"The Net" - The Flick Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sandra Bullock

"The Net" was a taut, suspenseful thriller. On her first vacation in years, Angela Bennett had her purse (and all essential documents) stolen. She had no clue that it was more than a random mugging or that it would result in the theft of her identity.

Coming off the hugely successful "Speed" with Keanu Reaves in '94, lightening struck twice for Sandra Bullock in as many years. This all-American actress was born on July 29, 1964, and she has been on stage and in films for over 15 years.

Answer: To prevent her from exposing the Praetorians' plan to override security in computer programs

Because Angela was so good at what she did for a living (finding viruses and other cyber-vermin in software programs), and because the bad guys knew that Dale (Angela's colleague at Cathedral) had sent the virus-infected program to her on a disk, she was targeted by the Praetorians. They wanted that disk back, they wanted Dale out of the picture, and the wanted Angela dead.

Answer: Jeremy Northam

Jack did his homework on Angela by dropping into an anonymous chat room she frequented and learning about her preferences: cigarette brand, favorite drink, favorite book, favorite movie, and what kind of men she liked. He became the latter for purposes of seducing Angela: "Butch, beautiful, brilliant. Captain America meets Albert Schweitzer. Spends all day dashing into the fray while making world safe for democracy; at night, playing Bach cantatas while curing cancer."

Answer: Mozart's Ghost

The game was nothing but a delivery system for the virus.

Anyone who knows classical music (not I) would not only recognize the ten notes played as the "theme" to "Mozart's Ghost" but also be able to name the work from which those notes came. If someone out there in FunTriviaLand can identify it, I'd be delighted to amend this "Interesting Information" paragraph to include that factoid. It goes like this: "Bah-Bah (pause). Bah-Bah. (pause) Bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bah.."
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner! Parrotman2006 has identified "Eine Kleine Nacht Music" as the theme to "Mozart's Ghost." Give the guy a piece of pi...

Answer: Pi

The pi symbol (the same one we learned in math class or in our fraternities or sororities) appeared in the lower right-hand corner of the home page of "Mozart's Ghost." When one clicked on it, the virus ate through the program, destroying everything in the computer. Ironically, it was present in a software program marketed as a means of security for the purchaser against viruses, worms, and other computer dangers.

In the film, the U.S. government purchased it for all of their computers, opening the cyber doors to let the bad guys in to destroy and/or alter important records and documents.

Answer: Ruth Marx

Ruth Marx was the name of the female operative of the Praetorians and side-kick to Jack Devlin. She was able to assume Angela Bennett's identity at Cathedral because no one there had ever seen Angela; she worked from home (L.A.) and Cathedral was headquartered in San Francisco.

Wendy Gazelle (one of the incorrect options above) was the actress who played Ruth Marx and the faux Angela. I have no idea who the other two women are. I just made 'em up.

Answer: her former therapist

It's hard to believe a character as smart and beautiful as Angela Bennett would not have a single friend in L.A. But she ordered pizzas and meals delivered, she worked online exclusively, and she didn't date or leave the house much. No one but her former therapist could ID her. Really!? I guess this type of scenario is why audiences are called to suspend their disbelief.

Angela's neighbor THOUGHT she knew what Angela looked like, but unfortunately identified the faux-Angela (Ruth Marx) and thought the real Angela was the lying impostor. The tension mounted as the plot thickened. (How's that for two clichés in one?)

Answer: Breakfast at Tiffany's

I don't know about you, but any macho guy who says his favorite movie is "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is instantly suspect in my world. And what made it even less believable: of all the characters in that film, Devlin claimed he identified most closely with the cat. (Angela had made the same statement in the chatroom.) Oh, Angie! How could you be so gullible?

Answer: He hacked Alan's medical file so Alan could be killed by the wrong drugs.

Now THAT was when the film got a little/a lot scarier. As Angela later told her disbelieving court-appointed attorney, "Think of it! All our records, even our medical records, are on computers somewhere." How true. Thus, it was a piece of cake for the Praetorians to hack into Alan's medical records, delete his allergy to penicillin and prescribe a medication that contained penicillin, which almost put the therapist into a coma. One or two additional tweaks of his records caused a nurse to give him a drug that stopped his heart as he slept in his hospital room. Such is the horrifying potential of our world: too many people believe anything the computer "says."

