Tom Hanks' whiteness level hit a new high in that movie.

Groggy Banana

PeeWee FTW (that's 'For The Win' not 'For The Whacking')

EBone

Huh, never noticed the Goonies one actually has a name "Rube G." written on it

borgseawolf

The #1 one was terrible. The whole purpose of a RG machine is that it performs some task at the end. Four and a half minutes, and all it does is dump some spinner into a bucket of water.

While animated, Wacko's Creation (not on the list) is by far the best RG I've ever seen.

wagnerrp

@turi319: Touche. I conceed to you, my good sir.

Platypus Man

Ok, just watched them all (even the ones I've seen before).

A few points:
1) the Goonies one sucked, thereby confirming my suspicion that watching that movie would be a couple of hours of my life I'd never get back.
2) 'Pee Wee', or whatever his name is, freaks me the hell out and is almost certainly on some sort of sex offenders register somewhere.
3) that last one is the first time I can remember seeing fire used in one of these things, which was neat - but the fact they clearly used a couple of points during the video to cut away and start filming again detracts from it.

Rube Goldberg machines are pretty neat but until someone invents a self-resetting one, I remain only half-impressed.

Step666

Anyone for a match of flaming tether ball.

bms

Oh, and I just remembered about Honda's Cog commercial. It wasn't in a movie or anything, but while we're on the subject... It's pretty amazing...

[video.google.com]

Platypus Man

Ferris Buellers Day Off is another good one, but like Blakeley said we could have spent our entire lives looking for these. this is just a top list.

nmcglynn

No everlasting gobstopper machine?

Satyagraha

u could argue that The Money Pit scene was just an unfortunate series of events, but someONE wrote the scene to have this set up, so in that regard it is Goldberg machine.
very nice work guys!

turi319

Pee Wee's breakfast machine with Danny Elfman soundtrack FTW.

bobdobbs' MBA misses LindsayJoy's MBP

@Darascon: I think that was just a parody of the Pee Wee one.

I don't know if I'd consider a lot of these Rube Goldberg machines, especially not the Back to the Future one. That's just, like, a straightforward robotic thing. A Rube Goldberg machine needs to be needlessly drawn out and complicated and involve several small parts.

And the Money Pit one is really just an unfortunate series of events. No machine involved.

But despite all that, it's all fun to watch!

Platypus Man

This entire article is a sham since it didn't include the one from Ferris Buellers Day Off. I'm calling shenanigans!

DAK

The last one made me want to pee and become a pyromaniac. Movies were better when the Goonies and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang were made. PeeWee still freaks me out.

WilCon

Holy crap, #1 was awesome. I've never seen a RG machine that used fire. That flaming tetherball was beautiful.

Gann

Does number 8 really count?? is there going to be one from tv shows as well? The one in family guy that shoots peter in the face is pretty good.

Darascon

@mmcnary: No, we just decided to run what we thought were the best 10 and not every single one. Top 10 lists are very subjective I think and while that was a good clip we probably could have spent our entire lives looking for these... if you'd like to upload the video somewhere I'd be happy to include it in the list.

blakeley

@Chromeo: The first movie I thought of was the Goonies... but it's been a long time since I've seen an Ernest movie.

Rabid Penguin

"Good morning, Pee Wee"
"Good morning, Mr. Breakfast!"
"Can I have some Mr. T cereal?"
"OK!"
"I pity the foo' that don't eat Mr. T cereal!"

That's gonna be stuck in my head all day now... just thought I'd share.

NoiseBoy

You missed the wonderful beer-opener/pourer that runs after the credits in Waiters.

mmcnary

Ernest Goes to Jail was the first thing I thought of when I saw this...

Very glad to see it made the list!

Chromeo

@Darascon: "What was the point of that?! All it does is shoot you!"

Also, I don't care how bad or silly it is, the Money Pit cracks me up every time I see it.

bobman1235

@Platypus Man:
there was actually one camera cut, where the muffler was rolling. it's because the room wasn't long enough.

willyolio

Also, the Honda Rube Goldberg commercial was amazing.

Easily the best one.

