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Here are your favorite movie nerds | Main | Countdown to Van Halen ยป

February 18, 2008

How well do you know Oscar?

When it comes to the 80s, everyone here is a pro. But how well do you know movie history beyond our favorite decade?

I've created a 15-question, interactive Oscar Quiz for everyone to take. Basically, you'll hear a short sound clip and have to pick the movie.

Click here to take the quiz. Drop a comment afterward and let me know how you did. (I'm guessing that if I hadn't written it, I'd get about 12 or 13 questions correct.)

Comments

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jane

Lookee what I found on Amazon today: a fairly nice selection of classic movies at 50% off...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&plgroup=1&docId=1000197331&plpage=1

Al, I immediately thought about you, as An Affair To Remember is listed (you romantic you)... along with that great camp classic "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" and Joan Crawford & Her Eyebrows in "The Best of Everything." Plus "Some Like It Hot" which should be in EVERYONE'S film library. Period.

Marissa

Awe, man! I wanna come to the party. Why can't I live in FL? Jeez!

Marissa

I seriously need to get Netflix again ... or summin'

jane

Al, you're killing me. In a good way. Especially that Kim Possible reference. But tsk tsk tsk on getting your Bond Nymphos confused. I expected more from you.

And Clark -- great idea about a Slap Shot Watch Party. I think that's going to be the film featured today on my version of Sick Girl Cinema, since this awful cold I've acquired got much more intense overnight and all I feel like doing (after taking the kiddo to school) is watching movies. If I have time, I'll follow it up with The Last American Virgin (thanks, Netflix!)

Al

Sorry, "For Your Eyes Only" was the Bond movie.

Al

Ice Castles? Just watched the ending thanks to Youtube......starring the nympho from "The Spy Who Loved Me"......mmmm.

Al

I had a chance to be in "Slapshot 2" as an extra.......sure glad I turned that down. What a piece of crap that movie was.

Just like the horrible Cutting Edge 2 they did a few years ago with Kim Possible.....ugh.

Clark

13 out of 15. Missed The Philadelphia Story and Shakespeare In Love. I'm still a bum.

More importantly, who's up for a Slapshot watch party?

Marissa

Karla DeVito and Robbie Benson are also responsible for the song "We Are Not Alone" on The Breakfast Club soundtrack (which I had on vinyl). I remember being quite astonished when I read the liner notes and credits.
If I'm not mistaken, that song is what's being blared over the library sound system after they get stoned and proceed to dance about the place.

Marissa

Jinkies! I forgot he was a host on SOLID GOLD! Man, how I loved that show. We'd watch that show and make fun of and often imitate the final pose of the Solid Gold Dancers during the countdown.

Marissa

Ah, Rex Smith! He's actually sort of cute in a Broadway kind of way.
I remember his short lived TV series "Street Hawk." According to IMDb, Mr. Smith was born in Jacksonville, FL.

jane

Now, I have a small amount of affection for Rex Smith because he was in "Pirates of Penzance" with La Ronstadt and Kevin Kline. Who is married to Phoebe Cates, star of the aforementioned "Lace." So we've come full circle. Sort of.

jane

Robbie Benson is only cool to me because he's married to Karla DeVito, the woman in the video for my favorite guilty pleasure song of all time, Meat Loaf's "Paradise By the Dashboard Light." However, even though she was in the video with sweaty Mr. Loaf, it was Ellen Green (of Little Shop of Horrors fame) who actually sang on the recorded version of the song.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j0ns8t9iQck

Tonianne

Yeah - he and that "Sooner or Later"/"Take My Breath Away" actor/singer Rex Smith never did it for me, either.


Marissa

Ya know, Tonianne, I thought of "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" as I watched that clip.

I never had a crush on Robbie Benson. I know a lot of girls who did, but I resisted his baby blues. I think it was his wussy voice that did him in.

Tonianne

With that ending Marissa, it is definitely deserving of an Academy Award nod.

So long as it is not up against those Oscar-worthy performances given by John Travolta and Glynnis O'Connor -as they rides off into the sunset at the end of "The Boy in a Plastic Bubble."

Filmmaking at its finest.

Jeff in Cuba

Do I have the only Y-chromosome on the blog tonight?

It's like the Lifetime channel in here!

Jeff in Cuba

15 out of 15, due in no small part to the fact that it took 4 minutes to load each question, giving me ample time to ponder my choices before I listened.

Hooray for lousy bandwidth!

jane

Slap Shot trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW67agGgWAM

The Hansen Brothers kill me. Every time.

jane

Oh, Marissa. I'm going to have nightmares about my recital now. And no, not me. We didn't have such fancy tech things like video cameras back in the dark ages when I was a piano student.

I know Strother Martin because he played George Barkely, a game show contestant that ended up briefly on Gilligan's Island.

I'm so ashamed I just admitted that's why I know him, but TV is my weakness.

Marissa

I'm a sucker for a sappy & happy ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTyD_8hcmzA

Tonianne

Re: Slapshot

M. Emmet Walsh was in it. Of course it ruled.

Also in "Slapshot" was Strother Martin, who starred in another of my most favorite childhood flicks, "Sssssss."

Mad doctor Martin turns Dirk Benedict into a snake. So incredibly bad it was good.

jane

Hey Miss Riss -- you can sing and I can accompany you and sing harmony. We'll be like the Captain and Tennille -- only more like Tennille and Tennille.

