The Golden Turkey Awards Trivia Quiz

Answer: Plan 9 From Outer Space

"Plan 9" won with 392 votes, followed closely by "The Exorcist II" with 386 votes. Strangely enough, Harry Medved's previous book, "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time" didn't even mention "Plan 9" (and "The Exorcist II" hadn't been made yet), which makes one wonder about the completeness of the research of that time.

Answer: Rat Pfink A Boo Boo

"Rat Pfink A Boo Boo" was of course the classic thriller/camp hero movie by Ray Dennis Steckler.

Years later, Steckler had an encounter with Harry Medved years later in which Medved told him that he had just seen "Rat Pfink" and was now sorry to have disparaged it the way he had in the book. Steckler, like most people, was more shocked that Medved would write anything about a movie he had never seen.

Answer: Paul Newman

Paul Newman won for his performance in the not-quite-epic Biblical flick "The Silver Chalice", in which he played Basil, the guy who designed the chalice that held the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper.

Answer: Government Girl

"Government Girl" was an en-durably dull film with Tufts as a bureaucrat trying to increase production at a defense plant. Even with Olivia DeHavilland, director Dudley Nichols couldn't do much with this one. Definitely one of the few Golden Turkeys I can agree with completely.

Answer: John Wayne as Genghis Khan

'The Duke' appeared as the ruler of the Mongols in "The Conqueror", playing the Khan with all the elan and panache of a cowboy with a long mustache.

On the sad side, it is believed that appearing in this film caused the cancer that eventually took John Wayne's life, as it was filmed near a radiation leak (many of the other performers also succumbed because of this).

Answer: Mary Tyler Moore in "Change of Habit"

Mary Tyler Moore had help in this one, since this was Elvis's last movie (who was as well, playing a young doctor who tempts her nun into leaving the Order).

Answer: Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch, though beautiful, was never much of an actress. Her best performance was "One Million Years B.C.", where she didn't have to say anything.

Answer: Richard Burton

Any of those folks could have been the winner (as could many, many actors not listed), but Burton won for his classical training (which led him to at least one great performance in "Looking Back in Anger") and his hammy style (which led him to most of his other performances).

Answer: Edward D. Wood, Jr.

Again, we have an award of somewhat dubious value, since many great 'bad' directors aren't even included at nominees (Ray Dennis Steckler, Bill Rebane, William Grefe, among others). This award, along with the award for Worst Film of All Time, did start the major rekindling of interest in Ed Wood's films that culminated with Martin Landau's Oscar win for playing Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood".

Answer: Dog of Norway

The clue to the fact that "Dog of Norway" was fake was that the dog featured in the 'movie still' from the film was also seen with the authors in the picture included with their biographies.