The studio told Tim Burton he couldn’t kill Jack Nicholson, so he killed him twice

Fun Fact: The executive producers gave Tim Burton orders not to kill off Jack Nicholson's character, so Tim Burton made a second character for Jack Nicholson just so he could kill him twice. Also, that one line of Jack Nicholson's gets me every time. "Tell the people they've still got two outta three branches of the government working for them, and that ain't bad!"

I love that in most alien invasion movies the aliens have a reason for invading the planet, usually in order to strip it of resources (such as Independence Day and War of the Worlds). In this films, the aliens are invading simply because they're being dicks.

The actress who plays Grandma is the great Sylvia Sydney. She played the Caseworker Juno in Beetlejuice. A wonderful actress with a great career.

"Don't run..... we are your friends!"

"Mars Attacks!" was originally a series of trading cards in the early 1960's. Each card had artwork on the front and told a piece of the story on the back. if you collected all the cards you would have the whole story.

"So who's in this movie?" "Yes"

This movie is basically Tim Burton trolling the audience. He fills the movie with an all-star cast only to then kill most of them off in anti-climatic and dopey ways. The fact Danny DeVito gets such prominent above-the-title billing yet is in only two scenes and doesn't even have a name aside from "Rude Gambler" is definitely part of this joke.

I bought this movie on DVD at Walmart in Germany (in the brief period of time Walmart existed here), and the cover art just featured the image of Sarah Jessica Parker's head on the dogs body. The cashier just looked at me with an expression of sheer disgust, and asked if I was already 18 yet. I was, but there was also a prominent FSK 12 (ages 12 and up) sticker on the cover. To this day I still remember this as one of the dumbest interactions ever at the register.

The Carlton dance was first done on Dec. 10, 1990. The first time he danced to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", was Nov. 16, 1992. "Mars Attacks", came out in 1996.

This film is Burton's love letter to the stuff he grew up with - 50's monster/alien movies.

The movie is based on the Mars Attacks trading cards made by Topps in the early '60s.

The cast of this movie is absolutely crazy. The movie itself is inspired by old chewing gum collectors cards.

Grandma was played by Classic Hollywood actress Sylvia Sidney, who was also in Burton's _Beetlejuice_ . This was the last feature film of her 73-yr career. She died three years later at 88, with her last credit as a series regular in the late-90s reboot of _Fantasy Island_ .

The movie's basic premise boils down to "What if alien invaders had the mentality of internet trolls?"

Note to George: Mars Attacks was ready to start filming before Brosnan’s first Bond film, Goldeneye, was released. Due to delays Mars Attacks started filming after Goldeneye came out, but Brosnan would have signed on before, and the public would not be used to him as Bond yet. He was not some big-shot actor that was above starring as a disembodied head. Also, the ‘living head in a jar” concept seems to have first appeared in a story from the 1920’s. It’s old.

The iconic film flying saucer is from Ray Harryhausen's "Earth vs The Flying Saucers" (1956) which influenced this film and Burton initially wanted to use stop motion as well. There is an earlier film from 1950 with a saucer but the iconic disc with prominent center dome is Harryhausen. The president's fireside chat was a call back to Franklin D. Roosevelt who was POTUS during the Great Depression and WW2. To reassure Americans he'd address the country weekly, opting to sit by a fireplace rather than a formal oration at a podium.

"Nuclear Bong" OMG, that hit so hard!

The bit with the song that kills the Martins is a call back to the movie “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”.

(8:04) I have letters from a relative from about 1900 and she was writing about riding the train for the first time with her aunt and they were marvelling at the breakneck speed that was 15 mph. They'd never travelled so fast and the excitement and fear of it really impressed them. 😆

I think Nicholson playing multiple characters was also a homage to another end-of-the-world spoof movie, Dr. Strangelove, where Peter Sellers played multiple characters including the President.

Head in Jars, and head transplants was a huge trope in 50's B movies

The reason for the location was that at the time Pahrump was the home of Art Bell, who was the host of the largest radio program in the US and whose topics often covered ufos, cryptids, and time travel.

It's a shame more people don't recognize or at least mention Rod Steiger, Paul Winfield, Jim Brown, and Joe Don Baker alongside Jack Nicholson, Danny Devito, etc. A lot of real giants in this film.

Pierce Brosnan actually has a fantastic sense of humor regarding some of the roles he takes, especially later in his career when he seems to have said "fuck it, I want to have fun". The Matador and The Out-Laws are both great examples of this.

