White House Cinematic Intrigue Quiz

Answer: Absolute Power

Knowing that billionaire Walter Sullivan (EG Marshall) is away, Luther (Eastwood), a thief, breaks into his home with the aim of a big score. He is interrupted when Sullivan's good friend, a drunken President Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman), arrives with Sullivan's wife. The President, unaware that Luther is hiding and observing him from behind a one-way mirror, becomes sexually violent with Mrs. Sullivan. She stabs him in the arm with a letter opener and raises it again but, before she can act, is gunned down by the Secret Service.

Luther manages to get away, but not before he is spotted, at the last moment, by the Secret Service. A cover-up is then put in place by the White House, framing the unknown burglar for the murder. Luther, who still managed to steal a small fortune, does have one ace up his sleeve...he also managed to steal the incriminating letter opener. The problem he has is how to make use of it.

Despite its all-star cast, which also included Ed Harris, Judy Davis, Scott Glenn, and Dennis Haysbert, the film had limited success at the box office.

This question was fenced by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Necktie

The Butler is based on the true-life story of Virginian man Eugene Allen (given the name of Cecil Gaines for the movie) who worked in the White House for thirty-four years from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. During that time, Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker, worked for eight presidential administrations. There are a host of stars in this movie including Oprah Winfrey as Gloria Gaines, the butler's wife; John Cusack (Richard Nixon); Jane Fonda (Nancy Reagan); Alan Rickman (Ronald Reagan); and Robin Williams (Dwight D. Eisenhower), among many others.

Cecil is born on a plantation, which he leaves at the age of 18. He finds himself working in a hotel in Washington from where he is hired by the White House head butler Carter Wilson (Cuba Gooding Jr.). Cecil is witness to many significant historical events during the years of his employment, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, enacted after Kennedy's death in 1963. It is at this juncture in the film that Jacqueline Kennedy, portrayed by Minka Kelly, gives one of JFK's ties to Mr Gaines. Gaines advocates against class divisions amongst the White House staff and gains support from successive presidents, most notably Mr. Reagan. However, when Mr. Reagan refused to support sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime, Cecil resigns and joins his son in protesting against South Africa. Some years later, he is invited back to the White House to meet President Obama.

This question was served up by Phoenix Rising member VegemiteKid.

Answer: False

The book that the movie "Wag the Dog" was based on came out in 1993 and was predicated on the hypothesis that the Gulf War had not taken place. Ironically, right after the movie came out, events in the Clinton administration mirrored the ideas put forth in the movie but these events were not the inspiration for the movie.

The movie follows a leading spin doctor who is hired to distract the public from the president's sex scandal when he is caught with an underage girl in the Oval Office. The spin doctor creates a fictional war in Albania hoping the media will focus on that and not the scandal.

During the outbreak of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal, the Clinton administration bombed both Syria and Afghanistan. As the scandal dragged on they also bombed Iraq. The media quickly drew comparisons between the movie and these real life events.

This question was leashed into the quiz by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.

Answer: William Harrison Mitchell

The title character of "Dave" is the manager of an employment agency who has a second job as an impersonator and lookalike of US President Bill Mitchell. He ends up at the helm of the White House, standing in for the president, after the president is taken ill. With the president seriously ill, the White House Chief of Staff (Frank Langella) hatches a plot to discredit the vice president (Ben Kingsley) by getting Dave to appoint him to the role instead, before announcing the president's illness and thus gaining full control of the White House. In addition, when Dave meets the president's estranged wife he finds himself falling in love...

This question was written up by Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81...or was it?

Answer: No Way Out

Kevin Costner is Naval Intelligence officer Tom Farrell and he has fallen for the very attractive Susan Atwell (Sean Young). Susan, however, has a lover...the Secretary of Defense, David Brice, played by Gene Hackman. When Brice shows up unexpectedly he figures Susan has another lover and things get out of hand, leading to Brice accidentally killing Susan.

