Film Quiz - the Wormer Turns!

Film Quiz! All reviews will be on hold until we wrestle this to the ground. It's a massive undertaking, run by that mean dean, Dean Wormer, with 50+ questions.

I think the subtext of a lot of these questions is the current virus situation. But I'm not concentratiing on that. I'd like to dedicate this to the dean's queen, Ms. Wormer, somewhere at a spa, thinking about cucumbers...

1) You’re on a desert island (and you sort of are)—What three discs do you select out of your own collection to keep if you had to get rid of all the rest?
Ans: Three Marx Bros. discs. Hopefully with multiple movies per disc. 

2) Giuletta Masina or Jeanne Moreau?
Ans: Moreau may be the better actor, and a formidable woman, but Masina’s vulnerability makes her irresistible to me.

3) Second-favorite Roger Corman movie.
Ans: Ms. Spenser says “all of them are #1”. I had a hard time too. Only counting films he directed, The Fast and the Furious, with Bucket of Blood first.

4) The most memorable place you ever saw a movie. This could be a film projected on a big screen or seen in some other fashion—the important thing is what makes it memorable.
Ans: It’s kind of a cheat, because I barely remember it, but my grandmother took me to some kind of church or community presentation of some old movies at a barn in Vermont or New Hampshire. I think it was Laurel and Hardy, and maybe Jerry Lewis. 

5) Marcello Mastroianni or Vittorio Gassman?
Ans: I’ve only seen Gassman in Big Trouble on Madonna Street, so Marcello. (Loved him in Intervista.)

6) Second-favorite Kelly Reichardt movie.
Ans: Haven’t even seen one.

7) In the matter of taste, is there a film or director that, if your partner in a relationship (wife/husband/lover/best friend) disagreed violently with your assessment of it, might cause a serious rift in that relationship?
Ans: Probably, but it hasn’t come up. I don’t think it’s a matter of a particular film or artist, just someone hating screwball comedies, or loving torture porn - those kind of things might cause a problem.

8) The last movie you saw in a theater/on physical media/via streaming (list one each).
Ans: Theater: Haven’t been in years, even before the shutdown. Physical: Blu-ray of Wind River, which was good, but a little intense (blog post to come). Streaming: Some black and white bagatelle on Amazon Prime, Woman in the Shadows.

9) Name a movie that you just couldn’t face watching right now.
Ans: There are tons. Ms. Spenser wants to watch The Babadook, but I can’t face it right now - and probably never will.

10) Jane Greer or Ava Gardner?
Ans: Jane Greer has a certain intelligence that made me love her in The Big Steal. Ava just had her glamor.

11)Edmond O’Brien or Van Heflin?
Ans: O’Brien, for his dark brooding good looks. 

12) Second favorite Yasujiro Ozu movie.
Ans: You know, I went to check and the closest we’ve gotten is Osaka Monogatari, which wasn’t even directed by Ozu - It was Yoshimura and Mizoguchi. Pass.

13) Name a proposed American remake of an international film that would, if actually undertaken, surely court or inevitably result in disaster.
Ans: It would probably be impossible to do a good American remake of Seven Samurai.

14) What’s a favorite film that you consider genuinely subversive, for whatever reason?
Ans: The Last Jedi. The message that rash, brave, bold adventuring might turn out to be pointless, and slow, steady cunning behind the scenes might be what’s needed is pretty subversive, especially if the scheme is being carried out by women.

15) Name the movie score you couldn’t live without.
Ans: I am currently living without any, so, none. 

16) Mary-Louise Weller or Martha Smith?
Ans: Couldn’t pick either out of a lineup.

17) Peter Riegert or Bruce McGill?
Ans: I’m going with Peter Riegert, because we’re planning to watch Local Hero soon.

18) Last Tango in Paris—yes or no?
Ans: No, too rape-y. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever liked Brando in anything.

19) Second-favorite Akira Kurosawa movie.
Ans: Ms. Spenser says, “Ran, all the rest are first”. I’d say Dersu Uzala, all the rest are first.

