A Back-to-School SLIFR Movie Quiz? Count Me IN!
My good friend Dennis Cozzalio, he of the wonderfully named Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule blog, has come up with yet another of his cinematically off-the-wall but thoroughly inspired movie quizzes for his readers:
“To this end, we welcome a new addition to the well of knowledge from which so many have drank, filled their heads and moved on. (And probably continued to drink, just not from our metaphorical well, but whatever…) His name is Professor Dewey Finn, and he will be joining our esteemed music department. […] As part of his introductory duties, Professor Finn has devised a brand-new quiz in that spirit with which to ring in the new school year, and you see it before you now— he calls it his very own Ostentatiously Odd, Scholastically Scattershot Back-to-School (Of Rock?) Movie Quiz—which should warm you up for the rest of the adventures in movie education that await you as the calendar enters is autumn/winter phase.”
If you’ve not participated in this, all I can say is, “Why not?” I treat these as interview questions. The fun, movie variety. Anyone interested in film is invited to take part. As Dennis encourages:
“The notes on this quiz are the same as always: You may provide links to your answers if you have your own blog or Web site, but if you enter your answers in the comments field, please copy and paste the questions along with your answers so readers may more easily reference the context of your answers. Also, Professor Finn is very much like the rest of our staff in that, while he will certainly accept short, to-the-point answers, he is much more entertained and enlightened by an answer that isn’t afraid to err on the side of the verbose. So feel free to let loose your logorrheic tendencies here!”
PROFESSOR DEWEY FINN’S OSTENTATIOUSLY ODD, SCHOLASTICALLY SCATTERSHOT BACK-TO-SCHOOL (OF ROCK?) MOVIE QUIZ
1) Band without their own movie, from any era, you’d most like to see get the HARD DAY’S NIGHT or HEAD treatment.
Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Fleetwood Mac?
2) Oliver Reed or Alan Bates?
Without question…
3) Best thing about the move from physical to streaming media in home video
I can only think of one…storage.
4) Worst thing about the move from physical to streaming media in home video
Easy, not everything is available on streaming. Every…and I mean every format transition, be it to VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and now online streaming, has resulted in titles not being brought over to the newest technical iteration. It’s why I still own a VHS player. 😉
5) Favorite Robin Williams performance
That’s a hard one, as there are so many. It’s too easy to pick his award-winning one in Good Will Hunting (as great as that is), so I’ll go with this:
6) Second favorite Carol Reed movie
It would be the one I finally caught up with most recently, thanks to Colin’s wonderful review (The Third Man my top pick):
7) Oddest moment/concept in rock music cinema
Hmm…thinking about it, this entire movie:
8) Favorite movie about growing up
9) Most welcomed nudity, full or partial, in a movie (question submitted by Peter Nellhaus, class of 2004)
The scene in Working Girl when Melanie Griffith’s Tess McGill character runs the carpet vacuum while naked.
10) Least welcomed nudity, nude or partial, in a movie (question submitted by Peter Nellhaus, class of 2004)
I steadfastly refused to post any picture in reference to this!
Any time it was used with Leslie Nielsen in a comedy bit. MY EYES!
11) Last movie watched, in a theater, on DVD/Blu-ray, via streaming
Theater: The Expendables 3 | DVD: “The Mission” (Amazing Stories) | Blu-ray: Jumanji | Streaming: Witchfinder General
12) Second favorite Bertrand Blier movie
It’s going to be the same as if it was the top pick ‘cuz it’s the only thing I’ve ever seen with him in it:
13) Googie Withers or Sally Gray?
Drawing a complete blank, Dennis.
14) Name a piece of advice derived from a movie or movie character that you’ve heeded in real life
“Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
15) Favorite movie about learning
16) Program a double bill of movies that were announced but, for one reason or another, never made. These could be projects cancelled outright, or films that were made, but at one time had different directors, stars, etc., attached — and your “version” of the film might be the one with that lost director, for example (question submitted by Brian Doan, class of 2007)
I’ll go with this pair:
17) Oddest mismatch of director and material
I’ll go with the most recent, Spike Lee’s Oldboy:
18) Favorite performance by your favorite character actor
So many to choose from, but I’ll go with this heartbreaking performance in a long and distinguished career before he became a big name, Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights.
19) Favorite chase scene
Some may argue with my pick since it doesn’t feature some car blitzing in-between other vehicles on a crowded street somewhere, but this is my favorite, bar none. The best chase ever put together on film.
20) Movie most people might not have seen that you feel like proselytizing about right now
My standard answer is here for this neglected neo noir:
21) Favorite movie about high school
22) Favorite Lauren Bacall performance
23) David Farrar or Roger Livesey?
David Farrar
24) Performance most likely to get overlooked during the upcoming awards season
Timothy Olyphant
25) Rock musician who, with the right project, could have been a movie star
Jim Morrison
26) Second favorite Ted Post movie
This would be it, second only to Magnum Force:
27) Favorite odd couple
From Midnight Run, Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin.
28) Flicker or Zeroville?
What?!?
29) Favorite movie about college
30) In a specific movie full of memorable turns, your favorite underappreciated performance
Bobbie Anderson’s, as young George Bailey, in It’s a Wonderful Life. He gets overshadowed early in the film, but he’s remarkable in the small role given him by Frank Capra.
31) Favorite movie about parenting
Saw it for the first time this year at the TCM Film Festival, too:
32) Susannah York or Sarah Miles?
