Tricky Movie Trivia and Movie Reviews

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Many movies have chronicled the joy and pain of being a mom — and often both extremes are portrayed in the same movie. The following selection of movies are perfect for Mother’s Day: They’ll take you up, then down and back up again, and with any luck, they’ll leave you with a renewed appreciation for the institution of motherhood.

Baby Boom
1987
Starring Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard
110 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“I can’t have a baby because I have a 12:30 lunch meeting.”

Terms of Endearment
1983
Starring Shirley McLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson
132 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“You don’t know how lucky you are, you know. Everybody wants to go to Des Moines. People come from all over the world just to get one look at Des Moines before they die.”

Mother
1996
Starring Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds
104 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
After eating very old orange sherbet from his mother’s freezer: “Blaaah! Oh God, this is horribly old! This tastes like an orange foot!”

The Joy Luck Club
1993
Starring Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, Ming-Na Wen, Lauren Tom
139 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“That bad crab, only you tried to take it. Everybody else want best quality. You, your thinking different. Waverly took best-quality crab. You took worst, because you have best-quality heart. You have style no one can teach. Must be born this way.”

Erin Brockovich
2000
Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
130 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Are you going to be something else that I have to survive? Because, to tell you the truth, I’m not up to it.”

Stepmom
1998
Staring Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Ed Harris
Rated PG-13 for language and thematic elements
124 min

Memorable quote from the movie:
“You didn’t asked me if I wanted a new mother. You didn’t even asked me if I liked her!”

Parenthood
1989
Starring Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Rick Moranis, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reeves, Harley Jane Kozak
124 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“I wouldn’t live with you if the world were flooded with piss and you lived in a tree!”

Hope Floats
1998
Starring Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr., Gena Rowlands
114 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Once upon a time your mama knew what it meant to shine.”

Steel Magnolias
1989
Starring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, Sam Shepard, Dylan McDermott
117 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Well, you know what they say: if you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!”

The Goodbye Girl
1977
Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings
111 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“If you were a Broadway musical, people would be humming your face.”

You might also enjoy these other 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

Posted April 7, 2008 Comments(2)

When it comes to spring movie trivia questions, films about teenagers and spring break are no-brainers. Not all movies with spring themes are that obvious, however. Admittedly, we’ve gone for a few easy shots here by including some spring break movies. But there also are a few you might not have thought of that feature spring as their main theme.

Some of the movies in this quiz were made long before the days of high tech blu ray players and viral YouTube videos, but they still hold their charm even all these years later. Thankfully, in this unstable world, some things are eternal!

So spring into action and see how many answers you can get right on this tricky movie trivia quiz about spring movies:

1. When the famous politically incorrect song Springtime for Hitler was sung in the 1968 rendition of The Producers, the singing voice was dubbed. Whose voice was heard singing the song in the film?

2. Mel Brooks had another name in mind for The Producers but the studio wouldn’t let him use it. What was that name?

3. Name the famous English actress whose character in Enchanted April said, “In my day husbands and beds were very seldom mentioned in the same breath. Husbands were taken seriously, as the only true obstacle to sin.”

4. Elizabeth von Arnim wrote the novel Enchanted April, on which the movie was based. What other famous movie was made from one of her novels? (Hint: It was released in 1944.)

5. In the Secret Garden, which celebrates the renewal brought by spring, main character Mary’s parents passed on. How did they die?

6. What is the name of the Secret Garden character played by Andrew Knott who said, “The animals tell me all their secrets.”

7. The quintessential spring break movie Where the Boys Are marked the movie debut of which female actress who also was in What’s New Pussycat and the 1975 version of The Stepford Wives?

8. In the Elvis spring break movie Girl Happy, some of the Fort Lauderdale beach crowd scenes were borrowed from which other spring break movie that was released in 1960?

9. Elvis’ co-star in Girl Happy is the only woman who was Elvis’ love interest in three different films. What is her name?

10. A famous porn star was featured in Lauderdale. What is his name?

Scroll down for the answers.

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Answers

1. Mel Brooks sang Springtime for Hitler in the original version of The Producers.

2. Springtime for Hitler was the name Brooks wanted to use. For obvious reasons, MGM frowned on that idea. Even with the watered-down title, The Producers didn’t play in Germany until it was included in a film festival featuring the works of Jewish filmmakers.

3. Joan Plowright (as Mrs. Fisher) spoke the lines, “In my day husbands and beds were very seldom mentioned in the same breath. Husbands were taken seriously, as the only true obstacle to sin.” Joan Plowright became Lady Olivier in 1961, after Sir Laurence Olivier divorced Vivien Leigh and married her. They became Baron and Baroness Olivier in 1970.

4. Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel Mrs. Skeffington was made into a 1944 movie of the same name that starred Bette Davis and Claude Rains. It was Bette Davis’ final Oscar-nominated performance while she was under contract to Warner Bros.

5. Mary’s parents died in an earthquake in India, leaving her to be shipped off to England to live with her reclusive uncle and discover the secret garden where magic was commonplace.

6. The character who said “The animals tell me all their secrets” was Dickon, played by Andrew Knott. The Secret Garden was Knott’s first film. He has since been active in British television.

7. Paula Prentiss is the actress who had her film debut in 1960′s Where the Boys Are. She continues to act in movies and has been married to director Richard Benjamin since 1961.

8. Some of the Fort Lauderdale beach crowd scenes Girl Happy were lifted from Where the Boys Are.

9. Shelley Fabares, whose real name is Michele Marie Fabares, is the only woman who was Elvis’ love interest in three different films.

10. Porn veteran Ron Jeremy was featured in Lauderdale, which is a double-spring movie because it also goes by the names Spring Break USA and Spring Fever USA!

We hope you enjoyed answering these spring trivia questions!

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If you like religious or animated children’s movies, you’re in luck at Eastertime. If not, it’s slim film pickings. It’s hard to believe that a holiday that combines cute little bunnies, colored eggs and someone rising from the grave doesn’t have more secular movies to commemorate it. But since that’s the case, this Easter movie trivia quiz is going to be mini-sized. It will still be tricky, though, so see how well you can do!

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1. Judy Garland’s husband was slated to direct Easter Parade but her psychiatrist advised them not to work together. What was her husband’s name?

2. A famous hoofer was supposed to play Fred Astaire’s part in Easter Parade but he broke his ankle when he stomped his foot in anger after losing a volleyball game. Who was that famous dancer/actor?

3. For the second time in Judy Garland’s film career, someone spoke the scripted line, “Why didn’t you tell me I was in love with you?” to her in a film. The second time was in Easter Parade. Who asked her that question the first time and in what movie? (Hint: The actor is the same as in question number 2.)

4. The movie Holiday Inn featured songs dedicated to many holidays, hence the movie’s name. Although the film included a lovely song about Easter, a song about another holiday from the film went on to be the biggest-selling music single of all time, according to 2007 statistics. What is that song?

5. The song mentioned in number 4 won an Oscar for Holiday Inn. The song’s writer was the first artist to ever present himself with an Academy Award. Who was he?

6. The set of Holiday Inn was reused 12 years later to film another movie starring Bing Crosby. What was the movie?

Scroll down to see the answers.

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Answers

1. Vincente Minnelli was Judy Garland’s husband.

2. Gene Kelly was the angry hoofer who lost the Easter Parade role due to a broken ankle.

3. Gene Kelly spoke the line, “Why didn’t you tell me I was in love with you?” to Judy Garland in 1942’s Me and My Gal.

4. The biggest-selling music single of all time is White Christmas.

5. Irving Berlin was the writer of White Christmas and the artist who presented himself with an Oscar.

6. The Holiday Inn set was reused 12 years later by Paramount Studios for White Christmas, which also starred Bing Crosby and had music composed by Irving Berlin.
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We hope you enjoyed this movie trivia quiz about Easter classic movies!

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

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

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This collection of movies features the Irish in one way or another and is the perfect way to get in the mood for St. Patrick’s Day. The movie quotes below come from films that are a mixture of the dark side of Irish life, the silly and the epic. So get a glass of your favorite beverage and throw in some green food coloring; then put your feet up and take your pick from these Irish movies:

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Darby O’Gill and the Little People
1959
Starring Albert Sharpe and Sean Connery
93 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Oh singin’s no sin, and drinkin’s no crime, if you have one drink only, just one at at a time. ”

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Angela’s Ashes
1999
Starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle
145 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“If I were in America I could say “I love you, dad”, the way they do in the films. But in Limerick they’d laugh at you. In Limerick you are only allowed to say you love God, and babies, and horses that win. Anything else is softness in the head.”

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Cinderella Man
2005
Starring Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger and Paul Giamatti
Rated PG-13 for intense boxing violence and some language
144 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“They ought to put your mouth in a circus. ”

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Million Dollar Baby
2004
Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank
Rated PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language
132 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Girlie, tough ain’t enough.”

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High Spirits
1988
Starring Peter O’Toole, Steve Guttenberg, Beverly D’Angelo, Jennifer Tilly and Peter Gallagher
99 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“You’re a ghost, I’m an American. It would never work out.”

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Gangs of New York
2002
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly and Liam Neeson
Rated R for intense strong violence, sexuality/nudity and language
167 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Burn him; see if his ashes turn green.”

