1370 lines
64 KiB
Plaintext
1370 lines
64 KiB
Plaintext
From: ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (evelyn.c.leeper)
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Date: 25 Feb 94 16:27:35 GMT
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies,rec.answers,news.answers
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Subject: rec.arts.movies Frequently Asked Questions
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Archive-name: movies/faq
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Last change:
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Wed Jan 26 16:17:09 EST 1994
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Additions:
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21) Are there any FTP sites for movie scripts?
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22) What is Roger Ebert's CompuServe address?
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Changes:
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13) What ethnic actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards?
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Copies of this article may be obtained by anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu
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under /pub/usenet/news.answers/movies-faq.Z. Or, send email to
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mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet/news.answers/movies-faq" in the
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body of the message.
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Questions include:
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1) "Does anyone know this movie?" <plot summary follows>
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2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?"
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3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous
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star)?
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4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?"
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5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY? Did Andy Williams
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dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT? How come
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Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza
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Doolitle?
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6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no
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stinkin' badges?" come from ??
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7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel?
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8) What is letterboxing?
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9) Why are clips of old films always fast?
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10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies?
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11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's
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films?
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12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean?
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13) What "ethnic" actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards?
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14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond? When is the
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next James Bond film?
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15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of
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films?
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16) How do films, actors, etc., get nominated for Academy Awards?
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17) What is the secret of THE CRYING GAME? (rot13'd)
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18) What are the top twenty grossing films of all time?
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19) How can I find out where a certain movie is playing?
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20) What is a director's cut?
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21) Are there any FTP sites for movie scripts?
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22) What is Roger Ebert's CompuServe address?
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Topics include:
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1) Colorizing -- various legal and moral issues
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2) Product placements in movies
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3) Has anyone seen this great movie I just saw called HEATHERS?
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4) What's this talk about a ghost in THREE MEN AND A BABY?
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5) Can someone explain BARTON FINK?
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For the following items, see the rec.arts.sf.movies FAQ:
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1. Star Trek.
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2. The animated LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi covers only the
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first half of the trilogy. Bakshi did not make the second half.
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3. Frequent subjects.
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4. Abbreviations commonly used in this group:
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5. BLADE RUNNER: the sixth replicant, why voice-overs, and Deckard a
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replicant?
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6. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alien
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races from different space opera movies/series.
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7. Is the movie HEAVY METAL out on video?
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8. Why is there an acknowledgment to Harlan Ellison in the credits of
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THE TERMINATOR? or Doesn't THE TERMINATOR have the same plot as a
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TWILIGHT ZONE episode?
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9. What about the relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: A
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Space Odyssey) and IBM? (If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you get
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IBM.)
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10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the film
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"WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?"
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11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THE
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FUTURE?
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12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OF
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BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION?
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13. When is George Lucas going to make more STAR WARS films? What
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will they be about??
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14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed suddenly to vacuum
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promptly explode. In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds'
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exposure to vacuum doesn't bother one at all. Which is right?
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15. What does "FTL" mean?
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16. I was told that the director's cut of DUNE was seven hours long,
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and did a much better job of portraying the novel. Where can I
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find it?
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17. What are the two minutes of new footage on the STAR TREK VI: THE
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UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY videocassette?
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18. What are the various Quatermass films and the names they go under?
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Items covered in the rec.music.classical FAQ (cf):
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Q6. What is that [classical] music in [insert TV show/movie
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here]?
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rec.arts.movies is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of movies. It is
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a high-volume newsgroup and this article is intended to help reduce the
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number of unnecessary postings, thereby making it more useful and
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enjoyable to everyone.
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If you have not already done so, please read the articles in
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news.announce.newusers. They contain a great deal of useful information
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about network etiquette and convention.
