Assorted Movie Quotes.... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Arsenic and Old Lace

Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) is a bit reluctant to introduce his fiancee, Elaine, to his family, as they are - quite frankly - all a bit bonkers. He delivers this line to Elaine to explain why he isn't sure that he wants her to meet them. He feels a little better after she assures him that he is crazy too, and she wouldn't have him any other way.

Poor Mortimer. The stress of impending marriage, finding out that his sweet old aunts might not quite be what they seem, bugle-playing Teddy, and an unexpected visit from his brother Jonathon (and his friend, Dr Einstein) were just too much to cope with....Cary Grant is wonderful as Mortimer, as is Peter Lorre as the nervous plastic surgeon.

Answer: The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

You can always trust Felicia Jollygoodfellow (the alter ego of Adam Whitely, played by Guy Pearce) to tell it like it is. This film is all about three drag artistes: Felicia, Mitzi Del Bra (Hugo Weaving), and Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp), who trundle off to the outback in their beautiful bus, Priscilla.

This line is said to an unsuspecting crucifix when our heroines arrive at their en route accommodation, only to find that the decor is, to say the least, nauseating.

Answer: Blazing Saddles

This line is delivered by Hedley (not Hedy) Lamarr (Harvey Korman), in conversation with his bumbling henchman, Taggart (Slim Pickens). The reply: 'Ditto!'

Hedley is attempting to come up with a plan to get the residents of Rock Ridge out of their town, so that a railway line can be built through it instead. He decides that since they need a new sheriff, he will give them one - Bart (Cleavon Little), the man he's just seen after looking out the window. This saves Bart from being hanged, and Hedley thinks he's sure to succeed, as he knows the people of Rock Ridge will never accept a black sheriff.
Unfortunately for Hedley, Bart turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to Rock Ridge. When he discovers Hedley's evil plan, Bart teams up with a drunken gunslinger, the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), to save the town. It seems that people either love or hate this Mel Brooks classic, but no one can deny that it does extremely creative things with the 'Western' genre. And it does it with beans.

Answer: Galaxy Quest

'Galaxy Quest' is about a bunch of washed-up actors, whose only claim to fame is a sci-fi series that went off-air years ago. One day, visitors from another world come to ask for their aid in defending themselves from a hideous foe - they think the characters were real people, and that the television series was in fact a collection of 'historical documents'.

This line is delivered when their spaceship (an exact replica of the one in the series) comes under attack, and to avoid being bombarded by torpedoes, Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) suggests that they seek refuge in a nearby space-cloud. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a mine field. - the Tothian mine field, left behind after the Great War of 12185, to be exact. The result of their excursion is that almost everything in the ship gets broken. Alan Rickman, playing Alexander Dane, playing Dr Lazarus, got quite upset about this, as any sane, classically trained actor would do.

Dane/Lazarus has quite a lot to put up with, what with Jason Nesmith/Captain Taggart's ego, Kep-mok blood ticks for lunch, and that line...the line that just won't go away. I know you want to hear it...'By Grabthar's hammer... by the Sons of Warvan... you shall be avenged.'

Answer: The Usual Suspects

Words of wisdom from Mr Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), in this masterly film. Kobayashi is one of the many characters who pops up in a police interview of Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey). The cops think they've figured it all out...but Verbal is one step ahead.

Kobayashi delivers this line when he informs five criminals that they have all at one time stolen from his employer, Keyser Soze. Apparently, the fact that none of them actually knew that they stole from him is the only reason that any of them are still breathing. To repay their debt to Soze, they have to do a job...a big job.

Answer: Warlock

This was spoken by Redferne, witchhunter and amateur time traveller, played with gusto by Richard E. Grant.

When the Warlock (Julian Sands) is sentenced to death in 1691, the devil tries to save him by sending him forward in time. Unfortunately, Redferne is also hurled into the future, and they both end up in the late 1980s. The Warlock gets busy - he has to find three sets of pages from the Grand Grimoire, a book which contains the true name of God. This is not good, as if this name is said backwards, the speaker will undo creation - and destroy the world. Needless to say, Redferne hunts the Warlock and tries to stop him from getting his evil mitts on the book. This line is delivered in one of the many confrontations between the two.

Answer: Van Helsing

A fair point, I think you will agree. The friar (David Wenham) and Anna Valerius (Kate Beckinsale) have just stumbled upon the cure for werewolf-ism, amd have to get to it somehow. Their problem is soon solved by the entrance of one of Dracula's (played by Richard Roxburgh, who looked like he was having a lot of fun) crazy brides.

Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) appears to be the left hand of God. He goes forth into scary places, and kills evil types. He is sent to Transylvania to kill Dracula, as it is prophesied that if Dracula kills all the members of the family Valerius, he will become truly immortal. On the way, he teams up with the friar and Anna (the last Valerius), and together they try to knock off the ultimate blood-sucking fiend.

Answer: Ben Hur

Judah Ben Hur (Charlton Heston) doesn't have the easiest of paths through life. Although he is the scion of a prosperous Judean family, he is unjustly imprisoned, and things just go from bad to worse.

However, things pick up when Judah saves the life of a notable Roman, Quintus Arrius, whilst working as a galley slave. Arrius adopts Judah as his son, and his mother and sister are miraculously cured of their leprosy by Jesus, who Judah also meets on two occasions. This line is said by Judah as he recalls one of those occasions, and explains how it changed his life.

Answer: From Russia With Love

This is Ernst Stavro Blofeld's heartfelt speech after the death of Kronsteen, in the second installment in the James Bond franchise. You have to admit that when SPECTRE wants you dead, you are going to go out in style.

In this film, Bond is packed off to Russia after M receives a letter from Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), saying that she has fallen in love with Bond after seeing his photograph. Furthermore, she wants him to come and take her to the West. However, she doesn't expect him to do this purely out of the goodness of his heart. In return, she will hand over a precious Lecter decryption machine. Obviously, this is a trap. However, the promise of a Lecter is too much to ignore, and off James goes - straight into a mess of assassination attempts, psychopaths and gypsy girl fights.

Ironically, Tatiana does end up falling for James - as they always do in the movies.

Answer: The Life of Brian

Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman), a self-confessed 'Red Sea pedestrian', was almost mistaken for Christ at birth, as the wise men ended up in the wrong place. (They were eventually directed to the hut next door.) His is a very strange and somewhat bewildering life, not made any easier by his overbearing and wonderfully bawdy mother, Mandy (Terry Jones) who delivers this famous line. She is quite put out by the masses who follow Brian about, and when told that he is the long-awaited Messiah, she gives them short shrift.

'The Life of Brian' strangely came to be known in Sweden as: 'The film that is so funny it was banned in Norway.' It was also banned for eight years in the Republic of Ireland, and was not released in Italy until 1990. (It was made in 1979).

I hope you have enjoyed my little quiz.