The Indian in the Cupboard

I was over at The Secret Sun blog this morning reading Chris' latest post titled My Secret History where he was writing about his ancestry, especially his Native American ancestry.

I had been a watching a movie a day off this mixed movie DVD collection over the last week.
I had already watched Imagine That, Coneheads and  
Son of Rambow ... all good movies I thought, not great, but good.

The only one on this DVD I had seen before buying this DVD was 
The Indian in the Cupboard, which was when it first came out at the cinemas.
After reading Chris' post though I decided to to watch  
The Indian in the Cupboard next.

I hadn't realized that it was directed by Frank Oz before, and that the screenplay was written by the same woman who had written ET and Kundun, Melissa Mathison.

It's about a boy who receives a cupboard and a plastic Indian figure on his birthday, and with the aid of a magic key, which was his grandmother's, he is able to bring the Indian to life, or any other figure that he wishes to put into the cupboard.

 Notice the red string around the wrist and the two watches,

one with a red band also? 

Checkerboard floor and a knight?

Not to mention the red cross later seen in the movie (below).

There is also a few prominent landmarks in the film that

no longer exist.

Which is ironic considering Frank Oz wanted the references to JFK in the movie to show how the young boy in the movie would have to adapt to unforeseen change throughout his future adulthood.

I also like how the games Operation and  
Risk: The World Conquest Game  are sitting on top of each other in the boy's room.

On a personal note, I couldn't help noticing that most of the boy's 
bedroom is furnished  with IKEA furniture and rugs, as well.
IKEA being the company I spent half my life as a paid slave and also a Scandinavian company, which ties into Chris' post about

his Scandinavian bloodline, as well as his Indian bloodline.

But the thing in this movie that really spooked me was this poster seen on the stairwell of the boy's house.
It's the album cover of the Hoodoo Gurus Crank record.
I wrote about that album cover here - 
Andras Jones - Who Syncs The Matrix

They are an Oz band who are playing my local winery on

4 Nov 2012, and I was only thinking today that I 'd better hurry up and get my tickets before they sell out.
I also wrote this post featuring the Hoodoos -
The Bridge Across Forever to the One?

And one last thing I noticed was a dartboard with the number 17 having a dart in it.

I had recently written a post about dartboards in movies here -
Flipside of the Dartboard 
and the next movie/last movie that I haven't watched yet on the DVD is Addam's Family Values, which has Christina Ricci playing a character named Wednesday in the film.

I also noticed when the boy is sending the Indian back home the Indian is wearing red shoes.
Well I guess in a Frank Oz movie there is no place like home;-)

Update: Oct 31st, 2012
I watched Addam's Family Values a few days later and surprise, more dart boards.

and even an archery target -

You'll have to pardon the reflections of my living room in the screen shots ... sorry.
It's also a bit of a sync that a lot of the film takes place at a summer camp where Indian themes are explored.