Crooked Deals in Hollywood Trivia Quiz

Answer: All the King's Men

"All the King's Men" (1949) is based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren about a southern political who begins with noble intentions but falls under the weight of his own corruption. The character of Willy Stark is based on Louisiana Governor Huey Long.

"The Heiress" features Olivia de Havilland as the title character; she won an Academy Award as Best Actress. "A Letter to Three Wives" won an Academy Award for Director Joseph Mankiewicz; it is a potboiler about strained marriages. "Twelve O'Clock High" is about bomber pilots during World War II; Dean Jagger won a Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor.

"The Third Man" stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, and Orson Welles as the morally bankrupt Harry Lime. The film is regarded as a classic for its zither score by Anton Karas as well as its acting and direction. It contains one of the most famous entrance shots in all of cinema (the revelation that Lime is alive), as well as one of the great closing shots (Valli walking down a barren street).

Answer: The African Queen

"The African Queen" (1951) stars legendary actors Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Hepburn is a classy British missionary and Bogart is an extremely unclassy riverboat captain. "The African Queen" is the name of Bogart's boat. The film is set in Africa in the fall of 1914, and has our heroes fighting nasty Germans during World War I. Bogart actually won a Best Actor Oscar, and Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress; John Huston was nominated for Director and Screenplay. But no nomination as Best Picture for the film still ranked #65 on the AFI 100 list in 2008.

"Sunset Boulevard" (1950), the tale of washed up actress Norma Desmond was nominated for Best Picture, but for 1950. It lost to "All About Eve".

"A Streetcar named Desire" (1951) is based on the Tennessee Williams play, and stars Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh (who won for Best Actress as Blanche DuBois). "A Place in the Sun" is a a remake of the Theodore Dreiser novel "An American Tragedy" and features Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor; it won six Academy Awards, including Best Director (George Stevens).

Answer: True

"Singin' in the Rain" (1953) was snubbed multiple times: No Best Picture nomination, and no acting nominations for Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor or Debbie Reynolds. The film received two nominations: Jean Hagen for Best Supporting Actress as Lina Lamont, and Lennie Hayton for Best Musical Score. Both lost. Kelly's performance of "Singin' in the Rain" is widely regarded as the greatest scene in musical history.

Answer: The Greatest Show on Earth

"The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952) was produced by Cecil B. DeMille. It stars Charlton Heston as a circus manager and James Stewart as a clown fleeing a murder charge. While the film was the biggest moneymaker of 1952, it is widely regarded as one of the worst Best Picture choices ever made by the Academy. Especially considering that "High Noon" was among its competition.

"High Noon" may have lost because its screenwriter was one of those on the Hollywood Blacklist, a group of writers banned for their Communist sympathies. Gary Cooper did win Best Actor for his role in "High Noon".

"Harvey" was a James Stewart film from 1950; it was not nominated for Best Picture, but Stewart was nominated for Best Actor. "It's A Wonderful Life" came out in 1946 - it was nominated for Best Picture and Stewart was nominated for Best Actor. "Rear Window" (1954) was not nominated for Best Picture and Stewart was not nominated for Best Actor (remarkably).

Answer: Rebecca

"Rebecca", Hitchcock's 1940 take on the novel by Daphne DuMaurier, actually won the Best Picture award. It was Hitchcock's only Academy Award. And he didn't actually get a statue, because the producer (in this case, David O Selznick) gets the Oscar for Best Picture. The film stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who marries a man (Laurence Olivier) with lots of baggage.

"Rear Window" (1954), Hitchcock's masterpiece on voyeurism, was not nominated for Best Picture; "On the Waterfront" won. For 1958, "Vertigo" was not nominated; "Gigi" (one of the worst choices ever, in this author's opinion) won. And for 1959, "North by Northwest" was not nominated; "Ben Hur" swept the field at the ceremony in 1960. All three films are on the AFI 100 list and regarded as gems in the thriller genre.

The photo clue is of Menabilly, the home of British author Daphne DuMaurier, which was the basis for Manderlay in "Rebecca".

Answer: The Searchers

All four films were directed by John Ford and star John Wayne, but the film released in 1956 is "The Searchers". The film is widely regarded as one the greatest films ever made, and quite possibly the best western. Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards, who is desperately searching for his niece who was abducted by Native Americans. Incredibly, the film did not receive a single Academy Award nomination; nothing for Wayne or Ford.

"Red River" (1948) was nominated for Film Editing and Writing. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1950) won for its Cinematography. "Rio Grande" was also shut out.

The picture is of John Ford's Point, which is in Monument Valley. Both "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "The Searchers" were shot in Monument Valley.

Answer: Oliver!

"Oliver!" (1968), the musical based on the novel by Charles Dickens, won best picture; it also won best director among several other awards.

"Funny Girl," the bio-pic about Fanny Brice, won an Oscar for Barbra Streisand. "The Lion in Winter," about Henry II, won an Academy Award for Katharine Hepburn. "Romeo and Juliet" was Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of the classic Shakespeare tragedy; it won for Cinematography and Costume Design.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" is based on a screenplay by science fiction legend Arthur C Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick. It centers on the discovery of an extra-terrestrial artifact and human interaction with the artifact; it also features a sentient computer and one of the most mind blowing endings ever made. The film did win an award for its special effects, Kubrick's only Academy Award.

Answer: 2002: "Gangs of New York" vs "LOTR: The Two Towers"

Scorsese was nominated for Best Director for all four films, and all four were nominated for Best Picture. The wrong one is 2002: "Gangs of New York" lost out to "Chicago".

"Taxi Driver" (1976) features Robert DeNiro as a would-be assassin and Jodie Foster as a young prostitute he becomes obsessed with. "Raging Bull" (1980) stars DeNiro as boxer Jake LaMotta, and won the actor an Academy Award. "Goodfellas" (1990) possibly the definitive gangster film ("Godfather" notwithstanding), stars DeNiro and Ray Liotta and won an Academy Award for Joe Pesci. "Gangs of New York" stars contemporary Scorsese favorite Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis.

Scorsese finally won an Oscar (and Best Picture) for "The Departed" (2006).

Answer: Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avery won for their amazing script. Tarantino lost out to Robert Zemeckis as Director, for "Forrest Gump" (1994). It was one of four losses to "Gump": Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Film Editing.

Samuel L. Jackson lost out to Martin Landau in "Ed Wood" (1994) and Uma Thurman lost out to Dianne Wiest for "Bullets over Broadway" (1994).

Answer: The Hurt Locker

"The Hurt Locker" (2009), an intimate look at bomb disposal squads in Iraq, earned the Best Picture award for 2009. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the ex-wife of "Avatar" director James Cameron. Bigelow was the first woman to win as Best Director. It also won for Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Jeremy Renner was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Jeff Bridges.

"An Education" is a coming of age drama featuring Carey Mulligan. "District 9" is about aliens visiting South Africa. And "A Serious Man" is a Coen Brothers drama about a neurotic Jewish physics professor.