Brice's advisor suggests a cover-up, blaming the death of Susan on a Russian spy known only as "Yuri" who was (supposedly) using Susan to garner information on Brice. This would create a national investigation, which will track down the lover (Farrell), who is to be shot during the inquiry, thus tying up all the loose ends. This ends up placing Farrell in the position of running an investigation to track himself down. As evidence starts to mount that would lead to him being identified as the lover, the pack is closing in and there appears to be no way out for our protagonist.

This is an ingenious and fast paced thriller that builds an astonishing amount of suspense. It was a career-making movie for Costner and it comes complete with a massive twist at the end.

This question was framed by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: The Manchurian Candidate

In "The Manchurian Candidate", US Army soldiers were captured during the Korean War and sent to Manchuria where one of the captives was brainwashed into becoming an assassin whose trigger was the Queen of Diamonds playing card. Surprisingly, his handler back home in America was his own mother. His co-captive realizes something is not quite right and starts to investigate. Events come to a head when the handler programmes the assassin to target a presidential candidate.

"The Manchurian Candidate" was first released in 1962 and featured Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury under the direction of John Frankenheimer. It was re-made in 2004 with some modifications to the story-line. The 2004 release was directed by Jonathan Demme and starred Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liv Schreiber, and Jon Voight. Both installments were based on Richard Condon's 1959 book of the same name.

This question was handled by Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing.

Answer: The Sentinel

Actually, Pete Garrison has a vested interest in saving the First Lady, played by Kim Basinger, seeing that he is having an affair with her. Unfortunately, he is framed as a mole and has to work with fellow-agent David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) to discover who is the real mole and potential assassin. Garrison manages to convince his fellow agents that he is not the mole and ultimately they determine that the plotter is senior agent William Montrose (Martin Donovan). Sadly, the news of his affair with the president's wife has become public knowledge and Garrison is forced into retirement.

Phoenix Rising member, VegemiteKid, figured out how to sneak this question into the quiz.

Answer: Bill Clinton

The film, directed by Mike Nichols, was adapted from journalist Joe Klein's novel "Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics". The novel was loosely based on Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, which was covered by Klein.

In the movie, a young political idealist joins the campaign of a presidential candidate. He becomes disillusioned when the presidential candidate he esteems resorts to underhanded means to win the race. He is faced with the decision to abandon his integrity and continue with the campaign or to hold fast to his principles and quit.

Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing campaigned for this question.

Answer: Olympus Has Fallen

Both "White House Down" and "Olympus Has Fallen" were released in 2013 and featured terrorist attacks on the White House. In "White House Down" a group of mercenaries seizes control and Capitol policeman and Army veteran John Cale (Channing Tatum) springs into action to safeguard the president (Jamie Foxx). In "Olympus Has Fallen", former Secret Service agent and ex-Army Ranger Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) takes on the KUF and attempts to rescue the president (Aaron Eckart).

"Olympus Has Fallen" spawned two sequels, "London Has Fallen" (2016) and "Angel Has Fallen" (2019) in which the main cast (Butler, Eckart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, et al.) reprised their roles. 'Olympus' is an official codename for the White House. 'Angel' is an official codename for Air Force One.

This question was seized by Phoenix Rising's JCSon.

Answer: John Frankenheimer

In 1962, "The Manchurian Candidate" was released as the quintessential cold war thriller, tapping into the red scare prevalent at the time. It is and was considered the magnum opus for Frankenheimer. He followed that up in 1964 with the political thriller "Seven Days in May" about an attempted coup by generals against a president who was seeking a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. Interestingly, John F Kennedy who was president at the time of the filming of "Seven Days in May" found the plot of the book it was based on quite plausible and through his press secretary encouraged the film to be made.

The two films were in many ways intricately tied to President Kennedy. "The Manchurian Candidate" dealt with political assassination and came out the year prior to Kennedy's assassination. The release of "Seven Days in May" was set to come out in December of 1963 but was postponed until 1964 because of Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963.

This question was entered into the quiz by a coup led by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.