Remembering "Two of a Kind" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Two losers must make a sacrifice for each other to save humanity.

The set-up is as follows: Two people die early in the movie (Guess who). Right around that time, God is thinking of destroying everything and starting over. They are brought back to life, via a "rewind" of the film, so they can prove to God (without knowing they've been selected to do so) that humanity is worth saving, that people have learned something.

They get off to a really bad start really fast.

Answer: Gene Hackman

If you listen closely, you can easily tell that it's Hackman. That second Oscar he won was for 1992's "Unforgiven", beating out newcomer and critical favorite Jaye Davidson ("The Crying Game").

Answer: robbing the bank where she works

Zack owes some nasty thugs money for his inventions. He robs the bank because he knows if he doesn't pay it back, he's dead. Debbie is the teller he holds up. In her next scene, it is revealed that she gave him a bag of papers and took the money herself!

Answer: edible sunglasses

The glasses had black frames, and rose tinted lenses with the clear letter 'Z' on each of them.

Answer: utter a curse word

She wore a military uniform with Gene Kelly in "Xanadu" and smoked a cigarette in "Grease". She utters "the S-word" once she takes a bite of those edible glasses. If you said "appear topless", then shame on you!

Answer: Beatrice Straight

"Two of a Kind", of all things, was one of Straight's few comedic roles (at age 69) in her whole career. Her Oscar was for "Network", and the reason her part seemed small was that many of her scenes were cut, leaving just under six minutes in the film. Piper Laurie's frightening "Carrie" performance had been expected to win. Sadly, Beatrice died of pneumonia in 2001, a few months shy of age 87.

Other angels were played by Scatman Crothers and Charles Durning.

Answer: Kathy Bates

Seven years after "Two of a Kind", Bates played nurse Annie Wilkes in "Misery" and won an Oscar for it, beating out Anjelica Huston's acclaimed performance in "The Grifters". Her next nomination came for co-starring with John in "Primary Colors". She stole every scene she was in. She also played an uncredited role as a judge in John's movie, "A Civil Action".

Answer: The devil

At first the devil wants Debbie and Zack to fail and have humanity destroyed. Once it's explained to him that he doesn't get any souls if this happens, he is the one who orchestrates the final showdown at the end that saves the day. (I am not making any of this up!) Oliver Reed died in 1999 while filming "Gladiator".

Answer: "Twist of Fate"

"Twist of Fate" peaked at #5 in the U.S. in early 1984. The original title of the screenplay was "Second Chance". Someone must have thought "Two of a Kind" sounded better (who knows why), but they considered the song title as well, which probably would have been the best of those three options. Olivia also had a Top 40 follow up hit on the soundtrack, called "Livin' in Desperate Times".

There was a "Twist of Fate" music video compilation released with Olivia's four soundtrack songs plus two from her "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" album ("Heart Attack" and "Tied Up").

Answer: True

Before this, he had only directed TV episodes of "The Paper Chase" and just one TV movie with Scott Baio in 1980. He went back to directing TV movies for a while after this, naturally. (Actually, he didn't direct at all for another four years!) Herzfeld memorably directed "The Ryan White Story" in 1989, and one of the three Amy Fisher TV movies in 1993 (the Alyssa Milano one).

His first return to feature films FINALLY came with 1996's "2 Days in the Valley" (future Oscar winner Charlize Theron's film debut), a full thirteen years after "Two of a Kind"! Regardless of whether you think this film is "so bad that it's good" or actually like it at face value, thanks for playing!