Memorable Movie Music-Great Songs from Hollywood Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Stayin' Alive" is one of the greatest hit songs to come out of the disco era. The tune was written by the brothers Gibb, Maurice, Barry and Robin, better known as The Bee Gees. The movie that made it famous was about a regular kid from Brooklyn, who became famous for his disco dancing in a club called "2001 Odyssey". Can you name this film which starred John Travolta?

Answer: Saturday Night Fever

"Saturday Night Fever" (1977), featured Jon Travolta as Tony Manero, the 19 year old young man who became the king of the disco scene on Saturdays when the night fever turned him on. It was the first blockbuster hit film of Travolta's career, and it earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (Richard Dreyfuss won it for "The Goodbye Girl"). On February 4, 1978, the Bee Gees recording of "Stayin' Alive" hit Number One on the "Billboard Hot 100", and it stayed there for a month.
The movie's soundtrack album has sold more than 15 million copies world-wide.

Interesting fact: In 2010, "Stayin' Alive" was listed at number 191 on "Rolling Stone's" List of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Here's a little taste:
"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive"

2. "As Time Goes By" has been recorded by many great artists. The star-studded list includes Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Carly Simon, Tony Bennett, and a great rendition by Jimmy Durante. In 2004, the American Film Institute (A.F.I.) named it number two on their "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Despite all the previously mentioned covers, it is still best known for being the centerpiece song from a 1942 movie. Can you name that Oscar winning film?

Answer: Casablanca

"Casablanca", a romantic/adventure film set during WWII, is the story of anti-Nazi partisans trying to escape the Moroccan city by getting their hands on a couple of elusive "letters of transit". Much of the action takes place in a caf� owned by American expatriate, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart). A former lover of his, Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), asks Rick's help in finding the letters. "Casablanca", which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, has many memorable lines including, "Here's looking at you, kid", which placed fifth on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of "100 Years...100 Movie Quotes". Interestingly, the line most often associated with the film, "Play it again, Sam", is never actually spoken. The closest to it, is when Ilsa says to Rick's piano player, Sam, (Dooley Wilson) "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'".
Claude Rains, Paul Henried, Sidney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre round out the all-star cast.
The beautiful song was originally part of a 1931 Broadway show, "Everybody's Welcome", written by American songwriter Herman Hupfeld.
In case you were wondering, in 2004 the American Film Institute selected "Over the Rainbow", from "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), as their number one song.
Here's the opening of "As Time Goes By":
"You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by"

3. It's a good thing the lyricists for "Gonna' Fly Now" didn't get paid by the word, since the mostly instrumental theme song has just thirty.* Despite the brevity, it took two tune-smiths to pen them, Ayn Robbins, and Carol Connors. The single of "Gonna Fly Now", flew to Number One on the "Billboard Hot 100" list July 2, 1977. The 1976 film it was heard in won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Can you be sly and name it?

Answer: Rocky

The inspirational music was composed by Bill Conti. One of "Rocky's" most famous sequences shows Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), chugging up the stairs of Philadelphia's Museum of Art, while the theme song booms in the background. Balboa, a.k.a. "The Italian Stallion", is preparing for a heavyweight championship boxing match against the title-holder, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Burgess Meredith is outstanding in his role as Rocky's trainer, Mickey Goldmill. "Rocky" was the top box-office film of 1976, and has had numerous sequels. In 2008, the American Film Institute (A.F.I.) named "Rocky" as the second best sports film of all time (ironically behind another boxing film), "Raging Bull" (1980). Other A.F.I. recognitions include: 100 years...100 Cheers, number four (2006); 100 Years...100 Heroes, Rocky Balboa was named number seven (2003), and "100 Years...100 Songs, "Gonna Fly Now" placed at number 58 (2004).

Interesting fact: Carol Connors, the co-writer of "Gonna' Fly Now", also wrote the lyrics for the James Bond caper "For Your Eyes Only" (1981)
* Here are all 30 words:
"Trying hard now
It's so hard now
Trying hard now

Getting strong now
Won't be long now
Getting strong now

Gonna fly now
Flying high now
Gonna fly, fly, fly"

4. "Up Where We Belong" won the Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in a 1982 film. In addition, the single recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes reached the top of the "Billboard Hot 100" on November 6, 1982, and remained ensconced there for three weeks. The movie follows two young men as they go through training to become U.S. Navy pilots, and the two local women they hook up with. The movie was the third highest grossing film of the year; do you know which one it was?

