"Houston, We Have a Problem." Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Travolta

This movie was the second one that director Ron Howard employed Tom Hanks.
During part of a routine procedure two oxygen tanks explode, which causes the mission to have to be aborted. The movie is based on the suspense of the mission and land control being able to ensure the return to Earth of the astronauts. The planned moon landings didn't have the same media frenzy as the first Apollo 11, but when the emergency occurred suddenly everyone wanted to be part of the mission and media frenzy.

John Travolta turned the role down of the Commander. After John Travolta's successful movie "Staying Alive", he was offered the role in "Splash" but turned it down on the advice of his agent. Interestingly Travolta has turned down three roles that went to Tom Hanks, "Splash", "Forest Gump" and "Apollo 13".

Answer: Computers

Forrest met three US presidents, he ran across America several times, he inspired John Lennon to write 'Imagine' and he 'invented' the smiley-face. The fruit company that he naively got rich off, was Apple Computers! Lieutenant Dan, a military colleague of Forest Gump, invested in Apple with some of the profits from Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company. The scene in the movie was of Forest opening a letter from Apple.

Hanks, and the movie, both scored an Oscar, along with a heap of other awards. Supporting stars, Sally Field and Gary Sinise were also nominated for, or won, various trophies for their mantelpieces. An enduring quote from the movies is a favourite of mine - "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Answer: Dogue de Bordeaux

Hooch was very large, very boisterous and turned neat-freak, Turner's, life into a drooly hell. He also turned his house into a warzone and totalled his car. On the upside, he brought together Turner and his lady vet, played by Mare Winningham.

The Dogue de Bordeaux is from France, and is a mastiff. Like most large dogs, the breed does not have a long life expectancy, and Hooch (played by a dog named Beasley), died only three years after the movie debuted.

Answer: Lori Singer

This movie was based on the French movie "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" (1972). This was Hank's third starring role, after "Splash" (1984) and "Bachelor Party" (1984). Lori Singer's star faded somewhat soon after although she starred in "Falcon and the Snowman" (1985) with Sean Penn and "Trouble in Mind" (1985) with Kris Kristofferson. She won an ensemble cast award with "Short Cuts" (1992) but returned to the cello soon after. In 2011 she started to re-appear in television shows.

In this movie, one of the reasons that it was commercially successful was the interplay between the at times manic Hanks contrasting with the deadpan CIA agent plyed by Singer. A recent DVD review of this movie stated, "appealing performances from Singer, and the still young and hungry Hanks".

Answer: Approached by Ron Howard

Tom Hanks was a cast member of "Bosom Buddies" for two years and also appeared in a guest role on "Happy Days". Ron Howard became aware of him and invited him to audition for the role of the comedic brother. John Candy got that role and Hanks got the lead!

Answer: His three brothers were killed by war.

"Saving Private Ryan" was a defining role for Hanks. He played a high school English teacher thrust into a war he didn't believe in but followed orders without question. Despite the horrors he faced (and which were depicted on-screen) Captain Miller never lost his humanity. Typical Hanks' role.

Answer: 'Heart and Soul' and 'Chopsticks'

Josh made a wish at an eerie amusement park machine and was turned from a kid to an adult. He transforms the way that the toy shop sees toys, and product selection meetings turn from stuffy affairs to gigantic play sessions.

The piano scene always brings a smile to my face, as Josh Baskin (Hanks) and Mr MacMillan (Loggia) play these two simple tunes.

'Heart and Soul' is an old Hoagy Carmichael standard from the 1930s and 'Chopsticks' is even older. It is more of a musical exercise than a real musical composition but lots of fun to play.

Answer: Paul Newman

All four actors starred in the movie but it was the scenes between Hanks and Newman which were the highlight of an already great movie. This was Newman's last appearance on film, aged 77, though he continued to do voice work for animated movies. Newman, but not Hanks, was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on this movie. The theme of cast against type also fits for the other three stars, Daniel Craig plays a weak ineffectual son of Paul Newman's underworld boss: about as far away as you can get from the hardline James Bond character he first played four years later. Jude Law is cast as an assassin, when he usually plays a good guy. Stanley Tucci refused to be a gangster before, let alone Al Capone's underboss.

The reason for this was he believed the Italian Americans were type cast as gangsters but the chance to work with direct Sam Mendes (what about Hanks and Newman?) was enough to convince Tucci.

While it was unusual for Hanks to portray any bad guy let alone one as bad as Michael Sullivan, the major theme of the movie was the relationships between fathers and sons: what was apparent from the movie is that Hanks sought redemption for his sons by doing everything he could so that his son Michael could lead a crime-free life.

Answer: Urinary Tract Infection

The story, seen through the eyes of Paul Edgecombe, is about the miracle of being healed by John Coffey for his pain whilst working as a prison warden. The story is ended by Paul being with his final partner, Elaine, explaining how he, at 108 years old, is being punished by having John executed. Both Paul and Mr Jingles (the mouse of Del) are still alive at the end of the movie.

Answer: Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington never turns in an ordinary performance and here he was almost as brilliant as Tom Hanks. In 1993 the theme raised in this movie was difficult. There was no anti-retroviral drugs at this time: a diagnosis of HIV was a death sentence. Additionally, misinformation about the virus was rife. For all these reasons, the movie was released incrementally; each time the positive box office earnings, meant distribution was widened. Eventually, the movie earned $206 million against a budget of $26 million. How much of that was due to Hanks and Washington is impossible to determine. What is known is that Hanks and Washington were brilliant in this movie.

The two pivotal scenes, in my opinion, occur not in the courtroom but in a quieter part of the movie. Hanks plays an aria from his favourite opera and Washington, who at the start of the movie, represents the uninformed homophobic general population, sees a man who loves life and does not want to die. This scene is quickly followed by Washington, staring sightlessly into the darkness, and we realise that he now understands.