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Michael Collins
1996
Starring Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts, Aidan Quinn and Stephen Rea
133 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts): “Is it true, Mick, that all of the women in America wear trousers?”
Michael Collins (Liam Neeson): “Absolutely! Shameless hussies, the lot o’ them.”

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Gone With the Wind
1939
Starring Clark Gable, Viven Leigh and Leslie Howard
226 minutes (copyright length), 238 minutes (restored US DVD version)

Memorable quote from the movie:

“It will come to you, this love of the land. There’s no gettin’ away from it if you’re Irish.“_____

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Circle of Friends
1995
Starring Chris O’Donnell and Minnie Driver
Rated PG-13 for sexual content
103 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“You mustn’t mess me about. I know I may look like a rhinoceros, but I’ve got quite a thin skin really.”

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And because you know we had to:

Leprechaun
1993
Starring Warwick Davis and Jennifer Aniston
Rated R for horror violence and language; Rated PG-13 for terror violence (edited version)
92 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Help. Help. It’s happening. The attack is on. O’Grady farm. Uh, send help. The leprechaun is attacking. Army, navy, guns, marines, and we’re gunna need some medicine.”

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

Easter Classic Movies Trivia Quiz
Movies About Moms for Mother’s Day
Romantic Movies for Valentine’s Day
Memorial Day War Movies Trivia Quiz
Father’s Day Movie Trivia Quiz

Posted March 8, 2008 Comments(3)

Source: Wikipedia__
I’d love to say that All About Eve is a great movie. Certainly, anyone who watches the DVD extras would get the impression that it is. And if you believe what you hear in the archival interview footage filmed at the time of All About Eve’s release and even many years after, you would probably expect that it’s one of the best movies of the mid-20th century. I think the word perfect was even mentioned several times in the interviews.

I have to say, though; I don’t get it. My take is that it’s a movie with greatness at its heart with lots of fluffy show-biz-type stuff covering it up. The fluffiness comes mostly from a stellar cast that for some reason thought campy would play better than sincere. Many of the characters vamp instead of speak in a direct manner and whine instead of interact, which grows old after just a few minutes. This came as a surprise to me because Miss Bette Davis (along with everyone else in All About Eve) obviously can act. Just one example of that is Now, Voyager, which features BD at her most subtle best.

The rest of the fluff comes from a script that takes itself just a little too seriously. This was another surprise. According to the archival interviews, Eve was the only script in which Davis — famous for angering writers and producers by rewriting scripts — never changed a word because she felt it couldn’t be improved.

Having said all that, I hope I haven’t completely poisoned you against All About Eve. There is some witty dialog, and the themes in the movie are just as timely and worthwhile today as they were in 1950. In fact, you could even say the character of Eve is a timeless icon. Throughout the movie, she worms her way into everyone’s hearts, smiling while she stealthily scratches and claws her way to the top. Sycophantic and obsessed, Eve brought herself from waiting every night by the stage door of the theater where her idol Margo Channing stars in a hit play to finally eclipsing the object of her affection. It reminded me a lot of the time I spent in corporate America.

Without giving away the ending, I’ll tell you that it all works out as the old “what comes around goes around” kicks in for Dear Eve. The ending is actually where the script comes to life for me. There’s an ominous quality to it because we know justice is at hand. I couldn’t help having a Cheshire cat grin as the film reached its conclusion because I knew Eve was going to get a taste of her own medicine — even if it was only going to be off-camera. Whatever the movie’s flaws, that fact actually made it worth the popcorn to me.

Movie trivia from All About Eve

• Tallulah Bankhead, Susan Hayward, Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Ingrid Bergman and Gertrude Lawrence were all considered for the part of Margo Channing before Darryl F. Zanuck hired Bette Davis.
• According to the casting director’s list, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis (eventually, Mrs. Reagan) were considered for the roles of Bill Sampson and Eve Harrington.
• Bette Davis was in the process of breaking up with husband William Sherry while she was making All About Eve. Her raspy voice in the film is due a burst blood vessel in her throat from screaming at her soon-to-be-ex-husband. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz liked the quality it gave her voice so he encouraged Davis not to try to change it.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor kept coming to the set because she was jealous of her husband George Sanders’ scenes with Marilyn Monroe.
• Bette Davis fell in love with co-star Gary Merrill while shooting All About Eve. They married in July 1950, which was just a few weeks after filming wrapped. They eventually divorced years later.

Other Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• My Man Godfrey
• Now, Voyager
• The Enchanted Cottage
• Born Yesterday

You might also be interested in our trivia quiz about famous movie quotes from Bette Davis movies.

Posted February 18, 2008 Comments(2)