January 10, 2000

1:56 AM

(probably my last post about Magnolia) There were a few 'easter eggs' in Magnolia worth mentioning. What may be the first non-555 phone number in a movie was mentioned, but I can't remember it, if anyone tracks it down, please post. There was the 1-877-TAME-HER number that was mentioned on every ad done by Tom Cruise's character. You can call it and hear a special message. If you don't feel like leaving your computer, you can use dialpad.com to make the call. Also, at the end credits of the gameshow, they flash a URL, wdkk.com, which maps to the Magnolia website. At one point, a audience member of the quiz show has a sign that says 'Exodus 8:2' which I looked up, and it reads 'And if thou shalt REFUSE to let [them] go, behold I will smite all thy borders with frogs'. Usually when I see a movie, I don't pick up on these things, I guess Magnolia really was that good.
posted by mathowie (3 comments total)

I can't remember where I read it, but Sneakers actually had a non-555 number in it. This article says that it belonged to the IRS. The article that I read - the one I can't find - said that the number is now owned by a couple of old ladies who mention the movie on their answering machine.
posted by jkottke at 8:48 AM on January 10, 2000

actually, you're right jason, later on, after more digging, I found a newsgroup message that mentions the number, and I did see another post that related the story exactly as you state: two old ladies have the number now and mention it on their machine. I can't find a link to that message though.
posted by mathowie at 10:30 AM on January 10, 2000

I went to see it again just to catch all the instances of 82 and to try to write down the other phone numbers. (I think there are two: One for the pharmacy, one that Phil gives to the grocery store. I was able to write down the former, but it doesn't play anything special.)

A list of everything I saw is tacked on to my epinions review.
posted by luke at 12:08 AM on January 16, 2000