Best Picture Change-a-Letter Q-Z Quiz

Answer: Shakespeare IQ Love

"Shakespeare in Love" is an attempt to humanize the playwright by depicting his own struggles in love, ironically while he struggles over the composition of "Romeo and Juliet." The comedy was the first to win a Best Picture in that genre for 21 years, beating films like "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line." Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) unsuccessfully works on his newest tragedy until he holds auditions for the part of Romeo and is impressed by the work of Thomas Kent.

In traditional Shakespearean fashion, the boy is actually a girl named Viola, and the playwright falls in love.

Their affair is chronicled in the play that grows in success, but the marriage is futile, because Shakespeare has a wife and Viola is promised to Lord Wessex.

However, in a strange turn of events, Shakespeare ends up playing Romeo at his play's premiere, and Viola plays Juliet. Afterwards, following a sad farewell, Viola sails to Virginia and the Queen instructs Shakespeare to write something happier for his next work. Ironically, Viola is shown in a shipwreck as the only survivor at the end of the movie, just what happens at the start of "Twelfth Night."

Answer: Driving Miss Dairy

The 1989 Best Picture Winner of "Driving Miss Daisy" is a touching drama about prejudice and friendship. Jessica Tandy stars as Miss Daisy, an aged Jewish woman from Atlanta, Georgia, who needs to hire a chauffeur for transportation after she can no longer drive safely.

She finds Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman), a black illiterate driver. Miss Daisy begins to connect with Hoke, teaching him how to read and beginning to understand the prejudice against him. When Miss Daisy's black housemaid dies, she is the only white woman to attend the funeral. Miss Daisy and Hoke attend a dinner at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was scheduled to speak.

The movie ends in 1973, when Miss Daisy is 97 years old and in a retirement home, eating Thanksgiving dinner with her best friend.

Answer: Gone With the Wins

"Gone with the Wind" is traditionally considered one of the greatest films of all time, a 1939 epic based on Margaret Mitchell's novel about the American Civil War South. Vivien Leigh stars as Scarlett O'Hara, the vain and flirtatious owner of the plantation Tara in southern Georgia. Scarlett falls in love with Ashley Wilkes, but although he loves her, he has promised marriage instead to his cousin Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett accepts a proposal from Melanie's brother Charles not out of love, but to be closer to Ashley. Soon after, Charles dies of disease during the Civil War. A military man named Rhett Butler tries to win Scarlett's hand, but she rejects him, waiting for Ashley to return to her. Scarlett, with an dangerously ill Melanie, returns to Tara to find it ravished by Union soldiers.

Ashley returns from war, but he still won't marry Scarlett. She instead proposes to Frank Kennedy for his money, which she hopes will pay off any taxes on her plantation. Kennedy dies soon too, in a botched revenge for a wound his wife suffered while traveling through a poor city. Rhett Butler then proposes to Scarlett, and she accepts for her third marriage. Scarlett becomes pregnant with Rhett's child, but she suffers a miscarriage from a nasty fall. Then, Melanie dies in labor with her second child. Scarlett, however, realizes that she can't love Ashley now. Rhett leaves his wife, knowing of her feelings for Ashley Wilkes, with his immortal line, "Frankly, my dear..." At the film's end, Scarlett appears courageous before the unknown future.

Answer: The Trench Connection

"The French Connection" was the first R-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, because it centered around narcotics operations in France and New York City. Detectives Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his role) and Cloudy Russo (Roy Scheider) are undercover in the Big Apple, trying to investigate the illegal drug smuggling situation.

They eventually catch a lead, the Frenchman Alain Charnier, and follow it. Doyle is almost shot by Pierre Nicoli, Charnier's henchman, and the two engage in a dangerous chase through New York City's subways, before Doyle gains the upper hand. Police officers set up a roadblock around the drug deal, and although his associate is killed, Charnier manages to escape. Doyle follows him into a warehouse; in the darkness, he accidentally kills not Charnier, but a federal agent named Mulderig. Charnier escapes.

Answer: The Stung

Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker, respectively, in the George Roy Hill-directed film "The Sting." Gondorff and Hooker team up in an attempt to avenge the death of their friend and counterpart in con operations, Luther Coleman. Coleman had been killed by crime boss Doyle Lonnegan, a wealthy banker in addition to his illegal activities. Gondorff manages to sneak his way into one of Lonnegan's high-risk poker games after stealing the boss' wallet, then out-cheats him to win $15,000. Hooker comes to collect the money, but pretends that he wants to destroy Gondorff's business with Lonnegan's help.