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Before we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette. Both of these are
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mentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequently
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violated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to this
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group, we mention them here:
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SPOILER WARNINGS: Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a film
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is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those
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things are surprise endings or mysteries. On the other hand, they also
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want to know whether or not a film is worth seeing, or they may be
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following a particular thread of conversation where such information may
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be revealed. The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
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header, or in the text of your posting. You can also put a ctl-L
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character in the *first* column for your readers who are using rn. Some
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people think that spoiler warnings are not necessary. We don't understand
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why, and do not want to discuss it. Use your best judgment.
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REPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS: When you think that many people will
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know an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request,
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RESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!! And if you don't know the answer, but want to
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know, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL! If
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you think a lot of people will want the same information, you might
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suggest that the person summarize to the net.
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Even if you don't see an answer posted, and you have the answer, please
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send it e-mail. The thirty other people who answered may have already
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sent it, and your site just hasn't gotten it yet. It clogs the net and
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gets very tedious to see 30 people answer the same question, and another
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30 people asking for the answer to be posted. All of that should be
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done via mail. The net is a highly asynchronous medium. It can take
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several days for an article to make it to all sites. It is also quite
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common for followups to messages to reach a site before the original.
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Please keep in mind two points:
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1. Always remember that there is a live human being at the
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other end of the wires. In other words, please write your
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replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking to
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someone face-to-face.
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2. Try to recognize humor and irony in postings. Tone of
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voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often
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snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be
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obvious. More destructive and vicious arguments have been
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caused by this one fact of net existence than any other. It
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will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with
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the "smiley face," :-)
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The first part of the list is a compendium of information that has been
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posted to rec.arts.movies many times in the past. If you have received
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this list through e-mail, without requesting it, this is most likely
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because you posted one of the questions on the list.
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The second part of the FAQ list contains a series of topics that are
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repeatedly discussed, along with a bit of editorial comment on each one.
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The reason for including this information is merely to provide new
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readers with some background and context. In no way do we mean for this
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to preclude anyone from discussing these topics again. While the items
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listed in part one are (indisputable??) facts, the topics in part two
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are objects of opinion. As such, they can be discussed ad infinitum
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without any resolution. Do so if you wish. Remember the first
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amendment...
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The last part of the FAQL contains a few further bits of information for
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readers of rec.arts.movies. This includes several other lists that are
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kept by members of the group, trivia contests etc. Interested readers
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should seek out the companion FAQ in rec.arts.sf.movies.
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If you have any questions about this list, or if there is something you
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think should be added, you can contact me through e-mail at:
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ecl@mtgzy.att.com
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Now, here are some frequently asked questions...
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PART ONE: Frequently asked questions, and some answers (and some
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of them may be right).
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0) "What movies has X appeared in/directed/written etc.?"
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The rec.arts.movies movie database can answer this kind of question, along
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with many other movie related questions. The movie database has over
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300,000 entries for more than 25,000 movies. The database includes
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filmographies for actors, directors, writers, composers cinematographers,
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editors, production designers and costume designers; plot summaries;
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character names; movie ratings; year of release; movie trivia; personal
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trivia and Academy Award information.
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The database can be searched via a mail-server interface. For details
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send a message with a subject HELP to <movie@ibmpcug.co.uk>.
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Alternatively, the movie database package can be installed locally on most
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Unix machines with between 3 and 30Mb of free disk-space. The package is
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available via anonymous FTP as follows:
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cathouse.org in /pub/cathouse/movies/database/tools/moviedb-2.8.tar.Z
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ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/lists/tools/moviedb-2.8.tar.gz
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see the README file in the same directories for information on how to
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get started.
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The database is also available via the World Wide Web. To access it,
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you'll need a browser. A browser is a 'client' program which connects to
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'servers' such as www.cm.cf.ac.uk where the movie database can be found.
