What the hell consitiutes a "cameo"

[Steve J. Rogers]

I emailed WrestlingDeacon a question about famous cameos for his next 411 article.

 

Basically after seeing Jimmy Cagney's cameo in "The Seven Little Foys" as George M. Cohan, sort of a "repayment" of Eddie Foy Jr's "cameo" in Cagney's Cohan biopic "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

 

Foy Jr played his famous stage comedian father in Yankee Doodle in a scene with Cagney, and when Bob Hope was brining the Eddie Foy story to the screen in 1955 he asked Cagney to do a cameo as Cohan. James did it for free because Foy and his family would lend a helping hand to struggling actors, including one James Cagney

 

Anyway I quickly thought of some of the better cameos that were straight apperances, not "Hey thats SO AND SO!" cameos almost for the sake of them in most comedies and/or spoofs. Basically cameos that are "integral" to the story.

 

And the only two that I came up with off the top of my head (late night and I was rushing) was James Caan/Abe Vigoda/Gianni Russo at the end of GodFather II and Will Smith in Jersey Girl

 

Then I started to question, what the hell constitutes a cameo in the first place?

 

Especially after looking at the DVD cover of "The Seven Little Foys" and next to Bob Hope in billing order is James Cagney, followed by Jerry Mathers. Yup the Beaver is in the film. One thing though, Mathers appears in only one sequence as Foy's oldest son at age 5 (or so) Plus the film came out in 1955, Leave It to Beaver doesn't debut untill 1957! In other words Paramount's home video department is hyping a cameo apperance by a Hollywood Icon and a "Before They Were Stars" appearance of a child actor and both were in probably a combined 10 minutes of screen time!

 

Anyway the Mathers billing made me question what actually does qualify as a cameo? If Paramount bills Mathers for a movie made before he became a household name does that qualify as a Mathers "cameo" Ditto with say Robert Duvall as "Boo Radley" in "To Kill a Mockingbird" I mean even though its Duvall's very first movie apperance, but he would go on to be an acclaimed and accomplished star

 

Another problem with cameo designation is Bruce Campbell in both Spider-Man movies. Sure fans of Bruce and the Ramis will reconize Bruce and go "HEY ASH!" when they see his apperances, but to the majority of people watching the movies will probably just think that Bruce is a pretty good character actor, and if they realize that the snooty theatre bouncer in Spidey 2 was the ring announcer in the first Spidey movie will think that he is a good friend of a high ranking person on production.

 

Their assumptions would be correct, Bruce is a damn good character actor and he is a good friend of the director, but is the Bruce Campbell name that well known outside of the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre for his apperances to be considered an official "cameo" I'm leaning towards no in that regard

 

Well anyway, any thoughts on the whole topics of cameos?

 

Steve

[starvenger]

Then I started to question, what the hell constitutes a cameo in the first place?

To me, a cameo is an uncredited, often unpaid appearance by a celebrity, although the reverse may not be true (eg James Earl Jones in Star Wars). I think it may depend on the director/producers though...

[Special K]

If it qualifies, Alec Baldwin in Glengary is a shoe-in for best cameo ever.

[Nighthawk]

I think not.

 

Personally, one of my favorite cameos is David Cross in... in... what's the name of that Christopher Guest movie where he's the gay theater director.

[Steve J. Rogers]

Then I started to question, what the hell constitutes a cameo in the first place?

To me, a cameo is an uncredited, often unpaid appearance by a celebrity, although the reverse may not be true (eg James Earl Jones in Star Wars). I think it may depend on the director/producers though...

Using that logic though would sort of negate Cagney then as he was credited in the movie's credits and even in the "poster credits" it reads "...and James Cagney as "George M. Cohan" "

 

I don't think Eddie Foy Jr was credited for Yankee Doodle Dandy but I really don't know how well known any of the Seven Little Foys were post 1920-ish, they worked in the business for years but I don't think movie goers in 1942 were saying "HEY THATS EDDIE FOY JR!" Maybe they saw a resemblance between the actor and the real Eddie Foy but I don't know if the father-son connection could have been made

 

With Jones are you refering to his voice in Star Wars? Or in the up coming Revenge of the Sith? The former his voice is in EVERY scene Vader has and cameos are usually just one scenes. He has 4 lines in ROtS which would probably be considered a cameo

 

I guess also how do you define "celebrity" might have something to do with it as well.

 

Case in point again with the Duvall/Mathers cases. Both would go on to become someone, but at the point of their small apperances they were unknowns. Or if someone was famous back in the day and their star diminished greatly with the passage of time, does that mean their cameos are no longer considered cameos? I.e. Christian Slater hasn't done much in recent years, so I'm sure there are now new Star Trek fans wonder just why do people get giddy when they see the scene in Star Trek 6 where this officer tells Sulu that Star Fleet has ordered them to find the Enterprise

 

Speaking of Trek, there is another category of cameos! Shoehorning enough characters from the TV program into a film project has been a staple of TV to film!

 

Steve

[A Happy Medium]

What about Heston in Wayne's World 2?

[the max]

I think not.

 

Personally, one of my favorite cameos is David Cross in... in... what's the name of that Christopher Guest movie where he's the gay theater director.

Waiting for Guffman?

[Nighthawk]

Yeah, that's the one. Cross' finest moment.

[The Mandarin]

Martin Lawrence in Runteldat.

