Movie Quiz Contest 2005, written by Jon Pennington, UC Berkeley.
1. Examples include Fear and Desire, Hard Eight, The Sugarland Express, and Dementia 13. The best one at the Cannes Film Festival gets a Camera D’Or, while extremely awful examples include Manos: The Hands of Fate, Freddy Got Fingered, and Piranha Part Two: The Spawning. More successful examples include Chicago, American Beauty, and Citizen Kane. FTP, what is this five-letter word derived from the French to refer to the first film made by a director?
Answer: directorial debut (accept equivalents on early buzz)
2. Andre Jurieu broke Charles Lindbergh’s record for flying solo across the Atlantic, but Christine, the woman he loves, is not there to greet him. After Christine’s husband invites Andre to go hunting, Christine discovers her husband is having an affair with her niece Genevieve. Marceau, the poacher, flirts with the gamekeeper’s wife, Lisette, which leads the gamekeeper to chase Marceau with a gun. A major influence on Robert Altman’s GosfordPark, FTP name this 1939 portrait of the French upper class directed by Jean Renoir.
Answer: The Rules of the Game (or La Regle du Jeu)
3. In his first film appearance, he impersonated a publisher so that he could give Will Graham’s home address to Francis “The Tooth Fairy” Dollarhyde in a coded message hidden in a supermarket tabloid. In his second film appearance, he informs Senator Ruth Martin that the lead suspect in an FBI investigation is a man named Louis Friend, but an FBI trainee discovers it’s just an anagram for “iron sulfide.” Brian Cox was the first actor to play him, but Cox was overshadowed by his Oscar-winning successor. FTP, name this serial killer played in Silence of the Lambs by Anthony Hopkins.
Answer: Hannibal“The Cannibal”Lecter (either first or last acceptable)
4. A newspaper columnist disapproves of his sister Susan’s decision to marry jazz musician, Steve Dallas, so he hires a press agent to depict Steve as a pot smoker and a communist. Featuring a score by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, the film sports classic dialogue by Clifford Odets, such as “You’re a cookie filled with arsenic. I’d hate to take a bite out of you.” Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, FTP, what is this 1957 film starring Tony Curtis as Sidney Falco and Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker?
Answer: The Sweet Smell of Success
5. When Sofia Coppola won an Oscar for Best Screenplay, she cited Michelangelo Antonioni and this director as her influences. Often inspired by Western pop music, he’s named his films after songs by Nat King Cole, the Rolling Stones, and the Turtles. He directed the martial arts epic, Ashes of Time, but most Americans had not heard of him until Quentin Tarantino distributed Chungking Express in the U.S. FTP, name this Hong Kong director of Happy Together, As Tears Go By, Fallen Angels, Days of Being Wild, and In the Mood for Love.
Answer: Wong Kar-Wai (or Kar-Wai Wong; grudgingly prompt on Kar-Wai)
6. The shortest movie review in Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide is the word “No” in response to the question asked by this 1948 movie title. The title also refers to a song first performed in the 1932 film Love Me Tonight by a French tailor played by Maurice Chevalier. Later, the song appears in the film Sabrina, because William Holden hires a band to play it while attempting to seduce Audrey Hepburn. FTP, name this song by Rodgers and Hart with a rhetorical question for a title that proclaims, “Every note that’s sung. It’s like a lover’s kiss.”
Answer: Isn’t It Romantic?
7. A woman asks Roland if he would rather sleep with Lyndon Johnson or Chairman Mao. When Roland answers LBJ, the woman instructs her chauffeur to drive away, because Roland is obviously a fascist. An Algerian garbage man swipes a sandwich from Roland so that he can lecture him about the fraction of France’s foreign aid budget that goes to the Congo. Roland assists his wife Corrine in killing her mother for the inheritance, but in the end, Roland getsdevoured by cannibal revolutionaries. FTP, name this avant-garde 1967 Jean-Luc Godard film whose title refers to Saturday and Sunday.
Answer: Weekend
8. Alvah Bessie, Adrian Scott, Samuel Ornitz, and John Howard Lawson never sold another script. Albert Maltz never received credit until his final screenplay for Two Mules for Sister Sara, while Lester Cole only worked under assumed names. Herbert Biberman directed Salt of the Earth outside the studio system in 1954. Dalton Trumbo won an Academy Award under a pseudonym in 1956, while Ring Lardner Jr. won an Oscar under his own name for writing M*A*S*H. Edward Dmytryk earned the scorn of the other nine for becoming a “friendly witness.” FTP, give the collective name for this double quintet of writers and directors blacklisted for non-cooperation with the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Answer: the Hollywood Ten
9. The director of this film had originally planned to limit the soundtrack to songs by the Kinks, but settled for focusing on the British Invasion. “Nothin’ In This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ About That Girl” plays as a middle-aged man dives into a green pool while his wife flirts with a tennis instructor. The Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away” plays while the man runs over a high school student’s bicycle, while the Creation’s “Making Time” plays during a montage featuring Max Fischer’s numerous extracurricular activities. FTP, what is this 1998 Wes Anderson film named after a fictitious prep school starring Jason Schwarzmann and Bill Murray?
