The professor is about to supply his answers. Not the answers, his answers, and the prof is Dennis Cozzalio, Senior Quizmaster of Professor Kingsfield's Hair-Raising, Bar-Raising Holiday Movie Quiz at the always enlightening and delightful Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule.
It's been up since Christmas Eve, but first I was sick and then I got snowed in and then my dog ate my homework. So, I just got around to posting my answers yesterday. Get over there before the bell rings. Not that Prof. Cozzalio wouldn't let you turn yours in late, even if he fills out the questionnaire himself first.
UPDATE: The professor's answers are in!
Here are a few of my responses, which you'll find way down in the comments. I didn't read over anybody else's shoulder, though!
8) Are most movies too long?
Yes, and 20 years ago they seemed too long because they were too short. Perfect example: Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America." Anybody who had to sit through the 139-minute US release will tell you it was way, WAY longer than the 229-minute version.
9) Favorite performance by an actor portraying a real-life politician.
Phillip Baker Hall as Richard M. Nixon in Altman's "Secret Honor."
4) Favorite actor/character from "Twin Peaks."
Agent Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer). My hero. (Incidentally, there would be no "House" without this character.)
I never got tired of Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and I loved any scene with Sarah and/or Leland Palmer (Grace Zabriskie, Ray Wise).
12) Why would you ever want or need to see a movie more than once?
Because the really good ones not only draw you back, they get better.
18) Jean-Luc Godard once suggested that the more popular the movie, the less likely it was that it was a good movie. Is he right or just cranky? Cite the best evidence one way or the other.
No correlation either way.
19) Favorite Jonathan Demme movie.
"Melvin and Howard" "Stop Making Sense"
25) Favorite movie about journalism.
tie: "Citizen Kane" and "His Girl Friday." (Worst: "Absence of Malice" -- except for the GREAT image of Melinda Dillon gathering up the delivered papers in her neighborhood.)
I hope you intentionally didn't answer the question about your favorite Clint Eastwood film. For me, Unforgiven's the only one I actively like, though I enjoyed a couple others. But most of his current movies (I haven't seen much of his directorial work prior to 2000) I strongly dislike.
OK, you got me to post over there. I love Dennis' quizzes.
His quiz got me to realize that I just don't think of movies much in terms of actors. I have a set of actors I adore , but in general I just don't pay much attention. I very rarely can name supporting cast members even in movies that I like a lot, and I seldom can rattle off a list of films any particular actor has been in the way most people can. Heck, I think Wendy and Lucy is the best American feature of the year, but I recently had to look up which character Will Oldham played. I think of Milk as "that Gus van Sant movie" rather than "that Sean Penn movie."
This is especially true of classic Hollywood actors. I just don't know them, even many of the stars. I know the movies and the directors, but aside from the handful of actors that really stand out for me, they're mostly interchangeable in my memory. I'm not saying that's "right" - that's just how it is.
Other topic.
The answer I was most pleased with.
Q: Name your giant movie monster title card.
A: "It's already been made - Divine vs. Lobstora."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmbwJ_iyzc
JE: "Multiple Maniacs"! John Waters once told me that he showed that movie to a prison population (yes, he was hired to work in a rehabilitative program with convicted criminals) it almost got him fired. But the audience found it quite cathartic. I don't tend to think of movies primarily in terms of performers, either -- but there are some people I just love to watch. Confess: Divine is one of them for you, too! (And Harris Yulin?)
(Sorry to take up 2 posts in a row if, indeed, I do take up 2 posts in a row).
Harris Yulin likes Divine too? He must be cool. :) I can't say I recognized the name til I looked him up. I did remember liking the dad in Stuart Smalley though.
Divine is definitely one of the people I love(d) to watch. David Lochary and Edith Massey also - there is no acting troupe I like as much as Jon Waters' early group except perhaps for Fassbinder's entourage.
