Went to the Movie for the Music Quiz

Answer: Breakfast at Tiffany's

I included "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Moon River" in this list, although some will disagree with with my opinion that the music was better than the movie itself.

The film, starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, earned five Academy Award nominations. It told the story of a wealthy socialite and her apartment neighbor, a struggling writer played by George Peppard. They both worked their way through broken relationships and realized that they were in love with each other. However, she was afraid to make a commitment and refused his proposal. In anger at her rejection, he tossed the engagement ring he had bought for her and left; but then she chased after him to give her acceptance.

"Moon River", with music by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, won both the Academy Award and Grammy for best song of the year. In 2004 the song was rated as the fourth best movie song by the American Film Institute. It became Andy Williams' trademark song and has been covered by many other prominent singers.

Ironically, the song and the scene in which it appeared were almost edited out of the movie until Audrey Hepburn made a convincing argument to keep them.

Answer: Mondo Cane

The film "Mondo Cane" is an Italian film which showed scenes from around the world that were intended to shock audiences. The scenes succeeded in doing so. Unfortunately, the success of "Mondo Cane" led to the creation of similar "mondo films".

"More" was strictly instrumental music in the movie, but lyrics were later written in Italian by Marcello Ciorciolini and in English by Norman Newell. The instrumental version by Kai Winding and a vocal version by Vic Dana were relatively successful after the release of the movie. Over the years many singers have recorded versions, and "More" is now considered a pop standard.

Answer: Captain Carey U.S.A.

"Captain Carey USA" is a 1949 film about an American officer, Webster Carey, who returned to Italy to bring a wartime traitor to justice.

As a prologue to to the central events in the film, a secret American mission had been sent to Italy to destroy an enemy railway station; but most of the members of the team were killed due to being betrayed by a local resistance member. Carey hid in a cellar to avoid capture and believed that his Italian girlfriend had been killed by the Nazis. Villagers hid Carey for six months, although this led to the execution of 27 villagers by the Nazis in retribution, earning him the village's enmity.

Captain Carey, played by Alan Ladd, returned to the town after the war and discovered that the traitor was married to his former lover and was the leader of the village. His attempt to bring the traitor to justice was hindered by the feelings of the villagers towards him.

The movie itself is rarely seen anymore, but the highlighted song, "Mona Lisa", won the Oscar for the best song. Many people have recorded the song, but it is forever identified with Nat King Cole. His version is the gold standard, and it was one of his signature songs.

Answer: Saturday Night Fever

The film "Saturday Night Fever" was a commercial and popular success; but in my opinion the music is what made the movie so successful. Its soundtrack album was one of the most popular musical albums of all time, containing disco songs by the Bee Gees, Yvonne Elliman, Tavares, and KC and the Sunshine Boys.

Interestingly, the dance scenes in the movie were filmed to music written by Boz Scaggs and Stevie Wonder. Due to contractual difficulties, the producers of the movie had to use alternate music for the film. They contacted the Bee Gees to write replacement songs, which they wrote without ever having seen the film.

The move "Saturday Night Fever" told the story of Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man, played by John Travolta. Manero had been leading a dead-end life until he became a champion on the disco dance floor. The movie also covered struggles within Tony's family and his tight-knit group of friends.

Important subplots in the movie included Tony's changing relationship in his family, after his brother left the priesthood, the struggles of his close friend after his girlfriend became pregnant and his eventual suicide, and Tony's relationship with his dance partner.

The film captured a slice of time and a prominent culture for young Americans, but had had limited staying power. The music soundtrack is still popular, although the movie now seems dated.

Answer: Cats

Many Broadway and West End plays have been transformed into excellent films. That list certainly include "Fiddler on the Roof", "My Fair Lady", and "The Sound of Music". Unfortunately "Cats", despite its success in the theater (21 year run in London and 18 year run on Broadway) and an attractive cast, did not transition well from musical to film.

"Cats" was based on poems by T.S. Eliot. In the story a young cat named Victoria was left on the streets of London, where she met a group of cats who called themselves the Jellicles. The cats competed that night in the Jellicle Ball, singing about themselves, in hopes of being named the Jellicle Choice. The evil cat Macavity used one of his allies to incapacitate the Jellicles in hopes of being named the winner of the competition. Eventually Victoria and the other cats triumphed over him, and she was welcomed as a Jellicle.

Critics almost universally gave negative reviews, some calling it one of the worst films of the year. Even the genius behind the musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber, was critical of the lackluster film. Many believe that the original plan to produce an animated film would have been much more successful and avoided some of the issues with the film.

The music from the original drama, such as "Memory", and the song "Beautiful Ghosts", written by Webber and Taylor Swift for the film, still remains popular.

