In 1985, Steve "You're Welcome For Your Childhood" Spielberg created a Twilight Zone-esque show called Amazing Stories featuring the talents of geniuses like Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Gary Coleman, and dozens of others. So, why haven't you ever heard of this thing? Actually, you definitely have ... just with other names, is all.
In the following decades, a suspicious number of famous movies have featured plots that strangely resemble Amazing Stories' amazing stories -- apparently, whenever a Hollywood writer is stuck on a script, they watch a random episode of this series, filter it through an eight ball of cocaine, and call it a day. Otherwise, how do you explain ...
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The Green Mile (1999) Is "Life On Death Row" (1986)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Already some of you are calling bullshit, because everyone knows The Green Mile is based on a series of Stephen King novels. But the plot of said novels also runs startlingly close to an Amazing Stories episode. We're not saying King intentionally stole the idea; maybe he saw the show and subconsciously recalled it a decade later, or maybe it's all a bizarre coincidence. But the coincidence would be bizarre -- the similarities are pretty damned specific.
"Life On Death Row" is what The Green Mile would look like if it was possible to adapt a book 10 years before it came out. It also stars a convicted murderer awaiting execution, but, because this is the '80s, he's played by Patrick Swayze instead of Michael Clarke Duncan.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Universal Television
And now we're sad there isn't a version of Dirty Dancing with Michael Clarke Duncan.
Like in the movie, it's revealed that the prisoner is magic, and he uses his powers to cure the ailments of a guard with whom he has formed an unlikely friendship (played by Joe from The Princess Diaries, because they couldn't afford the guy from Bosom Buddies). In "Life On Death Row," it's the guard's leg pain, but since The Green Mile stars Tom Hanks, they obviously had to change it to something that involves peeing.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Universal Television
Cracked Legal Tip #73: If you go to prison, always ask your guards about their pee.
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