Now that is a hard one (please, no smirking), but I’ll go with…
Susannah York
33) Movie which best evokes the sense of place in a region with which you are well familiar
34) Name a favorite actor from classic movies and the contemporary performer who most evokes their presence/stature/talent
Barbara Stanwyck
Sigourney Weaver
35) Your favorite hot streak of any director (question submitted by Patrick Robbins, class of 2008)
The first one that comes to mind would be Rob Reiner. From 1984 (This is Spinal Tap) to 1992 (A Few Good Men), with The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and Misery in-between, he could do no wrong. Successfully moving from comedy, romance, drama, and horror with utter ease in this extraordinary run.
To see all of my answers to every SLIFR movie quiz I’ve participated in, click here.
It Rains... You Get Wet 
4 Responses to “A Back-to-School SLIFR Movie Quiz? Count Me IN!”
Hi, Michael and Sergio:
Wow!
A lot of agreement with The Infield Fly Rule this semester!
#1/: Either Linda Ronstadt and Stone Poneys (Who later evolved into The Eagles). Or the late, great Lowell George and Little Feat, for their ecletic”Throw anything against the microphone and see what happens” style of arranging and performing.
#5/: Robin Williams’ performance as a suddenly grief stricken, out of town widower in the premiere episode of the second season of NBC’s ‘Homicide: Life on the street’.
#7/: Just for the sake of argument. I’ll go with Frank Zappa and ‘200 Motels’.
#8/: ‘The Summer of ’42’. Basically for its cadre of off beat male characters.
#9/: Linda Fiorentino in Tighty Whities just before she sets up Peter Berg in ‘The Last Seduction’. Not exactly welcome, but an eerily clever piece of Psycho Drama that works flawlessly!
#10/: Marlon Brando in many scenes in ‘The Last Tango in Paris’. Off putting, to say the least.
#11/: Theater: ‘Sin City’. DVD: ‘The Bedford Incident’. I don’t stream.
#14/: Nick Nolte’s Ray Hicks from ‘Who’ll Stop The Rain’.
“I’m a white American who fought for my country. And I don’t take $hit from Martians!” has stood me well for decades.
#15/: Excellent choice! Though, I’ll go with ‘Fresh’ from 1992. Not exactly “book learning”. Most definitely learning about life at home. And on the street! Brought to life by a superb cast.
#16/: HBO had nearly green lighted an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s ‘Without Remorse’ with Clancy Brown as John Kelly/John Clark (Perfect casting!). Opposite John Glickenhaus’ ‘The Exterminator’ from 1980. For two completely different views of the “vengeful veteran” genre of films.
#18/: Gene hackman’s “Popeye” Doyle strung out on heroin and explaining his preference for Hershey Bars over bland, not sweet enough French chocolate in ‘French Connection II’.
#19/: I’ll bump and check to ‘Ben Hur’ with ‘Bullitt’, ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ and
‘Ronin’.
#20/: Can’t argue with ‘Hickey & Boggs’! Honorable Mention(s) would include, Mamet’s ‘House of Games’ and Steve Zallian’s ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer’ for two distinct views of Joe Mantegna’s vast talents!
#21/: Didn’t much care for High School. So, I’ll go with either ‘Rock & Roll High School’ or ‘Heathers’ for their comedic variations.
#22/: ‘The Big Sleep’. With equal props for Dorothy Malone and her Acme Book Shop Proprietress and her quick change from bland to very fetching!
#24/: You can’t beat Tim Olyphant and Walton Goggins. Or any oyher cast member.
#25/: I’d go with Eric Clapton. Though, he’d never leave his guitar!
#26/: Excellent Choice with ‘Go Tell The Spartans’! I also like Post’s work in ‘The Long Way Home’, parts 1 and 2 on ABC’s ‘Combat!’ from the 1960s.
#27/: Michael Moriarty and Yaphett Kotto in ‘Report to the Commissioner’.
#29/: Definitely ‘The Paper Chase’. With ‘The Sterile Cuckoo’ a close second. For Liza Minelli in a very non Liza Minnelli role as Pookie Adams.
#30/: Rod Steiger’s brief cameo as a Destroyer captain. And his comments on the size of the invasion fleet and its impact on history in ‘The Longest Day’.
#31/: ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’ and ‘With Six You Get Egg Roll’.
#33/: Mamet’s ‘Homicide’. And its bare, very unflattering view of Baltimore, MD.
#34/: Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson. Very much passing the torch from one to the other.
#35/: Roger Corman. The unsung independent director, pioneer (The Guy With Arrows In His Back) and King of the B-Movies. And his fifteen film run from ‘The Intruder’ in 1962. To ‘The Trip’ in 1967.
His penchant for predicting trends (‘The Secret Invasion’ vs. ‘The Dirty Dozen’. And putting biker films on the map long before ‘Easy Rider’) has stood him well.
Still think his ‘The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre’ is the benchmark for the back story and events that led to that tragic day. And major kudos for bring Poe to the screen.
Great quiz, Sergio!!!
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Great answers, as usual. Love that you included ‘Fresh’ and that scene from ‘French Connection 2’. Love that film and scene. I’ll be submitting your answers over at SLIFR. Thanks, Kevin. 🙂
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Fun quiz and answers, Michael! I’m going to have to keep an eye out for Hickey & Boggs.
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Thanks, Eric. Of, yes. Give H&B a go and let me know your thoughts 🙂
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