Answer: The Bodyguard

"The Bodyguard" portrayed a former United States Secret Service agent, played by Kevin Costner, who was hired to protect a famous actress and singer, played by Whitney Houston, from an unknown stalker.

Conflicts arose immediately between the two, when Houston's character resented his protective measures and Costner's character thought she was unconcerned and selfish. An attack on her family made Houston realize the seriousness of the threat, although she still resisted some of the constraints placed on her. Eventually Costner's character was shot while protecting her, but killed the stalker. Realizing that a romantic relationship between the two was impossible, he left the next day; but she gave him one last passionate kiss.

The film was very popular, but was not well-received by film critics. Their main criticism seemed to be with the script itself and the dull on-screen performances by Costner and Houston.

The film's soundtrack became one of the best-selling soundtrack of all time and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The soundtrack also contained five songs that became hit singles for Whitney Houston.

Answer: Rocky III

The original "Rocky" was a charming underdog movie that mirrored Sylvester Stallone's own personal success story. Subsequent films in the franchise were successful commercially, but lacked the elements that made the original movie so appealing.

"Rocky III" showed champion Rocky Balboa being goaded into a title defense against Clubber Lang. The soft and overconfident Rocky started strongly against Lang, but eventually lost in a brutal knockout.

Depressed over his loss and the death of his manager, Rocky turned to Apollo Creed, whom he defeated to win his first championship, for help. Creed, now Rocky's friend rather than his enemy, got Rocky to train seriously for the fight and gave him confidence to overcome his fears. Rocky again started strongly against Lang in the bout, but then chose to accept a pounding from Lang to tire him out. Eventually Rocky was able to take control from the exhausted Lang and won by a brutal knockout.

Stallone had wanted to use Queen's song "Another One Bites the Dust" as the movie's theme song, but they refused to give him permission. So he commissioned the band Survivor to write the theme, which was titled "The Eye of the Tiger". The song finished second in the Academy Awards that year for best song.

Answer: Xanadu

"Xanadu" is a 1980 musical film that attempted to capitalize on the recent film success of Olivia Newton-John.

The film followed the interactions of Sonny Malone and Danny McGuire with Kira, one of the mythical Nine Muses, played by Newton-John. Kira encouraged both men to open a nightclub named Xanadu. Soon afterward, romantic sparks flew between Sonny and Kira. However, she confessed that she had been sent to Earth to help him start the nightclub, but she had to return to the Heavens, despite their mutual attraction. Sonny pursued her and eventually Zeus relented and allowed her to return to Earth for a moment before she came back to the Heavens as the Muse Terpsichore.

The song "Magic" appeared twice in the film, bookending the relationship between Sonny and Kira. It occurred first when Kira was roller skating in the darkened auditorium and first met Sonny. The last time it occurred was when Sonny stared at the empty dance floor after Kira returned to the Heavens.

Many critics contended that the music of the film was its one saving grace, and that the film was one of the worst of the year. The main criticisms were the improbable story, changing script focus, and bad choreography of the dance scenes.

Answer: Big Broadcast of 1938

The "Big Broadcast of 1938" was a musical comedy film starring W.C. Fields, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and Martha Raye. It was the last of four Big Broadcast musical comedy films from the 1930s.

The film described the race between two ships across the Atlantic to break the speed crossing record and the various escapades onboard both ships. W.C. Fields played a pair of brother scheduled to travel on different ships. The second brother was sent to sabotage that ship's chance of winning the race. However, he missed the disembarkation of his intended ship and was flown to the wrong ship, where he was with his nearly identically-looking brother. Mayhem then ensued with various humorous subplots involving Hope and Raye.

The movie also contained several musical productions for the benefit of the ship's passengers - and the showcasing of the musical numbers apparently was one of the main purposes of the film.

"Thanks for the Memory" received the Academy Award and is listed in the top 100 film songs. It later became the theme song for Bob Hope.

Answer: Hatari

Fairly or not, many actors are typecast in certain roles and their movies have a certain sameness to them. John Wayne was, by all accounts, a charter member of that club, although some of his later movies showed a greater depth to his acting ability than most expected based on his strong, silent, and tough guy stereotype.

"Hatari" was "the John Wayne movie", moved to a setting in Africa. Wayne played Sean Mercer, the leader of a professional team which captures animals for zoos. A female photographer, named Dallas, joined the group and helped adopt three orphaned elephant calves, much to Wayne's objection. He initially suppressed his feelings for her, partly due to his own recently-broken engagement. The movie traced the capture of several animals, injuries to Wayne's crew, and his eventual marriage to Dallas.

"The Baby Elephant Walk" is a catchy instrumental, written by Henry Mancini, that was background music for the scene when Dallas walks the three clumsy and playful elephant babies to a waterhole. It has been used as background for other comical scenes that are somewhat clumsy or playful nature. The movie itself is rather forgettable.