Answer: Rushmore
10. A blind man from the “beggars’ union” identifies Hans Beckert as the abductor of Elsie Beckmann after recognizing Hans whistling nervously from Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. A street urchin responds by placing a chalk mark on Beckert’s back, which Hans notices in the reflection of a toy store window. Hans eludes the police, but cannot evade the petty criminals who resent him for inducing a police crackdown. FTP, this describes what 1931 German expressionist film by Fritz Lang with a very short title?
Answer: M(or Fritz Lang's M or M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder or M - Mörder unter uns or The Murderers Are Among Us)
11. In this film, the hero fouls up a prison escape attempt because he experiences sneezing fits after inadvertently snorting some powder cocaine. In another misadventure, the lead actor gets arrested for leading a communist demonstration after accidentally picking up a red flag that fell off a lumber truck. A more well-known gag features the Little Tramp threading his entire body through the gear system of a large machine. FTP, name this 1936 silent Charlie Chaplin satire of the Machine Age also starring Paulette Goddard.
Answer: Modern Times
12. She portrayed Bubbles in the film Dance, Girl, Dance and the title character in DuBarry Was a Lady. She got more attention for TV roles, but she still appeared in The Long, Long Trailer with her first husband and Yours, Mine, and Ours with Henry Fonda. She once registered for the Communist Party in the 1930s, but she avoided the blacklist, because her husband said, “The only thing red about her is her hair, and even that’s not real.” FTP, name this actress who appeared in over 90 films, better known for bringing slapstick to 1950s sitcoms with her husband, Desi Arnaz.
Answer: Lucille Ball (do not accept Arnaz)
13. The last name’s the same. Lynn Redgrave in the National Lampoon TV movie, Disco Beaver from Outer Space. The dentist played by Richard Benjamin in Love at First Bite. Henry Fonda in Michael Almereyda’s Nadja. Walter Ladengast in Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu. Mel Brooks in a spoof subtitled Dead and Loving It. Peter Cushing and Anthony Hopkins in versions of Dracula directed by Terence Fisherand Francis Ford Coppola, respectively. FTP, name this character created by Bram Stoker who shares his name with the monster-hunting title character of a recent Hugh Jackman film.
Answer: Van Helsing
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was partially based on this director’s 1968 film, Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime. He directed Audrey Tautou in his most recent film, Pas Sur La Bouche aka Not on the Lips, but he is better known for his stylized Holocaust documentary, Night and Fog. His trademark style emphasizes nonlinear narrative with sophisticated use of flashbacks and flashforwards, as exemplified by the movie Providence. FTP, name this French New Wave director who made Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima, Mon Amour.
Answer: Alain Resnais
15. During World War II, this man filmed footage of Allied troops liberating France later incorporated into the movie Patton. Unable to get union jobs, he began making industrial films in San Francisco, but discovered that filming burlesque shows was more profitable. His 1959 film, The Immoral Mr. Teas, created the nudie-cutie genre, while his film Vixen was the second to receive an X rating in the United States. FTP name this sexploitation pioneer known for directing Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!!, Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens, and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
Answer: Russ Meyer (also accept Russell Albion Meyer)
16. A bishop performs last rites on a dying man who confesses to poisoning the husband and wife of a wealthy family that hired him as a gardener. The bishop realizes the man had killed his parents and shoots him with a rifle. Unlike the Exterminating Angel, the guests at this film’s dinner party never start eating, after being sidetracked by events such as a funeral at a restaurant and a kidnapping attempt by left-wing revolutionaries. A 1973 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film, FTP name this Luis Bunuel film about the style of the non-proletariat.
Answer: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (or La Charm Discret de la Bourgeoisie)
17. Pepa is pregnant, but her boyfriend Iván (ee-VON) breaks up with her anyway using an answering machine message. Candela attempts suicide after discovering her lover is a Shiite terrorist, while Carlos, played by Antonio Banderas, gets knocked out after drinking gazpacho spiked with sleeping pills. Iván’s crazy gun-toting wife, Marisa, has been released from a mental institution and is coming after Pepa who must make a mad dash for the airport in the Mambo Taxi. FTP, this describes what 1988 screwball Spanish comedy by Pedro Almodovar about barely sane females?
Answer: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (or Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios)
18. His most widely known non-experimental work was the classic footage he shot of a bottle of Downy fabric softener falling in slow motion onto a pile of fluffy towels. His daughter Myrrena holds the record for being the youngest person ever to appear on film, because he filmed her coming out of the birth canal in Window Water Baby Moving. The credit sequence for the horror film Se7en borrowedhis trademark of scratching titles on film emulsion, which he did for works such as Mothlight. FTP, name this prolific avant-garde American who made over 300 films, including Scenes from Under Childhood and Dog StarMan.
