PDA

View Full Version : Movie Trivia


Overlay
09-09-2013, 07:36 PM
No trivia question is a challenge anymore in the age of the search engine, but try this one:

Who is the only performer in the history of the Academy Awards to have every one of the multiple films in the performer's acting career nominated for Best Picture? (Part two of the question would be: What were the pictures in which the performer appeared?)

Longshot6977
09-09-2013, 08:01 PM
At first I thought either Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, then I noticed you said performer. I'm guessing Meryl Streep since she is the only one I can think of that's worthy of something like this.

PhantomOnTour
09-09-2013, 08:08 PM
James Dean ?

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:09 PM
Keep trying.

Although I stated the question accurately, let me stress two points before the thread veers off in the wrong direction: I did not specify whether the performer was either nominated for or won an Academy Award for the performances, nor did I specify that each of the films in which the performer appeared necessarily won the Best Picture Oscar -- only that each film was nominated for Best Picture.

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:23 PM
James Dean ?
Giant was nominated for Best Picture, but East of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause were not.

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:30 PM
At first I thought either Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, then I noticed you said performer. I'm guessing Meryl Streep since she is the only one I can think of that's worthy of something like this.
Meryl Streep has had 17 personal acting nominations out of (by my count) 52 films, which is a phenomenal batting average, but not all of those films (despite her acting contributions) were nominated for Best Picture. (Blame Roseanne's performance in She-Devil (among others) for that. :) )

Johnny V
09-09-2013, 08:39 PM
Did this performer appear in any of the Godfather movies either part one or two or both?

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:43 PM
Did this performer appear in any of the Godfather movies either part one or two or both?
You're getting very warm.

RunForTheRoses
09-09-2013, 08:47 PM
You're getting very warm.

John Casale or Cazale

Dog Day Afternoon
two Godfathers
and that movie set in Frisco with Gene Hackman spying on a couple (I didn't google, just read it somewhere sometime)

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:49 PM
Bingo, but you left out one film. (The movie with Gene Hackman was The Conversation, by the way.)



CORRECTION:

My mistake: You left out two (although one of them comes with an asterisk).

RunForTheRoses
09-09-2013, 08:50 PM
Bingo, but you left out one film.

LOL, I did just google so I'll keep quiet.

Johnny V
09-09-2013, 08:51 PM
The Deer Hunter ??

Overlay
09-09-2013, 08:58 PM
Right, that's one of the two (the one without the asterisk).

Johnny V
09-09-2013, 09:10 PM
He was also in the Godfather Three in that flashback scene when they were younger at the fathers birthday party along with James Caan, Duvall, Vigoda, the guy who played Carlo, Talia Shire etc.

Overlay
09-09-2013, 09:15 PM
He was also in the Godfather Three in that flashback scene when they were younger at the fathers birthday party along with James Caan, Duvall, Vigoda, the guy who played Carlo, Talia Shire etc.
I think that the scene that you're referring to was at the end of Godfather 2. However, I believe that Cazale also appeared (posthumously and uncredited) as Fredo in archival footage in Godfather 3 (although I can't place the exact scene).

Johnny V
09-09-2013, 09:21 PM
I saw the Deer Hunter just the other day. I like the scene at the wedding reception hall when they take a group picture and John Cazale is checking to see if the zipper on his pants wasn't down. Too funny. He was a very talented actor and did a great job playing Fredo in those Godfather movies. Too bad he died so young.

lansdale
09-09-2013, 11:22 PM
No trivia question is a challenge anymore in the age of the search engine, but try this one:

Who is the only performer in the history of the Academy Awards to have every one of the multiple films in the performer's acting career nominated for Best Picture? (Part two of the question would be: What were the pictures in which the performer appeared?)

Hi Overlay,

Thanks for reviving the memory of this great actor, who died at a tragically early age. I believe that his work in 'Dog Day' was the best of his career - I remember well when it was shooting in NY. They don't make 'em like that any more.

Interesting that although Meryl Streep was involved with both the De Niro and Walken characters in 'The Deer Hunter', in life, it was she and Cazale who were partners and lived together until his death in '78.

Questions for a Jeopardy winner (without checking!) Which of this group of films resulted in the only back-to-back wins for a director of a prestigious European film award in its history? Who played the bit part of the assistant to the powerful executive in 'The Conversation'? On what real-life incident was 'The Conversation' partly based? What was the real-life basis for the famed tiger-cage scene in 'The Deer Hunter'? On whom is the character of the small boy playing the flute in 'Godfather II'?

Thanks again.