Others I love(d) to watch: John Wayne (I still dream of a Divine/John Wayne Western), Klaus Kinski, Shelley Duvall, Hanna Schygulla, William Shatner, Chris Elliott, Cheech and/or Chong, Ed O'Neill, Lee Marvin, Toshiro Mifune (Yeah, I loved Hell in the Pacific), Louise Brooks (good thing she's not around because I would have become her stalker), Jeff Bridges (I now pretend that every one of his characters is a pre-cursor to or latter-day incarnation of the Dude), Anna Karina, Gary Farmer, Takeshi Kitano, Lee Kang-sheng, Warren Oates, Ringo Starr, Richard Edson, Eszter Balint just for one movie, Bjork for just one movie, Bruno S. for two movies, and now probably Lluis Serrat for hopefully more than 2 movies.
Uh, I guess this was a thread hijack. Sorry, I don't have my list of demands yet. I'll get back to you.
Christopher: I don't know exactly how much I think of movies specifically in terms of actors myself, but I've always had a soft spot reserved in my brain for remembering character actors and names, so that probably accounts for some of the maddening quality of these quizzes. I can't wait to see your answers!
Jim, your point about the cut-down version of Once Upon a Time in America is an excellent one and the perfect proof that shorter ain't necessarily shorter, let alone better. I remember seeing that theatrical release and being so frustrated I was near tears, it made so little sense and was so uninvolving on a fundamental level-- quite the opposite of the movie Leone envisioned and the one we eventually did get to see. And thanks for mentioning Melinda Dillon's wonderful moment of madness amidst the straw-man nonsense of Absence of Malice.
As for the Clint Eastwood question, I feel that there are plenty of worthy candidates besides Unforgiven, but I think I blew it in the conception of the question. Unforgiven is the one most often cited, and understandably so, but as one of the people stated in their answers on my site, a better question might have been, what's the second-best movie Eastwood directed? There might be a bit more divergence of opinion there.
Jim, thanks so much for posting this generous link. And no apologies for tardiness necessary-- as you mentioned, I have yet to post my own answers, though not for lack of trying. I would have finished them tonight were it not for a nasty work assignment that has kept me up late tonight. I made it through about five questions before I flopped, defeated on my desk. But I think I'll have 'em finished tomorrow! Don't tell Kingsfield on me!
JE: I'll add a link to your answers whenever you've got 'em, Dennis. Second-best Eastwood-directed movie? "Outlaw Josey Wales," maybe? (After Philip Kaufman was fired.) Or "Flags of Our Fathers"/"Sands of Iwo Jima"? "Unforgiven" just towers over his other movies in my view, though I've always liked "Bronco Billy," "Play Misty for Me," "High Plains Drifter," "Pale Rider," "A Perfect World," "The Gauntlet," "Sudden Impact" and a few other earlier pictures. I confess I've never seen "Bridges of Madison County."
Dennis,
Just wanted to say that I thought the Clint Eastwood question was a good one. From what I've seen, I'm just not a big fan of his directorial work. Thanks for the quiz. I've loved reading the responses.
My favorite opening credit sequence would be “Ghost World”. The Jaan Pehechan dance number from “Gumnamm” playing while scrolling across from window-to-window of modern day Westerners is not only funny, but a great introduction of the films/protagonist attitude.
I remember watching “Once Upon a Time in America” on AMC when I was in high school. I’d never seen it before and it was the shortened version. Bad is an understatement. Luckily, I own the original version, but I have to admit that I’ve only sat through all 229 minute once.
By the way Jim, it’s “Letters from Iwo Jima”. “Sand of Iwo Jima” was a John Wayne film.
I like Unforgiven, but have to admit that I greatly preferred Eastwood (as an actor) when he talked less. I'm surprised people never bring up how much extraneous character exposition there is in THAT film. We get it, dude...you're regretful.
I think, Dennis, that you're right about the Eastwood question. If I'm honest with myself, "Unforgiven" is my favorite film, but I put "A Perfect World" down just to be contrarian (though it's easily my second favorite).
Agent Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer). My hero. (Incidentally, there would be no "House" without this character.)
Oh, come on. There would be no "House" without Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is the basis for roughly have the characters on TV right now. Besids, Holmes/House, Watson/Wilson, drugs, prickliness, etc. It's all there, and no one's hiding it.
JE: Right you are. I'm just saying that Hugh Laurie's performance reminds me so much of Ferrer's Albert that it's scary. (Not that he's imitating him -- just that his deadpan line readings often uncannily evoke memories of the FBI's Agent of Love.)