[video.google.com]

shiftyeyedgoat

Tom and Jerry didn't make the cut????

giyad

PeeWee's Big Adventure was the first one that I thought of, and in my opinion, is far and away the best. Then again, that movie is absolutely classic. Can't wait to have kids so I can show them its awesomeness.

NightElfMohawk

While #1 does not actually do anything, it is an especially awesome rig because it goes on for so damn long. It goes for almost 30 minutes. Described in detail here.

ninjagin

wallace and grommit FTW. there are so many hilarious contraptions there.

willyolio

How did you miss the one from Honey I Shrunk the Kids??

For SHAME, gizmodo.

shiftyeyedgoat

Man, Robots was such a horrible movie, and Robin Williams was achingly obnoxious.

Kaiser-Machead's got LindsayJoy's cookies on the SuperDrive

@jfwaterburry: Umm, I already brought it up here, but yeah, it was pretty awesome. One of the coolest thing about that is that it used virtually no CGI and it has no camera cuts or anything. Easily one of the coolest ads ever, in my opinion.

Platypus Man

The first thing I thought of was Back to the Future. Nice to see it represented. Oh, and Goonies FTW.

wild homes 5: treyarch attacks!

LOVE Wallace & Grommitt..."The moon is made of cheese, we'll go there!"

EleanorRigby

Nevermind... Platypus Man beat me to it.

jfwaterburry

what about that Honda commercial from a while back that only used car parts. That was amazing.

+ Watch video

jfwaterburry

@Darascon: notice that the music and about half of the stuff that goes on in the peewee one happens in family guy, yeah, it does, because family guy was making fun of peewee
peewee freaks me out, is he crazy or is he a sane person who just giggles at toothpaste and tape over the nose

the entire movie the way things go was one big (or was it several?) RG machines, nonetheless it is really cool, go rent it or something, watched it in art class

takemetoyourtoaster

Also, good god those shambling windshield wipers in the Honda commercial freak me out.

bigtimes

Should we really count animated ones? No challenge in getting those right.

Scorcho

Surely you guys have seen this as well:

[blueballfixed.ytmnd.com]

bigtimes

@Darascon: you can just tell there's something 'off' about him...

Step666

@willyolio: I knew about that (you can see the floor change if you look), but that wasn't what I meant by "camera cut." The angle never changed, it never cut away, etc. But yeah, it did use CGI to piece the two halves together.

Platypus Man

#1 was incredible...and I think the boat hitting inside of the can at 1:00 makes it 10X better.

shenanigans61

The first one I thought of was from the beginning of The Rock. As I recall it wasn't especially elaborate, but the whole point of it was to set a hula girl on fire, so...

bobmarley101

Oh, and I love #9 for it's eerie steampunk look, and the goonies should be #1 for one simple fact: Truffle Shuffle.

Darascon

@Step666: he is, for whacking in a "public" theatre.

Darascon

Was I the only starving kid who could have strangled Pee-Wee for wasting all that delicious food?!!?

pitpawten

Yep - definitely missing the Honda one. And "featured on film" - what was the #1 machine on? It had the look of amateurism all around it - several cuts, very shaky camera-work. . . hmmm

socalboomer

@jfwaterburry: this is the first thing I thought of too...

Nikkoli

Number one SUCKED. What reason? Heavily based on lighting fuses. Very crudely put together. Poorly filmed. WTF? Is one the worst in this top 10 list? I don't even think it really qualifies as a Rube Goldberg machine.

Pee Wee or Back to the Future. OR this one:

[www.zippyvideos.com]

Family Guy beats them all.

skylark64

I'd never seen #1 before. The fireball was absolutely gorgous.

Lupison

First thing I thought of was PeeWee's Big Adventure. Judging by the others who mentioned it it should be #1.

cafenitro

The scene in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (PWBA) is exceptional because of Danny Elfman's music -- Breakfast Machine.

You can download Breakfast Machine from iTunes. It is awesome.

blatnym

Robots is a movie that simply can't be appreciated unless seen in Imax. Truly one of the most awe-inducing spectacles I've ever witnessed.