Cheers,

lansdale

Overlay
09-10-2013, 08:00 AM
Questions for a Jeopardy winner (without checking!) Which of this group of films resulted in the only back-to-back wins for a director of a prestigious European film award in its history? Who played the bit part of the assistant to the powerful executive in 'The Conversation'? On what real-life incident was 'The Conversation' partly based? What was the real-life basis for the famed tiger-cage scene in 'The Deer Hunter'? On whom is the character of the small boy playing the flute in 'Godfather II'?
Jeopardy winner though I may be, none of those would definitely come to me without research (although I would speculate that the answer to the first one could be The Godfather, Part 2 and The Conversation (since Coppola directed them both)(although I also could not name the award offhand), and that the third one could be the Watergate break-in).

Overlay
09-10-2013, 10:53 AM
On whom is the character of the small boy playing the flute in 'Godfather II'?
The name of the boy in the film (that is, the character's name) was Carmine Coppola, after both Francis Ford Coppola's father and grandfather.

lansdale
09-10-2013, 11:28 AM
Hi Overlay,

Nice call. The boy playing the flute is indeed Coppola's father Carmine, for many years principal flautist for the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and later, composer of the score for 'Apocalypse Now'. Tough question.

Apologies for my mistake on the 'award' question. I had recently been discussing Coppola with someone (who should have known better) who mentioned the back-to-back thing about exactly the two films you mentioned, and I assumed this was true, given its plausibility. In any case, it was a very astute guess. The truth is that Coppola is the only director to win two 'Palme d'Or' awards (best film at the Cannes festival) *in the same decade*. You were right that one was for 'The Conversation' - the other was for 'Apocalypse Now'.

Although your idea the Watergate was source material for 'The Conversation' is also highly plausible, and was widely believed at the time, given its timeliness, the script had been written before the events of Watergate began to unfold in 1973. This is a very tough question - probably impossible for anyone without a preponderance of gray hair ;-).

I'll wait another day before posting the other answers, in case anyone still wants to take a shot.

Cheers,

lansdale

Actor
09-10-2013, 12:35 PM
Between 1962 and 2008 an author wrote a series of books about the same character. Six of these books were made into movies.
In none of the movies does the protagonist have the same name as the character in the books, nor do any two of the movies give the protagonist the same name. The author insisted that the original name be used only in a franchise and no producer ever agreed to a franchise.
In one of the movies the protagonist was played by a woman.
One of the books was filmed twice.
Two of the movies are not in English.
After the author's death a seventh book was filmed, this time with the protagonist having the name used in the books.

In the books, what is the name of the protagonist?

Who was the author?

Overlay
09-10-2013, 12:52 PM
Who played the bit part of the assistant to the powerful executive in 'The Conversation'?
Without having seen the movie itself, I'll say Harrison Ford on that one.

lansdale
09-10-2013, 01:42 PM
Without having seen the movie itself, I'll say Harrison Ford on that one.

He shoots, he scores. As oft noted, Ford played a number of bit parts for Coppola and Lucas (he was a general's aide in 'Apocalypse Now', released after but shot before 'Star Wars' and had a small, but memorable part in 'American Graffiti'), during his scuffling years when his primary source of income was carpentry.

I'm starting to understand the 'Jeopardy' thing ;-).

lansdale
09-10-2013, 01:59 PM
Between 1962 and 2008 an author wrote a series of books about the same character. Six of these books were made into movies.
In none of the movies does the protagonist have the same name as the character in the books, nor do any two of the movies give the protagonist the same name. The author insisted that the original name be used only in a franchise and no producer ever agreed to a franchise.
In one of the movies the protagonist was played by a woman.
One of the books was filmed twice.
Two of the movies are not in English.
After the author's death a seventh book was filmed, this time with the protagonist having the name used in the books.
In the books, what is the name of the protagonist?



Who was the author?

Hi Actor,

Fun question. If I'm not mistaken author should be Donald Westlake, the protagonist is Parker, the series written under one of his dozen-odd pseudonyms, Richard Stark. Not to go through all the books, but the one that was filmed twice was 'The Hunter', first as 'Point Blank' (masterpiece) and later as 'Payback' (non-masterpiece, to put it mildly).

Thanks for reminding us of one of the great mystery writers of the last half of the 20th century.



Cheers,

lansdale

Overlay
09-10-2013, 02:10 PM
What was the real-life basis for the famed tiger-cage scene in 'The Deer Hunter'?
Con Son Island off the (southern) coast of Vietnam? (guessing)

lansdale
09-11-2013, 08:44 AM
Con Son Island off the (southern) coast of Vietnam? (guessing)

Hi Overlay,

The way I framed this question seems to have put a misleading emphasis on tiger cages. Don't know whether you've seen the movie, but a key scene involves a Russian roulette/torture scene that takes place in what I referred to as a tiger cage (of which there certainly was no shortage in Vietnam) but is actually much bigger - it kind resembles a holding cell, but planted in a river. The content of the scene is really what the question is about. To be fair, this is something of a trick question.

