License Plates of the Silver Screen Quiz

Answer: The Lincoln Lawyer

In "The Lincoln Lawyer", Mickey Haller is played by Matthew McConaughey and his client, Louis Roulet, is played by Ryan Phillippe. Haller takes on Roulet's case, believing him to be innocent of the murder charge brought against him, especially since Roulet is a charming and charismatic man with no visible motive. However, when he begins to scratch the surface of the case, dark skeletons begin to appear from the many closets that Roulet has. Haller must contend with these, but also with ethical dilemmas, while looking out for his own life.

"The Lincoln Lawyer" film is based on a book by Michael Connelly of the same name while the other incorrect answers are movies based on books written by John Grisham.

Answer: The Fast and the Furious

"The Fast and the Furious" was an instant hit when it was released in 2001, and it spawned an entire movie franchise. It starred Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Paul Walker as an undercover LAPD agent Brian O'Conner in a fast-paced action film that brought street racing into the spotlight.

Behind all of the fast cars and flashy lights, the story in the film follows a hijacking ring that is highly trained and hard to catch. The FBI and the LAPD team up and recruit an officer that will go underground into the street racing world. When Brian O'Conner lets his feelings influence his judgement, it's hard to tell who the real criminals are.

Answer: The Big Lebowski

The Coen Brothers' 1998 movie "The Big Lebowski" was not critically acclaimed initially, but since its release it has gotten a huge following. It follows the life of Jeff Lebowski, who prefers to be called The Dude (Jeff Bridges), a slacker who bowls, drinks, and smokes, who gets beaten up due to a case of mistaken identity. Trying to get something for his rug that was ruined, he gets mixed up with a millionaire (David Huddleston), his crazy daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), nihilists and kidnappers.

With his two loyal friends, Walter and Donny (John Goodman and Steve Buscemi), The Dude tries to unravel himself out of the mess he's found himself in, but, the funny plot just keeps getting more tangled.

An aside, The Dude describes his car as a 1972 Pontiac LeBaron, however, the LeBaron was a car made by Chrysler. The mystery is further compounded as the car is sporting a Pontiac logo on the grille.

Answer: Drive

Ryan Gosling plays the driver in this dramatic movie which, surprisingly, has very few action scenes. The driver has a gift for cars and driving and is persuaded by his mobster boss and his partners to take up stock racing. However, a new neighbour and her kid begin to change the careless way the driver treats life. When he gets involved in a theft from the East Coast mob and Irene is threatened, he decides he wants a way out. However, the local mob isn't going to make it easy for him to leave as they try to cover up their mistake.

"Drive" received a fifteen-minute-long standing ovation from the crowd when it was screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. All of the other answers were also films that were screened at the same festival, the winner of the Palme d'Or being "The Tree of Life".

Another aside, 4DOQ678 is a license plate often seen in films as it's a regular prop at some movie studios.

Answer: Men in Black

Earth is a neutral zone for aliens in the hilarious, 1997, science fiction film "Men in Black". When an opening appears in the unknown government agency, the Men in Black (MiB), Tommy Lee Jones and Rip Torn (as Agents J and Z) have to choose a replacement. Will Smith plays New York cop, James Edwards, who gets the job as Agent J.

When a galaxy is missing and the Arquillians want it returned or they'll blow up the Earth within a standard galactic week (only hours), it's up to J and K to retrieve it. Of course, in between them and success stands a Bug, and, since it's an intergalactic Bug, it's a pretty dangerous character to deal with.

Answer: Jaws

Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider team up as Quint, Matt Hooper and Martin Brody in Steven Spielberg's 1975 thrilling movie, "Jaws". This movie was one of the first summer blockbusters in the movie industry, and it certainly was a huge success at the box office. The movie follows a shark who is terrorizing Amity Island, a popular (but fictional) summer resort, and the attempt to hunt and kill the shark. Peter Benchley wrote the book that the movie was based upon, though it also bears some resemblances to Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".

The license plate in the question was pulled from a Tiger shark's belly, a shark that was caught and mistakenly thought to be the killer shark.

Answer: Field of Dreams

"If you build it, he will come" are the words that corn farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears one chilly night in Iowa. He realizes that if he builds a baseball field in his corn, he will get to see Shoeless Joe Jackson play once again. With the support of his wife Annie (Amy Madigan) and daughter Karin (Gaby Hoffmann), he plows under his corn and builds a diamond.

Shoeless Joe does appear on the diamond, and Ray is thrilled because Joe invites more of his friends to come play as well. However, Ray's brother-in-law Mark, who can only see the bottom line and not the game, threatens to foreclose on the farm. Ray is then called to Boston to recruit author and activist Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) and, on the way back, they pick up a player who never got an at-bat, Archie Graham.

The story, however, is more about making peace with your past than actually about baseball. If you want to find out what I'm talking about, you'll have to see the movie!

Answer: Ghostbusters

"Ghostbusters" was Ivan Reitman's fifth film as the director and starred Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson as four unlikely heroes who try to free the city of New York from paranormal activity. Discovering that the evil Sumerian god Gozer is being summoned to destroy the world, they are the only thing that stands in its path. Sigourney Weaver also starred in this film as Dana Barrett, a love interest for Venkman.

The "Ghostbusters" film spawned a whole franchise of movies, television shows, and merchandise. There are video games, graphic novels, and you can go on tours in New York to see the abandoned firehouse that was used as the headquarters for the Ghostbusters.

Answer: Grease

"Grease" was an immediate hit when it was released in 1978, and many songs from the musical became very popular. It starred John Travolta as Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsen, two teens who fall in love over the "summer nights" and think that they'll never see one another again. However, as fate would have it, the coming year they attend the same high school.

Danny is a member of the T-Birds, mechanics with a rough and tough reputation, and he's afraid to lose face in front of his friends. Sandy is disappointed by his attitude and is scared to change, but they both realize that they're "hopelessly devoted" to one another and that they "go together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong".

Answer: Back to the Future

Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox teamed up for Robert Zemeckis' "Back to the Future". This 1985 movie was produced by Stephen Spielberg and was a great success, topping the charts for eleven weeks. The film had two sequels and won one Academy Award (for Best Sound Editing, but, a win is a win).

The story of "Back to the Future" tells of teenaged Marty McFly who gets sent from 1985 back to 1955, accidentally, after seeing his friend Doc Brown get killed by Libyan terrorists. Marty ends up changing how his parents first met and altering the timeline of his own reality. Marty must team up with the 1955 Doc Brown in order to send himself back to his present while fixing the timeline and making sure his parents fall in love.