Trivia: The man who is getting a (fake) haircut as Akeem first enters the barber shop is played by a then-unknown Cuba Gooding Jr.
Trivia: The two bums who get the bag of money from Akeem are actually the rich men who were made bankrupt in the movie "Trading Places" (1983), starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.
Trivia: When they go into the barber shop, you can see photos on the walls. In a few of the photos you can see Robin Williams standing with Eddie Murphy's family, his then wife, and other production crew members on another film. If you freeze frame when they are in the barber shop, you will see many photos that Eddie Murphy took personally and a few of them are of Robin Williams on the set of a movie. (04:00:00 - 04:16:55)
Trivia: The armed man attempting to rob McDowell's is a then-unknown Samuel L. Jackson.
Trivia: James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair, who played the King and Queen, played the King and Queen of Pride Rock in the Disney animated film "The Lion King" (1994).
Trivia: When Akeem enters the barber's shop to have his pigtail cut, the old barber (played by Eddie Murphy) jokingly refers to him as "Kunte Kinte." The actor who plays Mr. MacDowell in the film (John Amos) actually played the older Kunte Kinte in the TV miniseries "Roots" (1977).
Trivia: When they are at Lisa's apartment, you see a few really cool paintings on the walls. One of them is of Lisa's father's restaurant. All the paintings in Lisa's apartment were painted by Eddie Murphy. He loved to place certain things in movies that he took with a camera or made himself, like the paintings.
Trivia: Not long after Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall arrive in Queens, a "Wonder Bread" truck can be seen passing by in the background. Eddie Murphy previously recalled his experiences as a child eating Wonder Bread during his famous stand-up film "Eddie Murphy: Raw" the previous year.
Trivia: When the subway car is arriving, after Akeem asks Lisa to marry him, there's a poster for a movie called "See You Next Wednesday." This is a fictional film and a sight gag seen in many of director Jon Landis' films. This poster says it's starring Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis (among others), another reference to "Trading Places."
Trivia: The man who plays "Stu", the man who falls down the stairs, is played by Uncle Ray Murphy, Eddie Murphy's uncle in real life.
Answer: That is the taxi medallion, a license for the driver to operate the yellow cab. All NYC yellow taxi cabs must have one of these metal plates (there are different types) affixed to the hood of their NYC yellow taxi. This particular type is the red apple medallion.
Super Grover ★