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PROFESSOR FATE’S SPRING-LOADED GREAT-RACING SPRING BREAK MOVIE QUIZ
All right, the SLIFR University staff has simply had it with my hemming and hawing and have pushed me and my answers to Professor Russell Johnson’s quiz aside. This is not to say that I won’t attack them later on this week, out of a raging fit of heretofore frustrated completism. But I must make way for the changing of the seasons. Some of you still have snow on the ground for your spring break, and to you I say, in all sincerity, congratulations. Here at SLIFR there is a very rare tip of the meteorological hat to the demarcation of spring, summer, fall and winter—though we did have some very nice, gloomy skies and wet weather over the last week or so. We take what we can get, and so too does the unflappable student body of SLIFR U, ready and willing as they are for another foray into the unfathomable well of personal responses that make up our seasonal quizzes here. This one is being unleashed by one of our most Machiavellian maestros of calculated madness and pent-up fury (albeit in a slapstick vein). Behold the 37-question beast that is the work (with a little help from our noted friends) of physics professor and chairman of the SLIFR Department of Ne’er-Do-Wellery, Professor Fate, not so fresh but still running the Great Race to ultimate film knowledge and discovery. Should you join him on this quest, just be sure to copy and paste the questions into your comments and answer them with the questions attached, so we bewildered students and faculty will know to which pithy question your brilliant response belongs. As always, there is no deadline except that to which your own conscience tethers you. Having set my own conscience free over that last quiz, I wouldn’t worry too much about deadlines were I you… but just don’t tell the testy Professor Fate I ever said that. He has been known, in the past, to, um, go off. So, with that warning, er, encouragement in mind, let us press ever forward into the mind of a brilliant madman and begin scratching out the answers to Professor Fate’s Spring-Loaded, Great-Racing Spring Break Movie Quiz! Go, go, go, go, go! (And many thanks to the students who offered up questions to the professor. If he didn’t use yours this time, don’t be discouraged! There’s always the summer, assuming we all survive this one!)
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1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woddy Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
34) Favorite movie rating?
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
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53 comments:
http://tinyurl.com/yyc5ky7
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Demarest wins because of his association with Preston Sturges, plus he provided the voice of Wally Walrus.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Dr. Zhivago moved along quite nicely while I was sipping rum and coke in the theater.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
The waves on the rocky beach of Toei.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
As much as I like Ms. Holm when she's working with Joe Mankiewicz, I always enjoy Blondell in any Warner Brothers film she's in.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
I have never been able to watch William Wyler's Ben-Hur from beginning to end.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
I can never remember which Ozu films I saw with the seasonal titles.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Brides of Dracula.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joey Pants, for "The Sopranos", Momento, and his work with the Wachowskis.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
At the drive-in: The Mask, by Julian Roffman and Chuck Russell.
At the art house: Woman on the Beach, by Jean Renoir and Hong Sang-soo
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Did you know that when these two were Toho starlets, they appeared in seven films together? I wonder if there was a bond between them aside from You Only Live Twice. They are also in Key of Keys, the spy thriller that Woody Allen dubbed as What's Up, Tiger Lily?. And Allen, as you know later played Jimmy Bond. I would like to see them with Toshiro Mifune in Samurai Pirate only because that title is so cool. Mie Hama plays Princess Yaya which seems very appropriate, and in King Kong Escapes plays Madame Piranha. And though Ms. Wakabayashi is quite cute, Mie Hama was good enough to be in a couple of late films by Mikio Naruse, so it's Hama time.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
No. But Mountain of the Cannibal God showed me more than I will ever want to see regarding, shall we say, animal husbandry.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Walsh's The Big Trail.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Talk to Her.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Raab, because of the Fassbinder films. Can you read the title, Die Niklashauser Fart and not laugh even a little?
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
I was going to nominated the song from Sea Wife. However that song is titled, "I'll Find You". Bobby Troup's song for Allan Dwan's The River's Edge is pretty dopey.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
In a theater, Flowing by Mikio Naruse. On DVD, The Young Land starring the young Dennis Hopper.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
The chess game in Love and Death.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Too answer a previous question, I know I saw them both in Midnight, but I can't remember anything about that film. I have to go with Colbert in part based on the number of films she was in, although I have one film from each in my DVD collection. One's about a bus ride, and the other is about a bird.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
Even in Japan, they shoot westerns.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
Richard Lester's Help! and Burt Kennedy's The Rounders might be one of the odder pairings, though I like them both.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Hell to Eternity.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Several films by Sam Fuller come to mind, but I'll go with The Naked Kiss.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Sword fighting skeletons rule! Jason and the Argonauts.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
There is no S.O. in my life at this time, and I will leave it at that.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
I prefer Tennessee to Tennessee's partner. (Payne).
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
The Blind Side.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Barbet Schroeder's More. Pink Floyd and Mimsy Farmer!
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
It's all about Eve.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Another obvious choice - John Wayne in the doorway in The Searchers.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
College, way back when: I was arguing with friend of a sort of girlfriend regarding Citizen Kane, which we had just seen on TV. He was saying he couldn't "get into it". The young lady tried to stop the argument by saying, "It's only a movie". I stopped seeing her after that.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
The artist formerly known as Margarita Carmen Cansino.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Throne of Blood. All those arrows.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Unseen.
34) Favorite movie rating?
I miss the old "M" rating, and the kinds of film that were covered then that are now rated "R" by those prudes at the MPAA.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Why should I care when there Yu Aoi?
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I'm not sure if I have one favorite genre, but seeing The Big Combo back around 1971 might have been the film to help cement my love of classic film noir.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
It's been years since I've seen anything by him, but the one I'd most want to revisit is Gunn.
I had to stay up all night to do this because I know if I don't other people will get the cool answers in first.
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Of all the stupid fucking questions. How many Preston Sturges pictures was Broderick Crawford in? If you called a revival house The Crawford would one in a hundred think it was for Broderick? I mean, I like Broderick Crawford just fine, if the question is Broderick Crawford or Jack Webb he wins, but of course it's William Demarest. I mean, Jesus.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Walt Disney is the all time master of the trip sequence, and not just Fantasia or Alice in Wonderland either. Have a look at the Silly Symphony Music Land, for instance. It's shot through the whole canon (as it were), shorts and features. Trippiness is almost as much a hallmark of Disney as cuteness. Early Fleischer Brothers would be a bad trip waiting to happen, though.
Music Land: http://tinyurl.com/y27gotw
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies ("That's All, Folks!")
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Just out of respect for the Gunslinger, Joan Blondell.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
You're going to hate me for this, but Jules and Jim, and Truffaut in general. I really have to see it again, though.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
The Nine Lives of Thomasina. I seem to recall the face of Patrick McGoohan, and I'm pretty sure I saw it at a drive-in. Emil and the Detectives is another one like that. I think I that one both at the theater and on television and don't remember either time. Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, there's another.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Well, there's that one part of Yellow Submarine . . .
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joey Pants. Bound is his best performance, I think.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Easy. Heaven Can Wait and Heaven Can Wait.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
My New Year's Resolution is that I'm not going to answer these when I have to look them up.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
I think just about all sexual acts get a thorough airing on the schoolyard before you could possibly see them on the screen.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Die Nibelungen.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
I'd have to like one first.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
"Bless the Beasts and the Children." The Carpenters present a special problem because on the one hand their music was positively evil but on the other Karen was such a fox (proper period reference), the poor woman.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
In a theater, How to Train Your Dragon, which is one of the great aerial dogfight movies of all time. On DVD, I just got finished watching Night and the City (Jules Dassin) as I write this.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Though not directed by him, Play It Again, Sam as a whole.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Mary Astor got a bit blousy, but Claudette Colbert is eternal.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
The long form trailer for Psycho (Hitchcock takes you the Bates Motel.) The way he says "The bahthroom" is worth the price of admission to the other picture all by itself. The one for The Birds might come in second.
