My Favorite Movies of 1979 Part 2 Quiz

Answer: Breakthrough

An unofficial sequel to 1977's "Cross of Iron", "Breakthrough" has Sgt. Steiner and his men transferred from Russia to France in the summer of 1944. A general orders Steiner to contact the Allies and inform them of the Army's plot to kill Hitler and end the war, but the plot fails. Sadistic Captain Stransky then tries to kill both Allied troops and French civilians in revenge.

Answer: The Passage

Anthony Quinn plays a Basque farmer who is hired to guide a scientist and his family over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain during World War II. The party is pursued by a sadistic SS officer, played by Malcolm McDowell. The film also stars James Mason and Kay Lenz.

Answer: The China Syndrome

While covering a story at a California nuclear power plant, a television news crew witnesses a serious problem. The plant is temporarily shut down when the footage is exposed to the public. A shift supervisor finds more problems at the plant, but upper management insists that it be reopened. The film stars Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and Michael Douglas.

Answer: The Onion Field

Based on the Joseph Wambaugh novel, "The Onion Field" stars John Savage and Ted Danson as LAPD detectives who are kidnapped by criminals and taken to a remote location. Danson's character is killed, while Savage's escapes. The criminals are caught and sentenced to death, but they manipulate the system and get their sentences reduced.

The surviving officer suffers from nightmares, marital and job problems and tries to commit suicide.

Answer: Escape from Alcatraz

Clint Eastwood stars as Frank Morris, an inmate at Alcatraz prison in the early 1960s. Morris and three accomplices decide to escape, making dummy heads to fool the guards, tunneling out of their cells, and making life jackets and a boat out of raincoats. Three of the men get out and disappear, while the fourth gets frightened and stays behind.

Answer: Monty Python's Life of Brian

Brian Cohen is born at the same time and very near to Jesus Christ, prompting a confused visit from the three wise men. As a young man, Brian joins a Judean terrorist group to pursue a girl. Fleeing from Roman soldiers, Brian stumbles into a "prophet's corner", where his ramblings are mistaken for wisdom and he ends up with a horde of followers, who worship him as the Messiah. The film was banned in several countries, and caused controversy in others as it was deemed to be "blasphemous" to the Christian religion.

Answer: Hot Stuff

A team of four Miami detectives, tired of being unable to convict the criminals that they arrest, open a pawn shop and record all of the transactions on video tape, giving them evidence that will hold up in court. They buy strange items from a menagerie of eccentric lawbreakers, but they anger a local mob boss for not paying for protection.

Answer: Love at First Bite

When the Communist Romanian government kicks Count Dracula out of the country, he flees to New York City, though his coffin goes to a Harlem funeral. He begins dating a fashion model. but must flee again when he is hunted by a descendant of his old adversary, Van Helsing.

While on his way to London, he discovers that his coffin is on the way to Jamaica. The film stars George Hamilton and Susan St. James.

Answer: The In-Laws

New York dentist Sheldon Kornpett agrees to help his daughter's future father-in-law get into his office safe. The errand, however, turns into a dangerous trip to a Central American country whose dictator is trying to ruin the U.S. economy with hyperinflation.

The boys manage to foil the bad guys and make their children's wedding on time, with a little something extra for the couple. The film stars Alan Arkin and Peter Falk and was remade in 2003.

Answer: The Jerk

Steve Martin stars as Navin Johnson, a Caucasian orphan raised by a large African-American farm family. Navin moves to Los Angeles to seek his fortune, and while working at a gas station, he invents a handle for eyeglasses which a customer markets and shares the profits with Navin.

He loses his fortune, his wife, and everything else when he is sued for a little problem with his invention.