Books (and Bookworms) on Film Quiz | Something in Common

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Tracey Walter plays the part of a uninformed librarian who asks AIDS patient Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) to move to a more secluded part of the library to avoid contact with other readers. In what landmark film does this scene take place?

Answer: Philadelphia

While all the listed films centered at least in part on the AIDS epidemic, this 1993 film garnered the first of two consecutive Best Actor Academy Award for Hanks as an AIDS-infected lawyer suing his firm over being fired (he won for 'Forrest Gump' the following year). Only Spencer Tracy accomplished that feat before. Bruce Springsteen also garnered an Oscar for his original song 'Streets of Philadelphia'.

The scene with Hanks and Walter (you may remember from 'Conan the Destroyer', 'Batman' and dozens of other movies) was filmed at the Furness Fine Arts building at the University of Pennsylvania.

2. In what 1998 film does 'Bud Parker' (Tobey Maguire) help the kids of a black-and-white TV land fill in blank books with actual words, making the town library the hottest place in town?

Answer: Pleasantville

David (Maguire) and his sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are transported by a remote control (given to them by an old TV repairman played by Don Knotts) into a 1950s TV show about small town life and values, while they assume the characters of Bud and Mary Sue Parker.

They soon learn the idyllic lifestyle comes at a price, when they find all of the books are blank until they remember passages which then magically appear on the pages. The new books also have an interesting side effect...those who take in the new literature begin to change from black-and-white to color.

3. In what classic movie does author Paul Varjak (George Peppard) take socialite Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) on her first visit to the New York Public Library to check out one of his own books?

Answer: Breakfast At Tiffany's

This 1961 film about separate social and private lives was based on a novel by Truman Capote. Hepburn, as the irrepressible Golightly, was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in 1962, but lost to Sophia Loren for 'Two Women'. The big Oscar winner was Henry Mancini for his music score and original song, 'Moon River'.

4. In what 1962 musical does Iowa librarian Marion Paroo (Shirley Jones) find out that visiting salesman Harold Hill (Robert Preston) is a con-man?

Answer: The Music Man

Jones portrays Marion 'the Librarian' in the town of River City, Iowa. Through research, she finds Professor Harold Hill (Preston) could not have graduated from a college in Gary, Indiana because the college didn't exist until the year after he supposedly got his degree.

The 1957 Broadway production about the classic 'travelling salesman' beat out 'West Side Story' as the Best Musical at the Tony Awards. Preston reprised his Tony-winning role as Prof. Hill for the movie (Frank Sinatra was originally slated, but author Meredith Wilson balked, demanding Preston, or no one).

5. Although this 1985 Brat Pack tribute to teen angst takes place in a Shermer, Illinois high school library, the set was actually constructed at the Maine North High School Gym. What movie is it?

Answer: The Breakfast Club

Director John Hughes' screenplay about five kids spending Saturday detention in the high school library was written over two days in June of 1982. The cast of Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall was nearly switched around a few times. Ringwald wanted to play Sheedy's character (the ditzy Allison) and Estevez wanted to play Nelson's role of the anti-social Bender. Reportedly, Nelson was nearly fired over his treatment of Ringwald on the set, until Paul Gleason (Mr. Vernon) convinced Hughes he was trying to stay in character.

6. In what sci-fi classic is the fire department sent to set a library on fire, rather than put a fire out?

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

This 1966 classic with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie centers around a futuristic society that has banned books and libraries, preferring to burn them all (the title is a reference to the temperature at which paper ignites). The movie is based on the best-selling novel by Ray Bradbury.

7. In this popular movies series, several library scenes are actually filmed at the historic Bodleian Library at Oxford University. What series is this?

Answer: The 'Harry Potter' series

The library acted as the center for research at Hogwarts School for Young Wizards in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' (2001) and 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' (2002). The Bodleian, founded in 1598 (opened in 1602) is the second-largest library in the United Kingdom, after the British Library.

As a legal deposit library, the Bodleian's collection increases at a rate of about three miles of shelving a year.

8. In what prison movie does veteran actor James Whitmore play the role of Brooks, head of a prison library who has little to do with the outside world?

Answer: The Shawshank Redemption

Upon his parole, Brooks sadly finds he is unable to find meaning without the familiar prison surroundings and takes his own life in a flop house. Based on the novella by Stephen King, 'Shawshank' is about an innocent man (Tim Robbins) sentenced to life in a brutal penitentiary.

The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1995, including Best Actor for Morgan Freeman as 'Red' Redding. Many library groups praised 'Shawshank' for its positive portrayal of what a prison library is supposed to be.

9. In a poignant scene in this 1946 Frank Capra classic, Jimmy Stewart's character finds if he had never married, his wife (Donna Reed) would be doomed to become a spinster librarian. What movie is it?

Answer: It's A Wonderful Life

In this perennial holiday classic, Stewart plays the part of George Bailey, who gets a chance to find out what life in the town of Bedford Falls would be like if he were never born, through the help of a fledgling angel named Clarence (Henry Travers). Opposing him on all fronts was the great Lionel Barrymore as the sinister Mr. Potter.

10. In what 1984 movie will you find poltergeists (and a phantom librarian) attacking the card catalog of a New York library, sending the characters played by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis to the rescue?

Answer: Ghostbusters

There were a couple of near misses in casting the comedy hit about paranormal investigators. The part of Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray) was originally intended for the late John Belushi (close friend Aykroyd often referred to the ghost 'Slimer' as Belushi), the part of Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) almost went to John Candy and the role of Winston Zeddmore (Hudson) narrowly avoided going to Eddie Murphy.

Source: Author Oddball

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nannanut before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Books (and Bookworms) on Film Trivia Quiz

This is a quiz on well-known films that have libraries or librarians in a prominent role. Sort of the ultimate oxymoron...

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