Psycho: http://tinyurl.com/y5t9a8h
The Birds: http://tinyurl.com/y7p24fp
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
There used to be this old neighborhood movie house on Sunset Boulevard called The Oriental which was the absolute last stop for any movie on the way out of town, and you saw some strange juxtapositions there. One I recall was 1984 and The Slugger's Wife. Another was The Terminator and Falling in Love.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
The Matt Helm saga. I note he did a movie called Rocky, if somebody needs an answer for number 9.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
I hate to say so because it's so fucking dishonest politically, but On the Waterfront.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
The fightin' skeletons, I guess, but his stuff always looked too fakey for me, tragically hip as I was as a young tad.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Next time I have one I'll probably spring The Awful Truth on her.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
I'll admit it's pure political prejudice, but I don't think I could stand to look at Ronald Reagan for an hour and a half, so it must be the other guy.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Solaris. Hoop Dreams is another.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
See question 2.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
I remember watching Eve Arden on TV as a kid, so her.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The last frame of City Lights. All the expectation in the world, and no hope.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
I assume you're disqualified from this if you can't remember an argument you had over a movie. Generally speaking I'm not that concerned about what other people think of things.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Ah, well, there's only one Mexican Spitfire.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Chimes at Midnight.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
No, I haven't seen it.
34) Favorite movie rating?
"M" for Mature. They had to change it to GP because they didn't want to suggest kids shouldn't go to them, then they changed it to PG because GP confused everybody.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
Yojimbo.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
If I were going to be all cutesy obscure I'd say The Carey Treatment, but for realsies The Return of the Pink Panther, if only for http://tinyurl.com/y6o8hcb.
1) Broderick Crawford.
2) Any Ken Russell flick. Or Russ Meyer. Meyers’ editing style will blow your mind.
3) AIP.
4) Joan Blondell.
5) “Rules of the Game”? But that’s just because it bores the hell out of me.
6) I can’t remember…
7) Tough one… I’m very fond of “Hands of the Ripper” even though I know there’s “better” Hammer Horror.
8) Joe Pantoliano.
9) Up & Up (too bad the wrong one was in 3-D).
10) Akiko Wakabayashi.
11) “Deliverance”… when I was 10!!! … seriously, I’m gay, but I’ve never asked anyone to squeal like a piggy!
12) No.
13) "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down".
14) What’s this… the psychotic German question? Udo Kier (but Raab’s awesome)
15) The theme from “Night Train Murders” by Demis Roussos. Listen/watch here if you dare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxCba8wk8kQ
16) Theatre: “Clash of the Titans”, DVD: Hammers’ “Maniac”.
17) General Groucho-isms in his early stuff.
18) Claudette Colbert. By a leg.
19) “The Shining”. It’s evocative, but gives not much away. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKdKc06av1g&feature=fvst
20) “Cahill” starring John Wayne and “The Exorcist” at the drive-in when I was 12. I had been begging my father to take me to “The Exorcist” for a year, and he finally did. My intro to adult horror. We had to leave at the half way mark. Consider my 12-year-old mind blown.
21) “Walking Tall”, ‘cause I’m a sucker for “trouble in small Southern town” movies.
22) “I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”.
23) Kali. She’s intent and skilled.
24) “A Single Man”. I’m newly in love!
25) John Payne.
26) More Fellini stuff.
27) “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls”
28) Thelma Ritter!!!
29) Father Merrin’s arrival at the MacNeil house in “The Exorcist”
30) “The Green Mile”. I still think it’s accidentally racist. The scenario: New Year’s Eve 2000. Four of us at a cabin. Too much to drink. A maraca passed around, acting as a talking stick due to the animated conversation; whomever holds the maraca can speak, everyone else has to shut up and listen.
31) Lupe Velez, because of her wild death.
32) “My Own Private Idaho”.
33) “To know death Otto, you have to fuck life... in the gall bladder!” That’s a YES!
34) X.
35) M’eh, I’ll go Olivia Barash because of “Repo Man”.
36) “The Exorcist”.
37) “Revenge of the Pink Panther” (I haven’t seen it since ’78 though).
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
I’d have to go with Crawford. You can’t argue with Jowls like that.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
An Altered state helps smooth over some of The Fountain’s sillyness while framing its magesty. But I think its underrating that film to term it a Stoner Movie. Oddly enough one of my favorite movies to watch in an Altered State is The Aviator. I don’t know if Improved is the right word, but the opulence of that film, relaxed pace, and occasional bracing bits of style make it a blast to watch.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
I’d don’t know if it counts but I basically have a Pavolovian reaction to the Janus film logo.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Blondell. Nightmare Alley.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Lolita both annoy me. The first because it takes everything interesting and difficult in Kesey’s book and throws it away. The second because, its to borrow from Ebert, your basic Dog walking on hind legs scenario. Just because one is surprised to see it done at all does not mean it is being done well.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
Hmm… No clue.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Brides Of Dracula. By Far. Its hallungetic, gorgeous, kinky, Basically everything I want from a Hammer film.
I do have to give a special jury prize to Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter (The K makes it sexy). Which is totally ridiculous and totally awesome.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Pantoliano, hands down. He may be guilty of over extending the brand, but no ones more dependable for a despicable scumbag. And Teddy in Memento remains a righteous performance.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Off by a letter but I can’t help but go with Trick R’ Treat last years fun Creepshow Homage paired with Trick or Treat, the heavy metal horror movie featuring both Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Mie Hama beat Diana Rigg to the punch. That and she also played a character named Madame Piranha in King Kong Returns. Which would give anyone a leg up.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
The only things that come to mind are comedies.
“What’s a ZJ?”
“If you have to ask. You can’t afford it.”
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Once again I don’t know if improved is the right word, I just know that every time I watch an Ozu color film, I’m sad that there aren’t more.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Volver. Cruz has never been lovelier.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Oh that’d be Kier for sure and certain. If only for the moment where he feeds his guts through the projector in the underrated Cigarette Burns.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
Die Another Day. Which Manages to be the worst Bond Theme in a category that includes a Sheena Easton song.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Theater: How To Train Your Dragon (meh)
DVD: Blue Collar (Schrader)
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Any from Love And Death. If I had to sum up Allen’s career in one image it would be his riff on Bergman’s dance of death at the end of the film.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
There’s something in Colbert that makes you want to protect her. There’s something in Astor that looks as though it never needed to be protected.
Take your pick.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
I love The Gangs Of New York Teaser Trailer. Much better then the film’s clumsy trailer and makes better use of Horner’s Charging Fort Wagner, then Glory ever did.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater?
I came of movie going age after the fall of the double bills. Much less the really odd Double Bills.
That said I made a pretty good one for myself when I saw Bad Lieutenant Port Of Call New Orleans and The Princess And The Frog back to back.
http://thingthatdontsuck.blogspot.com/2010/01/bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans.html
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
I’m going to have to go for the obvious one, with Walking Tall.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
I still say Stone’s Natural Born Killers is an underrated movie. Sure its overwrought. Its made by Oliver Stone. But it’s points about how we react to violence by safely cloaking ourselves in moral outrage hit a lot closer to home then it gets credit for.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Skeletons man. Skeletons.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
I’m currently single (shocking I know). My last SO and I met at a Cirio Santiago double feature at the New Bev.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
John Payne as he was presumably not responsible for deregulating big business, throwing insane people out on the street, and ignoring the spread of AIDS.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Almodvar. I’ve seen some of his movies but have always sort of ignored him because of his Anti Catholicism. Now that, as Jack Nicholson put it in The Departed, “The Confessional Seal is a little iffy these days. I have less reason not to see it.
Also Goddard, but I’m more annoyed at that pressure. I’ve seen Band Apart, and Alphaville, and Weekend and I still just plain don’t care. I’m glad he made Breathless but that was fifty years ago. I haven’t been glad he’s made a movie since.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
If bad trips count I’d say Alan Parker’s The Wall.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Ritter. My love for Pickup knows no bounds. The whole Rear Window and The Misfits thing doesn’t exactly hurt either.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
John Wayne clutching his arm, before leaving civilization forever in The Searchers.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Hmm… this is tougher then it sounds. I have entire friendships that are basically long memorable arguments about the movies. And there was the time when I had an argument with a customer over a hundred and forty dollar late fee for Fritz The Cat and she beat up a strangers Vespa outside which she for some reason thought was mine. But I don’t know if it counts.
