One Word Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brazil

Terry Gilliam drew inspiration for his film "Brazil" (1985) from George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" as well as Italian film director Federico Fellini's distinctive visual style. Indeed, one of the working titles was "1984 1/2", which includes a nod to Fellini's "8 1/2".

The title had to be changed as Michael Radford did his own version at that time which he also called "1984". The film's title comes from the signature tune, a re-working of 'Aquarela do Brasil' and one of Brazil's most well-known songs, often simply known in English as 'Brazil'.

The image clue shows various items including Brazil nuts (the hint).

Answer: Vertigo

An Alfred Hitchcock film, "Vertigo" was based on the 1954 novel "D'entre les morts" ('From Among the Dead') by the Boileau-Narcejac duo. It is considered to be Hitchcock's best film and was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation.

It is known for the "letter writing scene" (which gives an early denouement) that Hitchcock wanted removed. There was also an alternative ending made to satisfy the US Production Code Administration, which issued guidelines for self-censorship of content. Hitchcock succeeded in fending off most of their demands.

The image clue is intended to be suggestive of vertigo.

Answer: Casino

"Casino" is based on crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's non-fiction book "Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas" (1995) with the main characters in the film being based on real people, sometimes re-shaped. Pileggi was working with Scorsese on "Goodfellas" (1990) when he started this project. Real-life mobster, turned government witness, Frank Cullotta was a technical advisor for the film, had an on-screen role as a hitman and also had a character (Frank Marino) inspired by him.

The image clue shows a pile of casino gambling chips.

Answer: Jaws

The thriller "Jaws" is a hunt for a man-eating shark. Based at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, the ocean-based filming caused problems, delays and big cost overruns. Plans to train a real great white shark were quickly abandoned, although there was some footage obtained in Australia which was incorporated following a script change. Repeated breakdowns of the mechanical sharks forced Spielberg to hint more at the shark's presence (backed up by ominous music) than originally planned. In retrospect, Spielberg felt this contributed to the film's success. It was a hit at the box office, being the highest-grossing film up until Spielberg's "Star Wars" appeared two years later. It spawned three sequels, none of which involved Benchley or Spielberg, as well as many copycat-themed films.

In the image clue, the dog's jaws are shown clamped on a stick as a hint. The dog does not seem happy.

Answer: Papillon

Steve McQueen plays Henri Charrière who makes repeated escape attempts from incarceration. Dustin Hoffman plays his companion Louis Dega. Charrière eventually successfully stays free. The film takes its title from Henri Charrière's nickname, which itself stemmed from a butterfly tattoo on his chest.

He was a safe-cracker convicted of murder, sent to French Guiana in 1931 to serve life imprisonment and subsequently pardoned in 1970. The book has proved difficult to corroborate so it is perhaps best viewed as a novelisation with embellishments.

A fresh film adaptation was released in 2017. The image clue is of a butterfly, which in French is 'papillon'.

Answer: Rocky

As well as writing the screenplay, Sylvester Stallone insisted on taking the leading role in the film. A production budget estimated to be under $1 million earned around $225 million and ten Oscar nominations, winning three. Filmed largely in Philadelphia, the 72 steps leading up to the east entrance of the Museum of Art featured in the film at one point and are now known as the Rocky Steps. A bronze Rocky statue has since been added. Stallone wrote the screenplay for the five subsequent sequels. The image shows a rocky slope as the clue.

Answer: Heat

The original script was intended as a pilot for a TV series but became the 1989 TV film "L.A. Takedown". Michael Mann re-wrote his script and directed the subsequent film "Heat" (1995). Both lead protagonists are based on real people with the career thief Neil McCauley lending his name to De Niro's character. Chicago detective Chuck Adamson is the other (although Pacino's character was called Lieutenant Vincent Hanna).

The coffee scene and conversation was based on the actual event, as was the next time they met when guns were involved. Adamson was a technical adviser for the film.

He in fact left the police in 1974 and went on to have a career as a TV producer and screenwriter. The image clue is intended to show some heat.

Answer: Sleeper

The lead actor, Woody Allen also directed and co-wrote the script for the sci-fi comedy "Sleeper" (1973). It is a parody of a dystopian future with plenty of contemporary politics and pop culture references. It was mainly filmed in and around Denver, Colorado with some Californian settings.

The futuristic elliptical curved house that appears prominently was actually built in 1963. Charles Deaton, the architect who designed it, ran out of money before finishing it and his daughter was commissioned to finish off the interior some 40 years later.

A railway sleeper is the clue to be taken from the image clue.

Answer: Magnolia

The drama "Magnolia" (1999), written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, has stories of regret, loneliness, child exploitation and failed relationships mixed in with a biblical reference to the Book of Exodus 8:2. This might explain the rain of frogs towards the end of the film. On the other hand, Charles Fort, the American writer and researcher specialising in anomalous phenomena (giving rise to the term 'Fortean"), gets a film credit and one of his books appears in the film.

The image clue shows magnolia flowers.

Answer: Frozen

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen", magic and ice are the cause and effect of the sisters' issues. Walt Disney Animation Studios produced this animated musical fantasy film after a long gestation, eventually switching to computer-generated instead of hand-drawn animations. Walt Disney Production were planning to animate fairy tales like this before switching to propaganda films during World War Two.

The film was judged a success, winning some 49 awards and propelling the name Elsa (one of the sisters) into the top 100 of most-used baby names in 2014.

The image clue shows a frozen scene.