Three Harder Clues to a Movie Quiz

Answer: Song of the South

Deemed racist by critics both at the time it was released and now, "Song of the South" did play into the stereotypes of that time with kindly old "Uncle" Remus, jive-talking crows and a southern plantation setting. Still, it gave us "Zippity Doo Dah" and a retelling of Joel Chandler Harris's Brer Rabbit stories. And that was the basis of the movie: a little boy, unhappy because of his parents splitting up turns for comfort to a plantation worker named Uncle Remus who gives him important lessons through the Brer Rabbit stories.

These stories show the wily rabbit getting out of one scrape after another by using his smart little brains and the foolishness of his enemies.

Answer: Ed Wood

Tim Burton directed "Ed Wood", which was shot in black and white. Martin Landau's performance as Bela Lugosi won him an Academy Award. Johnny Depp seemed right at home in Ed Wood's persona. Ed was, unfortunately, one of the least talented but most persevering directors of his era.

His Golden Turkey award for Worst Director of All Time was richly deserved. There wasn't a great deal of plot to this movie, but it did tell several stories about Mr. Woods's efforts to get his films produced and about his befriending of the down-on-his-luck Lugosi.

Answer: Queen Christina

While Queen Christina is portrayed in the film as dutiful and very patient and wise, nothing could have been further from the truth. The real Queen Christina was moody, distinctly unfeminine and abdicated her throne to become a hanger-on at the Vatican.

She was fascinating but not in the way Garbo portrayed her. Garbo insisted that John Gilbert, a huge silent film star whose career had been crushed by his studio's boardroom politics, be hired as her love interest in the film. It would be his next to last film before he died of a heart attack.

Answer: Airplane!

"Airplane!" was ranked the sixth on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" list. A spoof of airplane disaster movies, we see a traumatized ex-military pilot have to take over a damaged plane and land it safely. As Ted Striker, the nervous ex-pilot, Robert Hays struck a very funny John Travolta like pose on a dance floor. Leslie Nielsen was the man who said "Don't call me Shirley" in response to a question that started "Surely, doctor...".

This movie was the start of Nielsen's long career of movie spoofs.

Answer: Yellow Submarine

"Yellow Submarine" tells the story of how, eventually, four lads from Liverpool save Pepperland from the music hating Blue Meanies. How do they do it? By singing, of course. "All Together Now" is the song by which everyone, Blue Meanies included, celebrate the saving of Pepperland and the new friendships they've created. Also in the movie are "Yellow Submarine," "Eleanor Rigby," "The Octopus' Garden," and many other favorites.

Answer: The Grand Budapest Hotel

"The Grand Budapest Hotel " shows something we rarely see: the comic side of Ralph Fiennes. He's superb as Gustav H., concierge extraordinaire, who has been left a very expensive painting by one of the hotel's very satisfied elderly widow customers. Fiennes' interpretation of the suave but harried concierge is hilarious.

The fact that he was upstaged every time young Zero appeared didn't seem to bother him. Zero was played by Tony Revolori.

Answer: Avatar

"Avatar" was twenty years in the making. James Cameron started dreaming about and planning for the story in 1985, and began creating the script in 1994 but soon realized that the technology of that time wouldn't allow him to make it as he visualized.

A mining company wants the natural resources of Pandora, a world of gorgeous forests, blue natives, the Nav'i, and many life forms including dragon-like creatures. Jake Sully, a paraplegic soldier, operates an avatar, the melding of a human mind and a Nav'i body. His assignment is to gather information that Earth can use against the Nav'i. He comes to love a Nav'i woman and eventually the culture of her people. Together, they save Pandora.

Answer: My Little Chickadee

Mae West and W.C. Fields teamed up just once, in this funny movie. Flower Belle Lee is run out of town for kissing the Masked Bandit. On the train out of town, she meets Cuthbert J. Twillie, and wins him with her flirtatiousness. She doesn't love him, however, and their marriage is a sham. The Masked Bandit shows back up and she rides off with her true love.
Fields asked for and got co-star billing with Miss West who resented it so much she vowed never to film with him again. Our loss.

Answer: Tommy

"Tommy" was directed by Ken Russell of "Women in Love" fame. The story: Tommy sees his father murdered by his step-father as a very little boy. Enjoined to say nothing, he becomes blind, deaf and speechless. Only a pinball game can help him express himself. Perhaps the most startling among several startling scenes was Tina Turner's as the Acid Queen. I can still see her thighs quivering to the vibrations of her drugs. Jack Nicholson as the Specialist was at his very smoothest.

Answer: Saving Mr. Banks

"Saving Mr. Banks" is the true story of the long hard struggle Walt Disney had with P.L. Travers to buy the filming rights to her Mary Poppins books. It was set into Travers' own personal family sorrows, watching her beloved alcoholic father slowly succumb to tuberculosis and her mother fall apart.

A very touching film, it also gave us moments of real joy, such as Travers dancing to the song "Let's Go Fly a Kite".