The most memorable argument I had though wasn’t about a specific movie. It’s more centered around the way the argument went down. It was with a friend of a friend, who I was annoyed with. One of those film geeks who doesn’t really like other film geeks. We where talking I was a bit drunk, and I admittedly made some dumb lapses in logic trying to “beat” him.
Which led to me admittedly getting my ass semantically handed to me. It was kind of like that scene in The Color Of Money where Newman gets hustled by Whitaker. This dazed sense of “Wow did that just happen?”
At the end of the day though I think it was good for me. As the old timer’s say “It learned me.”
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Lupe Velez never captured Groucho’s heart.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
I have a certain affection for Julie Taymor’s batshit crazy artschool representation of Titus Andronicus. But I think I’d either have to tip my hat to Polanski’s Macbeth, surely the most underrated and misunderstood film in his career, or McKellan’s Richard III.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Haven’t seen it.
34) Favorite movie rating?
Pre PG-13 PG. It’s a mysterious rating. You genuinely never know what you’re about to see. Could be something Bambi safe, and there might be Blood and Tits galore. You just never know!
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Olivia Barash.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
Don’t have one. Youu can’t make me pick between Chopin, The Beatles and The Ramones.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
You just can’t go wrong with A Shot In The Dark.
Oh and also, "RISE AND SHINE!?!?!?!!"
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Broderick Crawford Broderick Crawford Broderick Crawford. Broderick Crawford.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Bad ones.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
The old Universal logo with the rotating airplane.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Joan Blondell
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
I really hate the "overrated" label to be quite honest. It tends to work as a way to position yourself above film history, able to dole out decrees about how everyone but you is wrong from your high position. This doesn't mean that you can't dislike a "classic" of course, and you don't have to be lockstep with the canon, I just find the term "overrated" a bit, well, overrated itself.
That said, I'll admit to never quite getting the brilliance of Rome, Open City though I'll admit that this may be due more to the print I saw (the subtitles were obviously and distractingly out of place with the action) than the actual film itself. Even so, I remember it being far more admirable in an abstract sense than as an experiential one.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
I suppose I've see countless Disney films in one way or another. My household was largely Disney free, but I know that I saw films such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella at friends houses or at class, when my teachers had tired of teaching. I can remember some of them but others are utterly lost to me.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
I've only seen their Dracula and I liked it quite a bit (though not as much as Browning's version, stage-bound as it is) but it didn't give me the vital urge to seek out more.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Pantoliano.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Keaton and Boorman's The Generals
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Pass
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
I'm from the internet generation, of course not.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
I can think of several color films that should be black & white, but none that work the other way around. My first thought was the Curtiz-Flynn swashbucklers, but I feel that Curtiz was a far better director of black and white than color.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Talk to Her
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Kier
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
The worst ones are the ones you can't remember.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
A Prophet in theaters, Fantasia on DVD.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woddy Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
When I rewatched Annie Hall, now having experience with Fellini films, the conceited rant about him in the cinema queue both finally made sense and was finally fantastic.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Colbert
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
Oh, that's easy. Violent Blue It'll change your life.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
I've never actually seen a double bill provided explicitly by the theater, (Unless you count Grindhouse, which I don't) but I did once take the initiative to watch My Life to Live and Wall-E back to back in theaters, so I guess that could count.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Haven't seen a one.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
The Grapes of Wrath is a social problem picture isn't it? Even if it is far more.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
I'll go with the skeletons.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
::sits alone pondering singleness, drinks self to death::
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Um. Pass.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Oh there are countless examples of these, I think I've said before that one of the driving factors of my early cinephilia was guilt. The big one right now is Andrei Rublev, or any Tarkovsky really. It's not that I think that I'll have to suffer through his work, I'm fairly sure I'll be a fan, but I simply haven't gotten around to it.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
The Trip Is far, far too obvious an answer but it's the first thing I think of.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
I really don't argue about movies much in real life, the biggest argument I can remember was whether the Busby Berkeley or Fred and Ginger 30s musicals were superior. I was, and still am, firmly on the Berkeley side of things. It was a pleasant none to heated debate, and I can't say either of us won it.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Involvement in Duck Soup almost always tips it to your side.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Orson Welles's Othello, no contest. It's neither a slavishly faithful and bloodless adaptation (Welles loved Shakespeare, and cinema, too much for that) nor a hip modern retelling of the play. It's an amazingly powerful experience, and my favorite Welles outside of Citizen Kane.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Haven't seen it, but probably.
34) Favorite movie rating?
Seeing as everything pre-1968 went without one added to the fact that there's a lot of quality stuff entering smaller theaters sans rating today, I'll have to go with unrated.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Once again, pass. These exams are crushing to the self esteem, just crushing.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I don't think I have a favorite genre per se, but the melodrama is close to my heart; perhaps because it's one genre which is still a bit uncouth to champion unless there's an obvious ironic distance. Like most everyone else I first learned that melodramas could be legitimately good works of art through Sirk, specifically All that Heaven Allows. But I really grew an attachment to it while researching a paper on Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown which isn't really a sincere melodrama, but got me thinking about the subject more.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
Have I mentioned that I don't like Black Edwards? Cause I don't. Breakfast at Tiffany's is decent I suppose.
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Broderick Crawford. One is a funny guy, one is serious. Or maybe Broderick did some comedies I haven’t seen. I prefer serious movies.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
All movies.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
Logos are for people who care about commerce.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Blondell!!!! Blondell is great. I can’t recall who Celeste Holm is visually right now. I know the name.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
In the SLIFR world, Speed Racer is the most overrated “classic” film of all time.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
Very many.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Arrgh, can’t remember.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joe Pantoliano. Come on, that’s not even close.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Crash. Crash. (Except I don't want to see one of the Crashes. Guess which one.)
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
No idea who those people are.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Peeing in the mouth (or was it face?) in Pepi, Luci y Bom by Almodovar? (Mental note, erase this response before posting.)
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Schindler’s List. If it was colored over by large blocks of colors that blocked out the picture entirely and became an avant-garde art piece.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Hey, did you read my mind about answer to question 11?? I think All About my Mother. (Ooh, let's all be pretentious and put the Spanish titles....)
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Does anyone really want to be given the choice between Udo Kier and anything? Like, even choosing between Udo Kier and death would be a tough choice. (This is to hide my embarrassment over not knowing who Kurt Raab is.)
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN!!! Listen to those lyrics!
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Shutter Island in a theater. Asphalt Jungle on DVD.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Too hard to rack my brain right now for that.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Claudette Colbert for the awesome Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife by Lubitsch. Okay, but maybe Mary Astor for the Maltese Falcon, or for going back to the silent era and having two careers, or for her awesome entry in the Hollywood Babylon book... Tough call!!! (Colbert officially)
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
You already know this. Massacre Mafia Style. I’m not linking it again!
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
Pass. Can’t rack my brain for that.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Hey, didn’t I do a recent blog entry on this?? I think 99 River Street.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Hmm, those don’t spring to mind, sorry. If "Little Man, What Now?" counts, I'll do that.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Clash of the Titans (because that’s all I can think of, but it was pretty good Harryhausen stuff.)
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Who’s my significant other? Please tell me. I’d like to know. Was it the girl I saw Shutter Island with? This question is offensive to us single people!!
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Well, that is just plain ridiculous. Ronald Reagan’s best movie is Tennessee’s Partner, which stars John Payne! It is the best movie Ronald Reagan is in, but he is still horrible...!! John Payne is the only sane answer.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
If you feel this sort of pressure, you should fight harder to assert your individuality in the empty cacophony of mainstream society.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Wow. Does “Performance” count? Yeah.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma Ritter is great. I’m getting fuzzy on Eve Arden even though I know the name.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The shot can’t be iconic outside the context of the rest of the movie. Emphasis on this sort of thing results in a lot of shitty filmmakers trying to create iconic shots and falling flat on their face.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Check my old work e-mail exchanges with Dennis Cozzalio!! What the hell was that one we went on the longest about?! Damn, you fill this answer in for me.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Not familiar with the first, fuzzy on what films I’ve seen of the second.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Branagh’s Hamlet. Excellent.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
It was good.
