MOVIE QUIZ: MARCH AND APRIL ANNIVERSARIES
Sure, Sunday is Easter and Monday, April Fools’ Day. But this week is also the anniversary of some very famous and infamous movies.
See how much you know about films celebrating milestone birthdays, from 1959 classics to 2014 superheroes.
1. Sixty-five years ago on March 29, 1959, “Some Like It Hot,” one of the greatest film comedies ever, was released. Which of its three stars – Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon or Marilyn Monroe – earned an Oscar nomination for it?
2. Bob Fosse’s movie debut as a director, “Sweet Charity,” and the Philip Roth novel adaptation, “Goodbye, Columbus,” were released two days apart in 1969, April 1 and 3, respectively. One was a flop, the other a hit. Which one was which?
3. On March 29, 1974, the fourth big-screen version of “The Great Gatsby” was released, starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. The movie, like the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel its based on, is narrated by a writer character named Nick Carraway. What actor, who just left his most recent TV series after 20 seasons earlier this month, played Carraway?
4. Forty years ago Saturday – March 30, 1984 – was the release date for the action-adventure “Romancing the Stone,” starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny Devito. After two
flops, this was the first hit for its director, whose career took off and whose filmography has a $4.3 billion box office lifetime take. Who is he?
5. Quintessential teen satire “Heathers” turns 35
on Tuesday, April 2. The song “Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It)” plays a pivotal role in the film. What was the name of the fictitious band that sang it: Big Love, Big Audio Dynamite, Big Fun or Big
Bad Voodoo Daddy?
6. How old was Martin Short when he played a 10-year-old boy in “Clifford,” released on April 1, 1994: 35, 37, 40 or 45?
7. “The Matrix” celebrates its 25th anniversary on Sunday, March 31, and will be back in theaters next week. Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock and Leonardo Dicaprio were all offered the same role in the original, with Dicaprio accepting before pulling out. What was the role?
8. “10 Things I Hate About You” turns 25 on the same day as “The Matrix.” Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger starred in the teen romantic comedy based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” Within the next two years, Stiles would appear in two more updates of the Bard on screen. Can you name either?
9. “Fast & Furious,” the fourth film in the action series, premiered 15 years ago on April 3, 2009. True or false: It also featured the big screen debut of Gal Gadot.
10. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” went wide in the United States on April 4, 2014, but had already opened throughout much of the world in the days before. It also reunited two stars who had first worked together 16 years before in a film shot partially at Saratoga Race Course and other locations in Saratoga County. Name the movie.