SonOfMagicFact loves lamp. He really does.

@Rabid Penguin:

Kids these days...*grumble grumble*

Chromeo

@Step666: "the Goonies one sucked, thereby confirming my suspicion that watching that movie would be a couple of hours of my life I'd never get back."

You've never seen Goonies? I don't know how you could not like Goonies. It's a good movie.

Rabid Penguin

Actually, there's a Japanese kid's show that's uses Rube Goldbergs as bumpers.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Quite a few are on Youtube, here's a compilation video.

+ Watch video

Enjoy.

Echidnaguy

The Rube attempt at the end of one of the Jackass movies was, even though a failure, epic in its attempt.

zenpoet

@Rabid Penguin: I have never seen the Goonies and what few clips of it I've seen have left me with less than zero urge to rectify that state of affairs.

Step666

How about the golf putt in Happy Gilmore? Does that count? or too simple?

jmychalchyk

@crazydave_w: No clue. They say it's all real, but that one gets me too. Notice how the second to last one even keeps moving after it hit the last one. Maybe something's pulling it or something?

Platypus Man

Again, I don't really see how the Back to the Future one is a Rube Goldberg machine. I mean, if I wanted to automate my morning activities in 1985 in the most efficient manner possible (and I were a crazy, wild-eyed scientist), I'd do something like that. It doesn't really seem to look like or accomplish the goals of a Rube Goldberg machine at all. I mean, it's cool and I love the movie, but I don't see it as a Rube Goldberg machine.

Platypus Man

Can someone explain to me how the tires roll up that ramp in the honda ad? I've seen that commercial a half dozen times and I still can't figure it out.

crazydave_w

No Rube-Goldberg machine is complete without a Danny Elfman soundtrack.

Sian

so i'm a little disappointed in your choice for #1. while it is indeed a rube goldberg machine, you make a point at the beginning that these are taken from films. i read the wikipedia entry you linked to in these comments and it sure sounds like this wasn't much of a film.

here's what is says on there.

>

so basically this film has no narrative. it's simply a long, drawn out rube goldberg machine. how does that qualify as something pulled from a film? by this logic, you could in fact post the Honda Cog ad in this list. after all, it was shot on film. seems like that's the only factor when deciding these choices.

toobitterforyou

In honesty, the PeeWee clip is fake, as the toast jumps too high, etc. You just can't beat that soundtrack though.

EBone

"The Way Things Go" is available on Netflix and runs almost 30 minutes.

A few years after this, Honda did a commercial called "Cog" and these guys sued honda, according to snopes.com.

And how could you leave off the "Cog" video?

Hundreds of takes for a two minute masterpiece.

+ Watch video

caspianhiro

No mention of the one from "Waiting"? I'm surprised! It has THE BEST payoff of all of these BAR NONE.

+ Watch video

While we're at it, Mythbusters also did a great one:

+ Watch video

veloz

The rube Goldberg machine seen in the background of the movie waiting should definitely be on the list. You don't actually see it work during the movie, but they show it as a special feature on the dvd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAQ_c1C1JfQ and it actually does something at the end, unlike number 1.

AronneAeolus

The rube Goldberg machine seen in the background of the movie waiting should definitely be on the list. You don't actually see it work during the movie, but they show it as a special feature on the dvd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAQ_c1C1JfQ and it actually does something at the end, unlike number 1. _________________________________________________________________ Christian Cruz IT Technician Secret Level

AronneAeolus

What about Overboard!!!!! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093693/

CourtneyAlthaea

I just noticed that on the Goonies one where the egg falls down, there's 'RUBE G '83' written on the wood. Cool.

stevenf.

My favorite rube golberg clip by far is the honda ad from a while ago. So well done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYabfifhEPE

PierceGauxth

What about Gene Kelly's entire apartment from An American In Paris? Man and Rube Goldberg Machine in perfect harmony.

If you don't know what I'm talking about it's probably better not to admit it...

theczardictates

Where is House's Vicodin delivery machine? I know it's a TV shows but come on...

