The Mechanic, Featuring… A Mechanic

Look, use a quote from a poem or classical piece of literature as your movie title if you want. Or spend tons of money on marketing guru who will determine that one title that will indisputably get people to see your movie. Or you could just use the one of the character’s profession as your title, and spend the money you would have spent on focus groups for things like actually making your movie. That’s what Simon West did for his new movie The Mechanic, coming out on January 28th, wherein his title character is, well, technically a hit man. He is played by Jason “The Transporter” Statham, after all. But you get the idea.

What follows is a list of Professions-As-Movie-Titles. No professional sports stars (sorry The Wrestler) or politicians (sorry The American President) here, either. That’s cheating.

The Cameraman (1928)
directed by Edward Sedgwick
Buster Keaton’s last silent film sees Keaton pick up a movie camera and try for a job at MGM in order to impress a girl he likes. This was the first film Keaton made after he signed a contract with MGM, and the last film where he had anything near the creative control that led to such classics as The General and Sherlock, Jr. But it also features an organ grinder’s monkey who saves the day when he captures a pivotal moment on film. So all in all, a bittersweet film for Keaton fans.

The Hotel Clerk (1960)
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Or, if you prefer, Psycho.

The Exorcist (1973)
directed by William Friedkin
It must be rough to be an exorcist. Sure, you get plenty of attention if you actually do manage to banish an evil spirit, but to get to that point it’s all work, work, work. Back me up here, Ghostbusters.

Taxi Driver (1976)
directed by Martin Scorsese
Scorsese has cast Robert De Niro as a mobster, a boxer, a former convict and an aspiring comedian.. but De Niro as a taxi driver takes the cake. Really the only way to top that would be for Scorsese to have De Niro be a pugilism-loving mobster who, just out of prison, has to take a job as a cab driver (and pawn his saxophone) to achieve his dream of attending a comedy workshop.

Blade Runner (1982)
directed by Ridley Scott
A fictional profession is still a profession.

The Cable Guy (1996)
directed by Ben Stiller
Say what you want about this movie, but there is no false advertising involved. Jim Carrey does indeed play a Cable Guy. It’s admittedly not too descriptive a title, but Mentally Unhinged Stalker Cable Guy wouldn’t have fit on the poster.

The Wedding Singer (1998)
directed by Frank Coraci
The Wedding Singer is without a doubt the best 1990s Adam Sandler movie. Happy Gilmore (1996), while a good example of the ’90s Sandler ouevre, does not have a Billy Idol cameo like The Wedding Singer. And Airheads (1994), while superior to The Wedding Singer, is not an Adam Sandler film per se, instead relying on an ensemble cast which includes Sandler, Brendan Fraser and Steve Buscemi as members of a rock band called The Lone Rangers. But neither Happy Gilmore nor Airheads are named after the professions of their title characters, and as such they have no place on this list.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
directed by Steve Carr
2009 saw two movies about shopping mall security guards hit theaters, but only Paul Blart: Mall Cop had Kevin James playing a mall cop named Paul Blart! The other one didn’t even have the words “Mall Cop” in the title. Observe and Report? Really? What the heck’s that (besides a movie that got a 51% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes compared to the 35% Paul Blart: Mall Cop pulled in)?