Answer: kidnap her mother

Jack's hiring a thief to mug Angela caused her to lose her purse, cash, airline ticket, passport (and probably her favorite lipstick, too). Thank goodness Angela stole Jack Devlin's wallet when she barely escaped his clutches on the boat. Had she not, she wouldn't have had even a (Mozart's) ghost of a chance to survive. Angela needed a temporary passport to get back into the U.S. from Mexico. Without identification she couldn't get a visa. For some (unexplained) reason, a woman from the federal government had a temporary passport ready for her -- in the name of Ruth Marx. Angela was faced with being honest about her name and being stuck in Mexico (knowing she was in danger there), or signing a false name and being able to leave.

She chose the latter, but of course it led to even more problems when she got home: Ruth Marx had a particularly ugly criminal record. Angela's car wasn't in the airport parking lot (so she took a cab, thanks to Jack's money).

She arrived home to see her house with a "For Sale" sign in the yard, a realtor in the house, and no furniture.

She began to fear for her mother's safety. Angela had Alan move her mother (played by the lovely Diane Baker) to a new care center and register her in a false name to protect her from Devlin and the Praetorians. It worked; they didn't find her.

Answer: The Gatekeeper

There were several points in the film where The Gatekeeper was identified: on television news stories and in conversations among computer professionals, including a summary in the final moments of the movie. Real-life newsman Daniel Schorr announced the filing of an indictment against Gregg and his partners, specifically mentioning "The Gatekeeper program."

Answer: Under Secretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom/Ken Howard

Early in "The Net," Ken Howard (of "White Shadow" t.v. fame) was riding in a government limo when he got a call from his doctor telling him he was HIV positive with no possibility of error. He asked his chauffeur to pull over to a small park where he called his wife and son, acting as if it was just another day at the office.

He hung up, pulled out a gun, and killed himself. Later we learned he was homophobic, the suggested reason for the suicide. That is, apparently he was afraid people would think he was gay when they learned he had tested positive for AIDS. Alan was killed by medicine. Ben Phillips was killed following a car crash caused by Angela. Dale flew his Cessna into a mountain on his way to L.A. to meet Angela in person; the Praetorians had messed with his navigation system, causing the fatal accident.

Answer: Ben Phillips, alleged FBI agent

I wrote "alleged" FBI agent because the man identifying himself to Angela as Ben Phillips (the name of a former fraternity brother of Alan's, whom Alan told Angela he would contact for help) turned out to be a ringer. "Ben" was another of the bad guys, and when Angela figured that out, she grabbed the wheel of his car as he drove, causing an accident. Fortunately she was not injured, but she was suspected of killing him when his body was found with a bullet through his head. As Angela didn't shoot him, his death must have been the work of the Praetorians as a penalty for his failure to obtain the disk from her.
As for the incorrect options, Angela's court-appointed attorney didn't believe her story, and besides, attorneys aren't supposed to bail out their clients.
Jack Devlin might have tried to get her out, but she wouldn't have gone with him. He was trying to kill her.
Angela's father and she must have had a falling out or were otherwise estranged. She bristled at Alan's suggestion that she contact him for help.

Answer: She found a gun with a silencer in his jacket pocket on his boat.

After Jack romanced Angela in the sun, in the cabana, at dinner, and then during a romantic walk on the beach under the moonlight, she was susceptible to his charms. He took her out on the ocean in his boat, planning to kill her and dump her body overboard.

After some lovemaking and "pillow talk," Jack went below, Angela got cold, put his jacket on, and discovered a gun in the pocket. The jig was up.

Answer: False

When Angela's purse got ripped from her arm as she and Jack walked on the beach, Jack took after the thief. Catching up to the purse snatcher out of Angela's view and earshot, Jack asked the thief for "the disk." The nature of the conversation between Jack and the thief revealed that Jack hired the thief to steal Angela's purse to get the disk. Once Jack found it, he killed the thief.

When he failed to tell Angela he found her purse and failed to give her anything back, it was clear to the audience that he was not the suave, kindhearted, valiant individual he had led Angela (and the audience) to believe he was.

She remained in the dark, however, thinking him the saint for risking his life to get her purse back.