Con Son Prison, which was built by the Coast Guard as a POW camp for NVA prisoners, was famously the site of inhumane treatment and torture of these troops, who were often kept in tiger cages by their ARVN overseers. Possibly this is the source of your answer.

I'll give the remaining answers in a few hours.

Cheers,

lansdale

lansdale
09-11-2013, 02:00 PM
Answers to the remaining two questions:

The real-life incident which formed part of the basis for 'The Conversation' were the 1970 murders of union reformer Jock Yablonski, his wife, and daughter, by a hit team hired by then United Mine Worker President Tommy Boyle. Someone who knew of the hit and might have been expected to warn Yablonski didn't do so. Of course, it also fits well with the themes of paranoia, the transition of power, the death of the king, etc. that run through all Coppola's best work.

The question about the real-life source of the 'Russian Roulette' scene in 'The Deer Hunter' is that there is none. There was an uproar over this scene and the inhumanity of the VC in the first weeks after the film's release, but a quick check revealed that Cimino and his writers knew next to nothing about Vietnam (some may remember how brief the Nam combat sequence is) did almost no research, and that there was no record of the North Vietnamese engaging in this practice. Although the NVA and VC did, of course, torture prisoners (everybody knows about McCain e.g.), it was almost invariably to extract strategic or propaganda value from prisoners.

Cheers,

lansdale

Light
09-11-2013, 02:47 PM
No trivia question is a challenge anymore in the age of the search engine, but try this one:

Who is the only performer in the history of the Academy Awards to have every one of the multiple films in the performer's acting career nominated for Best Picture? (Part two of the question would be: What were the pictures in which the performer appeared?)

The answer to your question was clearly on the internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cazale

(August 12, 1935 – March 12, 1978) was an American actor. During his six-year film career, he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. He is the only actor to have this multi-film distinction.

Twelve years after his death, Cazale appeared in a sixth feature film, The Godfather Part III (1990), in archive footage. The Godfather Part III was also nominated for Best Picture. This marks the unique achievement of John Cazale having every feature film in which he appeared be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

I also learned from the article that none other than Meryl Streep was his girlfriend at the time of his death!

Actor
09-11-2013, 03:57 PM
If I'm not mistaken author should be Donald Westlake, the protagonist is Parker, the series written under one of his dozen-odd pseudonyms, Richard Stark.Correct on both counts.

Longshot6977
09-12-2013, 09:48 AM
I also learned from the article that none other than Meryl Streep was his girlfriend at the time of his death!

LOL, I was close then in my post #2 saying Meryl Streep.

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 11:56 AM
Some lines in movies are priceless at least to me. I recently watched a
detective movie in which two men were investigating and the one guy
picks up an old style dial telephone and then begins pounding rapidly
on the receiver buttons as he is unable to get a dial tone. "What is
wrong with this confounded instrument", he says. The other man, the
star of the movie, reaches down and picks up the cord and sees it has
been cut. He says, "It appears that someone has disengaged this
instrument from it's utility." What is the name of the movie and the
star that said those words, "disengaged from it's utility", instead of
just saying that the line had been cut?

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 08:24 PM
The actor used disguises in a lot of his films. In this one, opening scene he
has a beard and wearing glasses dressed like a professor. The crown jewels
worn by the Queen of Sheeba was just found. Although an old movie, it has
been shown a lot lately. In later films he starred in horror films. Not the gory
ones of today like the ones we will get tomorrow Friday the 13th with Jason
using an axe and pitchfork.

Actor
09-12-2013, 09:48 PM
The actor used disguises in a lot of his films. In this one, opening scene he
has a beard and wearing glasses dressed like a professor. The crown jewels
worn by the Queen of Sheeba was just found. Although an old movie, it has
been shown a lot lately. In later films he starred in horror films. Not the gory
ones of today like the ones we will get tomorrow Friday the 13th with Jason
using an axe and pitchfork.Christopher Lee playing Sherlock Holmes?

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 10:14 PM
Christopher Lee playing Sherlock Holmes?

Nope. Que the buzzer now.

The actor had a unique way of speaking the English language. I think it was
what made him so popular in his day. He was a short fellow with big eyes.
Some might say bug eyes.

He also appeared in the movie, Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. He was
also in the movie "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Hope this helps.

lansdale
09-12-2013, 10:30 PM
Nope. Que the buzzer now.

The actor had a unique way of speaking the English language. I think it was
what made him so popular in his day. He was a short fellow with big eyes.
Some might say bug eyes.

He also appeared in the movie, Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart. He was
also in the movie "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Hope this helps.

You gave too many hints. A brilliant, multilingual guy, who, like many European actors of the period, ended up in Hollywood to escape the Nazis. Arguably the finest German film and stage actor of the 20th century, he rarely was called to use his vast talent fully, and given the junk he had to appear in to make a living, and especially in later years, he often phoned it in. To see him at his best, rent (or stream) Fritz Lang's "M".