Slim Whitman’s yodeling music was being flogged on cable around that time. Honestly, his musical stylings would explode anyone’s brain. The great Jim Brown and Pam Greer were staples of 70’s exploitation movies.

Danny DeVito is so damn funny. Seriously love that dude. Also the aliens wheeling the giant laser to gank grandma is truly hilarious.

Flying saucers came from one of the first descriptions of unidentified aerial phenomenon. A pilot in Washington state saw a formation of what he described as saucers skipping on water. From that point on all the comics and movies use the saucers you see today.

It's amazing how many famous actors are in this - I keep forgetting Micheal J. Fox and Natelie Portman are in it.

This literally came out about five months after the release of INDEPENDENCE DAY. Burton apparently wasn't aware of the movie until it came out, and thought it was hysterical he had made basically a "MAD MAGAZINE" kind of INDEPENDENCE DAY.

@02:30 These flying saucers are based on designs created by Ray Harryhausen. @28:20 Jack just wanted to play, so Tim gave him both rolls.

The scene where the president addresses the nation is framed in the same way as the scene in Batman when Joker addresses Gotham.

This whole movie is a WTF moment in a good way

I’ve seen this movie two or three times before, but it was only during your reaction just now that I “got” one of the jokes: the nuclear bomb’s explosion being huffed by the lead alien. Fusion bombs work by forcing together hydrogen atoms, which then convert into helium. Now, it generally only produces a tiny amount of helium, but for the sake of a joke, it works.

13:21 "Are you supposed to shoot over peoples' heads during 21 gun salutes?" Obviously Burton is playing this scene for a laugh as well, but in reality yes (I was in the US Army, spent some time on funeral details). Generally speaking you are lined up well away from the mourners but still visible to them, and you're obviously firing blanks, but even still you would often get a few people reacting to the shots. You always aim above the horizon both because of the symbolism (you're saluting the fallen's service and sacrifices, not shooting to kill) and because even blanks can hurt or kill a person if they are too close to the barrel and/or a random small object was jammed inside before you fired.

I don’t recall whether or not you’ve seen Tim Burton’s movie “Ed Wood”, but you should. This movie is partially an homage to that real life director.

Supposedly, when Jack Nicholson read the script, he said to Burton that he wanted to play all the roles. 😂

The context of this movie is that "Mars Attacks" was a set of mildly offensive trading cards for late boomers akin to what Garbage Pail Kids was for Gen X (and I assume there is something similar for the yoots). It was originally just a collection of weird scenes, and the movie is really just about capturing the feel of it. Also, the discussion about the Roosevelt Room was set up. FDR was famous for his "Fireside Chats", or informal radio addresses. Up until Trump, they continued in the form of the president's Saturday radio address, but they became more formal over the years. See also: the Kennedy room.

My favorite Jack Nicholson line in the movie (that you didn't include in the edit, grrr!) is, "I want the people to know that they still have two out of three branches of the government working for them, and that ain't bad." I feel like Nicholson is the only actor on Earth who could deliver such a ridiculous line and make it work.

Jack's biggist movie: One Flew Over the Cuckoo"s nest

The music that kills the aliens is Slim Whitman. He was a very successful and prolific country singer songwriter whose career spanned decades but peaked in the 50s. He sold over 70 million albums and was the opening act for Elvis when Elvis started touring in the 50s.

Y’all saw Ed Wood didn’t you? This is basically Tim Burton doing a tribute to Ed Wood movies

Oh gosh...this one is gonna make their faces and lungs hurt from laughing so hard...the humor is so on point. This one will be a direct hit to their funny bones! 😂

Fun fact: the hotel with the flying saucer on top was called the Landmark Hotel. The scene where the Martians destroy it was taken from real footage of them imploding it in Las Vegas. Tim Burton used that footage in the film.

Fun Fact: The grandma was played by Sylvia Sidney, who played the caseworker, Juno, in another movie you guys have reacted to, Beetlejuice. This was her final film role.

My favorite Tim Burton movie next to Beetlejuice! Perfectly captured the feel of those old-fashioned b-movies of the 50's that had the big name stars in them. P.S. The Slim Whitman song has long been one of my ringtones/alarms because of this movie.

Can you imagine how much fun this was to make?

I wasn't disappointed. Brilliant!

10:15 after Simone said how cute the dog was, I was just _waiting_ to see how long it took for you to put that together 😂😂😂

The Cast was pure Gold - Burton Deluxe!

