Great Comedy Films of the 1960s Quiz

Answer: The Apartment

Baxter feels that by making this accommodation, he is seeking favor at his worksite but in fact he is being manipulated but at this point he has gone too far to take a stand. However, Jeff D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the big boss, promises him a promotion if he will grant him exclusive use of his apartment. Sheldrake is noted for seducing young females with promises of divorcing his wife. Baxter has had a crush on Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), an elevator operator in the office building, but is crushed to find that she is the latest Sheldrake conquest. He is further highly disturbed when returning home he finds Fran in his bed from a drug overdose in a suicide attempt.

Fred MacMurray leaned toward good guy roles in films but he makes a sleazy heel in this one.

"The Apartment" had ten Oscar nominations, winning five. Billy Wilder went to the podium three times for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Lemmon, MacLaine, and Jack Kruschen received acting nominations. After over half a century still retains a Rotten Tomatoes 93% rating.

Answer: Ron Howard

The plot is simple. Eddie wants to see his father happy again but does not want him to make a mistake. It boils down to Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens, or Dina Merrill. Who will Tom and Eddie chose? Vincente Minnelli directed.

The film had fair success but may seem dated. In 1969 it was recreated as a television sitcom and perhaps wore out its welcome. Bill Bixby and Brandon Cruz starred. The delightful Miyoshi Umeki played the housekeeper.

Ron Howard cut his teeth in show business as Andy Griffith's son Opie. As an adult he became one of Hollywood's leading directors with such diverse films as "Cocoon" (1985), "Apollo 13" (1999), and "The Da Vinci Code" (2006).

Answer: Jimmy Durante

There is a mad chase to find the loot supposedly buried under 'the big W'. Each of the comedians get ample screen time to parade their talents. Meanwhile, police chief Spencer Tracy is also looking for the money so he can retire.

Officially listed as stars in addition to those mentioned are Edie Adams, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, and Terry-Thomas.

Listed as supporting cast were Eddie Anderson, Jim Backus, William Demarest, and Peter Falk. Jimmy Durante in a cameo role starts the plot rolling with the existence of a the money. Durante an American singer, pianist, comedian, and actor with a distinctive gravelly voice and a large nose.

Nearly 50 actors and comedians are listed as cameo performers. A few you might recognize are Joe E. Brown, Ben Blue, Stan Freberg, Leo Gorcey, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, and Jerry Lewis - among many others.

In spite of excellent box office, the film barely made money due to the high cost of production, particularly salaries. The film ran over three hours but was cut to less than two hours at release over Kramer's objections. The original footage was found and is available on DVD.

The list of celebrities who did not participate is also long. Peter Sellers was replaced by Terry-Thomas as he asked for too much money, as did Red Skelton.

Answer: Both

The cartoon pink panther is used as an introduction to the film but a diamond plays a part in the film as it has an imperfection that looks like a panther. Peter Sellers introduced us to Jacques Clouseau, an incompetent but relentless French detective who was to become the central comic character in a series of sequels.

The cartoon pink panther appears in all the feature films of the franchise but the diamond pink panther only in the first and fourth episodes.

Inspector Clouseau is obsessed with a jewel thief known as "The Phantom". His clues lead him to Switzerland and Sir Charles (David Niven), but he finds a nest of possible suspects making for comic opportunities for Sellers.

Although the "Pink Panther" series were always good box office, they got little recognition from awards groups. The first had an Oscar nomination for musical score and some scattered nominations from minor film societies. After Sellers, Alan Arkin, Roger Moore, Roberto Benigni, and Steve Martin appeared as Clouseau.

Answer: The first dead man on Omaha Beach must be a sailor

Garner meets and falls in love with Julie Andrews, an English motor pool driver. She is a war widow having lost a husband, brother, and father to the war. She feels she can trust Garner as he is a 'practicing coward' but also feels the Americans are frivolous toward the war and not dedicated as the British. Garner's task then is 'Americanize' her.

Meanwhile, Garner must organize a film crew to document the first navy dead man at Omaha beach, abetted by his friend James Coburn. The film had two Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. However, it was one of those rare films with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Both Garner and Andrews later said that it was their favorite film.

Answer: American bomber pilot

Originally, Sellers was to play all four of these characters but felt he could not give his best spread so thin. So Slim Pickens played Major T.J. "King" Kong who is last seem riding an a-bomb to the ground over Russia like a cowboy on a bucking bronco.

Sellers plays a British officer with issues with a vending machine, the President of the United States that has difficulty making decisions, and Doctor Strangelove, a former Nazi scientist, recruited to work for the US during the so-called 'cold war'.

Most of the action takes place in the War Room with the general that launched a B52 bomber on a mission, miscellaneous military personnel, the president, and Dr. Strangelove.

The opening scene is a refueling plane hovering over the B52 in flight and slowly lowering the refueling hose while "Try a Little Tenderness" plays on the soundtrack, perhaps the sexiest scene ever filmed without the participation of humans.

When it becomes evident that a nuclear holocaust will destroy Earth as we know it, Dr. Strangelove recommends that each man go to live in a mine shaft taking with him ten beautiful women thereby repopulating the world in a couple of generations.

