"Of All the Gin Joints in the World..." Quiz

Answer: Indiana Jones

The line is from the thrill-a-minute "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981).
Karen Allen, playing Marion Ravenwood, delivers this sad evaluation to Indie, played by Harrison Ford, whom Marion had loved and lost a decade earlier. According to the IMDB, the response line from Jones was actually an ad-lib by Ford, who played the globe-trotting college professor/archeologist who is trying to prevent the Nazis from getting their hands on the Ark of the Covenant. Hitler believes The Ark contains magic powers that would make his armies invincible. Directed by Steven Spielberg, "Raiders" won four Academy Awards and was nominated for five more, including Best Picture.

The American Film Institute (AFI) has Indiana Jones in the runner up spot of their 100 Years... 100 Heroes list, just behind Atticus Finch of "To Kill A Mockingbird" (1962).

Interesting fact: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was the highest grossing flick of the year. The movie cost $22 million to produce and has since grossed over $475 million at the box office.

Answer: Fargo

This bit of humor occurs near the beginning of the film between a police chief and one of her officers, riding together in the chief's car while investigating a triple murder.

"Fargo" is a 1996 movie about the unforeseen consequences that occur when a man attempts to stage a kidnapping of his own wife. It was written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, who also directed "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000) and "No Country for Old Men" (2007). Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her dazzling portrayal of the very pregnant police chief of Brainerd, MN, Marge Gunderson. The Coen brothers also won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. William H. Macy as the hapless car dealer Jerry Lundergaard and Steve Buscemi as the smarmy Carl Showalter round out the excellent cast. The New York Film Critics Circle gave "Fargo" their Best Picture Award.

Interesting fact: On the A.F.I. list of "100 Years... 100 Heroes", sheriff Marge Gunderson is ranked at number 33. Yah.

Answer: Blazing Saddles

This western spoof tells the tale of a corrupt public official named Hedley Lamarr who tries to scare away the inhabitants of a small town, so he can buy it "on the cheap". The reason is that he stands to make a fortune, since a railroad company wants to take ownership of the property for a new rail line that will go right through the property where the town now stands. One of Lamarr's ploys is the hiring of a railroad worker named Bart to be the new sheriff. Why would that bother the townsfolk you ask? Well, because Bart is black, and the white people of the town are not expected to be too happy about that. "Blazing Saddles", directed by the wacky genius Mel Brooks, featured an all-star cast. Brooks himself played Governor LePetomane, Harvey Korman was Hedley (NOT Hedy) Lamarr, "The Waco Kid" was portrayed by Gene Wilder, and Madeline Kahn gave an over the top performance for her role of Lily Von Shtupp. Ms. Kahn received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Cleavon Little played the new sheriff in town, and who can forget Alex Karras as Mongo? The film would go on to gross over $119 million, and the AFI's list of "100 Years... 100 Laughs" has "Blazing Saddles" ranked number six.

Interesting fact: The role of the Waco Kid was offered to Johnny Carson who decided to take a pass.

Answer: Dracula

The words were uttered with the eerily frightening dialect of Hungarian born Bela Lugosi as the Transylvanian Count in "Dracula" (1931). The "children of the night" he was referring to were howling wolves roaming around his castle in the Carpathian Mountains. He was getting ready to sell it and move to a new manor called Carfax Abbey in England, where he would continue to satisfy his vampirac lust, or should I say, thirst. Irish novelist Bram Stoker wrote the novel of the same name on which the film is based in 1897. Lugosi made over 85 Hollywood films, most of them in the horror genre, but he was a versatile performer, having acted in Shakespearean plays in Europe before coming to America. He even played a Russian commissar in the Greta Garbo comedy classic "Ninotchka" (1939).

Interesting fact: When Bela Lugosi died in 1956, he was buried wearing one of the capes he had worn in "Dracula" as per his request.

Answer: Airport

While no banks are knocked over in the movie, Henry Hill still enjoys the memories of the good old days. "Goodfellas" was voted right at the top of the heap of the U.K. magazine "Total Film's" list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time (2005). Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film was based on "Wise Guy", a 1986 novel by Nicholas Pileggi. The cast includes Ray Liotta as Hill, Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Brocco, and Joe Pesci. Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the brutal Tommy DeVito.

"Goodfellas" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but "Dances with Wolves" took that Oscar.

Interesting note: The famed Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert called "Goodfellas" "the best mob movie ever".