20) Who would host the imaginary DVD commentary you would most want to hear right now, and what would the movie be?
Ans: If I can choose anyone for anything, I’d probably choose something fantastic - like Alexander the Great’s commentary on Alexander. In the realm of the possible, maybe Joe Dante (quite a raconteur) doing The Howling, or something.

21) Favorite movie snack.
Ans: Since we always watch at home, a bowl of ice cream with a shot of rum.

22) Second-favorite Planet of the Apes film (from the original cycle).
Ans: Haven’t seen any. Should we?

23) Least-favorite Martin Scorsese movie.
Ans: I’ve only seen the remake of Cape Fear, which was pretty ridiculous, and half of Taxi Driver, which was tedious. It’s a toss-up. 
I do like his music docs.

24) Name a movie you feel doesn’t deserve its current reputation, for better or worse.
Ans: I could suck up to the site’s host and say 1941, but that’s too easy. How about: I think the 2004/2007 Fantastic Four movies were good - OK, Jessica Alba was an odd choice for Sue Storm, and there were villain problems. But they were maybe the closest thing to faithful adaptations of a comic book that we’ve seen.

25) Best movie of 1970. (Fifty years ago!)
Ans: Based on a list of 1970s movies (American), I see some good candidates: There’s Gimme Shelter and Woodstock (wasn’t Martin Scorsese a cameraman for that?). I’m a big fan of Kelly’s Heroes, but I’ll go with Little Big Man. I saw it in Helsinki on vacation when it was first released. 

26) Name a movie you think is practically begging for a Broadway adaptation (I used this question in the last quiz, but I’m repeating it because I never answered the quiz myself and I think I have a pretty good answer)
Ans: I guess I’ll re-use my answer but get more specific: Frozen. 

27) Louise Brooks or Clara Bow?
Ans: Louise Brooks for Pandora’s Box. What a vamp. Bow was a little more cutesy.

28) Second-favorite Pier Paolo Pasolini movie.
Ans: Have seen none. Was just considering Teorema, and thinking, nope, probably not. I just can’t face it right now.

29) Name three movies you loved in your early years that you feel most influenced your adult cinematic tastes .
Ans: This is a tough one. Most of my deep cinema tastes come from college, where a great film society introduced me to French New Wave, American screwball, some silent, some Italian, the classics and so on. But I don’t think that counts as my “early” years. So:

• Visit to a Small Planet: This was probably the movie I saw in the answer to Q4. Along with other Jerry Lewis, Abbott and Costello, Danny Kaye movies, this gave me my grounding in classic comedy.
• Help!/Hard Day’s Night: (Saw on a double bill, so I reference together.) Adding in the Lester movie that completely converted me, Three Musketeers, these gave my my love of modern comedy.
• 2001: This was my idea of a perfect SF movie for a long time, and most movies now reference it in some way. Our whole 4th grade (?) class went to the theater in Boston to see it. Runners-up: A double bill of Soylent Green and Westworld, seen at the drive-in with high-school buddies. 

I would also like to mention Monterey Pop, but that influenced my music more than my movie taste. Also, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was my favorite movie when I was 8. But I don’t think it had much of an influence.

30) Name a movie you love that you think few others do.
Ans: Oops. I used my choice up on Q24. OK, I also liked the Ben Affleck Daredevil, and it’s semi-spinoff, Elektra.

31) Name a movie you despise that you think most others love.
Ans: Oops. I used up my choice on Q23. But I think I’ll stick with Taxi Driver.

32) The Human Centipede—yes or no?
Ans: Oh, no. No, no, no.

33) Anya Taylor-Joy or Olivia Cooke?
Ans: I’ll go with Taylor-Joy, since I liked The Witch better than Ready Player One. Still haven’t seen Emma.

34) Johnny Flynn or Timothée Chalamet?
Ans: I don’t think I’ve seen either in anything, really. But Chalamet is going to be Paul Maud’dib, so him.

35) Second-favorite Dorothy Arzner movie.
Ans: Christopher Strong, after The Last of Mrs. Cheney, which I saw when I was missing Ms. Spenser.