Answer: (James) Stan(ley) Brakhage (or Robert Sanders)
19. Noriko is an employee of the Firestone Tire Company who has not remarried since her husband died in the war. Shige, who owns a hair salon, scolds Noriko for failing to bring a funeral kimono on the trip to Onomichi, because Noriko was too naïve to realize that her mother-in-law Tomi might soon die. The film ends when Shukishi gives his daughter-in-law Noriko his wife’s favorite watch and admits “If I had known how much I’d miss her, I’d have been a lot kinder to her.” FTP, name this 1953 Yasujiro Ozu drama about two elderly parents making a journey to the capital of Japan.
Answer:Tokyo Story (or Tokyo Monogatari)
20. AnchorBay recently released a DVD box set of films in this category that included Short Night of the Glass Dolls, The Blood-Stained Shadow, and The Case of the Bloody Iris. Named after the paper used to print trashy crime novels, the first example of the genre is 1964’s Blood and Black Lace, although others include Deep Red and Who Would Torture a Duckling? Typically associated with directors such as Umberto Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, and Dario Argento, FTP name this term for stylish, ultraviolent European thrillers of the 1960s and 1970s, typically featuring a masked killer, derived from the Italian word for “yellow.”
Answer: giallo(s)
21. The sculptor Anders Wolleck, played by Stephen Lack, received rave reviews for his conceptual artwork, “Instruments for Operating on Mutant Women,” but the works were stolen by the inventor of the Mantle retractor. Jill Hennessey of Crossing Jordan appears with her sister Jacqueline as two call girls who refer to their client as both Elliott and Beverly, while Genevieve Bujold plays an actress who breaks apart twin brothers. FTP, name this creepy gynecological David Cronenberg film starring Jeremy Irons and Jeremy Irons.
Answer:Dead Ringers
22. After retiring from acting, she established her own animal rights foundation and wrote A Cry of Silence, which was criticized by her government for fomenting hatred against Moslems. Jean-Luc Godard gave her a cameo in Masculin/Feminin, but she had a more prominent role as the female lead in Le Mépris aka Contempt. More typical of her output were sex comedies such as The Night Heaven Fell and If Don Juan Were a Woman, which she made with director Roger Vadim. FTP, name this 1960s French sex symbol introduced to Americans in the film, And God Created Woman…
Answer: Brigitte Bardot
23. Born with the name John Irving Bloom, he has appeared as a moviegoer in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and as a pit boss getting chewed out by Robert DeNiro in the movie Casino. He was recently featured in an anthology of writing from the libertarian magazine Reason, but he has also writtenthe book, Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies that Changed History. Originally developed as a persona for reviewing drive-in movies for the Dallas Times Herald, FTP name this Texan aficionado of trash cinema who hosted Monstervision on TNT and his namesake show on Turner Classic Movies.
Answer: Joe Bob Briggs
24. Two guys from Riverdale give Joey Clams the money to buy some illegal fireworks, but Joey pockets the money to go to the movies instead. Johnny Boy likes blowing up mailboxes, but disapproves of his cousin Theresa getting involved with Charlie, because Theresa has epilepsy. Eventually, Charlie’s uncle warns that he must get out of town, because Johnny Boy’s refusal to pay his debts has pissed off Michael, the local loan shark. Starring Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro, FTP name this early Martin Scorsese work from 1973.
Answer: Mean Streets
25. On the night Frank takes Jeffrey Beaumont to Pussy Heaven, Frank asks Ben to “do the candy colored clown,” after which Ben, played by Dean Stockwell, lip-synchs to a recording of Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams.” A radio announcer cheerily reminds everybody to “get their chainsaws out” shortly before Jeffrey discovers a severed ear that the police inform him has been cut off with a scissors. Jeffrey also learns that Frank has kidnapped the son of Dorothy Vallens, a plot which implicates a police officer known only as “the yellow man.” FTP, name this 1986 cult film directed by David Lynch, starring Kyle McLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, and Dennis Hopper.
Answer: Blue Velvet
26. Pauline Kael once compared the impact of this film to the riots inspired by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Jeanne is engaged to Tom, a documentary film-maker portrayed by Jean-Pierre Leaud, when she meets Paul while apartment-hunting. The two decide to have a sexual affair, but don’t learn each other’s names. Paul moons the dancers at the title event, but later gets shot after chasing Jeanne back to her mother’s apartment. Starring Maria Schneider, FTP name this X-rated 1972 Bernardo Bertolucci film with a landmark performance by Marlon Brando.
Answer: Last Tango in Paris(aka Ultimo Tango a Parigi or Le Dernier Tango à Paris)
27. A parking lot attendant offers a horseshoe to Nikki Arcane, played by Timothy Carey, but Arcane dismisses him with a racist remark. This has fatal consequences, because the horseshoe gives Arcane a flat tire that prevents him from getting away after shooting a horse with a sniper rifle. In fact, the only one to profit from Johnny Clay’s racetrack robbery was the wrestler paid several hundred dollars to distract the cops. With a non-chronological plot that influenced Reservoir Dogs, FTP name this early 1956 film noir by Stanley Kubrick starring Sterling Hayden.