Throughout the five-season run of The Godfather’s use of oranges to symbolize death and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’s themes of the corrupting power of wealth.
The lion’s share of Breaking Bad’s movie references came from Walter White’s pop culture-savvy lawyer Saul Goodman. So, naturally, when Saul got his own spin-off series – aptly titled Better Call Saul – the movie references got ramped up to eleven.
Network (1976)
Sidney Lumet’s Network is an incisive satire of the media in which a recently fired news anchor threatens to take his own life on the air and unwittingly becomes a modern-day prophet that the network executives promptly try to capitalize on.
Jimmy compares HHM’s board room to the one in Ned Beatty’s scenes in Network. When Howard is unfamiliar with the movie, Jimmy recreates Peter Finch’s iconic “I’m as mad as hell!” speech.
Spartacus (1960)
Kirk Douglas gave one of the most iconic performances of his career as the title character in Spartacus, a gladiator who leaves a slave revolution in the first century BC.
When Jimmy is preparing the photo shoot for the HHM-style JMM billboard he posted to troll Howard, he asks the stylist to give him curly hair like “Tony Curtis in Spartacus.”
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
One of the most iconic portrayals of a lawyer – besides Saul Goodman – is Atticus Finch, the righteous attorney who defends Tom Robinson from a racially biased false allegation in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
In Better Call Saul, Kim watches the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird over and over. She names Atticus Finch as her childhood idol and Gregory Peck brought the literary icon to life in the movie. In one scene in Saul, Kim contemplates whether she should watch To Kill a Mockingbird for the millionth time or a Monty Python movie (and quickly settles on the former).
Pulp Fiction (1994)
With Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino achieved the rare feat of following up a groundbreaking, critically lauded debut movie with a sophomore directorial effort that’s even more groundbreaking and critically lauded.
There are a bunch of Pulp Fiction references in Better Call Saul. When Jimmy quits practising law, Kim mockingly compares him to Jules. (Ironically, the Pulp Fiction “wander the Earth” scene was originally a reference to the show Kung Fu.) Jimmy and Mike’s bright, colorful change of clothes after the events of the fan-favorite “Bagman” episode is a hilarious nod to the ridiculous clothes that Jules and Vincent are given at Jimmie’s house after killing Marvin.
The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter’s The Thing is a chilly, claustrophobic masterpiece about a team of scientists in an isolated Arctic outpost being attacked by a shapeshifting alien that has the ability to seamlessly imitate anything – including them.
In Better Call Saul, Kim asks Jimmy if he wants to watch the movie with her. In another episode, she asks the same question about The Evil Dead – clearly, Kim is a fan of classic ‘80s horror.
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
The Humphrey Bogart-starring maritime classic The Caine Mutiny revolves around the first officer of a U.S. Naval vessel relieving their mentally unstable captain of his duties. It was featured in Breaking Bad to symbolize Mike and Jesse turning against Walt.
The climactic courtroom scene in The Caine Mutiny was the inspiration for one of the most unforgettable sequences in Better Call Saul. Chuck’s breakdown in the acclaimed episode “Chicanery” elicits the same kind of stunned reaction from the judges seen in The Caine Mutiny’s own courtroom meltdown.
Scarface (1983)
Brian De Palma’s ultraviolent crime epic Walter White’s sinister transformation in Breaking Bad.
After featuring a scene from Scarface in Breaking Bad, Gilligan included its most iconic quote in Better Call Saul. When Jimmy is giving out burner phones to potential clients, he quips, “Say hello to my little friend.”
All That Jazz (1979)
Bob Fosse’s glitzy showbiz snapshot All That Jazz mixes autobiography and fantasy to bring the filmmaker’s years of experience as a dancer, choreographer, and theater director to life.
Jimmy quotes the movie in court: “It’s showtime, folks!” This line – and the movie it’s from – perfectly symbolize how Jimmy sees practising law as a performance.
His Girl Friday (1940)
Howard Hawks’ seminal screwball comedy His Girl Friday tells the story of a newspaper reporter who desperately tries to win back his ex-wife when she becomes engaged to another man.
Jimmy and Kim watch His Girl Friday in “Bad Choice Road.” The most audible line of dialogue – “Even 10 minutes is a long time to be away from you” – is timely after Jimmy spent two days in the desert and both he and Kim had to come to with the possibility that they’d never see each other again.
The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining has been praised as one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Jack Nicholson stars as a husband and father who takes a job as the winter caretaker of a snowbound hotel and gets driven into a murderous rage by the isolation.
Jimmy quotes the movie when he finds the Kettlemans staying in a tent in the woods, having faked their kidnapping. When he bursts into the tent, he says, “Here’s Johnny!” like Jack Torrance after swinging an axe through the door to the bathroom where his wife is hiding.