He sets up an elaborate ruse to convince Lonnegan to bet on fake horse races so that he always "wins." Eventually, the boss bets five hundred thousand dollars on a race before he realizes what happens.

The FBI steps in after Hooker is forced to incriminate Gandorff; in fury, Gandorff shoots his partner. An FBI agent shoots Gandorff. Lonnegan agrees to leave so as not to be involved in the deaths of the two partners.

Then, Gandorff and Hooker stand up (they were shooting fake bullets), revealing the final stage of the "sting." The FBI gets a bit of the money, and Gandorff takes the rest (Hooker refuses to take any).

Answer: Chariots of Five

The 1981 Best Picture Winner, "Chariots of Fire," was a British film directed by Hugh Hudson, about the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) is a Jewish runner who faces prejudice at Cambridge University for his religion. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) is a Scottish runner who trains in Scotland while his parents work as missionaries in China. Abrahams hires a professional trainer to help him improve to Liddell's level in preparation for the '24 Olympics. Liddell earns the enmity of his family by missing a prayer session while training. Upon arrival in Paris, Liddell learns that his first heat will race on Sunday, which is against his religion; thankfully, a teammate offers to trade races with him. Abrahams, after losing in the 200-meter sprint, wins gold at the 100-meter level. Liddell wins the 400-meter race against more heavily-favored opponents. Both runners remain devoted to their faiths, family, and friends after the Games and their careers end.

Answer: All About Ewe

The 1950 Best Picture Winner "All About Eve" was nominated for fourteen Oscars, a record unsurpassed until 1997's "Titanic." It won six of the prizes, including Best Director (Joseph Mankiewicz) and Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders). The story of the title character, played by Anne Baxter, is told sarcastically by Sanders, in the role of a theater critic named Addison deWitt. Eve envies the top actress on Broadway, Margo Channing (Bette Davis), and schemes to supplant her success.

She earns Margo's confidence, but quickly works to undermine the actress' fame: she causes Margo to miss a performance at which the top theater critics would be present, then she, as an understudy, performs to wild reviews. Eve storms into a role previously awarded to Margo and is successful, especially after fraternizing with DeWitt. DeWitt learns of her treachery, however, and blackmails Eve into having a relationship with him.

The movie ends when a fan of Eve's (reminiscent of Eve's character at the beginning of the film) begins to see herself in her idol's place in the spotlight.

Answer: Rain Max

The 1988 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay went to Barry Levinson's "Rain Man." Tom Cruise stars as Charlie Babbitt, a car dealer who leaves on vacation with his girlfriend Susanna as the movie opens.

Unfortunately, the trip is ruined when Charlie finds out that his father has died, leaving him a car and no money. Investigating where the money went, Charlie learns that his father willed it to an unknown brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), who suffers from autism in a mental institution. Charlie drives Raymond back to Los Angeles to settle the will in his favor; as the trip progresses, he begins to increasingly care for and love his brother.

After morally developing from an exploitative car dealer to a caring older brother, Charlie realizes that he doesn't care about the money and just wants to stay with his brother.

Answer: No Country for Old Yen

"No Country for Old Men" is based on McCarthy's acclaimed 2005 novel, whose title was originally from William Butler Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium." The Coen Brothers scored a Best Director Academy Award for their work on the film set in West Texas in the year 1980.

As Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) notes how violent the area has become in recent years, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) comes across two million dollars lying in a small bag near the site of a violent drug dispute. A hired killer, Anton Chigurh, is recruited to retrieve the money from Moss and uses violent methods to achieve that end. Moss flees, but returns to El Paso when Chigurh threatens his wife.

The sheriff is too late to save Moss' life, when the man is killed soon after passing the money off to his wife, Carla Jean. Chigurh comes to Carla Jean with a gun, asking for the money, but she defies him.

Her death is implied. Chigurh leaves the house and escapes without being detained by the police.

Answer: Tom Zones

The 1963 comic adaptation of Henry Fielding's bildungsroman "Tom Jones" was directed by Tony Richardson, who incorporated several cinematic elements that made the humor refreshing; for example, the movie begins with a sequence reminiscent of silent movies. Tom Jones is delivered mysteriously to the house of Squire Allworthy, who raises the orphan as his own son. Tom falls in love with the beautiful Sophie Western, but they can't marry because of his low social status.

Instead, she is coerced to marry Blifil, who of course hates Tom Jones and seeks to ruin the boy's fortunes. Eventually, Tom leaves to seek his way in the world, having exciting and ridiculous adventures. Tom is framed for a crime that he did not commit, but is saved with Allworthy finds out that the boy is actually his nephew.

He courts Sophie and they marry.