Catherine Scorsese - Goodfellas
You probably wouldn't expect Martin Scorsese, the undisputed master of the mobster movie, to be very sentimental, but he put his parents Charles and Catherine in many of his films before their deaths in 1993 and 1997 (all together now: awww). Catherine provides one of Goodfellas' best comic scenes as Tommy's concerned Italian mother, who loans him a knife, shows off a painting and feeds three mobsters in the middle of one hectic night.
Kurt Vonnegut - Back to School
Anything with Kurt Vonnegut is an automatic win in my book. The guy could literally pop up for one second, say nothing and I'd be satisfied. Well, actually, that's basically what happens in this scene from Back to School, a little-known '80s Rodney Dangerfield movie. It's a pretty mediocre movie on its own, but considering it's got a cameo by a legend like Vonnegut, it skyrockets a bajillion and five points. Approximately.
Alice Cooper - Wayne's World
My first introduction to Alice Cooper was through Wayne's World, so before I ever heard "School's Out" or "I'm Eighteen," I knew him as the slightly scary guy with an impressive knowledge of Milwaukee. The whole Milwaukee segment of the movie is arguably the best part, from Cooper (and Chris Farley)'s cameos to Wayne and Garth's parody of Laverne and Shirley (the tail end of which starts this video). The following shtick was done several times on Saturday Night Live, such as when Wayne and Garth asked Aerosmith about U.S. relations with China, but with unhinged types like Cooper it's always gold.
Alfred Hitchcock - Lifeboat
Alfred Hitchcock practically invented the cameo, appearing in 39 of his 52 surviving movies. While he's normally just a man passing on the street, he had to get creative in Lifeboat, a movie which takes place on one set: a small boat. So what did he do? Put himself in a newspaper ad, of course:
Another one of his more original cameos came in Dial M for Murder, during which Hitchcock appears in a class reunion photo. The guy may have had some issues (weird phobia of eggs, fixation on blondes), but man did he know how to do a cameo.
Lance Armstrong - Dodgeball
David Hasselhoff makes a fantastic cameo in this movie as well, but you've got to give credit to Lance Armstrong. In addition to motivating Peter LeFleur (Vince Vaughn) to get back in the game, he does some great self-skewering. Plus there's that pitch-perfect closing line of "Good luck, Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever."
Billy Idol - The Wedding Singer
In the climax to this cinematic ode to (often terrible) '80s fashion, hair and music, Billy Idol shows up to help Robbie (Adam Sandler) win Julia (Drew Barrymore) over. She's on her way to Vegas to marry Miami Vice-loving a-hole Glenn, so he's got his work cut out for him. Luckily, Billy Idol gets it, and not only introduces Robbie's cute song but, with some help from a fan and a stewardess, locks Glenn in the bathroom. The only thing that could have made this cameo even more awesome is if Idol sang "White Wedding" as Robbie and Julia walked down the aisle. Oh well, at least we got Steve Buscemi singing "True."
Bruce Springsteen - High Fidelity
The Boss gives relationship advice to John Cusack in this fantastic 2000 movie. Need I say more?
Okay, I will: I'm going to be bold here and say that, as far as John Cusack movies go, I vastly prefer High Fidelity (and the underrated '80s dark comedy Better Off Dead) to Say Anything. Nothing special if you ask me.
*Hides from sharp objects pelted by 18- to 28-year-old women*
If YouTube had provided the videos, you'd also be watching Clive Owen in The Pink Panther (as Agent 006), coked-out Charlie Sheen in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, David Bowie in Zoolander and Billy Ray Cyrus in Mulholland Dr.
Let me repeat that: Billy Ray Cyrus makes a cameo in Mulholland Dr. You know, the movie with more psychoanalytic theory and article hits on Google Scholar than Sigmund Freud? Yeah, it has this guy in it. I'll just leave you all to think that one over...
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