Dennis at Sergio Leone recently posted another one of his mammoth film quizzes. Like Damian at Windmills, I've chosen to post my answers here.
1) Favorite quote from a filmmaker
Don't make a film if it can't be the film you wanna make. It's a joke - and a sick joke - and it'll kill ya'. - David Lynch
2) A good movie from a bad director
I really don’t have a fair answer to this. How about Ravenswan?
3) Favorite Laurence Olivier performance
Max de Winter in Rebecca (Sleuth’s a close second.)
4) Describe a famous location from a movie that you have visited (Bodega Bay, California, where the action in The Birds took place, for example). Was it anything like the way it was in the film? Why or why not?
There is no basement in the Alamo. That is all.
5) Carlo Ponti or Dino De Laurentiis (Producer)?
Dino. (He produced Blue Velvet!)
6) Best movie about baseball
The Bad News Bears. Not sure it's really "about" baseball, but Jackie's in it, so 'nuff said.
7) Favorite Barbara Stanwyck performance
Well I’ve still not seen many of them, but I’m going with The Lady Eve for the time being.
8) Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused?
Both rock, but Fast Times has the edge.
9) What was the last movie you saw, and why? (We’ve used this one before, but your answer is presumably always going to be different, so…)
Driving Lessons, because Laura Linney was in it. (Although it turned out that Rupert Grint and Julie Walters made the piece; Linney was great support, but just not “the star”.)
10) Whether or not you have actually procreated or not, is there a movie you can think of that seriously affected the way you think about having kids of your own?
Having never procreated, but having a 14-year old I consider “mine”, all I can say is that question requires too much thought.
11) Favorite Katharine Hepburn performance
Suddenly Last Summer
12) A bad movie from a good director
The Brothers Grimm/Terry Gilliam
13) Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom-- yes or no?
Fucking no fucking way. And I guess my answer just goes to show the power of that nasty piece of filth.
14) Ben Hecht or Billy Wilder (Screenwriter)?
Wilder.
15) Name the film festival you’d most want to attend, or your favorite festival that you actually have attended
Festivals annoy me, but I’ve got great memories of the Twin Peaks marathon at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin years ago.
16) Head or 200 Motels?
Head -- I’ve not seen the latter, but I love Head.
17) Favorite cameo appearance
David Cronenberg in To Die For.
18) Favorite Rosalind Russell performance
Picnic (see #7 above, though)
19) What movie, either currently available on DVD or not, has never received the splashy collector’s edition treatment you think it deserves? What would such an edition include?
The Avengers. Somewhere there’s a cut of that movie that makes it even more worthwhile…although I am quite fond of the 89-minute version that does exist. I’d treasure a commentary track from director Jeremiah Chechick and screenwriter Don MacPherson wherein they discuss their vision vs. the finished product.
20) Name a performance that everyone needs to be reminded of, for whatever reason
Jeff Bridges in The Fisher King…for every reason.
21) Louis B. Mayer or Harry Cohn (Studio Head)?
No thoughts.
22) Favorite John Wayne performance
I guess The Searchers. Not a big fan.
23) Naked Lunch or Barton Fink?
I like this question, because anyone who was a film freak in ’91 probably equates the two films for numerous reasons. Both rock, but Naked Lunch easily scores my vote.
24) Your Ray Harryhausen movie of choice
Even though he didn’t direct it, I’m going with The Valley of Gwangi, a movie that imprinted itself on me for life.
25) Is there a movie you can think of that you feel like the world would be better off without, one that should have never been made?
Um, see #13 above.
26) Favorite Dub Taylor performance
Damn…looking at his IMDB resume I’ve seen a shitload of stuff he’s been in, but I’ve got no idea who he is. I’ll say The Getaway because I’m sure he was good in that (right?).
27) If you had the choice of seeing three final movies, to go with your three last meals, before shuffling off this mortal coil, what would they be?
Good lord, I hope to whatever higher power may possibly exist that the last thing I’m thinking about in that moment is movies. I’ve devoted so much time to them in my life that in those precious minutes I oughtta be thinking about bigger issues.
That said…
Withnail & I, The Big Lebowski, and Ravenswan (currently my only writer/directorial effort…hey if I’m dying, why not choose something I was part of?).
28) And what movie theater would you choose to see them in?
I guess the Showboat Theatre in Hermann, MO, my hometown. I don’t even know if it’s still a movie theatre, but it’s where I saw my first theatrical movie, which, unless memory cheats me, was Star Wars.