36) Name a movie you haven’t seen in over 20 years that you would drop everything to watch right now.
Ans: The last time I saw Jacques Tati’s Playtime, I was in a hotel at a conference, and it was on TV. Some friends called me to come to the bar for drinks and I guess I went - reluctantly. Haven’t seen it since. Waiting to see the Criterion for under $20, then I’ll own it.

37) Name your favorite stylistic filmmaking cliché, and one you wouldn’t mind seeing disappear forever.
Ans: Favorite is the improbable happy ending, like in Murnau's Last Laugh. Can’t help it, I like to go out on a happy note, even if it’s false. Least fave is the one where the guy and the girl wind up romantically involved, regardless of chemistry or sense. Especially if she’s only in the movie to be a romantic object. 

38) Your favorite appearance by a real-life politician in a feature film, either fictional or a fictionalized account of a real event.
Ans: Not counting Ronald Reagan (and Schwartzenegger, Sonny Bono, George Murphy, and all the other entertainers turned politicians), I can’t actually think of one.

39) Is film criticism dead?
Ans: I don’t know but film blogs seem to be in the doldrums. This site is about the last one still kicking.

40) Elizabeth Patterson or Marjorie Main?
Ans: Pretty tough to beat Ms. Main.

41) Arch Hall Jr. or Timothy Carey?
Ans: Watch out for snakes!

42) Name the film you think best fulfills the label “road movie.”
Ans: The Long Dumb Road. Not really - I’d go with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

43) Horror film that, for whatever reason, made you feel most uncomfortable?
Ans: Hereditary. The decapitation scene, and especially the way the kid dealt with it (didn’t deal with it).

44) Least-favorite (directed by) Clint Eastwood movie.
Ans: It’s a toss-up between Bridges of Madison County and Absolute Power, neither of which I have seen. I’ll say Power, because this is where it became clear that his politics were nuts.

45) Second-favorite James Bond villain.
Ans: Maybe Largo, maybe Blofeld. But Rosa Klebb is my #1.

46) Best adaptation of a novel or other form that had been thought to be unfilmable.
Ans: People always say Gravity’s Rainbow would be unfilmable, but one of the Andersons did a pretty good job on Inherent Vice.

47) Michelle Dockery or Merritt Wever?
Ans: Don’t think I’ve seen either. 

48) Jason Bateman or Ewan McGregor?
Ans: Don’t think I’ve actually seen anything with Bateman, but I’ve enjoyed McGregor in several movies (just saw Dr. Sleep). I don’t hold Obi-wan against him.

49) Second-favorite Roman Polanski movie.
Ans: I’ll say Chinatown. Fave is (surprise) The Ninth Gate, mostly because we're fans of the novel it’s based on, The Club Dumas. 

50) What’s the movie you wish you could watch with a grandparent right now? And, of course, why?
Ans: I never watched a lot of movies with my grandfather. Although he was a big joker, I think he might enjoy a Budd Boetticher western. And I would be grateful to spend sometime with him again.
It occurs to me that I watched The Fountainhead on TV with my other grandparents after watching the Chicago Democratic Convention riots on the news. Strange days.

51) Oliver Stone two-fer: Natural Born Killers and/or JFK—yes or no?
Ans: Probably not. NBK for violence, JFK for nuttiness.

52) Name the actor whose likeness you would proudly wear as a rubber latex Halloween mask.
Ans: Is this a trick question? Like I’m supposed to say Mike Meyers when I really should say William Shatner?

53) Your favorite cinematographer, and her/his greatest achievement.
Ans: I want to say Vilmos Szigmond and Crazy Mixed Up Creatures..., but it would be wrong. James Wong Howe, for Seconds. 

54) Best book about the nitty-gritty making of a movie.
Ans: I don’t think I’ve read one. The closest I’ve gotten is a few of the George Baxt mysteries (The Mae West Murder Case) but these are more about the personalities, less about the movies. 

55) If you needed to laugh right now, what would be your go-to movie comedy?
Ans: The Marx Bros. movie that I’ve watched least recently (stealing my answer to Q1). I think that’s Night at the Opera, but I’d even watch Night in Casablanca.