The Term "Flying Saucer" was coined by a man named Kenneth Arnold in 1947 when he was interviewed about a flight of UFOs he spotted whose movement he described as saucers skipping on the water, Arnold was a Pilot flying near Mount Rainier Washington when he saw a number of these craft flying over the mountain range.

19:09 - The falling tower was actually the Landmark Casino in Vegas. They used the implosion footage in the movie.

The heavy weight boxer working at a casino in the film is a direct reference to Joe Louis, anyone familiar with the boxers final days will see this and understand. He made millions back in the day but the IRS came after him later in life and never allowed him to have anything stripping the man of anything. The movie is insanely funny and I love the way Tim Burton did this movie justice using all the stars that came into the movie. Thanks to the stars that played in movie, great job guys.

"Glen,.... They're Close!" 😅

The first "flying saucer" idea came from a pilot describing a blob of light that was reflecting in his cockpit and how it moved "like a saucer skimming over water".

I understand the origin of this movie was a series of trading cards with vignettes depicting Martians coming to earth. That is why the storyline is all over the place and a perfect vehicle for an ensemble cast. And a great cast it is!

Some people tell me that the crazy war general was inspired by films with crazy war generals in 40s films and Matthew Marcus from 1993 Exosquad.

25:29 The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Ended in May, 1996 before Mars Attacks was released that December but Carlton was dancing to Tom Jones seasons before that.

I remember seeing this at 6 years old in 96. My grandpa took me and my aunt, one month older than me. We were dying the whole time. But one part we always remember, and joked about, that left us dying in laughter, "Do not run, we are your friends!" *kills everyone*

I remember seeing these cards around but the ones that come to mind were drafts for cards they didn't do, like the Martians tying humans to the ends of large mortar cannons and firing them. I always wondered what Tim Burton and company chose to include from this series. Also: the main reason I couldn't accept the direction the latest "Jurassic World" series went was because when I was a kid we had the Topps card series "Dinosaurs Attack!" which was the same concept but a violent depiction of what might happen if dinosaurs suddenly existed in modern times. A brutal near-eradication of the human race due to these new apex killers let loose on the planet. I was waiting to see if they do that one but...I guess not.

RE: where did this idea of saucer shaped ships come from A reporter misunderstanding in 1947. An amateur enthusiast pilot claimed he saw weird lights, described their movements as "like if you skipped a saucer along the water" and a reporter misinterpreted it as him seeing saucer shaped objects.

Based on a notorious series of painted trading cards from the 60s that got complaints from parents for their depictions of violence. One card captioned "Destroying a Dog" was singled out. So it was probably a must that it was included in the movie. The flying saucers are identical to those in the 50s film "Earth vs the Flying Saucers" (with great FX by Ray Harryhausen) Their destruction of Washington DC is clearly an homage to that film.

After a friend and I saw this movie (at a one screen theater), we were walking through the parking lot we saw a couple of girls running to their car. I yelled "Do not run, we are your friends!" and they were laughing so hard they ran into a parked car. One of my favorite movie memories.

How quickly did it go from "There are way too many characters in this movie" to "Oh no! They are killing off all the characters in this movie"

The crowd of characters with limited screen time was a throwback to the Irwin Allen disaster movies of the ‘70s which were making a bit of a comeback around this time. Allen put recognizable stars in all the parts to help the audience not get lost as to who was who as the mayhem unfolded. The actors concerned got a healthy paycheck for not too much work, the films were usually shot mostly on LA soundstages so they could go home every night, and if the movie did well they had a high grossing movie under their belt, which didn’t hurt. I am glad they dug it. Back when this was new I went with a group of friends and one guy brought a girl who we didn’t know and she was not amused. The Westwood audience was howling around her but she (and her date, obviously, once he twigged) sat there with her arms folded. “It just wasn’t very probable, and mostly just silly,” was her reaction. I mean, yeah. I assume the film didn’t do too well because there are more people like that than I was aware. Someone told me Alex Cox 😳 originally came up with the idea of a film based on the Mars Attacks trading cards and worked on it for a while. That didn’t go anywhere and Cox was replaced by Martin Amis 😱, then Jonathan Gems had a go and his was what got the movie going. Assuming Cox and Amis are the filmmaker and novelist rather than other people with the same names, that’s a frickin’ weird pedigree.

The building being destroyed was a real building implosion.

Flying saucers came from a pilot describing the motion (NOT APPEARANCE) of an unknown object as like a saucer flying through the air.

