The Greatest Pie Fights in Movies
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Who doesn't love pie? And more importantly, who doesn't love pie in the face? Well, as long as it's not YOUR face. (Though of course you can balance out the humiliation of being served -- so to speak -- with the knowledge that what you were being served was dessert goodness.)
The history of pie-fighting in movies is vast and varied, ranging from the simple to the sublime. Oh heck, who am I kidding? It's all just a messy, slapstick good time. Take a look at these famous movie pie fights, and then let us know: What's your favorite? Which ones did we miss? If you were to get hit in the face with a pie, what type would you prefer? And ... are you hungry yet?
The Great Race
An epic scene -- reportedly the biggest and, I dare say, the best pie fight of all time. I dare any filmmaker to top it. With whipped cream.
Bugsy Malone
Sadly, this clip does not include footage of the scene's best part, in which the guns shoot not bullets, but pies. Make pies, not war, eh? And I sort of like that song, too. [ducking]
The Sweet Pie and Pie
I'm not 100% positive that this clip is from that movie, but ... who cares? Stooges! Nyuk, nyuk! I'd never seen this clip before, and I was a little surprised at how much I laughed. Forgive me, Stooges. I'm not worthy.
Blazing Saddles
Well, of COURSE there's a climactic pie scene in Blazing Saddles. Also, wouldn't you pay extra for a tour where you got hit in the smacker with a pie?
Stand By Me
OK, yeah, technically not a pie fight. Not a pie fight at all, really. But there's pies, and there's throwing (up of) things. Totally counts.
And don't forget...
The Battle of the Century
I can't embed the video of the pie fight from this classic Laurel and Hardy short, but you can watch it here. Perhaps the most elegant pie fight ever staged. There's no sound on that clip, so perhaps you could enlist your ten-year-old to play some piano in the background as you watch.
Dr. Strangelove
I'll admit, I didn't actually know that Kubrick originally meant to end the movie with a massive pie fight in the War Room. It was done in one take, so as not to incur the expense of additional pies; and owing to the inappropriate jubilation of the actors playing the pie-throwing generals, Kubrick ended up cutting the scene. It's a pity. I would've loved to have seen it. You can see stills from it here, though. Pie castles! I think I just got an idea for my next dinner party.
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Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Before I hit the jump I totally called the scene from Stand by Me!
Posted at 6:18AM on Oct 1st 2008 by FourKings
3. The first thing I thought of was Blazing Saddles, great movie great pie scene.
Posted at 8:02AM on Oct 1st 2008 by Derek
4. Zombies + pies = Dawn Of The Dead
Posted at 10:40AM on Oct 1st 2008 by hank
5. Scary thing about the "Great Race" pie fight - Natalie Wood had her mouth open when one pie hit and almost choked on it; Lemmon was knocked cold at least once. (Of course, he had to take twice the abuse, because he was playing two characters.)
And they were real cream pies; filming that scene ran into Labor Day, so they took the htree days off, leaving the remains of lots of cream pies scattered arond a non-ariconditioned soundstage set...
Posted at 4:32AM on Oct 3rd 2008 by mike
6. In the Sweet Pie and Pie, hands down. It's the first movie I thought of when I read the topic. First off, it's the Stooges, and no one does a pie fight like the Stooges. Second, the short actually opens with a piece of subtle but biting political satire. Third, it's the STOOGES. No one does a pie fight like the Stooges.
Posted at 1:45PM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Cane
7. wasn't there a lot of pie throwing in Hellzapoppin' ?
Posted at 3:36PM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Jack
8. Re: Bugsy Malone,
When Jodie Foster gets hit in the face she says, "So this is show business". Her delivery is faultless.
Posted at 5:05PM on Oct 3rd 2008 by Tullman
9. I'd discount the pie fights in both "The Great race" and "Blazing Saddles"; they're not really pie fights per se, but spoofs of pie fights. No, the greatest pie fight ever filmed is definitely in the Hal Roach "Our Gang" short, "Shivering Shakespeare", featuring slow-motion, weird camera angles, and marvelously telegraphed attacks reminiscent of Greek tragedy...
Posted at 1:02PM on Oct 4th 2008 by Phil Troy
10. Dr. Strangelove ended with a pie fight in the war room. It was filmed, but cut from the movie. There are some stills from the scene on the DVD special features.
Posted at 3:15PM on Oct 4th 2008 by Justin
11. Incidentally, the pie scene in "Dr. Strangelove" was ACTUALLY cut for sensitivity reasons. During the fight, President Muffley takes a pie to the face and General Turgidson cries out, "Our gallant young president has been struck down in his prime!" The scene was filmed shortly prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, and so the scene was removed from the final release (which was delayed). The assassination also prompted a few other minor changes, including a redubbing of Slim Pickens' line "A fella could have a pretty good time in Dallas with all this stuff" to "a pretty good time in Vegas."
Posted at 5:23PM on Oct 4th 2008 by Jared
12. Two classic British comedy movies to add to the 'Pie Fight' list.
1. Carry On Loving (1971) - part of the long-running 'Carry On' film series
2. Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977) - final entry of the saucy 'Confessions' series
Posted at 11:52AM on Oct 5th 2008 by Daniel
13. and another classic British film, Desmond Davis's SMASHING TIME, needs to be mentioned as well!
Posted at 5:51PM on Oct 5th 2008 by Mark B
14. Blazing Saddles all the way. But the first pie fight I thought of was the one from the end of Dr. Strangelove. The pie fight that never got to be.
Posted at 10:16AM on Oct 6th 2008 by Eric
15. I give you the one I believe is the only such scene in a Greek film that is an all time clasic and in my opinion with one of the best pie fight scenes ever.
Agent 000 is in a mission in a film called Voitheia o Vengos, faneros praktor '000'!(1967)
This is the link of the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNnSnQoCFA
Sorry,it's in greek language...
Posted at 6:31PM on Oct 20th 2008 by Manos K
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1. The Great Race with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon and Natalie Wood. None better
Posted at 1:54AM on Oct 1st 2008 by David