While recently viewing the Maniac Cop trilogy of action / horror films I picked up on some possible easter egg references to a gadget shown in the James Bond spy films.
The Ghetto Blaster is based on a portable stereo, also known as a "boombox", which became popular worldwide in the mid 1980's. It was shown in The Living Daylights (1987). Q shows this off in his lab, it fires a rocket at a mannequin.
- Actor Robert Z'Dar played the titular cop, Officer Matt Cordell in all 3 starting in 1988.
- Laurene Landon played Officer Theresa Mallory and also an amazon warrior in 1986 post-apocalyptic action film, America 3000. The movie poster for this shows a mutant holding a boombox stereo.
- When you get to sequel Maniac Cop 2 in 1990 the connections get stronger, Robert Davi joined the cast in this as a hard boiled police lieutenant. Davi also played drug lord Franz Sanchez in '89 Bond movie License To Kill.
- Director Sam Raimi plays a news reporter in Maniac Cop 1&2. He envisioned 1990 superhero Darkman. Star, Liam Neeson was a favorite tom play James Bond in the late '80's / early '90's.
- Another wild connection to The Ghetto Blaster: Danny Trejo appears in Maniac Cop 2 as a prisoner. He was also in Robert Rodriguez action film Desperado in 1995. A famous scene in this has a Mariachi shoot a rocket out of a guitar case in a similar fashion to what is shown in Bond.
- The Ghetto Blaster made another appearance in 2002 Bond film Die Another day, it can bee seen in the background in Q's warehouse.
- Michael Madsen plays an intelligence operative in that movie and worked with Quentin Tarantino & Danny Trejo (Chasing Ghosts - 2005).