[Guest Retro Rob]

I LOVED Christopher Walken's cameo in Pulp Fiction. I think that would be the best example since he added a necessary (albeit hilarious) part to the story and was only in one scene.

[starvenger]

Then I started to question, what the hell constitutes a cameo in the first place?

To me, a cameo is an uncredited, often unpaid appearance by a celebrity, although the reverse may not be true (eg James Earl Jones in Star Wars). I think it may depend on the director/producers though...

Using that logic though would sort of negate Cagney then as he was credited in the movie's credits and even in the "poster credits" it reads "...and James Cagney as "George M. Cohan" "

Probably would, but I don't think my opinion is necessarily right.

 

With Jones are you refering to his voice in Star Wars?  Or in the up coming Revenge of the Sith?  The former his voice is in EVERY scene Vader has and cameos are usually just one scenes.  He has 4 lines in ROtS which would probably be considered a cameo

Star Wars. I believe that he's credited in the videos, but originally he wasn't. But that was a role, not a cameo.

[cabbageboy]

I think Walken actually got a billing though, so that's more of a small role than cameo. I think a cameo is something that isn't really necessary or even billed, just someone showing up to say "Sup?"

 

As in Anchorman, I'd say the Stiller, Vaughn, etc. appearances are cameos. Just notable names showing up to fuck around. Ditto Bruce Willis in the new Ocean's 12.

 

One of the funnier cameos I've seen was in another Hope movie, The Princess and the Pirate. At the end Hope seemingly has won the princess (Virginia Mayo) and then she runs off into the arms of her "true love." And it turns out to be Bing Crosby! Hope fires off a classic line: "I work hard for 9 reels only to lose the girl to a bit part player from Paramount? This is the last picture I ever do for Goldwyn."

 

Come to think of it, pretty much all the Hope/Crosby movies have out of nowhere cameos. The Road movies for instance.

 

Does Brian Dennehy's so called cameo in the South Park movie count? Or was that even him doing the voice? That was funny as hell.

[the max]

Yeah, that's the one. Cross' finest moment.

He was ok, that was my least favorite of the Guest mockumentaries.

 

Mr. Show > *

[Nighthawk]

Odenkirk carried him.

[the max]

Parts of it, yes.

 

Some of it was Cross being Cross and carrying Odenkirk. Of course, when Tom Kenny was there...by god he was carrying everyone.

[Nighthawk]

True enough. They both make generally bad choices when it comes to film.

[WrestlingFan4Ever]

joe pesci in a bronx tale.........great fuckin cameo

[Ravenbomb]

If they count:

Roman Polanski in Chinatown

Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver

[spiny norman]

Seeing you're mentioning Duvall's before-he-was-famous appearance in To Kill A Mockingbird, I must point out Jeff Goldblum and Sigourney Weaver in Annie Hall are great for moments of "What the!? Was that who I thought it was?"

[Youth N Asia]

Walkin was credited in Pulp Fiction. and in Anchorman I would consider Ben Stiller and Jack Black to have cameos, but Vaughn was in it enough.

 

Cameos I liked, Arnold in The Rundown. Matt Damon in Eurotrip. And Danny Glover in Maverick.

[Guest TheHulkster]

Bob Barker was pretty funny in Happy Gilmore

[Hogan Made Wrestling]

I agree with the choice of Arnie in the Rundown.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh]

Dennis Haskings made one of my favorite cameos of all time.

 

On the GOD AWFUL Saved by the Bell "The College Years" Thanksgiving episode.

 

He was fucking hilarious and having a good time. If you see the episode, you can tell, he's cracking up, and totally money.

 

Also, Jonathon Brandis plays the "cool NBC teen" for a cameo on that, delivering a turkey before delivering a suicide note years later.

[Black Lushus]

Willem DaFoe in Spider-Man 2....was that credited?

 

also, Emilio Estevez in Mission:Impossible...

[2GOLD]

I always felt a cameo is less than two lines. Any more than that, I don't consider it a cameo.

 

For example, some might consider Will Smith in "Jersey Girl" a cameo but I don't see it that way.

 

I also vote for Arnie in "The Rundown" cause he just sort of pops up, says his line and is gone. Whole thing takes less than 10 seconds.

[Black Lushus]

well if we go along those lines...

 

Lou Ferigno in Hulk

 

Stan Lee in Hulk, Daredevil and both Spider-Man movies

 

Robert Patrick as the T-1000 in Wayne's World (was it one or two, can't remember?) and The Last Action Hero

[eiker_ir]

David Hasselhoff was hilarious in Dodgeball in his 15 seconds on screen, Chuck Norris was pretty good too, "fucking Chuck Norris!"

 

Martin Sheen's cameo in Hot Shots! 2 is funny as hell too

 

i also liked the T-1000 passing by in The Last Action Hero and Hogan in "Spy Hard" just taggin' into the fight.

[Black Lushus]

Martin Sheen's cameo in Hot Shots! 2 is funny as hell too

I loved you in Wallstreet!

[Youth N Asia]

Tom Cruise is kind of in Young Guns...durring the sand off at the end in Alex's house he's one of the guys gunned down by Billy and co. You can only tell it's him by pausing.

 

DaFoe is a good one for Spidey 2. And Robert Patrick for Waynes World 2, forgot about that one.

[cabbageboy]

I'd call Smith's appearance in Jersey Girl a cameo since he was playing himself and had just that 1 scene. Thing is, his role had a big narrative purpose and that goes against the pointlessness of most cameos. It's a tough call on this one. Heh.