This is the hardest movie quiz I ever played. I also had to give it a feminist twist. I'd love to see your answers, as well!
I realized as I went down the list, that it was very mono-guy-oriented— so you'll see my wayward answers and alternatives as the quiz progresses...
1) Second-favorite Coen Brothers movie?
I am so comforted by a round of the Caucasian Drinking game with our dear familiar friends.
However, my favorite Coen original is their most recent movie in theaters, A Serious Man.
2) What movie seen only on home format that you would pay to see on the biggest movie screen possible?
Many. I walked into a bar the other night and they were screening 8 1/2 on a huge wall without sound and I was completely enchanted.
I'd like to see RocknRolla in IMAX, come to think of it. That was one fun Ritchie Ride.
3) Japan or France?
Why choose when you can have both? Fear and Trembling.
4) Favorite moment/line from a western?
One that comes to mind:
Doc Holliday, in Tombstone:
"Look, darling— it's Johnny Ringo. The deadliest pistoleer since Wild Bill, they say. What do you think, darling? Should I hate him?"
5) Of all the arts the movies draw upon to become what they are, which is the most important, or the one you value most?
Well, I have to say writing, don't I? But it's the whole circus; seems unfair to pick. So I won't.
6) Most misunderstood movie of the 2000s?
American Psycho, directed by Mary Harron, 2000
7) Name a filmmaker/actor/actress/film you once unashamedly loved who has fallen furthest in your esteem.
Walt Disney! Oh, I loved watching his show Sunday evenings when I was a child, eating pancakes for supper, falling for every word of his schtick.
8) Herbert Lom or Patrick Magee?
Patrick Magee, but only because he's had better publicity. I have no idea what the connection is between him and Herbert Lom. This is one obscure movie quiz! They were both in one movie called "The Asylum" which starred Britt Ekland— can I pick her, instead?
9) Which is your least favorite David Lynch film?
Dune. But don't I get to say my favorite? The Straight Story.
10) Gordon Willis or Conrad Hall?
Two great cinematographers. I guess I'll go with Hall, because of how awestruck i was by the photography in In Cold Blood and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
11) Second favorite Don Siegel movie?
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
12) Last movie you saw on DVD/VHS?
Amazing Grace... the story of the abolition movement in England. I had no idea! I get an "F" in British history. So very interesting.
13) Which DVD in your private collection screams hardest to be replaced by a Blu-ray?
I haven't seen anything on Blu-Ray. What am I missing?
14) Eddie Deezen or Christopher Mintz-Plasse?
Voice actors for Scooby Doo and Marmaduke. I don't think so!
Yeardley Smith is more my speed.
Maggie Gyllenhaal.
16) Fight Club —yes or no?
Best gay role Brad Pitt ever played.
17) Teresa Wright or Olivia De Havilland?
Both were Oscar-winning actresses with their heyday in the 40s. They weren't glamour-pusses, usually, they were women who played on your tender feelings.
Teresa got the stage role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, because Olivia said, "A lady just doesn't say or do those things on the screen." For that reason, on a personal level, I think I like Teresa better!
Blanche says:
"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth!"
18) Favorite moment/line from a film noir?
I love film noir.. I love Dashiell Hammett. So let's go with a classic, from The Maltese Falcon:
Joel Cairo:
"You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-headed you. [cries]"
19) Best (or worst) death scene involving an obvious dummy substituting for a human— or any other unsuccessful special effect?
Oh, without a DOUBT: Snuff.
The movie that caused such a sensation, tricking the public to think it was a real "murder" on film. The exploitation company that released it used lines like "Made in Latin America, Where Life is Cheap!"
Actually, it was finished in Chelsea, where life is camp. When the "victim" is eviscerated, you see an obvious pan of spaghetti standing in for her guts. Chef Boy-R-Dee!
20) What's the least you've spent on a film and still regretted it?
That would have to be zero— because I've reviewed so many bombs that were sent as screeners and film festival entries. But that was just part of the fun— I loved movie reviewing... no complaints. My ass just got sore sometimes.
21) Van Johnson or Van Heflin?
Van Heflin... "You're welcome to stay, Shane!"
22) Favorite Alan Rudolph film?
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
"I write doodads because it's a doodad kind of town!"
23) Name a documentary that you believe more people should see.
The Corporation should be shown in every third grade classroom.24) Name a favorite film which revolves around someone becoming stranded.
25) Is there a moment when your knowledge of film, or lack thereof, caused you an unusual degree of embarrassment and/or humiliation? If so, please share.
When i was a kid, I always wanted to know what the grown-ups were talking about, after they came home from the movies. But they were happy to oblige. How can movie-conversation ever be a bad thing?
I've been treated like a social pariah and persecuted as a criminal because of my knowledge of X-rated films— but that's probably not what this question is getting at.
They were both at Warner's Studio in the 40s... what on earth else do they have in common? Ann Sheridan I remember for her beauty and figure— Fitzgerald for her acting roles. This question should be re-written. There isn't one question in this quiz that focuses on women directors, screenwriters, or actors who made a huge difference in my life. RIOT!
27) Do you or any of your family members physically resemble movie actors or other notable figures in the film world? If so, who?
My partner Jon was told repeatedly, before his hair greyed, that he looked like Jim Morrison. I was envious!