Answer: The Caine Mutiny

"The Caine Mutiny" (1954), directed by Stanley Kramer, is set aboard the Navy destroyer/minesweeper USS Caine during World War II. The meeting is called for when the new commander of the ship, the idiosyncratic Captain Phillip Queeg, notices an unexplained shortage of the tasty treats and is determined to learn the identity of the thief. The movie is based on Herman Wouk's novel of the same name which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1952. Humphrey Bogart's portayal of the hard-nosed Queeg is all the more remarkable given that he was suffering from cancer during the filming. Lt. Steve Maryk is played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis is Lt. Keith. Jose Ferrer also appears in a key part, and a young actor named Lee Marvin has a bit role of the wise-cracking sailor nicknamed Meatball. Through the end of the 20th century, the United States Navy has never had a ship named the USS Caine.

Interesting fact: "The Caine Mutiny" was a smashing success at the box office, bringing in over $8.5 million making it the second highest grossing film of the year. Only Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" brought in more ($12 million).

Answer: Gladiator

"Gladiator" (2000) features Joaquin Phoenix portraying the creepy Commodus, who has killed his father, the emperor, because dear old dad wanted the great Roman General Maximus to be the next ruler when he dies. A jealous Commodus would have none of that. Instead he murders his papa and orders soldiers to dispatch Maximus. They fail to kill him, but they do massacre his family, and thus the seeds for revenge are sown. After being trained by Proximo (Oliver Reed), who runs a school for gladiators, Maximus is deemed worthy to do battle in the great Colosseum in Rome. "Gladiator" did mucho bene at the box office, bringing in over $450 million for a film which cost $103 million to make. Russell Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor, one of five Oscars the film would win.

Interesting fact: Oliver Reed, who played the gladiator trainer, Proximo, died with just weeks remaining in the filming. All scenes involving his character which had not yet been shot were then shot, mostly in shadows, with a double playing the role.

Answer: Patton

General Omar Nelson Bradley and General George Smith Patton were reminiscing after years of campaigning in battles when Bradley (Karl Malden) summarized the difference between himself and Patton (George C. Scott). "Patton" (1970) was a multiple Academy Award winning film about the life of the man known as "Old Blood and Guts", who rose to become a four-star General. The movie won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (Franklin Schaffner). Scott was also named the winner for Best Actor, but became the first performer ever to decline to accept the statuette. General Patton was known for his ivory handled revolvers, and for slapping a soldier who was hospitalized, branding him a coward, an act for which he later apologized. Patton was a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute as well as West Point. General Patton expressed a desire to be buried near the men of the Third Army which he commanded, and so he is interred with many of them in Luxembourg, not far from where the Battle of the Bulge was fought.

Interesting fact: George Patton was a versatile, excellent athlete who competed in the 1912 Olympic Pentathlon. He finished fifth overall in the competition between 32 men representing 10 countries.

Answer: The Graduate

The word/advice "Plastics" was given to young Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) by a well intentioned Mr. Maguire (Walter Brooke) at a party celebrating Benjamin's graduating college. Mike Nichols won the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on "The Graduate" (1967). In the film, the cougar-like Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) seduces the much younger Benjamin who is about the same age as her daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross). Bancroft and Hoffman were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor respectively. The Grammy winning song "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel was Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 list for three weeks in June, 1968. The AFI has "The Graduate" at Number 17 on its list of 100 Years... 100 Movies, ranks it in ninth place on the list of 100 Years... 100 Laughs, and has the title tune sixth on its 100 Years... 100 Songs list.

Interesting fact: Anne Bancroft, who also won the Academy Award for Best Actress in "The Miracle Worker" (1962), was married to comic/director Mel Brooks from 1964 until the time of her death in 2005. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

Answer: "I'm a drunkard."

The conversation takes place in Rick's Café Americain. Interestingly enough the most famous quote attributed to "Casablanca", "Play it again, Sam", is never spoken in the film. "Casablanca" won the Academy Award for Best Picture (1943), and the AFI lists it second on its list of the Greatest Films of All Time. Humphrey Bogart plays American expatriate Rick Blaine, proprietor of Rick's Café Americain. (The original working title for the film was "Everybody Comes to Rick's"). Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund) and Paul Henreid (Victor Lazlo) play the couple trying to escape capture. Claude Rains, Sidney Greenstreet, and Conrad Veidt (Major Strasser) are part of the wonderful ensemble cast.

Interesting fact: Dooley Wilson ("Sam") was a skilled drummer, but he couldn't play piano for all the sand in Casablanca. He faked playing it in the film.