you'll be alive tomorrow at 9 o'clock and we bet that you'll be dead. Okay? Peter: They don't want to bet. Paul: Well it's not an option. There has to be a bet. [turns toward camera, breaks fourth wall, addressing the audience] Paul: I mean, what do you think? You think they stand a chance? Well, you're on their side, aren't you? Who are you betting on, hmm? Peter: But, wait, what kind of bet is this? If they're dead, they can't live up to their side. If they win, they can't live either. Paul: Yes, they'll lose either way. That's what I'm saying.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off --Writer/Director John Hughes http://movieclips.com/xtkF-ferris-buellers-day-off-movie-life-moves-pretty-fast/ FERRIS: Yep, I said it before and I'll say it again. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. A perfect theme summary that explains Ferris' motivation. The movie begins with breaking the 4th wall with humor and sarcasm and subsequently ends with breaking the 4th wall with eternal words of wisdom.

Here's a clever way of making the audience connect with the main character: turning what would traditionally have been a voice-over into on-screen narration. High Fidelity (2000) Screenplay by D.V. DeVincentis & Steve Pink & John Cusack and Scott Rosenberg, based on the book by Nick Hornby. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8q5wiMYojo Rob: Top five things I miss about Laura. One: sense of humor. Very dry, but it can also be warm and forgiving. And she's got one of the best all time laughs in the history of all time laughs, she laughs with her entire body. Two: she's got character. Or at least she had character before the Ian nightmare. She's loyal and honest, and she doesn't even take it out on people when she's having a bad day. That's character. [holds up three fingers] Three: [long pause, hesitantly] I miss her smell, and the way she tastes. It's a mystery of human chemistry and I don't understand it, some people, as far as their senses are concerned, just feel like home. [shakes his head, recollecting, then looks back and lip synchs 'four' while holds up four fingers] I really dig how she walks around. It's like she doesn't care how she looks or what she projects and it's not that she doesn't care it's just... she's not affected I guess, and that gives her grace. And five: she does this thing in bed when she can't get to sleep, she kinda half moans and then rubs her feet together an equal number of times... it just kills me. Believe me, I mean, I could do a top five things about her that drive me crazy but it's just your garden variety women you know, schizo stuff and that's the kind of thing that got me here. - A couple of bonus scenes. Breaking the fourth wall without dialogue: Cabiria looks directly into the camera and smiles, signaling to the audience that everything will be okay in the final shot of Nights of Cabiria (1957): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiDFWGoCfy8 Blood splatters on the camera lens during a shootout scene in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28mJ76OkZqo

Leave it to Mel Brooks to not only break the 4th wall but bend, twist, and warp it beyond all recognition. SPACEBALLS (1987), written by Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham, and Thomas Meehan Colonel Sandurz: Try here. Stop. Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie? Colonel Sandurz: Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now. Dark Helmet: What happened to then? Colonel Sandurz: We passed then. Dark Helmet: When? Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We're at now now. Dark Helmet: Go back to then. Colonel Sandurz: When? Dark Helmet: Now. Colonel Sandurz: Now? Dark Helmet: Now. Colonel Sandurz: I can't. Dark Helmet: Why? Colonel Sandurz: We missed it. Dark Helmet: When? Colonel Sandurz: Just now. Dark Helmet: When will then be now? Colonel Sandurz: Soon. Dark Helmet: How soon? http://movieclips.com/M2qP-spaceballs-movie-were-in-now-now/ I know writers are scrambling for new Star Wars writing gigs but not me...I'd rather write the next Spaceballs! The Schwartz is with me!

Alfie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060086/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8166-kaEPQ [final words of the film] Alfie: You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I've known, and think of all the things they've done for me and the little I've done for them, you'd think I've had the best of it along the line. But what have I got out of it? I've got a bob or two, some decent clothes, a car, I've got me health back and I ain't attached. But I ain't got me peace of mind - and if you ain't got that, you ain't got nothing. I dunno. It seems to me if they ain't got you one way they've got you another. So what's the answer? That's what I keep asking myself - what's it all about? Know what I mean?

The beginning of "Patton"... Patton: Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. http://movieclips.com/72fB-patton-movie-trailer-1/ This movie came out in 1970 -- right in the heart of the Vietnam War protests. Pretty ballsy beginning... with a general standing in front of a giant American flag.