34) Favorite movie rating?
NC-17. No, wait, I refuse to answer this silly question. PG-13 for Last Emperor.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Who the f-- are those people??!
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I like all genres. I don’t discriminate.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
He wrote “My Sister Eileen” which I adore.
Hmmm, I've seem to have overlooked 29. That famous image of The Man in Sunrise, back turned to the camera, wandering into the wilderness, the moon bright in the sky always gets to me.
My answers are here.
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
I like that Demarest was in ten Preston Sturges films, so I'll go with him.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
D-U-M-dumb teen sex comedies, preferably from the 80s.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
The Pixar lamp. Oh, and if you haven't seen this, you should:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFK_XuVqsCQ
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Pass.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
The Shawshank Redemption. Too long, you can see the strings, and Tim Robbins is way more forgettable than he should be.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
Every title I can think of, I think of because I remembered it. This is impossible to research without a diary.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Whattaya know - another massive blind spot in my movie viewing career.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
JP. Tobias Funke's long lost twin.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Duck Soup, starring Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers, respectively.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Suki Yaki just beats Teri Yaki for me. "It's Phil, bringing the promise of joy and fulfillment in its most primitive form!"
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Yes - Eating Raoul, when a puzzled Mary Woronov asked, "What's a basket job?"
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Considering how Monument Valley looked in John Wayne's '50s movies, I'd like to see Stagecoach with some more yellows and oranges.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Pass.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
No contest - that atrocity "I'm Your Weatherman" during the opening credits of Groundhog Day. The movie's sole flaw.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Theater: Crazy Heart. DVD: Once Upon a Time in the West.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
The quick shot of the Groucho cutout atop the Christmas tree in Everyone Says I Love You. The whole party is great, but that fleeting moment of Groucho dancing where the angel usually is was such a nice little treat.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Claudette. Good as both are in Palm Beach Story, I prefer her work in her signature film (It Happened One Night) to Mary's in hers (Maltese Falcon).
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
Jerry Seinfeld's Comedian. Don LaFontaine's greatest performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVDzuT0fXro
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
No fair - there aren't any double bills in Maine!
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Pass.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Lone Star. That counts, right?
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
I'd like to be original and not choose the skeletons, but I'd be lying.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Gosford Park. How awesome is that?
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
I never voted for Reagan and I'm not about to start now.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
The Best Years of Our Lives. Important, widely praised, and over the past decade I've never been able to get in quite the right mood to watch it.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Yellow Submarine. Enough said.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Eve, for dancing on the ceiling with Groucho in At the Circus.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Eraserhead's thousand-yard stare as the cloud behind him dissipates.
http://tinyurl.com/lc2yzh
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Edward Scissorhands. My college roommate said Johnny Depp was "just another pretty boy trying to show he can act" (this is twenty years ago, don't forget), and I lit into him like I never had before. He spent the next two hours apologizing.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
That same college roommate was watching Duck Soup with me and several others, and when Raquel Torres walked onscreen with huge earrings and a low-cut gown, he said, "Look at those things hangin' off of her!" Raquel therefore wins my sentimental vote.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Here's a little love for Burton/Taylor's Taming of the Shrew.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Oh, sure.
34) Favorite movie rating?
R. G & NC-17 are overly aware of their ratings; PG and PG-13 have to watch themselves closely to stay within theirs. R movies can do whatever the hell they want.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Repo Man will always trump Just One of the Guys.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
Can you stand one more Marx Brothers reference? I hope so, because I saw Monkey Business when I was little and it did such a great job at unleashing fun.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Pink Panther series never quite did it for me.
1. Demarest
2. Scared to Death
3. Universal circa 1940s, w/fanfare
4. Blondell
5. Casablanca
6. Numerous Russian silents "known" to have been seen on PBS when I was a kid
7. Quatermass and the Pit
8. Pantoliano
9. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Hitchcock, 1941; Liman, 2005)
10. Pass
11. Pass
12. Not at the moment
13. Haven't seen any!
14. Kier
15. "The Longest Day"
16. Theater: Un Prophete; DVD: Women's Prison (1954)
17. Pass
18. Colbert
19. The Two Jakes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7hg3bHutuY):a brilliant mini-essay unto itself that the film can't live up to.
20.Can't say. I do recall seeing an overcrowded multiplex marquee advertising "The Man Who Loved Women Smurfs" once.
21. Phenix City Story
22. Wild Boys of the Road
23. Talos
24. n/a
25. Payne
26. Almodovar's?
27. 2001
28. Ritter
29. Pickens rides Bomb
30. Freaks
31. Velez
32. Henry V (tie)
33. Might as well.
34. R
35. Pass
36. Don't have one favorite.
37. The Great Race, of course!
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
From Central Casting’s Bulldozer Division. I’ll give BC props for Scandal Sheet and Human Desire.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Anything by Stanley Kubrick or Ken Russell.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
The one United Artists used during the 1960s.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Without the benefit of a good director, Joan has looked stranded. From a carnal perspective, Celeste seemed hotter, a girl willing to try weird things in the sack.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
Without Gable, most of Gone With the Wind is virtually unwatchable.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
The Stacy Keach cocaine movie, Watched, where he says “My mucus membrane is but a memory.”
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde. The Bates/Beswicke casting is inspired.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
After looking up who they were, I still don’t know who they are.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith x 2. And you know something? I’d take the latter over the Hitchcock, because that’s the kind of hairpin I am.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Mie had squat little legs with knobby knees; feh! Akiko was a stunner.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Given my eternally overactive libido, this question is irrelevant. Just ask any of the poor girls who were confronted by my outlandish requests as far back as 7th grade.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Actually, no.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Volver.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Not only did Kurt do the Fassbinder films, but he was also great as the compulsive gambler in Barbet Schroeder’s overlooked Tricheurs.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
“There’s Got To Be a Morning After” from The Poopside Down Adventure.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Last night I saw Playing for Keeps (1986), a rare directorial outing for Bob & Harvey Weinstein. 80s kitsch schlock, nearly out-Xanaduing Xanadu, but it does have 22-year-old Marisa Tomei.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
“My love life has turned into a petrified forest!” (Play It Again, Sam.)
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
With her pinched nose and diseased eyes, Mary always skeeved me out. I’ll go with Claudette, albeit under protest.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
As a Bond fan, the double feature trailer for Thunderball plus You Only Live Twice twirled my turban in the early 70s, when I thought Thunderball was the greatest movie ever made: Click here.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater?
The oddest was one of the most memorable and creative: To Have and Have Not plus What’s Up, Tiger Lily? at the Uniondale Mini Cinema (where you could smoke reefer in the theatre) in 1973.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
The Wreicking Crew. A train wreck, fer shur: but its scenes of Elke Sommer are wonderful.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Fritz Lang’s Fury.
23) Your favorite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Although the film itself is short on ideas, the Ymir in 20 Million Miles to Earth is pretty cool.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
As if it were yesterday: Pink Motel (1982) starring Phyllis Diller and Slim Pickens. In a huge, single-screen theatre where we sat with three or four other people.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Peter’s already used my answer, so I’ll go with Angie Dickinson.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen.
Avatar.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Barbet Schroeder’s La vallée (1972). Magic potions, feathers, Bulle Ogier getting it on with a snake, Pink Floyd, Michael Gothard (“We’ll always be tourists here”), Jean-Pierre Kalfon. I’d make that trip anytime.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
That’s a weird pair, dude.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The profile of Mariangela Melato after she gets off the phone with Giancarlo Giannini toward the end of Swept Away….
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
My most memorable argument was actually over a play: Anthony Perkins in Equus, me straightening out a couple of people in a bar over vodka gimlets, circa 1975.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Eve Arden.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
I’m not going to try to bullshit or impress anyone: with Shakespeare, I don’t know shit from shinola.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
I revisited this about six or seven years ago. In the 70s, it seemed pale in comparison to Warhol’s Dracula. Now it possesses no value to me at all.
34) Favorite movie rating?
I still have trouble with PG, because it was GP, after it was M. What was the question?
