Arizona: On Film 1912-2012 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stagecoach

The 1939 John Ford film followed the story of a group of stagecoach passengers as they made their way from the Arizona territory to the New Mexico territory while dealing with each other and the threat of Geronimo on the warpath. John Wayne portrayed the Ringo Kid, a bandit who is taken into custody by the local sheriff and who helps the passengers fight off an Indian attack. "Stagecoach" had numerous filming sites in California, Colorado and Utah.

The Arizona locations were Kayenta, in northern Arizona on the Navajo Nation, and Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, which probably was pretty barren back in the 1930s when the film was made.

Answer: The Petrified Forest

The film took place in a diner in the Petrified Forest area where a drifter named Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) met and became enamored with Gabrielle, a waitress played by Bette Davis. When Duke Mantee, a bandit played by Humphrey Bogart, took the diner's customers hostage, Squier sacrificed himself to help Gabrielle. Bogart got the role thanks to Howard, who refused to appear in the film unless Bogart was cast as Duke.

Despite being set in Arizona, the movie was filmed in California.

Answer: Psycho

The Alfred Hitchcock film about a Phoenix secretary who leaves the state after embezzling money and meets a gruesome end at the hands of Bates Motel manager Anthony Perkins is considered one of Hitchcock's finest. The majority of the film was made in California at Universal Studios, but Arizona was featured in a couple of scenes.

Besides the opening sequence, the Jefferson Hotel in downtown Phoenix was also used as the hotel where Marion (Janet Leigh) and Sam (John Gavin) met for a tryst. The hotel was later converted into the Phoenix Police Museum.

Incidentally, the 1998 remake also had scenes shot in Phoenix.

Answer: Oklahoma

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones and Rod Steiger was about two romances in the Oklahoma territory circa 1900. Apparently the film was originally to be made in the title state, but the producers were concerned about the oil wells getting into the picture.

Despite being situated in the Sonoran Desert, parts of southern Arizona are fairly verdant, with grasses and trees, and the area made a suitable replacement for the state of Oklahoma. Filming sites included Amado, Elgin, San Raphael Valley, Nogales and Patagonia, all located in southern Arizona.

The rest of the movie was filmed at MGM studios in California.

Answer: The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing

The "Cat Dancing" in the title was the Shoshone name of Burt Reynolds' character's first wife. The story (circa 1880) followed outlaw Jay (Reynolds) who kidnapped Catherine (Sarah Miles) while he was on the run from the law. During the filming in Gila Bend, Arizona, David Whiting, who is referred to as Miles' manager or as a screenwriter (depending on the source) was found dead in a pool of blood in her room.

The coroner ruled the death an accidental overdose, but an inquest was held in which details of a scuffle between Reynolds, Miles and Whiting were disclosed.

The jury, however, let the coroner's ruling stand. Besides Gila Bend, scenes were also filmed at the Old Tucson movie studio in Tucson and in Utah.

Answer: The Gauntlet

Eastwood starred as an alcoholic Phoenix cop who was sent to Las Vegas to pick up a witness played by Eastwood's then girlfriend, Sondra Locke. Mobsters and a crooked police commissioner tried to stop her from testifying by attacking them as they made their way to Phoenix.

The final scenes of Eastwood and Locke making their way past a gauntlet of police was filmed in downtown Phoenix, and some of the desert scenes were filmed near Superior, Arizona.

Answer: Maverick

The film about gambler Bret Maverick's adventures on his way to participate in a poker tournament also starred Jodie Foster and James Garner, who played the original Maverick on the television series of the same name. Filming locations in Arizona included Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon and Page, a town near the Navajo Nation.

Other filming was done in Washington, Oregon, Utah and California.

Answer: 3:10 to Yuma

Set in the 1880s Arizona Territory, the film followed the story of outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) who was captured in Bisbee, Arizona and needed to be transferred to the territorial jail in Yuma. Dan Evans (Van Heflin) agreed to take the dangerous job (since Wade's gang was trying to free him) and took him to Contention City, AZ, to await the train (the 3:10 to Yuma).

The film was mainly shot in Arizona in Sedona, Dragoon, Elgin, Old Tucson studio in Tucson, Texas Canyon and Willcox. Incidentally, the 2007 remake starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale was filmed in New Mexico.

Answer: Jerry Maguire

Tom Cruise played the title character, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. won an Oscar for his portrayal of the disgruntled football player, Rod Tidwell, who agreed to remain a client of Maguire's if Maguire could get him more money. Renee Zellweger had her breakthrough role as Dorothy, the secretary who also stood by Maguire and eventually became his girlfriend.

The film had a number of memorable quotes including Tidwell's "Show me the money", Maguire's "You complete me" and Dorothy's "You had me at hello". The filming in Arizona took place in Phoenix, Apache Junction and Tempe, including football scenes filmed at Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals at the time.

Answer: Three Kings

Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze starred with Clooney in the film about soldiers who discovered a map to Saddam Hussein's bunkers filled with gold stolen from Kuwait and decided to steal it for themselves. Instead, they ended up helping Iraqis who were being targeted by Hussein's army.

The film was shot in and near Phoenix, Tucson and Casa Grande and also in California and Mexico.