Cryptic Movie Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Quiz Show

"Quiz Show" (1994) starred John Turturro and Ralph Fiennes. This movie by Robert Redford was based upon real life facts. Turturro played Herbie Stempel and Fiennes played Charles Van Doren. Stempel and Van Doren were two very successful competitors at televised quizzes, and the producers of the very popular "Twenty-One" arranged for a spectacular final in 1956 - in which Van Doren, the more popular of the two candidates, had to win the main prize. Stempel then publicly declared that a scam was involved, and after similar incidents in other shows by the same producers it came to a law suit. "Quiz Show" was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Answer: Ben-Hur

"Ben-Hur" (1959) was the first movie to win 11 Oscars, out of twelve nominations. Wiiliam Wyler won the award for Best Director and Charlton Heston won the Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role. The story is set in Judea around 30 AD, and starts with the patriotic Jewish prince Judah Ben Hur (Heston) greeting his old friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), who enlisted in the Roman army and now came to help the (occupant) governor.

After an unfortunate accident Messala sent Ben Hur to the galleys and had his family imprisoned. Several years later, Ben Hur returned to enact revenge and retrieve his mother and sister. Alas, Hur's family was struck by leprosy... The two best known scenes of this epic movie are arguably a naval battle with pirate ships and the chariot race in which Ben Hur defeats Messala.

But the cast and crew intended as the crucial scene one that has made a fine impression on me: the shadow of Jesus Christ on His way to Golgotha touched Judah's mother and sister, and cured their leprosy.

Answer: The Misfits

"The Misfits" (1961) starred Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, and was directed by John Huston. Monroe played Roslyn Taber, a divorced woman falling in a love with a cowboy named Gay Langland (Clark Gable), but she had many other options too. Clark Gable died only a few days after the completion of this movie, and it was also the last movie Marilyn completed.
Supporting roles were played by Montgomery Clift (as Perce Howland) and by Eli Wallach (playing the role of Guido), both playing characters competing for Taber's favours.
The movie flopped at the box office, but later got recognition as a superb production. It is one of the few movies that got unanimous appraisal by the critics on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

Answer: Mad Max

"Mad Max" (1979) with Mel Gibson was the first in a movie series starring Mel Gibson. In a future version of Australia, Max was one of the criminals trying to rule the Outback by conquering as much gasoline and waste metal as possible. When a concurrent motorcycle gang harmed Max' family, the leather gloves went off for a vicious fight.

There were sequels in 1981 ("Mad Max 2") and 1985 ("Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"), and a re-interpretation in 2015 ("Mad Max: Fury Road"). Mel Gibson played Max Rockatansky, the protagonist, in the original movie and the two sequels.

In 2015, the eponymous role was played by Tom Hardy.

Answer: Top Hat

"Top Hat" (1935) is a musical comedy starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The story is about an American dancer (Astaire) rehearsing his new dance moves in a hotel suite and thus waking an actress (Rogers) on the floor below. She went up to complain, and love sparks were everywhere.
Astaire and Rogers made ten movies together, of which many have received the largest appraisal by the critics: "Flying Down to Rio" (1934), "Top Hat" (1935), "Swing Time" (1936) and "Shall We Dance" (1937) all received a critics score of 100%.

Answer: The Jackals

"The Jackals" (1967) was a South-African movie starring Vincent Price as an aging gold digger named Oupa Decker. The bank robber Roger Hawkins (role by Robert Gunner) picked a gang to rob Oupa Decker, but when he saw Oupa's granddaughter Wilhelmina (played by Diana Ivarson) he tried to cancel his wicked scheme.
"The Jackals" was a remake of the 1948 movie "Yellow Sky", with Gregory Peck as the bank robber and Anne Baxter as the lovely girl. In turn, the story of "Yellow Sky" could be tracked down to Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".
For those who are aware of Greek cinema, there is also another movie named (in translation) "The Jackals" (1981). This Greek cult movie carries the original title "Ta Tsakalia: Ena Koinoniko Provlima", which translates to "The Jackals: A Social Problem". It was the first of a trilogy followed by "I Strofi" (1982) and "Oi Epikyndinoi" (1983), all on similar plot lines. 

Answer: Top Gun

"Top Gun" (1986) starred Tom Cruise as Pete Mitchell (nicknamed Maverick), a highly talented but very ambitious and sometimes undisciplined student at the fighter pilot school near Miramar (California). Maverick fell in love with one of the instructors, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (role by Kelly McGillis).
The song "Take My Breath Away" was awarded an Oscar. This song accompanied the love affair between Maverick and Charlie.
The movie "Top Gun" also inspired several video games by various software developers.
Since 2010 a sequel has been devised. But when the original director Tony Scott died in 2012, the filming for the sequel was not yet started.

Answer: Rush Hour

"Rush Hour" (1998) starred Jackie Chan as Lee, a Hong Kong police inspector, and Chris Tucker as Carter, a LAPD detective. When the Chinese consul's daughter was kidnapped, Inspector Lee and Detective Carter had to work together solving the case - but they loathed each other at first sight.
In the sequel "Rush Hour 2" (2001) Lee invited Carter for a holiday in Hong Kong, but they got involved in a case against money forgers. In "Rush Hour 3" (2007) the unlikely pair visit Paris, tracking down the leader of one of the Chinese triads (crime syndicates).

Answer: The Verdict

"The Verdict" (1982) is a classical courtroom drama starring Paul Newman as the down-and-out lawyer Frank Galvin, who picked up a case of medical misconduct. The hospital offered an amicable settlement, but after seeing the comatose patient, Galvin decided to sue the hospital and uncover the truth - not a mere neglect, but a deliberate cover-up of a fatal incident.
"The Verdict" was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Director (Sydney Lumet), Best Actor (Paul Newman) and Best Scenario (David Mamet).

Answer: The Fly

"The Fly" (1986) was a horror movie starring Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle and Geena Davis as Veronica Quaife. Brundle was a quirky scientist, who tried to seduce Quaife (a journalist) by offering her a scoop on his latest experiment: a tele-transportation device. When he activated the device on himself, a fly was also in there - and the genetic code for man and fly was mixed up...
This movie was the remake of a 1958 movie by Kurt Neumann starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens and Vincent Price.

Here is the transposed alphabet that was used as the code:
"R O Q A X E D U N L I T F C P S W H Y B J Z V M K G". 
You may have cracked the code by first identifying the word "Bux" as "The" - it is no coincidence that four movie titles start with the same word.