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WWW browsers exist for most machines. Here's a list of some browsers;
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Name System/requirements Available from (among others)
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==== =================== ==============
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Mosaic X windows, MS-Windows, Mac ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu /Web
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lynx vt100 ftp.wustl.edu /packages/www/lynx
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From your browser, OPEN or GO to the following document;
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http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/moviequery.html
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TELNET access (not half as good as running your own browser)
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====== ======
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There a several telnet'able WWW servers. Here's some examples;
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telnet info.cern.ch
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then type go http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/moviequery.html
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telnet www.njit.edu (login: www)
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then type g http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/moviequery.html
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telnet ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (login: www) needs vt100
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then look under "by Subject" then "Movies"
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Help on the WWW can be found in comp.infosystems.www
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The database is constructed from the lists posted to rec.arts.movies
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managed by the following people:
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List | Maintained by
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----------------|--------------------------------------
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Composers | Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Cinematographers| Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Writers | Jon Reeves <reeves@zk3.dec.com>
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Directors | Col Needham <cn@ibmpcug.co.uk>
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Character Names | Steve Hammond <shammond@indirect.com>
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Actresses | Col Needham <cn@ibmpcug.co.uk>
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Crazy Credits | Mark Harding <ccsmh@ss1.bath.ac.uk>
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Plot Summaries | Colin Tinto <colint@spider.co.uk>
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Biographies | Mark Harding <ccsmh@ss1.bath.ac.uk>
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Prod. Designers | Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Cost. Designers | Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Movies | Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Alt. Titles | Michel Hafner <hafner@ifi.unizh.ch>
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Editors | Col Needham <cn@ibmpcug.co.uk>
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Actors | Col Needham <cn@ibmpcug.co.uk>
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Trivia | Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
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------------------------------------------------------
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The lists are also available via anonymous ftp:
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cathouse.org in /pub/cathouse/movies/database
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ftp.funet.fi in /pub/culture/tv+film/lists
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1) "Does anyone know this movie?" <plot summary follows>
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When making this kind of request, ask that all responses be e-mailed
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back to you. After having found out what it is, then post the correct
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answer to the net.
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If you know the answer but are unable to send a message to the requester,
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wait a few days. It's likely that someone else will post the correct
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answer, thus sparing you the effort.
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Do not post messages like "I want to know, too" to the net. E-mail the
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person who asked the question and request that they send you any
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information they get by e-mail. Only if you cannot reach the person by
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e-mail *and* no one has posted about the request after several days
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should you post.
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2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?"
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When making these kind of requests, ask that all replies be e-mailed to
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you and that you will summarize. Note that a summary is not just
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concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting file.
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Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and
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write a short summary.
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3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous
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star)?
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You *can't* get phone numbers. But you can often get contact addresses
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(usually an agent or publicist), by calling the Screen Artist's Guild at
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213-465-4600. They will give you a phone number and/or address for the
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agent. The agent can provide you an address to write and may send
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pictures on request or provide the publicist's addresses.
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4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?"
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If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a
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(polite) message opening the discussion. Don't just say, "Does anyone
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want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have
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something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.
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Don't be angry or upset if no one responds. It may be that X is just a
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personal taste of your own, or quite obscure. Or it may be that X was
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discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the
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group. (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because
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some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up
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*AGAIN*!!!" Ignore them.)
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5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY? Did Andy Williams
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dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT? How come
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Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza
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Doolitle?
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Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also did the singing
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for Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY and Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I.
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(Nixon also appeared in person as Sister Sophia in THE SOUND OF MUSIC.)
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Although the legend about Andy Williams and Lauren Bacall is so deeply
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entrenched that you'll find it repeated even in some film reference
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books, it's not true. Director Howard Hawks, when asked about this,
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explained that he had indeed planned to have Andy Williams sing for
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Bacall, but after hearing Bacall sing during the rehearsals for the
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scene he abandoned that plan and ended up using Bacall's own voice.
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(Source: Hawks on Hawks by Joseph McBride [Berkeley, University of
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California Press, 1982] p.130.) (Jon Corelis, jon@lindy.stanford.edu)
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However, Hepburn sang "Moon River" in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. She also
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sings some of the lead lines in MY FAIR LADY. (Yuzuru Hiraga,
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hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU)
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Andrews was not considered popular enough (by Jack L. Warner) to be cast
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in the movie of MY FAIR LADY.