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
See #8.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
It was probably my repeated exposure to Caltiki the Immortal Monster on TV in the early 60s that paved the way for my horror jones.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
With Professor Fate perched high at the top of this quiz, I guess I shouldn’t be embarrassed to admit my proclivity for this guy’s work. A favorite? Hard to say. Many are vignettes thrown together, each balancing gold with dross. But overall, seen from start to finish, I’m fond of both Darling Lili and S.O.B.
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Growing up during a time when My Three Sons was a constant presence in the house, I gotta go with William "Uncle Charley" Demarest.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Bad ones. The good ones I prefer to see sober.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
As a kid I loved seeing the Tr-Star logo appear. Nowadays I love the old RKO blinking antenna tower and, if you'll allow it, the 1-2 punch of the Criterion logo followed by the Janus Films seal.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Who? I gotta admit, these completely stumped me, even after checking out their Wiki pages. I recognize Celeste Holm, but will go with Joan Blondell based on her resume. But honestly, no preference.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
I have zero love for GONE WITH THE WIND. Can't stand it. But I wouldn't think to argue with anyone who considers it a classic - I just personally hate it. Other than that, I don't have much use for Charlton Heston's Bible epics, so take your pick.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
I know (though not why) I saw POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE in the movie theater with some high school friends. I can't remember a single thing from it - does someone fall off a piano? I'm actually more concerned with why a a group of high school kids would actively go out and seek POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. Was there nothing better out there at the time?
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Depends on the day. Either THE HORROR OF DRACULA or THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (thanks Tony Dayoub!)
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Even when you remove all the great work he's done in the past 10-15 years, you have THE GOONIES, LA BAMBA, and EMPIRE OF THE SUN, all of which he stood out in over the higher-billed stars. Joey Pants!
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
CRASH comes most readily to mind.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Huh? (scratches head, goes back to sleep). Without resorting to IMBD, how's this: Mei Hama reminds me of soccer player Mia Hamm. She was kinda hot back in the day, so her.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
LAST TANGO IN PARIS enlightened me to the fact that hot women will have sex with old, dumpy guys. Thank God.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
"Might" being the operative word here, LOST HORIZON?
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
TALK TO HER
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
I sheepishly admit to not knowing who Kurt Raab is. Udo Kier never fails to elicit a smile whenever I see on him on screen, so he wins by default.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
Damn. I'm sure there are more than a few despicable James Bond theme songs out there (the recent ones by Chris Cornell and U2 are retched), but nothing specific comes to mind.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
In the theater it was HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON in IMAX 3D, which was ridiculously able to throw me right back to my childhood. On a television set it was DIRTY HARRY streaming in HD thanks to Netflix. Huddled under the covers in bed with my laptop it was DRESSED TO KILL thanks in no small part to Mr. Peel's Sardine Liqueur.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie?
The entirety of STARDUST MEMORIES, which wonderfully plays on 8 1/2, but particularly the alien confrontation where they repeat the fans' admission that they prefer his "early, funny ones."
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
I never understood how Bogart could fall so hard for Astor in MALTESE FALCON (Effie, however...hot cha!), but as soon as COLBERT shows her leg in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT you just get it.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
Imagine this is a link to the wonderful trailer for CITIZEN KANE.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
Unfortunately there weren't a lot of drive-ins near me growing up. The last drive I remember seeing was a double feature of COPLAND and MIMIC...that's kind of an odd one.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
I've only seen KID GALAHAD and BEN, and one of them has killer rats and Michael Jackson, so...
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
I'll go with a sentimental favorite: THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE. Awesome Sidney Poitier performance, and bonus points for being associated with Evan Hunter, aka Ed Frickin' McBain.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
I'd love to go against the grain here, but how can I NOT choose JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS?
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
THE FISHER KING in the theater. Couldn't have asked for a better first date, considering we've been together ever since.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Despite not knowing enough about Payne, the bleeding heart liberal in me refuses to say Reagan.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
ANTI-CHRIST. I don't want to see it, but feel compelled based on everything that's been written about it. This is one pressure I probably won't act on, no matter how much I want to see the Talking Fox!
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY looks like a trip (ba dum bum...I'm here all night, folks) to watch during a high. On the other side of the coin, I imagine a horrible LSD trip would resemble for me the TETSUO films by Shinya Tsukamoto. Some of those images still inhabit my nightmares.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma Ritter
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Takeshi Shimura raising in bow in the rain in the climax of SEVEN SAMURAI, Errol Flynn approaching Prince John with a dead deer slung over his back in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, Indiana Jones running away from the natives in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the hat drifting down the path in the opening to MILLER'S CROSSING...
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
TRANSFORMERS 2 and DISTRICT 9. Not for the difference of opinion, but for the logic used. You want my blood to boil? Be sure to do one of the following when you make your case for or against a film: "None of that matters because it's supposed to be a dumb action/comedy/horror film (take your pick)" or "that's so unrealistic...aliens/robots/vampires/other imaginary thing you can have absolutely no factual opinion on wouldn't do that."
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Based shallowly on photographs from the web, the beautiful and tragic Lupe Velez.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Kenneth Branagh's HENRY V for two reasons: the amazing St. Crispin's speech (add Lawrence Olivier's HAMLET and HENRY V in my "overrated" answer) and Derek Jacobi's over the top Chorus. However, if I ever get the chance to see Welles' CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT I reserve the right to change my answer.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Hells yes! Udo!
34) Favorite movie rating?
Anything other than PG-13, which has done more to bring the overall quality of movies down than Michael Bay and Brett Ratner combined.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Joyce Hyser ruined more VHS tapes through constant pausing during JUST ONE OF THE GUYS when I was kid than any other film. 'Nuff said.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
MILLER'S CROSSING solidified my love of Film Noir. Yeah, it's a crime film first and foremost, but you can't deny the Noir elements peppered throughout.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
What's that movie with Ted Danson and Howie Mandel? Not that one. Split it between either THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER or THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN. Although there's a soft spot in my heart for VICTOR VICTORIA for the late, great Robert Preston.
Awesome quiz as always, Dennis!
Hey Dennis,
My answers are here.
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Demarest
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
I don't know.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
Warner Brothers in the 70s. Lots of bright red backgrounds.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Blondell.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
The Deer Hunter.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
Happens all the time. Appropriately, I can't think of one just now.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Itzin was a great villain on 24 a few years ago. I can't say I feel particularly strongly about either one of them, though.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Metropolis (Lang) and Metropolis (crazy Anime version)
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Never hoid of 'em.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Not especially, but I saw an awful lot of 80s sex comedies on late night cable when I was waaaayyyy too young and it certainly clarified what exactly the sex acts I had heard about actually involved.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Anything involving the Marx Brothers. A Day at the Races, let's say...
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Volver
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Udo Kier
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
Pass.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Theater: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. A terrible, terrible movie that I very much regret seeing.
DVD/what-have-you: Medium Cool. Liked all the pseudo-documentary stuff. Could've done without the missing kid subplot, Robert Forster's ridiculous speechifying, and the oh-so-fashionably bleak ending.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woddy Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Woody and Diane Keaton dancing with Death in Love & Death.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Colbert
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
The first trailer for Kill Bill, before it had been split into two films (and before the music in the trailer was licensed into the ground). It ran before Gangs of New York.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-czwy-aVbbU
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
Scheduled double features have not featured prominenty in my moviegoing life, alas.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Framed.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Rebel Without A Cause. Boring answer, I know...
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Jason and the Argonauts.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
That's a rather personal question.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Well, not Reagan.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
The Red Shoes. I'll get it on blu ray in July. Thanks, Criterion!!
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Zabriskie Point. Oh shit, I should have used that as my favorite trailer. Well here, a double dip then - "Zabriskie Point, where a boy... and a girl... will meet... and touch... and BLOW THEIR MINDS!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBnBCy3osnE
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma Ritter
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Harry Lime smiling in the doorway.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
The New World. I went with a very good friend, who when it was finished declared it the worst movie she'd ever seen. I, meanwhile, was pretty sure it was the best movie I'd seen in years. That argument is ongoing, btw.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Lupe!!!!