In the end we see the majestic mushroom cloud rising as we hear the closing soundtrack "We'll Meet Again".

Answer: A tin nose

"Car Ballou" is regarded as one of the funniest movies of the western genre. In order to save her ranch, Cat (Jane Fonda) hires a gunfighter, Kid Shelleen, to protect her interests. He arrives by stage coach and is dumped in the street from the baggage hold. Kid Shelleen is a hopeless and unpredictable drunk but occasionally pulls himself together to help Cat and her friends to rob a train and to confront Tim Strawn, a leering clear-eyed killer. The narrative of the plot is moved along by Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole who act as a Greek chorus.

Shelleen and Strawn are old rivals and brothers. And Shereen once bit off Strawn's nose. "Car Ballou" had five Academy Award nominations, winning only for Marvin's performance. At his acceptance speech, Marvin said, "I think... that half of this belongs to a horse somewhere out in San Fernando Valley," as in scenes his horse seemed to be drunk too. Nat King Cole had cancer and died before the film was released.

Answer: Plastics

The line is spoken by character actor Walter Brooke who appears in only the crowd scene at the graduation party. The exact quote is:

Mr. McGuire: "I just want to say one word to you. Just one word."
Benjamin: "Yes, sir."
Mr. McGuire: "Are you listening?"
Benjamin: "Yes, I am."
Mr. McGuire: "Plastics."

This is one of the most quoted lines in the film as 'plastics' represented an artificial aspect of modern life in an era when many youth were moving away from traditional values.

Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) recently graduated from college and has not applied to graduate schools nor made any plans for a career. He is seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a genuine cougar, and has an affair with her. But after he meets Elaine (Katherine Ross), Robinson's daughter, he begins to learn what love is. There are a series of misunderstandings and Elaine prepares to marry someone else but Benjamin interrupts the ceremony and the two elope on a bus - future uncertain.

Mike Nichols won the Best Director Oscar. As word on the grapevine about the film surfaced, Nichols was inundated by long lists of actors for the three main roles. Robert Redford asked why he wasn't cast. Nichols asked him if a woman had ever rejected him. Redford replied that he didn't know what he meant. Nichols said, "Exactly." Hoffman had the vulnerability that fit Nichols' vision.

The film had nominations at the Academy Awards for Hoffman, Ross, and Bancroft, Buck Henry's Screenplay, cinematography, and Best Picture.

One scene stands out. Benjamin has just rejected Mrs. Robinson in favor of her daughter Elaine. Mrs. Robinson is more emotional than we expect. The camera slowly retreats until she is in a stark white corner devastated, isolated, and alone. Critics have reappraised "The Graduate" in recent years and viewed Mrs. Robinson in a modern light as more desperate and vulnerable.

Interesting are three actors who appeared in the film but were uncredited: Mike Farrell, Richard Dreyfuss, and Elaine May.

Answer: The Odd Couple

The yin and yang of friends having different viewpoints was perfected by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. But Neil Simon brought it to an art level in his Broadway play "The Odd Couple" that he adapted into this 1968 screenplay that was Oscar nominated. The humor centers around the contrasts between the finicky Felix and the over-casual Oscar.

Oscar: "Now kindly remove that spaghetti from my poker table."
Felix: "It's not spaghetti, it's linguini."

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau seem perfectly cast as Felix and Oscar. In 1970 it became a television series that ran five seasons with Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar. Of interest is 1975's "The Sunshine Boys" in which Matthau paired with George Burns play a mismatched aging vaudevillians.

The film also was nominated for film editing.

Answer: Dick Shawn

Max Bialystock is a Broadway producer and has a reputation for flops, usually invested by an older female Max has romanced. Leo Bloom (name taken from "Ulysses" by James Joyce) is an accountant who points out to Max that he is losing money. Together they concoct a scheme to over-sell to investors but to make sure it fails and retain the over-investment themselves. They review dozens of plays and choose one written by an old Nazi called "Springtime for Hitler". For the lead part as Hitler they choose spaced-out hippie Lorenzo St. DuBois (Dick Shawn), called LSD for short. In rehearsals it looks to be in such bad taste that the audience will be appalled.

During act one, Max and Leo can see that the audience is very disturbed and they adjourn to the bar across the street to celebrate. However, between acts members of the audience come in laughing at the great satire they are seeing and looking forward to the second act. It seems that LSD's erratic performance, ad libs, and physical humor has won over the crowd and "Springtime for Hitler" is a smash hit. Now the pair is faced with awarding investors 2500% of non-existent profits.

Dick Shawn was active on the TV comedy circuit and appeared in 25 films, mostly as a supporting character, as well as maintained an active personal appearance schedule. He died of a heart attack on stage in 1987.

Mel Brooks won an Academy Award for his screenplay and Gene Wilder was nominated for Supporting Actor. In 2005 "The Producers" was refilmed as a musical starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the lead roles but it did only mediocre business.

Mel Brooks as director was used to the fast pace of television and was not tolerant of some the complexities of feature films so assistant directors were hired to assist him.