Cheers,

lansdale

ArlJim78
09-12-2013, 10:31 PM
The description sounds a lot like Peter Lorre, but I'm not sure he played in any horror films and I can't place the detective movie being referenced either.

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 10:42 PM
The description sounds a lot like Peter Lorre, but I'm not sure he played in any horror films and I can't place the detective movie being referenced either.

Correct. Cue the drum roll here.

Peter Lorre in the film, "Mr Moto Takes A Vacation."

Lorre had suffered for years from chronic gallbladder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallbladder) troubles, for which doctors had prescribed morphine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine). Lorre became trapped between the constant pain and addiction to morphine to ease the problem. It was during the period of the Mr. Moto films that Lorre struggled and overcame his addiction.[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lorre#cite_note-8)

Abruptly gaining a hundred pounds in a very short period and never fully recovering from his addiction to morphine, Lorre suffered many personal and career disappointments in his later years. He died in 1964 of a stroke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke). Lorre's body was cremated and his ashes were interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Forever_Cemetery) in Hollywood. Vincent Price (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Price) read the eulogy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulogy) at his funeral

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 10:53 PM
Peter Lorre

ArlJim78
09-12-2013, 11:01 PM
I knew Lorre mainly from Casablanca, one of my all time favorite films.

Overlay
09-12-2013, 11:10 PM
Peter Lorre's daughter was once picked up (willingly, not abducted) by the Hillside Stranglers (Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi) while they were cruising for a potential victim in Los Angeles, but was released by them (without having given her an indication of what their intent had been) after they learned who her famous father was, since they had both been fans of his movies.

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 11:20 PM
Peter Lorre's daughter was once picked up (willingly, not abducted) by the Hillside Stranglers (Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi) while they were cruising for a potential victim in Los Angeles, but was released by them after they learned who her famous father was, since they had both been fans of his movies.

Thank-you. That's very interesting to know. I probably should read more
biographies since I seem to now have a fascination for things like this.

As far as me labeling him being in horror films, that is due to my experience
as a kid. Any cloke and dagger film was horror to me. Not by today's
standards of course. Heck, I had to sleep with the lights on when I went
uptown and saw the movie, "The Day The Earth Stood Still." I kept thinking
that damn robot "Gore" might be loose in my neighborhood and had my
address. :D

Back in those days, Hollywood would not release a scary movie unless it
passed the "squirm" test. They would have a bunch of kids sit in special
seats that measured their squirming. Too much and the movie had to be
toned down some. Nowadays, the more squirming the better.

Overlay
09-12-2013, 11:32 PM
I got that tidbit out of the book Two Of A Kind, an account of the Hillside Stranglers written by Darcy O'Brien.

jerry-g
09-12-2013, 11:40 PM
I got that tidbit out of the book Two Of A Kind, an account of the Hillside Stranglers written by Darcy O'Brien.

I think Darcy O'Brien was an English professor at the University of LA. He
came to my hometown in Southern Illinois to write a book called, "Murder
In Little Egypt." One of our local doctors killed his two sons and later
hanged his self in a jail in St. Louis County, Missouri. He stayed with the
doctors wife while he wrote the book. (I said, "Hummm") He was not kind
in his writings about our small hometown and most people were mad as
hell when they read the book. I was a RN at the hospital where the
doctor was affiliated and I can say I saw his ghost several times in the hallways inthe closed part of the hospital. I guess it was just making
rounds.

nijinski
09-12-2013, 11:40 PM
A very old hysterical movie , with some music and dance too .

Here is a line .

If I hold you any closer , I'll be in back of you .

rastajenk
09-13-2013, 06:27 AM
Sounds Marxist.

Overlay
09-13-2013, 08:19 AM
Sounds Marxist.
So does my personal favorite: "Madam, you're making history. In fact, you're making me, and I wish you'd keep my hands to yourself."

Overlay
09-13-2013, 09:12 AM
I think that the scene that you're referring to was at the end of Godfather 2. However, I believe that Cazale also appeared (posthumously and uncredited) as Fredo in archival footage in Godfather 3 (although I can't place the exact scene).
Upon further reflection, I remembered that Fredo's appearance in Godfather 3 was just a brief replay of the scene from the end of Godfather 2 with Fredo and Al Neri fishing in the boat on the lake, just before Neri shot Fredo, and which Michael was recalling with guilt years later.

nijinski
09-13-2013, 11:30 AM
Sounds Marxist.

Yes correct and way before most any one here was born
But which Marx bro movie?

Ocala Mike
09-13-2013, 12:03 PM
Yes correct and way before most any one here was born
But which Marx bro movie?

Surprised that Tom hasn't weighed in on this. "Monkey Business" (1931).

OTM Al
09-13-2013, 01:19 PM
Another classic from Rufus T Firefly...

"I can see you right now in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. But I can't see the stove."