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Welles' MacBeth.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Sure! I haven't seen it, but why the hell not?
34) Favorite movie rating?
Um... PG-13? What kind of question is this?!
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Never hoid of 'em.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
The Third Man, and noir.
The Man from the West convinced me that the western would run a close second.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
The Party.
I know I'm late with my assignment, but MAN! The first dozen entries were up in about 12 hours. It took me 4 days.
Posted on my blog: http://coolbev.blogspot.com/2010/04/movie-quiz.html
I posted my replies today at my blog for your pleasure:
http://projectorhasbeendrinking.blogspot.com/2010/04/push-button-marc.html
Selected answers:
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
C'mon, I named a theater after Constable Kockenlocker.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
The little plane flying around the Universal logo. Though I love the big J. Arthur Rank gong, too.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Blondell. She's friskier.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
I just can't bear "The Sound of Music."
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
Not sure what it was, but I probably saw it at a drive-in, where my mind wasn't always on the screen.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
You won't be surprised that I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Hammer film. Hey, there's your answer to No. 6.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Go ask Ted Turner.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Matador.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
Madonna's Bond theme comes to mind.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Theater: The Ghost Writer. DVD: Spinout (Elvis!)
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Mary Wilkie on Bergman: "It's bleak, my God. I mean, all that Kierkegaard, right? Real adolescent, fashionable pessimism. I mean, The Silence. God's silence. OK, OK, OK. I mean, I loved it when I was
at Radcliffe, but, all right, you outgrow it."
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Astor. She's friskier.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
99 River Street.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Cool Runnings. It must be love if it could survive the Jamaican bobsled movie.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
'Gutterballs.'
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
I never tire of the night plane to Lisbon.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
I absolutely refuse to have arguments any more about movies. It really is only a movie...
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
You did say adaptations, right? Branagh's Henry V. Welles' Othello. Allen's Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well. Mazursky's Tempest. Olivier's Richard III. Loncraine's Richard III. Branagh's As You Like It. And, of course, Jack Benny reciting Hamlet.
34) Favorite movie rating?
How about my favorite movie rating joke? Q: Why couldn't the little boy see the pirate movie? A: It was rated Arrrrr!
Ha! I'm here all week! Try the veal!
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I'm sure it was a Bogart movie that put me over for noir.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
Experiment In Terror.
As usual, love these quizes. My answers posted to my blog here:
My Answers
Thanks Dennis!
Dennis, thanks! This makes my day. My responses are here.
http://pinkmoose.blogspot.com/2010/04/1-william-demarest-or-broderick.html
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Broderick Crawford worked in some great films by brilliant directors
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Up in smoke that film is just not funny if your consciousness is not altered!
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
Old universal makes me things of old classic horror films
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Joan Blondell for working with Cassavetes in Opening Night
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
Is Saving Private Ryan considered a classic?
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
The Aristocats
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
The curse Of The Werewolf good old Olie Reed.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Mr Pants of course.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Crash and Crash one is not about car crash fetish.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Mie Hama... is this about the acting right?
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
South Park Bigger,Longer & Uncut I never heard about a "rinjob" before i saw that film.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Not really altering films is just wrong.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Matador totally underrated and forgotten.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Udo Kier is a living treasure.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
The excruciating Joan Baez songs to Silent Running
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
At the cinema The Book of Eli (the right wing version of The Road) and on dvd Colossus The Forbidden Project.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woddy Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
The Marx Brothers Duck Soup reference in Hanna And Her Sisters. A great reference on how cinema can sometimes be cathartic.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Mary Astor
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
The Apple thanks to this trailer I dont ever have to watch this film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BY9cvgrP1c
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
I live in Australia and The Astor cinema is the only cinema that does double bills and they are always complementary with their double features.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
Ben my sister and i cried like babies when we were kids at the end of that film
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Idiocracy
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Jason And The Argonauts and every single stop animation monster in it.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Promedio Rojo (Chilean film)
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
John Payne
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Gone With The Wind
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
The Fountain because is a work of art and is not a hippie 60's mess.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma Ritter
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The accidental reflection of rain running down the window on Robert Blake's face In Cold Blood
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Irreversible my friend didn't notice that the wrong guy was killed at the start(end)of the film so therefore we both had different interpretations of the film
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Lupe Velez
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Men Of Respect
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Never seen it on 3D but yes anyway.
34) Favorite movie rating?
R is 18+ in Australia and I always wanted to see films i couldn't see when I was a kid.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
never heard of them sorry.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I don't have a favorite movie genre I love film so I would have to choose one Film for every genre.
If masterpiece was considered a genre I would say The 400 hundred blows.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
Breakfast At Tiffany's
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
I just saw "Born Yesterday" and loved Crawford's obnoxious mob lord character, but Demarest has the stronger body of work, so I'll cast my vote for him.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
The Britney Spears vehicle "Crossroads" appears to be a nuanced portrait of teenage life at the cusp of the millenium and the rigors of the professional karaoke scene. Then the Scotch wears off.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
Not to be boring, but I'm partial to the MGM lion.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Holm, for All About Eve, High Society and Gentleman's Agreement.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
Blow-Up. Seriously, what was that?
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
The Neverending Story sequel.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Haven't seen any.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joey Pants
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
Crash (David Cronenberg) and Crash, the 2006 Oscar winner.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
N/A.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Not really. I think my life actually accelerated ahead of my movie viewing in that department.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Roman Holiday - I think the Roman scenery would look great in Technicolor.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
I'm not actually a big fan of his work. I know, I'm probably the only one. I'll say Todo sobre mi madre.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Haven't seen any of their movies.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. The song was annoying, and it freaked me out when Yves Montand's voice came out of a dog's mouth.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
In a theater: Greenberg. On DVD: Bright Star (which I found disappointing).
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Doesn't he reference The Sorrow and the Pity in Annie Hall, in the context of some movie date they were going on? I thought that was pretty funny.
Also, less explicitly, the references to classic musicals in Everyone Says I Love You, like the dance sequence with Allen and Goldie Hawn that is reminiscent of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse's dancing in The Band Wagon.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Colbert. She's a charmer, while I always find Astor to be cold.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
"Pillow Talk": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLVwnhktrc
My friend and I even filmed our own riff on it, which I sadly can't find right now on youtube.
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
I think my best friend and I once watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, immediately followed by Uptown Girls.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
I haven't seen any, so I will pick a random title from the list: Swing Time of 1946! Sounds snazzy.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Gentleman's Agreement.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Mighty Joe Young?
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Well, I don't have one at the moment, but I have experienced some good first-movie moments, notably "It Happened One Night." (Oddly, watching this was an assignment for my ex's law class...?)
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
In terms of politics or acting? Well, Payne dated Jane Russell, so he wins in my book.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
The Hurt Locker
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Smiley Face.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
I just saw Mildred Pierce and liked Arden's wisecracking character well enough, but you can't beat Ritter on the "middle-aged wiseacre" front.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Cary Grant holding the glowing milk in Suspicion.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
My roommates and I got into a wicked fight about "Into the Wild" last summer. It had to do with whether Emile Hirsch's character, who comes from a very wealthy background, was justified in taking aid from a homeless shelter. This metastasized into a days-long argument that quickly outgrew the movie itself.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Velez.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing. Least favorite: Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost. What a train wreck.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
This exists? Wow!
34) Favorite movie rating?
PG-13.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
N/A.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
Probably Bringing Up Baby, viz. screwball comedy.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
Breakfast at Tiffany's. Honorable mention: The Party, for Claudine Longet.
Haven't heard of half the names in this quiz!!!
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
I'll be unique and say Marvel.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
My Fair Lady is a mean, evil movie. It glorifies kidnapping people and forcibly changing them. I know there's a difference between a filmmaker depicting something and endorsing it (i.e. I don't think Hitchcock encourages the murderous behavior of Norman Bates), but to have this be the premise of a happy fluffy musical with no dark undertones just makes it really unsettling. And the first third of the film is just Audrey Hepburn screaming.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
I have movie amnesia. A vast majority of the movies I see, I remember nothing about, even if I like them. My boyfriend recently mentioned the ending of Chinatown to me, a film I had seen a few years ago, and I was completely surprised!