The film is based on a set of Topps bubble gum cards from the 60s where it was a set of paintings depicting the invasion from Mars and the downfall of mankind. The cards were full of gross imagery which caused a lot of moral panic both at the time of their initial release and the reprinting of them in the early 90s. While it's a bit muddled with mixed pacing Mars Attacks is an overall fun romp for when you just want to see thing get shot and blown up. It's got the schlock of 50s sci-fi films while playing on many of the tropes of the 70s disaster films. Fun fact ... Jack Nicholson's casino being destroyed is the actual demolition of real-life casino The Landmark.

The senior citizen hero lady was Sylvia Sidney, one of the greats whose first credit is listed as 1927. Rod Steiger plays the general and was Napoleon before Napoleon.

The "sexy alien spy" was played by Lisa Marie, who was Burton's fiance at the time. She also played Vampira in Ed Wood and Icabod's mother in Sleepy Hollow. Vampira's the only role she had with lines IIRC.

Those who lived thru the 70s and 80s will remember the Slim Whitman albums being sold on TV. Most of us reacted the same way as the Martians.

Fun Fact, in case anyone didn't mention it yet, but Mars Attacks! was a Topps trading card set back in the 80's. The cards and the lore behind them, were far more brutal than the movie. Some of the scenes from the movie are taken from those cards. The dog being blasted, the burning cattle, the giant robot thing. As for the lore, well, besides this movie, the Martians had a few reasons for invading. Mars was dying, they needed a new home and chose Earth. The moral and other context was the cards depicted the 1950's and the general public's fear of being invaded by something that almost wiped out the U.S. Because during those times, the United States was considered the world, even with its terrible acts that went on. So, for something to come along and bring its people to their knees with very little effort, freaked people out when the cards were released. Now let's jump forward a bit. This movie ended spawning several books and comics and I think a Re-release of the cards at some point, The lore was added to or changed slightly. I think what was added was, several expeditions were sent to Earth, one of which involved the Prince of the Martians. But with his death at the hands of humans, pretty much became the reason for them attacking. Also, with the add ins and changes, there were Two species of Martians. There was the war loving Martians, they were basically the ones in this movie, but with sharp teeth, and another set of Martians who preferred Diplomacy. But after a few failures and the death of the Prince?, even they reluctantly agreed to war.

My sister and I love this movie. The first time she saw it (she was about 8 or 9), she said that that Ritchie reminded her of me because we both had long hair, we wore flannels shirts constantly, and we're both simple but lovable.

One of my favorite 'references' is an homage to the old 50's film: War of the Worlds in the 2 types of beam weapons used - the RED heat ray, and the GREEN skeleton beam.

I was so excited to see this when it came out, but when I finally got around to renting it the next year I was so puzzled by what I had just seen. I watched it again when it came to cable and was still unsure of what I thought about it. It took me a third watch before I could even begin to admit that I just might love this movie. And I do. I absolutely have grown to love Mars Attacks!

The Frys Electronics in North Hollywood is full of Mars Attacks movie props. The front of the building has a saucer crashed into it. Inside has jeeps cut in half by laser beams.

I'm probably the only 62 year old male who understood, the "why did you drop out of Yale" reference. poor Rory.

The Galaxy Hotel in the film, was an actual building in Vegas was being torn down. The footage of it being destroyed by the martians was the actual demolition of the building.

The Galaxy Hotel in the movie was actually the Landmark, a classic hotel and casino in Las Vegas. It was closed down in 1990 along with a lot of the other older establishments around the same time. When it was slated for demolition, Tim Burton wanted to immortalize it because he had stayed there a few times in the past. I think a lot of the Vegas subplots originate from having a reason showcase the implosion footage that was captured during the demolition. The studio also told Burton not to kill of Nicholson's character, so he added a second character played by him and made sure to kill them both.

Burton has a great passion for old films. This was a homage to the 1950s low budget sci fi boom. He also did Ed Wood, going over the infamous director and all the old horror stars he worked with. And Edward Scissorhands, which is basically a love letter to gothicism, even down to the princess locked in the tower (except it was the prince in the attic).

The term "flying saucers" came from a misunderstanding in the media. A pilot described the delta wing (boomerang shaped) ufo he witnessed as moving like saucers skipping on water. Headlines dubbed them flying saucers and everyone thought he saw flying discs. I forget the name of the pilot, but it's an interesting story many researchers have covered.