Marissa

Please, don't let this feeling end
It's everything I am
Everything I want to be
I can see what's mine now
Finding out what's true
Since I found you
Looking through the eyes of love

C'mon everybody! Sing along with me.
I actually sang that at a wedding. Oh yeah, I captured the spirit of Melissa Manchester that day.

jane

LACE! Loved it, loved it, loved it -- the book and the miniseries. I can remember my mother and her galpals giggling over the goldfish bit. "Which one of you b&^*#s is my mother?" Classic. (Although truth be told, I was more of a Judith Krantz/Scruples girl back in the day.)

And I'll have you know that I played the "Theme from Ice Castles" at one of my piano recitals. I still get a little pit in my stomach when I hear that music -- nervous residue.

PS: Slap Shot rules. Just sayin'.

Tonianne

After the miniseries "Lace," "Ice Castles" was my favorite guilty pleasure as a kid. Somewhere I still have a copy of the Ice Capades program Lynn Holly Johnson signed for me.

Anyone remember "Champions: A Love Story" with Jimmy McNichol?

Steve Spears

I love all good, cheesy hockey/skating movies. Even Ice Castles is sacred to me.

So is Youngblood, Cutting Edge, The Mighty Ducks, Slap Shot (but not the sequel -- a guy's gotta have standards.)

Still waiting for Ice Castles 2, where Robby Benson is selling Slushees at the old rink. Or "One on One 2", where Benson is coaching Western University now.

jane

"Toe pick!"

Rick

Dang! 14 out of 15. Missed the Diane Keaton question.

But in fairness to me, I guessed MANHATTAN. The characters were practically interchangeable. The only thing worse would be to hear a sound bite of Woody Allen since he plays the same cartoon version of himself in all his films.

Al

"I'm just about four hours late, Rita..."

Al

Jane, "Parlez-vous Olympics?!" Haha. I can quote that movie all day long.

jane

I feel a little better about dropping the ball on the Godfather one if it almost stumped Mr. Persall. (PS: Sofia's much better behind the camera, in my opinion.)

And Al... "I swear, you let me down and it'll take them a month to count the blade marks on your back."

Steve Persall

OK, I got all 15 right (Princess Di is my witness), but the Godfather thing almost stumped me. They run together for me, too, unless I hear Sofia Coppola's monotone or "Joey Zaza's got a message for me?"

Al

Jane, I'm in love. Any girl who realizes just how cheesy/awesome "The Cutting Edge" is, is truly one special chick.

jane

You are correct, Al -- Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr were in "An Affair to Remember."

"Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there... " *sniff* I'm all ferklempt just thinking about that last scene.

And "The Cutting Edge" is good and cheesy and great on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's one of those that I have to stop and watch a little bit of whenever I surf by it.

Lisette

14 - Got the Casablanca question wrong.

Al

12 out of 15 for me, good quiz Steve.......

Hey ladies, wasn't Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember"? Other than the cheesy "The Cutting Edge",
"Affair" is my favourite romantic movie.

Big Tex

14 - The Godfather got me! How emasculating!

Dan Vhay

15 out O' 15. Either the quiz was too easy o rI watch too many g-dmned movies . . .

Omar

12 of 15. I missed the ones about Sound of Music, Philadelphia Story and Godfather Part II.

Walter Cox

14. Dern that Judi Dench.

Walter Cox

14. Dern that Judi Dench.

Tom

15 for me. I remember going on a class field trip to see "Oliver!" when I was in elementary school. How weird is that. Great job with the quiz, Steve.

jane

Agreed about Cary Grant, Bassnote. Between "The Philadelphia Story" and "Bringing Up Baby", he and Miss Hepburn made a great screwball comedy team. Also loved him in "His Girl Friday" with Rosalind Russell. And... if you haven't seen it, check out one of his last films "Walk, Don't Run" where he plays the elder statesman foil to Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar and is utterly charming. As usual.

'80s tie-in: I love that John Cleese's character in "A Fish Called Wanda" ('88) is called Archie Leach, an affectionate shout-out to Mr. Grant's given name, Archibald Leach.

Spears

I take back my previous comment: Casablanca was actually the toughest movie to pull a quote from. I knew all along WHICH quote I wanted, but I always thought the scene happened early in the movie -- not late in the movie. So I spent a ton of time going back and forth trying to find that great "Shocked!" line. Time well spent.

Bassnote

I love Philadelphia Story. Carey Grant was a great actor, and he had such fantastic comic timing. Jimmy stewart was pretty great too. I was never a big Katherine Hepburn fan, but I will give her kudos for her acting prowess. I always preferred Audrey Hepburn.

Tonianne

I saw a clip a few years back of Benigni's appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell show. She explained how moved she was by his performance in Life is Beautiful, and to honor him she presented him with Charlie Chaplin's hat.

Benigni was visibly shocked and so touched by her gesture that he responded he wished he could give her Buster Keaton's pants in return. It was one of the sweetest, most genuine exchanges I'd ever seen on TV.

jane

I can see where the time stamp would have been sweet relief for Oliver (cannot stand musicals with children in them -- dislike Annie for the same reason, but I digress), but for The Philadelphia Story and On the Waterfront -- helpful indeed, but I would have watched them both happily.

Marissa

Steve, it's an effort greatly appreciated by moi. Had it not been an audio quiz, I would have failed miserably. By the way, did I mention I got a perfect score? LOL

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About This Blog

Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.

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