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
Well, in Almodovar's Matador, there's a woman who kills men she's having sex with while they climax. Can't say I was too familiar with that practice.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
All About My Mother is probably tops, but I love the labyrinth plot and autobiographical details of Bad Education, the quiet grace of Talk to Her, and the demented insanity of Pepi, Luci, Bom.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
Theater: Iron Man 2. DVD: Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Recorded off TCM: The Devil and Miss Jones (not on DVD, suckers!). Not to be confused with The Devil IN Miss Jones, which is a porno.
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woddy Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
Not directed by him, but written - how the homage comes together in Play it Again, Sam. And the guy who plays Bogie in it!
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
At the Harvard Film Archive, they did a series of double features of all kinds of movies from their collection. The oddest pairing? The Band Wagon with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. The connective thread was supposed to be "showbiz," but it seems like a stretch to me. Or is it genius?
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
How about Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 50s version)? The Commies are out to get you!
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Well to be technical, it would have been when we were just friends, so I think it was High Fidelity on DVD. Then we dated for a week, which ended when I broke up with him at a free screening of Thank You For Smoking. Two years passed, and then we got together again and remain so to this day. Ain't love funny?
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Childhood fail: I haven't seen any Star Wars movies. I blame my parents for not sitting me down and being like, "Okay, so this is Star Wars." It's on my list, though.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Bunuel is pretty psychadelic - how about The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie? And can I count the dream sequence from The Big Lebowski?
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma, for Pickup on South Street - absolutely heartbreaking.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Is there any happier image in the world than Gene Kelly leaning off the lamppost in Singin in the Rain?
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
My boyfriend and I used to get into huge debates after every movie we disagreed about, and he would just get all belligerent about it and I said he was taking all the fun out of discussing movies. He's better now.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Forbidden Planet! (adaptation of The Tempest). And for a sort-of cheating answer, the documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars is amazing.
34) Favorite movie rating?
How much non-Pixar fun can you have below an R rating, or a movie that SHOULD be rated R (I'm looking at you,The Dark Knight).
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I like a lot of genres, but here's one: I think that Inherit the Wind sparked my love of courtroom dramas.
This is the hardest class I've never been enrolled in. I will stay up all night and take lots of Dolls until it's done.
Can't believe I overlooked this until my girlfriend pointed out that it'd been up for weeks!
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
If classics count, RKO all the way.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film?
Oh God, Rebel Without a Cause for sure. I've tried twice and I can't stand it. Nearly every other classic movie I find something to latch onto and champion, but man, cannot do it for that.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing?
E.T. I still count it as a major blind spot that'll get rectified...you know, one of these days.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior?
Because I was young enough, Clerks and the discussion of...without being too explicit...the source of Veronica's ex-boyfriend's nickname.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color?
Bringing Up Baby, but you'd probably have to throw widescreen on top of it, too. And only if it was technicolor.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Talk to Her. I liked Broken Embraces more than I was expecting to, but Talk to Her completely leveled me and has been the only film of his to do so.
15) Worst main title song
Say Anything. I love the rest of that movie, but that song...I don't even know what it is, but it certainly makes sure you know when the film takes place.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
In theater...Vincere. On DVD/Blu-Ray...Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Colbert, every time.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
The teaser trailer for There Will Be Blood, which was sadly never shown in theaters, still blows my mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Po-UfB6Ipk
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Probably my least favorite genre, but good God did I love Fritz Lang's Fury.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other?
She claimed High Fidelity, but speaking of films I have no memory watching...granted I've seen it a dozen times, but I don't remember that one. But it was when we were just friends, so in all fairness. Then she noted we dated for a week years before actually getting together, but totally failed to mention a viewing of Double Indemnity in the school's tiny viewing rooms.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen.
Harold and Maude...I know it's supposed to be wonderful, but for some reason I cannot bring myself to sit down and watch it. For no reason, either - I love Ashby, it sounds like a solid watch, I just have no strong urge to see it. And yet I must.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Speed Racer.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
First a personal one...I know it's not iconic because the rest of the world hasn't caught on yet, but Joe lifting up the moon in Joe Versus the Volcano is just...so great. So unexpectedly emotional and ambitious and everything a shot in a film should be.
As for the more famous, the door closing at the end of The Godfather is a staggering way to end that film. I'm more of a Part II guy in general, but the concept and execution of that is unbelievably perfect.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Oh, so many...Crash was a big one, because I didn't care for it but its defenders...they are passionate people. But the most satisfying for me personally was over The Departed and The Aviator, and this insistence a group of friends had that a film should have a more complete ending. To say I won that argument would be an understatement.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Julie Taymor's Titus. Every time I remember that movie exists it simultaneously blows my mind and makes me smile a little.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
I have no idea, but I really want to see it all of a sudden.
34) Favorite movie rating?
Don't know how to take this question, but my favorite explanation of a rating ever was the recent Alice in Wonderland for a smoking caterpillar. You can't get better than that.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
Two answers - The Big Sleep for film noir, and more recently, Persona for the art hour film. I was already on my way down the hole into artsy-fartsy land, but Persona ensured I'd never come back.
I did it, goddamn it, I did it!
http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2010/05/may-madness-movie-quiz-no-zombies-allowed.html
I love it when you break me down completely.
Susie B.
You inspire me, dear lady! I'd better get to work on my own answers, lest I be four months late like last time!
Thanks, Susie! I'm gonna go check out your answers right now!
pt. 1
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
As an unabashed Preston Sturges fan, I must go with Mr. Demarest.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN is pretty great when drunk.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
RKO Radio Pictures
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Oh, Joan – you’ll always have my heart.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
Network.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
I clearly remember seeing Rounders in the theater, but I remember nothing about it apart from the presence of Matt Damon.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
Haven’t seen many, but I like BRIDES OF DRACULA.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joey Pants.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
KICKING & SCREAMING (Baumbach) and KICKING & SCREAMING (w/Will Ferrell)
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
N/A
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
CLERKS (snowballing)
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
Now that you mention it….no.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
TALK TO HER.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Udo.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
Though I adore Westerns, I admit a certain revulsion to the hokey songs that are often featured over the opening credits of many of the classic ones. HIGH NOON comes to mind (apologies to the otherwise awesome Tex Ritter).
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
DATE NIGHT (theater), THE VERDICT (DVD).
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
“MURDER, HE SAYS” in CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Colbert. Sturges again.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
This is slightly inexplicable given that I’m only moderately fond of the film itself, but I remember really being impressed by the clip for THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, which is one of the best modern trailers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CfVgcSltjc
pt. 2
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
I think I’ve mentioned this in a previous quiz, but I once saw a double bill of BICYCLE THIEVES and PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE.
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
FURY.
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Giant fucking scorpion in CLASH OF THE TITANS.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
Don’t have one at the moment, but the first film I ever saw on a date was SHORT CUTS when I was still in high school. Great film, but not a good choice for a get-to-know-ya sort of date.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
Reagan.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
Werckmeister Harmonies.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
Head.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Ritter.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
Anna Karina weeping while watching Dreyer in VIVRE SA VIE.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
FIGHT CLUB.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Torres.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
LOOKING FOR RICHARD, as it partially about the difficulties and issues inherent in adapting Shakespeare.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
N/A.
34) Favorite movie rating?
R? I dunno.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
N/A.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
THE LADY EVE. (screwball)
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
It’s gotta be BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, right?
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Demarest. He was Preston Sturges’ favorite character actor, the number one guy in his stock company.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness?
Just about any, I think. Musicals, especially, because the emotions are heightened already.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
2oth Century Fox. It’s exciting, you anticipate something, and their pictures in my childhood, “back in the day,” were always good.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Joan. They were both blondes who played second leads; it’s a tenuous connection. Celeste played a lot of dramatic parts, but Joan was always funnier, a great wisecracker.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film?
Anything with Greer Garson, starting with Mrs. Miniver. She was such a “grande dame,” an indicator as an actress, it was all surface, with that frozen smile.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
The Witches
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Itzin, because I can’t stand Joe Pantoliano, all that overacting. I was so glad when they chopped him up in the Sopranos.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes.