President Franklin Roosevelt used to have "fireside" chats back in the day. But I don't think he actually sat by a fireplace. And even if he did- it was over the radio. So it wouldn't have mattered.

French Prince used the song first, Mars Attacks came out after Independence Day. One was summer the other December

18:33 Spirit Halloween was selling a life size animatronic of the aliens from the movie!

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere but to answer your question at 13:24 about shooting over people's heads during a 21-gun salute, they fire blanks. It is just gun powder no projectile.

I love the old B-Movie trope used in this movie just after the Martians attack the first time. Out scientist character has a full anatomical chart of the Martians and claims a part of the brain is used in telepathy after having only looked at the aliens once from afar. Gets me every time 🤣🤣

Cindy the showgirl, was an actual showgirl at Caesar's Palace resort-casino, who featured prominently in Vegas promotional material in the years prior to the film.

The Topps cards the movie is based on were absolutely nasty, especially for 1962; each also had a gruesome little story on the back. (The burning cows were card #22, for example). I remember being a kid and finding a horror magazine (maybe Fangoria?) with all the cards collected together. It was like, 'What is THIS?!' So for Burton to do a movie? It was pure nostalgia.

George mentioned some things in this movie look like throwbacks to other specific movies. I recognize the Martian spaceship design being directly from a classic 1956 science fiction movie titled Earth Vs. Flying Saucers.

This was my mother-in-law Maggie's favorite movie. I took her to the Museum of Pop Culture to see a cool little exhibit featuring props from the film. We had an awesome time together. I miss you , sweetie. ❤

It's not a coincidence that Independence Day came out at the same time as this. There's a Wikipedia entry for twin films that lists them by year starting with 1913. It's fascinating. Twin films are films with the same or similar plots produced and released at the same time by two different film studios.

16:40 No platform or other trickery was involved. All the credit for Martian Girl's creepy walk goes to the actress, Lisa Marie Smith, and her movement coach, Dan Kamin, who choreographed everything. To make things even more challenging, she had to be literally sewn into that dress by the costumers.

2:20 There was a newspaper editor in 1947 who misunderstood the story told by Kenneth A. Arnold. Kenneth A. Arnold , while flying his private plane, saw a crescent-shaped object (most likely a military bomber prototype, one of the predecessors of modern B-2) that was >moving< like a saucer oscillating up and down. The editor of the newspaper confused the description of the movement of the object with a description of the object itself, or did it intentionally to make the story sound more impressive - and wrote an article about the "alien flying saucer". Within a couple of months articles about “flying saucers” were in hundreds of newspapers all across the USA. And of course, immediately hundreds of trustful definitely not-lying witnesses appeared who saw these “flying saucers”. Despite the fact that Kenneth A. Arnold insisted until the end of his life that he had never seen a “flying saucer” - no one listened to him anymore. The image of “flying saucers” was firmly entrenched in the minds of science fiction writers and all kind of idiots around the world.

the term "flying saucer" entered the public lexicon after the kenneth arnold sighting in 1947. Experienced pilot described seeing numerous shiny saucer shaped objects in the pacific NW flying at thousands of miles per hour

The kid's comment to grandma about the invention of trains actually reminds me of my grandma. She was a little girl the first time a movie with sound came to her town. There was a scene where the camera sat on train tracks as a train approached and the growing roar actually scared her and she ran out of the theater!

The concept was from a series of trading cards from Topps, and many of the shots such as when Jack Black's character gets killed is pulled from the artwork of different cards. This movie pulls the idea of an ensemble cast from 70s disaster movies. And if I remember correctly, Tim Burton offered Jack Nicholson to play either the President, or the guy from Las Vegas, and he asked if he could play them both. Tom Jones is a singer that has been around since the 60s. It's Not Unusual was released by him in 1965. And this film also borrowed heavily from many 50s era SciFi alien invasion movies.

I watched this when I was a kid but I never realized how many famous actors were in this movie

The term "Flying Saucer" was quoted by pilot Kenneth Arnold who in 1947 saw I believe as many as 9 UFOs flying near Mt Rainier in WA state and referred to them as flying discs or saucers.

Flying disks appear in paintings from the Rennaissance period. They also appear in earlier artistic endeavors in petroglyphs many thousands of years older. It's not a new thing.

The Martian Theme music is straight out of the old 50's and 60's movies. In fact this entire film is both a parody *and* a love letter to those old SF movies. Edit: Head in a jar is an old 50s b-movie trope, which is where Futurama got the theme - as did this movie.