Safety Last! - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

In 1962, the "dangling from the skyscraper" scene was included in Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy, a compilation movie produced by Harold Lloyd himself. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and created a renewal of interest in the comedian by introducing him to a whole new generation.

The 1972 Dad's Army episode Time on My Hands features men hanging precariously from the hands of a clock tower.

In the 1983 martial arts film Project A, Jackie Chan also played an homage to Lloyd (whom he has frequently cited as an influence on his work) by falling from a clock tower.

The film Back to the Future pays homage to the Harold Lloyd "dangling from the skyscraper" by having one of the film's stars Christopher Lloyd (no relation to Harold) hang from a clock tower as part of the plot. The dangling scene was also referenced earlier in the film during the pan of Doc Brown's (Christopher Lloyd's character) laboratory as a picture is shown featuring Lloyd hanging from a clock tower. In addition, a meta-reference appears in the opening scene of Back to the Future, in the form of a physical table clock which depicts the Safety Last! scene.

The 1991 comedy film Oscar played a direct homage to the scene, recreating it on its poster, where the main character (played by Sylvester Stallone) hangs from a clock.

In Martin Scorsese's 2011 film Hugo, a portion of the scene with Lloyd hanging from the clock is shown when the main characters sneak into a movie theater. Later, the title character Hugo similarly hangs from the hands of a large clock on a clock tower to escape a pursuer.