The Film Snob Quiz

Film Snob Quiz Question #1:  What is the greatest American movie of all time?  (Tip: if you even have to think about this answer, then you're going to have a tough time on this quiz.  And it's certainly not Star Wars.  Geek.)

My lovely wife and I will occasionally escape for a movie matinee, buy a bag of popcorn (large - free refills!) and a cup of Dr. Pepper (10, 2 & 4!), and settle in to our seats, ready to be entertained by the latest offering from Hollywood.

Two hours and thirty minutes later, because NOBODY except Woody Allen* makes 90 minute movies anymore, we will walk outside, stop for a moment, look at each other, and I'll ask, "well, what do you think?"

My lovely wife will cautiously ponder the question for a moment, and then say something positive such as, "I thought the acting was good.  It wasn't as violent as I thought it was going to be.  The costumes were pretty."  A movie has to be incredibly bad for my wife to trash it immediately upon exiting a theater.

I will nod to her answers and we'll start walking again.  Then she'll hesitantly ask me what I thought.  Long sigh.

"The leads were terribly miscast.  The exposition in the first act was sloppy.  The music was obtrusive and distracted from the film.  The camera work was dreadful - I detest when they constantly use those trendy shaky handheld camera shots - um, I would guess they didn't have an ending when they started shooting.  Oh, yeah, and the pacing was brutal.  You could chop 15 minutes out of that thing - EASY!"

"Well, yeah, but you're a film snob" she'll say, "most people won't see it that way."  Fair enough.  Guilty as charged.  I AM a film snob.

Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece, Citizen Kane

Film Snob Quiz Answer #1:  Citizen Kane (right).  Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece still holds up 70 years later.  Although it initially received positive reviews from critics, it was a financial failure when it was first released.  Loosely based on the life of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Hearst did everything in his power to have the film buried.  Welles received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Director and won for Best Screenplay (co-writer).  It continues to place number one on the American Film Institute's list of greatest American films.

Fact o' the day sure to make your life more meaningless: Welles was all of 26 years of age when he co-wrote, starred in and directed Citizen Kane.  

Film Snob Quiz Extra Credit:  Citizen Kane was released by RKO Pictures.  What did the letters R-K-O stand for?  (No fair using your computer.  Or your smart phone, wise guy.)

I believe that in this day and age, more than a 100 years after The Great Train Robbery, any professional filmmaker should know how to make a film.  And if you have six months to write the script, four months to shoot it and six months for post-production, and you have vast resources to get the best actors and production people in the world,  then it should be more entertaining and skillfully shot than an average episode of a primetime TV show.

Film Snob Quiz Extra Credit Answer:  You googled, didn't you?  You have that Google look about you.  R-K-O stood for "Radio-Keith-Orpheum." RKO Pictures was the combination of David Sarnoff's/RCA's theater chain and Joseph Kennedy's distribution company, as well as Pathe's small film studio, to form the first fully vertically integrated (production, distribution and exhibition) motion picture company.  Add two points if you knew that already.

Film Snob Quiz Question #2: This one is another gimme if you are a film snob.  What is considered the "Greatest" year for American films?  And it wasn't 1977 because of Star Wars.  You would think there would be more debate on this question among film snobs, but there's a pretty solid consensus.

Cary Grant and Jean Arthur in the Howard Hawks' classic Only Angels Have Wings.  My heart flutters just looking at a picture of Jean Arthur.

Film Snob Quiz Question #2 Answer:  1939.  The end of the Great Depression and just before World War II.  The heyday of the studio era.  You would presume that with our technology, film schools and 100 years of film history to study, we would be able to crank out a few more notable films than they did just twelve years after the introduction of Talkies.  But no, the pinnacle of American film was 1939.

The Best Picture nominees that memorable year?  Dark Victory (Humphrey Bogart & Bette Davis), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Robert Donat, Greer Garson), Love Affair (Irene Dunne & Charles Boyer), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (James Stewart & Jean Arthur), Ninotchka (Greta Garbo), Of Mice and Men (Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr.), Stagecoach (John Wayne), The Wizard of Oz (Judy Garland), Wuthering Heights (Laurence Olivier); and the Best Picture in 1939 went to ...the envelope please...Gone with the Wind (Vivien Leigh and that Gable kid).  Wow!  That's quite a list.  Classics all.