Company, the Firth/Sondheim musical, showing with Company, the Bollywood gangster flick.
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama?
Mie Hama, who had a longer career and more non-Japanese movies.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior?
I don’t think any movie ever informed me of a sexual act that I had not known of prior.
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color?
Some of the movies they made in the late 60s, when everything was in b&w, but the photography has become standardized and uninteresting, it was bland.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
Law of Desire, secondly would be Women on the Verge. Law of Desire has the most erotic convincing male/male love scene, and the most believeable relationship, I’ve ever seen in a mainstream movie.
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Udo is ALWAYS over the top.
15) Worst main title song?
“Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.” Runner-up is “3 Coins in the Fountain.”
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD?
Kites, in a theater
On DVD, a political/historical Hindi movie called Rang De Basanti
(I'll continue the second half of my answers in a second post.)
Continuing, from Jared...
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie?
Not a literal reference… but Woody made Celebrity as his homage to La Dolce Vita. The first three scenes are identical to Fellini’s. The third is the famous Anita Ekberg fountain scene, only replayed by Charlize Theron in a nightclub.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Claudette was the more glamorous one, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Mary, she was a real babe. In Midnight, they appear together as rivals in a hat shop.
19) Favorite trailer?
Celebrity. People should see this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihak5xrIQdo
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed at a theater?
Probably at the County Museum in Los Angeles
21) Favorite Phil Karlson film?
Kansas City Confidential. Maybe Phenix City Story. Both B-gangster movie and quite violent and realistic for their time.
Honorary mention to Walking Tall, the Buford Pusser story.
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
Z, by Costa Gavras, since fascism in Greece was definitely a social problem.
23) Your favorite Harryhausen film/monster?
Jason and the Argonauts, a good fantasy movie. The Cyclops was my favorite.
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other?
I don’t have a significant other. ;-)
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
John, no contest. Payne was far better looking, and a better actor (marginally).
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen?
Avatar, in 3-D. I just haven’t gotten around to it.
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie?
Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Vixens, Ebert and Meyers!
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma. I love them both, hard choice. Thelma just had bigger and better parts; she lasted longer.
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The split face of Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullman in Persona.
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Contempt. The 1963 Godard movie with Brigitte Bardot. I argued with my father. It didn’t have enough of a “story” for him; it was a classic example of the movie generation gap at the time, a time of radical change in the movies.
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Lupe was a pistol!
Regarding her suicide, according to Kenneth Anger, in Hollywood Babylon, she was drunk and fell head-first into the porcelain, when the toilet seat came crashing down and drowned her.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Throne of Blood, by Kurosawa, based on Macbeth. It’s fabulous moviemaking and captures the savagery, the whole mystique of the play.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Yes.
34) Favorite movie rating?
R. It guarantees a certain amount of “adult-ness”. It also guarantees a certain amount of censorship, movies that had to be cut down to R’s.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Olivia.
36) What was the movie that convinced you that your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
I don’t have a favorite genre.
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
The Party. It’s Peter Sellers, a nonstop force of destruction, in a brilliant comedy.
I can't believe I missed this when it came out! Anyway, my answers are here, Dennis. Many thanks.
Just saw this. Here are my answers!
Late to the party yet again...but at least I’m not the only one. So, without further ado:
Part One:
1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford?
Broderick Crawford.
2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? (Patrick Robbins)
Back in the 1970s, I would have said “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but I don’t do altered states anymore.
3) Favorite studio or production company logo?
That kind of creepy United Artists logo with the slowly-revolving “UA” and a rather ominous series of piano notes.
4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell?
Celeste Holm is who I’d like to be; Joan Blondell is more like who I am.
5) What is the most overrated "classic" film? (Tony Dayoub)
I hate to say “Gone with the Wind” because I used to love it when I was in my teens, but whenever I see it today it just seems like a big technicolor slog.
6) What movie do you know for sure you saw, but have no memory of seeing? (Patricia Yokoe Cozzalio)
”The Killer Elite” from the mid-1970s. I even noted it in my diary, but I remember not one thing about it.
7) Favorite Hammer Film?
”She” with Usula Andress.
8) Gregory Itzin or Joe Pantoliano?
Joey Pants.
9) Create a double feature with two different movies with the same title. No remakes. (Peter Nellhaus)
”Hotel” (1967 with Rod Taylor running—you guessed it—a hotel) and “Hotel” (2002, directed by Mike Figgis and featuring a huge cast doing...well, I still haven’t figured out what it was all about.)
10) Akiko Wakabayashi or Mie Hama? (Ray Young)
Don’t know either of them.
11) Can you think of a (non-porn) movie that informed you of the existence of a sexual act you had not known of prior? (Bob Westal)
I don’t think I understood the concept of “three-way” until I saw “Lenny.”
12) Can you think of a black & white movie that might actually improve if it was in color? (Patrick Robbins)
”Jezebel” possibly.
13) Favorite Pedro Almodovar Film?
”Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”
PART TWO:
14) Kurt Raab or Udo Kier?
Man, I’m really out of it. I have no clue.
15) Worst main title song (Peter Nellhaus)
”The River of No Return”—not sure if that’s Marilyn Monroe singing it, but it’s incredibly sappy.
16) Last movie you saw in a theater? On DVD, Blu-ray or other interesting location/format?
The last movie I saw in the theater was the same one as I answered on the last quiz, “Sex & the City” (the first one—I don’t go out to the movies much). On DVD, I just watched “Eating Raoul”—a classic!
17) Favorite movie reference within a Woody Allen movie? (Larry Aydlette)
The cartoon Snow White/Evil Stepmother in “Annie Hall” who complains because it’s that time of the month.
18) Mary Astor or Claudette Colbert?
Mary Astor—although I like CC too.
19) Favorite trailer (provide YouTube link if possible)?
“Last Year in Marienbad”—that creepy music always gets to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=019kmMFpCcI
20) Oddest double bill you either saw or saw listed in a theater
Back in the seventies, I saw a double-bill of ”Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon” and “The Hot Rock.” Why, oh, why?
21) Favoite Phil Karlson film?
”Five Against the House.”
22) Favorite “social problem” picture?
”The Snake Pit.”
23) Your favourite Harryhausen film/monster? (Ali Arikan)
Medusa in “Clash of the Titans.”
24) What was the first movie you saw with your significant other? (Patrick Robbins)
”Swimming to Cambodia.” I kept telling him he’d love it; he kept saying, “But a whole movie that’s nothing but monologue?” As we left the theater, he said, “You were right.” We’ve been together now for 23 years.
25) John Payne or Ronald Reagan?
John Payne—he caused less damage.
26) Movie you feel a certain pressure or obligation to see that you have not yet actually seen
”My Man Godfrey.”
27) Favorite “psychedelic” movie (Hey, man, like, define it however you want, man…)
I think “R.P.M.” with Anthony Quinn and psychedelic fave Ann-Margaret, amid campus turmoil, ranks right up there.
28) Thelma Ritter or Eve Arden?
Thelma Ritter—especially as Birdie in “All About Eve.”
29) Favorite iconic shot or image from a film?
The ending of “The 400 Blows.”
30) What is the movie that inspired the most memorable argument you ever had about a movie?
Oliver Stone’s “JFK.”
31) Raquel Torres or Lupe Velez?
Raquel Torres.
32) Favorite adaptation of Shakespeare to a film?
Don’t laugh, but the Burton-Taylor “Taming of the Shrew” is quite good.
33) Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D)-- yes or no?
Yes, I’ve seen it (drive-in double-bill with Andy Warhol’s Dracula in 1976 or so—although I don’t remember it being in 3D). No, I didn’t like it.
34) Favorite movie rating?
NC-17—all of the “adult material” none of the bow-chicka-wow-wow pornography.
35) Olivia Barash or Joyce Hyser?
Olivia Barash.
36) What was the movie that convinced you your favorite movie genre was your favorite movie genre?
”The Big Sleep.”
37) Favorite Blake Edwards movie?
"A Shot in the Dark."
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