With the recent news that Mel Gibson is being sued for (allegedly) stealing scenes for Apocalypto from a Mexican director, here’s a quick reminder of some other scenes in Apocalypto that ring a few bells.

For the record - and because Mel Gibson can probably afford some very expensive lawyers - this isn’t meant to imply that Gibson “stole” any of these scenes or that he should be sued or anything quite as silly. Merely that several scenes in Apocalypto are very similar to scenes in the following movies…

Return Of The Jedi: The early, peaceful scenes in Jaguar Paw’s Mayan village could easily be replaced with the Ewok village scenes from Jedi, so sweet and innocent are they.

The Fugitive: When Jaguar Paw is hunted to the edge of a waterfall, it looks like he’s done for. Luckily he saw The Fugitive and remembered how Harrison Ford escaped a similar situation.

Midnight Cowboy: As the aggressive Mayan leader marches his fresh captives back to the city, some careless workers fell a tree in his path, nearly crushing him. “I’m walking here!” he yells at them, just like Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy. Presumably he’d have banged on the hood of a yellow taxi cab too, had one been available.

Braveheart: OK, so it’s his film to begin with. But Mel still rehashes the Braveheart scene where the English invaders slit Mel’s missus throat in front of him, only this time it’s Jaguar Paw’s dad.

Predator: Jaguar Paw must have seen the Arnie flick too. Which is lucky because he remembers to cover himself in mud while being hunted in the jungle, just like the Governor of California did.

Planet Of The Apes: The good one not the Mark Wahlberg one. Without ruining the ending of either film (and by either film I mean the original Planet Of The Apes and Apocalypto, I couldn’t tell you what happens at the end of Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes if I wanted to) they both end when the central character discovers something shocking on a beach, something that means they’re going to have to rethink a few things.

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