I've never been mistaken for anyone— but I sure did try to dress up as Sarah Palin in a bikini with an Uzi for Halloween last year.
28) Is there a movie you have purposely avoided seeing? If so, why?
I don't go see many weepies. Or many horror movies. I get squicked out by them the way other people get hysterical about porn.
On a more recent note, I'm torn about the new The Fantastic Mr. Fox movie by Wes Anderson. I love Wes Anderson, but I don't like watching many animated films. I barely made it through my daughter's childhood.
29) Movie with the most palpable or otherwise effective wintry atmosphere or ambience?
For scary effects, The Thing.
For scary emotional effects, The Ice Storm.
For happy effects, The Snowman. And it's animated! I have my exceptions.
30) Gerrit Graham or Jeffrey Jones?
Another obscure comparison question. I have unearthed that these two collaborated on one Twilight Zone episode. As far as their filmography goes, I will take Jeffrey, as I most recently loved him in Deadwood.
I agree with my friend L. on this, who braved this quiz before I did:
"Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977) was literally made as an answer to this question."
32) Second favorite John Wayne movie?
The Searchers. Wow, what scenery, of Monument Valley. Talk about an IMAX moment. And John Wayne is playing a guy whose racism has destroyed him, psychologically— his pathological hate of "Indians."
Meanwhile, the film is filled with ludicrous depictions of Native life, but the arch-evil "Scar, the Indian Warrior Chief" is really hot. I later found out the actor who played him, Heinrich von Kleinbach, was gay, and from Berlin. He was 6'5" and was always cast in "swarthy" roles.
33) Favorite movie car chase?
Can I count Harold and Maude in a hearse?
34) In the spirit of His Girl Friday, what would you propose as a gender-switched remake of a classic or not-so-classic film?
Animal House, Breaking Away, and The Warriors. I came up with these inspiration after being annoyed by Question #40.
35) Barbara Rhoades or Barbara Feldon?
Look, who came up with this? They aren't both redheads. They're tall, pretty women with very different careers.
Of course, most people are going to recognize Agent 99. I think my first TV romantic fantasies involved pretending I was "Agent 99," getting in trouble with nefarious characters. She was so sexy and "Max" was anything but.
36) Favorite Andre De Toth movie?
I've never seen any of them. In my research, I am fascinated to see that he had 19 children, was married seven times, wore an eyepatch, and that one of his wives was VERONICA LAKE! Why doesn't someone make a movie about him?
37) If you could take one filmmaker's entire body of work and erase it from all time and memory, as if it had never happened, whose oeuvre would it be?
Aw, I wouldn't do that. Or maybe I just block them out so effectively as it is, no names occur to me.
38) What's a film you actively hated when you first encountered it, only to see it again later in life and fall in love with it?
I sense a growing hysteria in this quiz. "I hated spinach when I was seven, actively, but now I love it!"
When I was a kid, I was bewildered by foreign films, experimental films, Ingmar Bergman, you name it. I didn't understand the jokes on "Laugh-In." Then puberty bathed me in hormones and superior intellect, and VOILA! I get the joke.
39) Max Ophuls or Marcel Ophuls?
Father or son? I must exempt myself. I've only see a tiny bit of the father's work, Lola Montes.
I remember the first time my dad told me that someone asked him if he was "Susie Bright's father." I had always been "Bill Bright's daughter."
40) In which club would you most want an active membership, the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the Cutters, or the Warriors? And which member would you most resemble, either physically or in personality?
Boy question.
Okay, my girl version is: In which "club" would you like an active membership—the apartment dwellers of How to Marry a Millionaire, the teenage witches of The Craft, or the women's team in A League of Their Own?
I love them all, but I especially admire Geena Davis' ballplayer.
41) Your favorite movie cliché?
"This is porn. You have to hold your own legs."
42) Vincente Minnelli or Stanley Donen?
Vincente Minnelli because of An American in Paris and Meet Me in St. Louis and so much more. He makes me cry.
43) Favorite Christmas-themed horror movie or sequence?
I haven't seen any of the real Xmas horror treat, because of my afore-mentioned squeamishness. But! I think the best COMIC horror, hands down, a must for every Xmas, is The Ref.
Most recently, Gran Torino. And Silkwood also comes to mind.
45) If you were the cinematic Spanish Inquisition, which movie cult (or cult movie) would you decimate?
Oh, that's easy. Monty Python. Go ahead, kill me.
46) Caroline Munro or Veronica Carlson?
Between those two British exploitation sexpots, I'd have to go for Caroline Munro.
Let's have a contest between two butch dreamboats, shall we? Who do you have the hots for more, Hillary Swank in Boys Don't Cry or Patrice Donnelly in Personal Best?
I have already thrown myself at Patrice Donnelly and everyone knows it.
47) Favorite eye-patch wearing director?
John Ford; Duh!
48) Favorite ambiguous movie ending?
Recently, A Serious Man.
Classic: Blade Runner.
Another one I really like: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Did you know January Jones in that?
49) In giving thanks for the movies this year, what are you most thankful for?
Ashlyn Adams of Westside Video, our local independent amazing rental store. MWAH!
50) George Kennedy or Alan North?
They were both in The Naked Gun. If Alan North is anything like George Kennedy I must look him up.
Alternative 50) Lili Taylor or Holly Near? They were both in Dogfight!