Answer: An Officer And A Gentleman

Cocker and Warnes' rendition earned the pair the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By a Duo. "Up Where We Belong" was written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Saint-Marie and Will Jennings. (Jennings also wrote "My Heart Will Go On" for "Titanic" (1997). "An Officer and a Gentleman" starred Richard Gere as Zack, "Mayonnaise", Mayo, and David Keith as the two candidates, with Debra Winger and Lisa Blount as their love interests. Lou Gosestt, Jr. won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the hard driving drill instructor, Marine Sgt. Emil Foley. Debra Winger received a Best Actress nomination for her role of Paula Pokrifki. In 2004, the American Film Institute ranked "Up Where We Belong", number 75 on their 100 Years...100 Songs list.

Interesting fact: A couple of big name stars turned down two major parts in the film. John Travolta took a pass on the Gere role, and Jack Nicholson eschewed playing the Academy Award winning Gossett Jr.'s D.I.
Here's the conclusion to the song:
"Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know
Where the clear winds blow

Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry
On a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong"

5. "Suicide is Painless" is from of all things, a movie in the comedy genre. Written by lyricist Mike Altman with composer Johnny Mandel, the instrumental version from the film's soundtrack hit Number One on the U.K. charts in 1980. The war-themed movie spawned a TV series of the same name, one of the most successful sitcoms ever, which ran from 1972-1983. What's the moniker of this military movie?

Answer: M*A*S*H

"M*A*S*H" (1970), starred Donald Sutherland as "Hawkeye" Pierce, Elliot Gould as "Trapper John", and featured Gary Burghoff ("Radar" O'Reilly), Sally Kellerman (Major Margaret, "Hot Lips", Houlihan) and Robert Duvall (Major Frank Burns). M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), is set in Korea and follows a group of wacky, undisciplined doctors and nurses (and some actual ground soldiers), who thankfully never existed. "M*A*S*H" was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, ironically losing to another (real) army film: "Patton", and scored one win, with Ring Lardner Jr. taking the Oscar for Best Screenplay.
The American Film Institute A.F.I.) listed "M*A*S*H" in 54th place on their revised 2007 list of the Top 100 American Films of All-Time, and on their 2004 list of 100 Years...100 Songs, the theme from "M*A*S*H" sits at number 66.
The song's complete though rarely used title is "Song from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless)".
Here's some of it, but don't do anything rash:
"The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please"

6. "Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side?" That was the question posed at the beginning of the bouncy, "Rainbow Connection". Sung in a movie by, in my opinion, the greatest singing amphibian ever, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost in a controversial decision to "It Goes Like it Goes" (from "Norma Rae"). Can you remember this delightful film?

Answer: The Muppet Movie

The great singer was none other than Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson who created The Muppets). "Rainbow Connection" co-writer, Paul Williams had captured the Best Original Song Oscar for "Evergreen" in the Barbra Streisand film, "A Star is Born" (1976).
The Muppet Movie" is the familiar yarn about someone headin' to Hollywood to find fame and fortune, with the slight exception that this time it's about a frog and friends. We are treated to some very cute musical numbers song by, among others, Miss Piggy, Animal, and Fozzie Bear. On the American Film Institute's 2004 list of 100 Years...100 Songs, "Rainbow Connection" hopped to number 74. There are numerous cameos in the film by several homo sapiens as well, including Bob Hope, Madeline Kahn, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, and Orson Welles.

Interesting fact: The Library of Congress named "The Muppet Movie" to the National Film Registry in 2009.
Here are more lyrics from the song I love today, as much as I did the first time I heard it:
"Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions
They're only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide

So we've been told and some chose to
Believe it
But I know they're wrong wait and see

Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me"

Now isn't that just adorable?

7. The haunting "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is featured in a pulse pounding thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It's the tale of the McKenna's family vacation, which is going along swimmingly when, oops, some villainous character kidnaps son, Hank. From then on, it's a race against time as dad and his blond-haired wife try to locate the kid before harm befalls him. This 1956 film is Hitch at his best...what is the movie's moniker?

Answer: The Man Who Knew Too Much

The man who knew too much about a murder he supposedly witnessed was Ben McKenna, played by Jimmy Stewart. His lovely better half, Jo, is portrayed by the effervescent Doris Day. The bad guys' motive for purloining Hank (Christopher Olson) from a Marrakesh marketplace is based on the assumption that the McKennas can help the coppers capture the culprits who committed the killing. To say much more would be letting the proverbial cat out of the bag, so if you want to learn about the anxiety riddled climax, I encourage you to see this classic flick.
The movie's theme song, written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston (both 1977 Song Writers Hall of Fame inductees), won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. By then it was called "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera"). It was under that title that Doris Day's beautiful single recording first reached the "Billboard Hot 100" list, in July' 56, eventually peaking at number two, and in the U.K. it topped the singles chart. The movie was a big money maker for Paramount Pictures, bringing in over $11 million for a film which cost slightly over $1.2 million to produce.
"Whatever Will be, Will Be", etc. was ranked number 48 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years...100 Songs in 2004. Notable covers have been sung by Connie Francis, The Shirelles, Sly and the Family Stone and even that classy group of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Here's how it begins:
When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother
What will I be
Will I be pretty
Will I be rich
Here's what she said to me

Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera, sera
What will be, will be

8. "And here's to you, "Mrs. Robinson", Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, Wo, Wo)". Thus begins another of the most recognizable songs to come out of Tinseltown. It was written by Paul Simon, of Simon & Garfunkel fame. After topping the "Billboard Hot 100" from June 1-June 21, the song wound up winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year (1969). The film it was featured in was named on the American Film Institute's (A.F.I.) list of 100 Years...100 Movies as number 17. Can you name this comedy classic? Hint: "Plastics".

Answer: The Graduate

"Mrs. Robinson" is from a 1967 comedy about a cougar-ish, mid-30s married woman, makin' some moves on a recent male college graduate who is about the same age as her daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross). The lad, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), finally succumbs to the desires of Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Murray Robinson plays the clueless, cuckolded Mr. Robinson. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, with Mike Nichols taking the Oscar for Best Director. "Mrs. Robinson" was a huge money maker, raking in over $100 million in box office receipts after being made for just over $3 million.

On the American Film Institute 2007 list of 100 Years...100 Movies, "The Graduate" is ranked 17th. On their 2004 list of 100 Years...100 Songs, "Mrs. Robinson" sits seductively at number six, and "Plastics" was named number 42 on their 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list (2005). ("Plastics", was investment advice from family friend, Mr. McGuire, to Benjamin).

Interesting fact: Both Doris Day and Jane Fonda turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson, in fact Ms. Fonda also turned down the role of Elaine Robinson.
And now, a bit more of "Mrs. Robinson":
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)"

9. The prolific composer of over 300 film scores (including "Casablanca"), Max Steiner's crowning achievement was judged by the American Film Institute to be "Tara's Theme"*. The film it appeared in was set during the American Civil War, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is one of the most famous films ever to come out of Hollywood? Can you name this sweeping saga of the South?

Answer: Gone With The Wind

"Gone with the Wind" (1939) wound up winning eight Academy Awards after being nominated for 13. The film was based on Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name, which earned her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.
In the epic Civil War film, Clark Gable stars as the dashing Rhett Butler and Vivian Leigh's portrayal as one of filmdom's most famous Southern belles, Scarlett O'Hara, won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard and Thomas Mitchell also star as they attempt to flee before the Union Army arrives. Mitchell plays the patriarch of the clan O'Hara, who live on their fine stately southern plantation, "Tara".
Some other American Film Institute rankings:
*100 Years...100 Film Scores-number two ("Star Wars-1977, was number one)
100 Years...100 Greatest Movies-number six
100 Years...100 Quotes-number one ("Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn")

Interesting facts: "Gone With the Wind" was the first movie shot in color to win the Best Picture Oscar, and Hattie McDaniel, "Mammy" in the film, became the first African American to take home an Oscar, winning for Best Supporting Actress.
Another Interesting fact: Gary Cooper declined the opportunity to play Rhett Butler since he predicted "GWTW" would be a colossal flop. Oops!

10. One of the most beautiful songs to come from Hollywood (or anywhere else) is the elegant, "Moon River" (which is wider than a mile). It was created by the Academy Award winning team of composer Henry Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer. "Moon River" runs as a background theme in the film in which it appears, and is also song by the female lead, who plays one of the most iconic female Hollywood characters, Ms. Holly Golightly. The 1961 film is based on a novella of the same name written by Truman Capote. Can you name that novella and the movie as well?

Answer: Breakfast At Tiffany's

"Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Moon River" took home the Oscar for Best Song. The movie centers around the flighty Ms. Golightly, a Southern peach who has turned into a Big Apple tart. Ms. Hepburn is memorable as Holly, wearing that pretty teeny black dress, while holding an extra-long cigarette holder, and wearing a pair of (very) large sunglasses. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. George Peppard co-stars as Holly's boyfriend, Paul Varjek. Although "Moon River" became Andy Williams' signature song, surprisingly he never released a single of the tune. In 2004 The American Film Institute designated "Moon River" as number four on its list of 100 Years...100 Songs.
The adorable Ms. Hepburn has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and more impressively, in 1992 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her efforts on behalf of UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador.

Interesting fact: The sultry Marilyn Monroe deigned not to play Holly since she felt playing the role of a prostitute would be bad for her image. (Really)?
Let's end this quiz by floating down "Moon River":
"Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

Two drifters, off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river and me"

Source: Author paulmallon

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Sometimes when you hear a song, you remember that you heard it in a particular movie. It may have been a background melody running throughout the picture, or sung more than once in the film. Here are ten such songs; can you name the movies?

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