If you live in the United States, the 2008 presidential election and 2009 inauguration that will install our new president are probably at least peripherally on your mind. So, what better time to feature a movie trivia quiz on election movies?

I’ve found that many election movies are comedies. Could it be because the political process, although unintentionally so, is a bit funny? With all the mud-slinging that has become part of the process, real life sometimes can sometimes be comical — in a tragic sort of way.

The following movies are not necessarily about presidential elections, so keep that in mind when answering the questions:

1. Aaron Sorkin and James Toback worked without credit on the script of which election movie?

2. Name the movie this quote came from: “I’m not sure you can get AIDS by burning down your house, but I get your point.”

3. Allison Janney was offered the role of C.J. Cregg on The West Wing after Aaron Sorkin saw her in which election film?

4. Howard Stern was initially offered the lead role in a big-budget election movie but turned it down. What is the name of that movie?

5. In which election-themed movie did Thora Birch leave filming on her third day because of disagreements with the director?

6. Which movie featured Monty Python’s famous argument sketch as part of its presidential debate?

7. An election-themed movie featured Albanians as fictional enemies of the United States. What is the name of the movie?

8. Which movie features a small-time con man who gets elected to Congress because he has the same name as a congressman who just died?

9. Which satirical election movie was inspired by a Saturday Night Live sketch?

10. Which election movie featured two actors who both had played DC Comics superheroes in other movies?

And a bonus question: Which American citizen and entertainment mogul was one of 15 candidates for president of Afghanistan in 2009?

Scroll down to see the answers.
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Answers

1. Aaron Sorkin and James Toback worked without credit on Warren Beatty’s Bulworth.

2. “I’m not sure you can get AIDS by burning down your house, but I get your point.” was said by Bulworth’s title character played by Warren Beatty.

3. Aaron Sorkin gave Allison Janney the role of CJ Cregg in The West Wing after seeing her play the minor role of Miss Walsh in Primary Colors.

4. Howard Stern turned down the lead role in Man of the Year because he already had a prior commitment to his satellite radio show. Robin Williams got the part instead.

5. Thora Birch walked off the set of Election, which starred Mathew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon.

6. Monty Python’s argument sketch was featured as part of the presidential debate in Head of State, starring Chris Rock and Bernie Mac.

7. Wag the Dog, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Dinero, featured Albanians as fictional enemies of America.

8. In The Distinguished Gentleman, Eddie Murphy stars as Thomas Jefferson Johnson, which is also the name of a fictional recently-deceased congressman.

9. Bob Roberts, starring Tim Robbins, was inspired by a Saturday Night Live sketch.

10. Speechless featured Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton, who have both played superheroes. Christopher Reeve played Superman in multiple films and Michael Keaton played Batman in two movies.

Answer to bonus question: Ehsan Bayat; who was born in Afghanistan, educated in the United States and a principle in Afghanistan’s Ariana Television Network; was a candidate in the 2009 Afghan presidential election. If you got this right, give yourself a gold star!

Find our other movie trivia quizzes in the sidebar or visit the Tricky Movie Trivia site map.

We honored Mom last month, now it’s time to send some appreciation in Dad’s direction for Fathers Day. The following tricky movie trivia questions will challenge your knowledge about dad movies, old and new. See how many you can get right!

1. Cary Grant turned down a starring role in what blockbuster 1964 movie so he could star in Father Goose?

2. Which famous comedian wanted the lead role of Stanley T. Banks in 1950′s Father of the Bride but was thought to be unsuitable by studio executives?

3. In 1991′s Father of the Bride, Steve Martin’s character George Banks says he doesn’t want his daughter’s wedding to bankrupt him and cause him to wander the streets in a bathrobe. That actually happens to a character Steve Martin played in another movie. What was that movie?

4. In which 2003 dad-related movie did the following exchange take place? (Big hint: It starred Eddie Murphy.)
Character #1: “Today we need some organization and planned activities.”
Character #2: “No. We need Ritalin and leashes, that’s what we need.”

5. Big Daddy (1991) features an action figure doll that was made up by Adam Sandler and modeled after a real action figure he had as a boy, named Diver Dan . What was the name of the fictional doll in the movie?

6. A major diaper company paid $50,000 to have their products mentioned in 3 Men and a Baby. What is the name of that company?

Scroll down to see the answers.

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Answers

1. Cary Grant turned down the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady to star in Father Goose. He wanted Audrey Hepburn to play Catherine Freneau opposite him in Father Goose, but she was already committed to starring in My Fair Lady, so the part went to Leslie Caron.

2. Jack Benny wanted the lead role in the 1950 version of Father of the Bride, but the role went to Spencer Tracy instead.

3. Steve Martin wandered the streets in his bathrobe in 1979′s The Jerk.

4. That exchange was between the characters played by Eddie Murphy and Phil Garlin in Daddy Daycare.

5. Diver Dan’s fictional knock-off action figure was Scuba Steve.

6. Pampers paid $50,000 to have their diapers mentioned in 3 Men and a Baby.

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You might also enjoy these other Tricky Movie Trivia holiday-related posts:

Easter Classic Movies Trivia Quiz
Irish Movies for St. Patrick’s Day
Romantic Movies for Valentine’s Day
Memorial Day War Movies Trivia Quiz
Movies About Moms for Mother’s Day

I’m not usually a fan of shrill, but loud ex-showgirl Billy Dawn in the 1950 version of Born Yesterday is actually a joy to behold. In the deft hands of Judy Holliday, original playwright Garson Kanin and screenwriter Albert Mannheimer, Billy Dawn has depth that allows you to be patient with her decibel level — and even enjoy it.