JadoJodo

@PierceGauxth: It's called "Cog" They're remaking it this summer

Sam.Nerd144

isn't suspicious that pee wee,back to the future, and goonies were 1985 films? after terry gilliam screened "Brazil" in Los Angeles in 1984?

ChaDeBugre

Missing is the Tom & Jerry short where Tom builds The Better Mousetrap.

Skorpius

@crazydave_w: The tires in the Honda commercial "Cog" were weighted on the inside. From a news article done not long after the commercial was aired.

"... At one point three tyres, amazingly, roll uphill. They do so because inside they have been weighted with bolts and screws which have been positioned with fingertip care so that the slightest kiss of kinetic energy pushes them over, onward and, yes, upward."

Btw, it took 606 takes to have it finally work and capture on film in one take. Yea, easily my #1 choice.

Stargaze

Fire + Rube Goldberg = AWESOME.

kzooguy

*...there is no real...

I need to stop writing comments when I'm half asleep. People will start to think I'm retar--wait, that's not PC.

People will start to think I have AIDS.

There, that's better.

Gilbert

The closest I ever got to building a Rube Goldberg machine was when I used to tie dental floss around the cap or body of every single item in the medicine cabinet and then fix one end to the knob so that when someone would open the door everything would fall out.

Then again, I suppose that doesn't really count because their is no really payoff other than people finding out I was a little prick...

Gilbert

@Stargaze:

Agreed. Honda commercial was the best one by far. The weighted tires were simply brilliant.

iagiewob

@Step666: "the Goonies one sucked, thereby confirming my suspicion that watching that movie would be a couple of hours of my life I'd never get back."

Not the greatest RGM, I admit, but isn't 'The Truffle Shuffle' at the beginning enough to pique your interest?

fractal.latcarf

@NoiseBoy:
you just made my morning!!! thx for the comment! -- . . . and BAMM!! Bob's your uncle! Chad

UlanHessel

@BurkeValemount: Oh I love that movies so much, that part is great

ilikepie383

I thought of my most favourite movies, chitty chitty bang bang and the goonies, i scroll down and there they were

ilikepie383

How about one no one has mentioned yet from "The Great Mouse Detective." Basil escaping from a Rube Goldberg trap by setting it off early is priceless. Here's the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW1-akAUh3U&feature=related

BurkeValemount

@shiftyeyedgoat: That was the first thought that came to my head....I thought it might even be number one.... but not at all!? Craziness.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids breakfast machine at the very least deserves a mention.

Nowledge

The best rube goldberg ever is from the "McGee and Me" intro: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6clp_NcPcjc

LucettaBat

Goonies was my first exposure to "Rube Goldberg-like" mechanical constructions and ever since then I've had a fascination with them. I'm a little surprised that nobody here has yet mentioned the Final Destination series.Whatever one might think about the movies themselves (personally, I quite like them) there is no denying that the hugely complicated and elaborate (yet simultaneously entertaining, clever and horrifying) death scenes are heavily influenced by Rube Goldberg. I mean, who knew that death was such a fan? My all-time favorite would have to be from the third one: the two girls who stupidly take a drink with them into a tanning salon, wind up getting trapped in the booths and eventually burn to death. I have yet to set foot into one of those salons since seeing that. -Damian :-)

ChristinaJobnik

"The Goonies" was my first exposure to "Rube Goldberg-like" mechanical constructions and ever since then I've been fascinated with them.

I'm a little surprised that nobody here has yet mentioned the "Final Destination" series. Whatever one might think about the movies themselves (personally, I quite like them) there is no denying that the hugely complicated, elaborately staged, sufficiently horrifying and yet immensely entertaining/humorous "death" sequences are heavily influenced by Rube Goldberg. I mean, who knew that death was such a fan?.

My all-time favorite would have to be from the third one: the two stupid girls who, through a series of unfortunate events (including their own flagrant disregard for a few basic rules of safety), wind up getting trapped in a couple tanning booths and burning to death. Rather memorable but I must say that I've yet to set foot into salon since seeing that. :-)

Damian_

@ChristinaJobnik: Oops. Ended up submitting the same message twice. My bad.

Damian_