And that doesn't even include these other notables from 1939: Destry Rides Again, Gunga Din, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Only Angels Have Wings and Young Mr. Lincoln.

There are more films on the National Film Registry from 1939 (17) than any other single year.

For the record, my favorite of the "golden year" films of 1939 is Only Angels Have Wings.  A young Cary Grant and Jean Arthur.  Tough guy pilots flying dangerous mail routes in South America.  Directed by Howard Hawks.  Worth a viewing if you've never seen it.

Jeez, you're thinking, can't we discuss a few films that were made after I was born?  Maybe something that was shot in color?  No problem.  The answer to our next question was shot in color and made in my lifetime.

Film Snob Quiz Question #3:  Speaking of the Academy Awards, what was the last comedy to win the Best Picture Oscar™?  This is another freebie if you're a film snob.  Comedies are highly undervalued and just don't do well at the Oscars™.  Film snobs remember the rare ones that win.  Still thinking?  No, it didn't involve Judd Apatow or Will Ferrell. It was made in the 1970's, but it wasn't Star Wars.  There's a clue* up in the third paragraph.  I'll give you a moment.  La-dee-da.

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen in Annie Hall (1977).

Film Snob Quiz Question #3 Answer:  Woody Allen's Annie Hall won the Oscar™ for Best Picture in 1977, the last comedy to do so.  Allen was also nominated for Best Actor and won for Best Screenplay (co-writer), becoming the first to achieve this trifecta since - are you paying attention - Orson Welles for Citizen Kane!  A thinly veiled, autobiographical account of his relationship with Diane Keaton (Keaton's actual surname is Hall),  it was originally written as a dramatic murder mystery with a romantic subplot, but Allen expanded the romance plot after it overtook the rest of the story (Allen would go on to use the murder mystery plot with Manhattan Murder Mystery with Keaton in 1993).  Allen, of course, did not show up to win the award (he has only appeared on an Academy Awards telecast one time - to introduce a film tribute to New York City in the wake of the 9/11 attacks ).  He kept his regular Monday night gig playing clarinet with his Dixieland jazz band in New York.

Film Snob Quiz Question #3 Extra Credit:  Every year there seems to be a Best Picture Oscar™ nominee that "directs itself" - the one picture that receives a nomination for Best Picture but not for Best Director.  Can you name the picture in 1977 that "directed itself?"

So how are doing so far?  Did you have Citizen Kane, 1939 and Annie Hall?  Great!  One last question.

Film Snob Quiz Question #3 Extra Credit Answer:  Herbert Ross for The Goodbye Girl.  He was the only director of a Best Picture nominee in 1977 not to be nominated for Best Director.  

Film Snob Quiz Question #4: OK. You ready?  Last one.  Which OTHER 1977 film, a sci-fi classic, following a young boy on a quest, a princess and a renegade pilot, went on to become the second highest grossing film (adjusted for inflation) of all time?  Hint:  its success led to five sequels.  No, not Close Encounters.  Saturday Night Fever?  No, only one sequel from that one.  Need another hint?  "Let the Wookie win."

Just because I'm in the mood for a legal injunction from Lucasfilm, LTD.

Film Snob Quiz Question #4 Answer:  Yes, Star Wars!

Film Snob Quiz Question #4 Extra Credit:  What is the  highest grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation), just ahead of Star Wars? 

Film Snob Quiz Question #4 Extra Credit Answer:  The highest grossing film of all time (inflation adjusted) is Gone with the Wind, which was made in - I hope you're paying attention - 1939!

See, even on the Film Snob Quiz you can't get a zero - just like the S.A.T.  So how did you do?  Here's how you can score at home:

1 answer correct:  You're never going to be a film snob.  Sorry.  But, hey, those Star Wars movies are pretty cool, eh?

2 answers correct:  Not bad.  You are permited to use the words "montage" and "auteur" when you describe a film.

3 answers correct:  Now we're getting somewhere.  You are definitely a cinephile.  Very high potential as film snob material.  Can't believe you didn't get the one about Star Wars.  

4 answers correct:  You ARE a film snob.  You drive your wife and others crazy after every movie.  Can't you enjoy anything?  Can't you watch a movie in color?  What's the matter with Star Wars?  It's a lot of fun and millions of people loved it.

Thanks for playing. That's all the time we have for our Film Snob Quiz™ for today.

Although I see there's a double feature of Bicycle Thief and Open City at the Rialto...