In this Pygmalian-like story, Billy is the kept woman of rich man Harry Brock, played by Broderick Crawford. Both are fine with that arrangement until Harry’s business dealings as a well-to-do junk dealer take him to Washington so he can do a little influence peddling and buy a few national officials. As always, Billy comes along. But for the first time in their long relationship, she’s perceived as a liability because her lack of polish makes her stand out in stuffy Washington D.C.

Enter William Holden in the form of Paul Verrall, a newspaper reporter whom Harry hires to educate Billy and “smarten her up a little.” Engaging Verrall to spend so much time with Billy was a little like letting the fox into the hen house, because as a reporter he was well aware of Harry’s slimy reasons for being in Washington. But he doesn’t flat-out warn Billy about Harry. Instead, Billy sees the light for herself as the story unfolds. And that light does more than educate her about who she’s been living with; it shines on everyone around her and exposes their motives — for good or for bad.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding the casting of Born Yesterday. Although Holliday played the role for four years on Broadway to rave reviews, Columbia head Harry Cohn thought she was too fat for the movies. He tried to give the film role to Rita Hayworth but she knew it wasn’t right for her. Using the excuse that she wanted to spend time with her new husband Prince Aly Kahn, she turned it down. Cohn then tried to draft Celeste Holm, Lucille Ball, Marie McDonald, Shelly Winters, Evelyn Keyes, Paulette Goddard, Ida Lupino and Lana Turner but none of them were right for the job. In the end, he returned to Holliday and asked her to reprise the part she had already perfected on Broadway.

As a result of many years of embodying Billy Dawn, even Holliday’s most subtle movements are perfect: from the way she wiggled her pinky while tallying her cards after beating Harry at gin rummy, to the way she screamed, “W-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t?” like a bleating goat across Harry’s expensive suite and to the duck noise she made that sounded completely natural, even though it was coming out of a beautiful woman’s mouth.

Image via Wikipedia

And Holliday wasn’t the only one who perfected her role. Director George Cukor actually had the actors rehearse the script like a play. They even gave six performances in front of live audiences so they could hone the timing of the jokes. This relentless pursuit of excellence resulted in Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Costume Design, and a Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe for Judy Holliday. Her win was quite a feat, because she was up against Anne Baxter and Bette Davis for All About Eve, Eleanor Parker for Caged and Gloria Swanson for Sunset Blvd.

Because the original version of Born Yesterday was crafted with such distinction, it was brave of Melanie Griffith to try to recreate the role of Billy Dawn in 1993. But to my surprise, Melanie carved out her own unique portayal, while managing to maintain the best aspects of the character Judy Holliday established. In my opinion, that makes both versions of Born Yesterday well worth the popcorn.

Other Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:
To Kill a Mockingbird
My Man Godfrey
Now, Voyager
The Enchanted Cottage
All About Eve

Image from Wikipedia

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Charlton Heston last yesterday. He wasn’t just a star of classic movies to me; I actually met Mr. Heston years ago and can attest to the fact that he was a courtly gentleman in the old tradition.

How we met

Sometime in the 1990s while I still lived in Los Angeles, I attended a fancy fundraising dinner as the “date” of my friend, comedienne Kathy Buckley. Neither of us had a significant other at the time, so she gave me a treat by letting me accompany her to the chic event.

The soirée was to raise money for an organization for the deaf. Being deaf herself and an insanely compassionate motivational speaker who gives a lot of herself to worthy causes, Kathy was the keynote speaker. As such, we sat at the head table with Charlton Heston and his wife, and the master of ceremonies, whose name I won’t mention, and his wife.

The reason I won’t mention the MC’s name is that he was quite famous in the 1970s for playing a cool and kind TV dad on a very popular sitcom that ran for years. Had he acted appropriately that evening, I would be happy to mention his name. But because of his behavior that night, I neither want to give him any publicity, nor do I want to ruin the memories of people who grew up watching his show.

From cool to uncool in a flash

To set the scene for the evening’s events, you have to understand where I was coming from at the time. I was the rabidly left-of-center executive director of an organization I founded to provide childcare for homeless children. (That’s how I met Kathy. She volunteered with the organization.) As a card-carrying liberal, I came to the dinner table that night prepared to absolutely hate Charlton Heston for his outspoken opinions about guns. I sat directly across the table from him, so I expected to squirm all evening from being in such close proximity to this person who embodied everything I detested.

In the meantime, on my immediate right was TV Dad. I thought, “How cool that I get to sit next to him!” After only a few moments, however, I realized, not so cool. Cranky beyond belief, this icon proceeded to not only complain about everything he could think of, but was abusive to his wife in the process. I initially tried to make conversation with him, but not only did that prove to be impossible; I didn’t even want to after just a few minutes of listening to him be completely obnoxious.

The old don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover thing

To escape, I had no choice but to focus my attention across the table toward Charlton Heston. And it’s a good thing, too; because that caused me to have one of the biggest lessons I had learned up to that point in my thirty-something life: DO NOT judge a book by its cover. As I listened to Mr. Heston speak, I was absolutely enraptured by his manner and the way he made everyone, including the show-biz nobody sitting in my chair, feel completely at ease. I don’t remember anything he said that evening; I just remember the way he said it and the kindness that radiated from him. As a result, sometimes (I wish I could say it was all the time) when I’m tempted to judge people before I know all the facts, his face pops into my head. And his death won’t diminish that.

So I say farewell to a man who gave me — and maybe many others over the years — an important life lesson. Goodbye, Mr. Heston, we’ll miss you.

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A final note: Obviously, I had no idea who Mr. Heston really was before I went to that fundraiser — and even after, although my opinion had changed. For example, I had no idea he was a civil rights activist, which I found out today while researching photos for this post.