Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Meme Leech :: For the Love of Calibos! Another SLIFR Quiz-Bowl-O-Rama!


Welp, haven't done one of these in awhile. And so, courtesy of the always entertaining proprietor of Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule, I present my late as always answers to the Miss Jean Brodie's Modestly Magnificent Matriarchally Manipulative Springtime-for-Mussolini Movie Quiz:

1) The classic movie moment everyone loves except me is: 


"The hills are alive with the sound of please shut-the-hell-up..."

2) Favorite line of dialogue from a film noir:


"Such a lovely body. It's revolting."

Actually, the whole scene in Frank Tuttle's This Gun for Hire (1942) between bad guy Gates (Laird Cregar) and his hired muscle (Marc Lawrence) on the disposal of Ellen Grahame (Veronica Lake), who knows too much to live, is just fantastic -- from prissy Cregar being both morbidly fascinated and repulsed by all the gory details about cat-gut tethers and staged suicides to the subtle, censor-slipping insinuation that Grahame will be stripped naked before she's deep-sixed (-- a "secret" that will be just between the dastardly chauffeur and the lake.) Again, great, great stuff.

3) Second favorite Hal Ashby film:


4) Describe the moment when you first realized movies were directed as opposed to simply pieced together anonymously:

Probably one of the many action sequences during the repeated viewings of Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1981. I'm thinking the sequence where Indy attacks the truck convoy full of Nazis to get the Ark back.

5) Favorite film book:


6) Diana Sands or Vonetta McGee? 

McGee!

7) Most egregious gap in your viewing of films made in the past 10 years:

Geez. I dunno. Maybe not making it an even sixteen screenings of The Avengers (2012) while it was in theater? In the same vein, there are too many movies to name that deserved to be seen on the big screen that are still good but lose something at home. I had a chance to see Casino Royale (2006) in IMAX and passed it up, leaving me to enjoy that fabulous opening sequence in all its 35-inch glory.

8) Favorite line of dialogue from a comedy:

It's a tie between this from Spielberg's 1941 (1979)...


"I don't think you're gonna hit 'em, Ward." 
 
And this bit from Broken Lizard's Super Troopers (2001)...


"Uh, excuse me. Bear -- Bear-F@*ker. Do you need assistance?"


9) Second favorite Lloyd Bacon film:


10) Richard Burton or Roger Livesey? 


"Pazuzu!"

11) Is there a movie you staunchly refuse to consider seeing? If so, why?

The Passion of the Christ. One, I know how it ends. Two, the hypocrisy over the violent and bloody content that is nothing less than torture porn getting a pass as long as it's "educational." And third, despite all the props for historical accuracy and being in the original Aramaic, our Lord and Savior was still played by a white guy.

12) Favorite filmmaker collaboration:


Budd Boetticher, Burt Kennedy, Charles Lawton Jr., and Randolph Scott in The Tall T (1957), Ride Lonesome (1959) and Commanche Station (1960).

13) Most recently viewed movie on DVD/Blu-ray/theatrical?

DVD: Hollywood Hotel (1937). More Busby Berkeley mayhem with an incredible jam-session in the middle, where Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa really cut loose and wail. BluRay: Forbidden Planet (1956). Theatrical: Skyfall (2012). Streaming: Violence (1947). And yes, dammit, VHS: Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). (Note to self: watch more Joan Blondell musicals.)

14) Favorite line of dialogue from a horror movie:


"Speak. I know you have a civil tongue in your 
head because I sewed it back myself."

15) Second favorite Oliver Stone film:


16) Eva Mendes or Raquel Welch? 


17) Favorite religious satire:

 
Sure, it's more a satire on movie-making with disasters of biblical proportions, but, eh, if this helps someone else see it for the first time, then my work here is done. (Otherwise, Greaser's Palace.)

18) Best Internet movie argument?


I remember getting into an argument with a guy who wrote off Gordon Flemyng's The Split (1968) based solely on the fact that he couldn't buy Ernest Borgnine beating Jim Brown in a fistfight. I called bullshit on that argument, with Emperor of the North as my evidence, feeling not only could Borgnine win the fight but, win or not, the fight would've at least lasted a helluva lot longer than my idiot friend thought possible.

19) Most pointless Internet movie argument?

The vilification of  George Lucas over innumerable charges of childhood raping. Seriously. Stop that.

20) Charles McGraw or Robert Ryan? 


 Ryan -- but there's nothing wrong with second place to him.

21) Favorite line of dialogue from a western:


 "I thought you never drew on a man?"
 "That's right, sir. Only snakes."

And it's Ben Johnson's stomach-sick reaction to all the men he's just killed after delivering the line in Wagon Master (1950) that really brings it home.

22) Second favorite Roy Del Ruth film:


23) Relatively unknown film or filmmaker you’d most eagerly proselytize for:

I really dug Paul Andrew Williams' London to Brighton (2006) and the nigh inexplicable genre-shift in The Cottage (2008) still makes me giggle. Finally caught Cherry Tree Lane (2010) and it was pretty good, too. So, yeah, go watch these as soon as possible.

24) Ewan McGregor or Gerard Butler?

McCregor in a laugher. Butler isn't even on my ballot. Weird.

25) Is there such a thing as a perfect movie?

If there is, I haven't found it yet. The closest I think I've come to is the recently departed Del Tenney's The Horror of Party Beach (1964). No. Seriously.

26) Favorite movie location you’ve most recently had the occasion to actually visit:


A couple of summers ago I was in Pittsburgh with the usual collective head-of-knuckle for the Drive-In Super Monster Rama and we took the opportunity to visit the Evans City cemetery, where Image-10 shot the opening sequence from Night of the Living Dead (1968). Man, I really need to write up that adventure someday. 


27) Second favorite Delmer Daves film:


28) Name the one DVD commentary you wish you could hear that, for whatever reason, doesn't actually exist:


The Thing from Another World (1951): moderated by Tom Weaver with Ken Tobey, Robert Cornwaithe, Bill Self and any other surviving cast member -- including James Arness. I had high, high hopes for this for years but with Tobey, Arness and Cornwaithe no longer being with us, this, alas, will never be except in my head.

29) Gloria Grahame or Marie Windsor? 


Again, nothing wrong with second place here.

30) Name a filmmaker who never really lived up to the potential suggested by their early acclaim or success:

M. Knight Shamalamadingdong. Instead of concentrating on what worked in The Sixth Sense (1999), everything he's done since has been an extrapolation on what didn't.

31) Is there a movie-based disagreement serious enough that it might cause you to reevaluate the basis of a romantic relationship or a friendship?

Nah. Unless The Sound of Music is your favorite movie. Then we're gonna tussle like Milton Berle and Terry-Thomas! With that, until next time, Boils and Ghouls. Quiz out!



1 comment:

le0pard13 said...

Fun read. Another stellar movie quiz by Dennis.

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