Some pop culture icons sneak into film and television without us even realizing what an impact a small object had. This is illustrated in Ooma’s infographic showing us 45 of pop culture’s most famous phones. The team arranged the graphic in chronological order of their appearances with illustrations of each one. Looking at them all together with facts about what sets these phones apart, it becomes clear what an impact a small prop like a phone can have on a film.
Some of the phones on the list are feats of imagination adding to the science fiction elements of a world. For example, the film Metropolis features the first film appearance of a video phone. Considering the film was released in 1927, and the first video phone wouldn’t be invented until the 1960s, this was clearly a feat of imagination. As for the first time we saw a cell phone in a movie, that honor goes to the 80’s film, Wall Street. The villainous Gordon Gekko uses a Motorola DynaTAC 8000x, a popular and expensive model at the time and barks a famous line into it. “Money never sleeps!”
When it comes to iconic characters with noticeable phones, Neo from The Matrix definitely comes to mind. He uses a Samsung SPH-N270. This was actually a custom created phone that filmmakers designed in cooperation with Samsung. The phone had an iconic spring-loaded earpiece. It was also an early example of voice integration. Neo could speak the contact’s name to make the call. 10,000 of these phones were made and sold to fans as a collector’s item.
How many of these phones do you recognize? Here’s a few other iconic choices found on the infographic:
- Candlestick Phone from The Andy Griffith Show
- Batphone from Batman
- Clear Conairphone from Clarissa Explains it All
- Flip Phone from Clueless
- “Show Me the Money!” Flip Phone from Jerry Maquire
- Shellphone from Spongebob Squarepants
- Tiny Phone from Zoolander
- Hamburger Phone from Juno
