- The plot and characters for Saturday Night Fever [1977] were based on "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", a 1976 New York magazine article about the Brooklyn disco scene written by British journalist Nik Cohn. (20 years later Cohn admitted his article was entirely fiction and not factual as previously claimed.)
- When Sen. Al Franken released his financial records in 2012 they showed he still gets royalties for his appearance as the baggage handler in Trading Places [1983].
- Hollywood tends to use the non-existent 555 exchange when a phone number is mentioned during the course of a film. On occasion a real number is used: in The American President [1995], 202-456-1414, the phone number President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) gives Sydney Wade (Annette Benning) is the actual number for The White House.
- Despite a long, stellar career in a myriad of roles, David Paymer's only Oscar nomination to date is for the critical and box office flop Mr. Saturday Night [1992] alongside Billy Crystal.
- In Fast Times at Ridgemont High [1982] Mike Damone (played by Robert Romanus) advises his buddy Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) that "when it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV", yet it's "Kashmir" from the band's Physical Graffiti album that's heard on Ratner's date with Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
