"Checking Out": A Peter Falk Film Quiz

Answer: Laura San Giacomo

Laura San Giacomo plays Flo Applebaum, a sardonic but good-hearted person who falls in love with a doctor who has come to talk her father out of committing suicide. She has appeared in a number of movies and TV series, including "The Mentalist" in 2013. San Giacomo won the Best Actress Award for "Checking Out" at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in 2005.

Answer: New York City (Manhattan)

In "Checking Out", Morris Applebaum (Peter Falk), thwarts his concerned children and takes a cab around Manhattan, and at one point is seen driving it himself! He doesn't take any fares, though, as he doesn't have a license. (New York City is famous for its enforcement of taxicab regulations; it is just as famous for the gypsy cabs that defy them.)

"Checking Out" won two Copper Wing Awards for Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Phoenix Film Festival in 2005.

Answer: David Paymer

A native of Oceanside, New York, David Paymer has played a number of roles in film, including "Quiz Show", "The American President", and "Ocean's Thirteen". He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "Mr. Saturday Night" (1992). On television, he has played a number of guest roles, including that of a serial killer in "The Mentalist", and he had a regular role in "Line of Fire" (2003).

The doctor that comes to intervene actually specializes in juvenile cases; there was a misunderstanding on the phone as to the age of Morris Applebaum. (Besides, he was the only psychiatrist available, as most of the ones that the son knew were on vacation.)

Answer: The tushie room

Morris Applebaum would often invite young and "crazy" and penniless painters into his home, feed them, and give them 20 bucks to paint a picture of his wife's tush. (He had great admiration for this part of her anatomy.) Many of these paintings became quite valuable, as some of the "crazy" young painters turned out to be geniuses like Picasso and Andy Warhol.

In fact, Morris is able to use one of the Picasso paintings to leverage a scholarship for film school for his granddaughter.

Answer: Lauren Bacall

The characters in "Checking Out" discuss many performers who changed their name to sound "less Jewish", and Lauren Bacall was very much part of the discussion. Interestingly, Peter Falk, who plays central character Morris Applebaum, is an example of a performer of Jewish heritage who did *not* change his name. He was born in New York City to owners and managers of a clothing and dry good store. So, in fact, Falk's character in the movie is in some ways self-reflexive.

Husky-voiced Lauren Bacall first appeared with Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not" (1944). She married him and also appeared in several of his films. She worked steadily in the 1940s and '50s, but her career began to wane in the 1960s, although she continued to work occasionally. For "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996), Bacall received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award, and in 2009 she received an honorary Academy Award "in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures".

Answer: Poor production values

Morris actually likes the production values and compliments his granddaughter's work. The commercial opens with "To BMW or not BMW, that is the question" -- and it goes downhill from there. As Morris made his fame on the stage performing Shakespeare, he takes great exception.

Moreover, even though World War II ended 60 years ago, Morris is upset that his son is selling "Nazi" cars made in Germany. Morris relates how he learned that Henry Ford had a portrait of Hitler hanging in his office and promptly drove his Lincoln into a lake in protest. Morris is also upset that Barry removed the 'baum' from 'Applebaum', which Morris says was to hide his Jewishness.

Answer: Harry Houdini

When they first strap him in, Morris warns his family by saying, "It's not for nothing that I knew Erich Weiss." What they don't realize is that Erich Weiss was the birth name of Harry Houdini (1874-1926), the magician and escape artist known for challenging police to handcuff and straitjacket him (and then freeing himself in a matter of minutes). Morris's daughter-in-law, the wife of car-dealer son Barry, tells the rest of the family who Erich Weiss was when they discover the orderly rendered unconscious and strapped to the bed.

After Morris escapes, his family chases him through Manhattan, and they discover that everyone seems to know who he is, but no one other than his family knows about the suicide plan.

Answer: Recited Shakespeare's "The Tempest" all by himself

The performance was thrilling and got the attention of passers-by, the cast of a broadway play, a gypsy cab-driver, and a family who was working late cleaning, among others. The family had brought their daughter with them, as they couldn't afford a babysitter, and she was inspired to become an actress. (And Morris used his money to restore the temple that serves as the site for a workshop for kids.) The gypsy cab driver was inspired to go legit and own a legal cab (not easy as the medallions that cabs are required to have are *very* hard to come by).

At the party, the doctor takes a call from his mother, who tells him that she met his father when they watched Morris's performance that night. In fact, many people remembered that performance and were inspired to do great things with their lives.

Many also came back night after night, expecting another show, so the family had to paint a sign saying, "Sorry, No Tempest".

Answer: They invite hordes of people he never expected.

Morris Applebaum invited family and a few friends for a small soiree at his Manhattan apartment but his children invite everyone whose life was touched by Morris -- and it turns out to be a throng of people lining the street beneath his balcony on West 86th. Hundreds of New Yorkers carry signs singing Applebaum's praises, and they cheer and whistle for him.

It is such a commotion that it nearly moves him to tears.

Answer: No

Morris is so moved by the people who came to cheer for him in the balcony, that he denounces his plan publicly. In fact, he cancels his "reservation" with the funeral home, though he tells them to keep the deposit, "'cause I'm gonna need it eventually."

"Checking Out" won the Platinum Award for Independent Theatrical Feature Films & Videos (Comedy) at the WorldFest Houston in 2005.