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So it seems that the names mentioned above are actually more closely
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related!
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6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no stinkin'
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badges?" come from ??
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This quote was originally spoken in the film "Treasure of the Sierra Madre",
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written and directed by John Huston. A band of Mexican bandits approaches
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Humphry Bogart and crew (Walter Huston & Tim Holt) claiming to be federales.
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When Bogart asks to see their badges, the head of the band says:
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"Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges.
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I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"
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This quote has been satirized in a number of films, perhaps most famously in
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Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles."
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By the way, this version of the quote has been verified as the exact
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transcription from the film by Wayne Hathaway and Jerry Boyajian. It is
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not, however, *exactly* the same as the book. In THE TREASURE OF SIERRA
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MADRE by B. Traven (1935), the bandit says, "Badges, to god-damned hell
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with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I
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don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabron and
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ching' tu madre! Come out there from that shit-hole of yours. I have
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to speak to you." (page 161 of the Modern Library edition) (For the
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Spanish-deprived among you, "cabron" is cuckold, "chingar" is "fuck,"
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and "tu madre" is "your mother." Clearly the dialogue was cleaned up
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for the film.) (See the rec.arts.books FAQ for more information about
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Traven.)
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7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel?
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THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974) certainly started the modern wave of numbered
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sequels, followed by (just up to 1980):
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1975 THE FRENCH CONNECTION II
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1976 THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! PART 2 (Jerry Boyajian thinks they really
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missed the boat on this one by not calling this THAT'S
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ENTERTAINMENT, TOO! and wants it stated for the record he
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thought of this *before* LOOK WHO'S TALKING TOO came out.)
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1977 EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC
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1978 DAMIEN: THE OMEN II
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1978 JAWS II
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1979 ROCKY II
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1980 SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, PART II
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1980 HIGH NOON, PART II: THE RETURN OF WILL KANE [TV movie]
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But it was no means the earliest numbered sequel. The second runner up for
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that prize is:
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1957 QUATERMASS II [US title: ENEMY FROM SPACE, though released on
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laserdisc in the US under the original title]
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which is a film version of the British television serial of the same name,
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and a sequel to the serial and feature film THE QUATERMASS [E]XPERIMENT
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[US title: THE CREEPING UNKNOWN].
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At one time we thought the winner was:
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1946 IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II
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(Eisenstein started, but did not complete, a PART III the next year.)
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However, we later found out that Akira Kurosawa made SANSHIRO SUGATA, PART
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TWO in 1945 (the original was filmed in 1943) and Jerry Boyajian has
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confirmed that it is, in the original Japanese title, indeed a "numbered"
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sequel as well.
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(Recently in alt.cult-movies, in a discussion of Fritz Lang, someone had
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suggested that an even earlier numbered sequel was DR. MABUSE, DER SPIELER
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PART 2 (a.k.a. DR. MABUSE, KING OF CRIME), made in 1922. I suppose a case
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can be made for it, except that the two parts were originally made and
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exhibited together under a single title. Only in more recent times have
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the two parts been shown as individual works.)
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[Thanks to Jerry Boyajian for this answer.]
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8) What is letterboxing?
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In case you hadn't noticed, movie screens have a different shape than
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television screens. This means that when a movie is shown on a
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television screen, it doesn't fit. Up until recently, this meant that
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either the left and right ends of the picture were cropped off, or the
|
|
picture was "panned and scanned" (the camera would seem to go back and
|
|
forth between the left and right sides, usually done for scenes in which
|
|
the two characters speaking were at the far left and right of a scene),
|
|
or that the picture was warped so that everyone looked tall and thin
|
|
(this was usually done for credit sequences so the full names could fit
|
|
on the screen, or you would think you were watching "ne with the Wi").
|
|
Now some companies are releasing "letterboxed" versions of films on
|
|
videocassettes and videodisks. These have a black bar at the top and
|
|
bottom of the screen, allowing the full width of the picture to be
|
|
included, but resulting in a smaller picture--that is, a character ten
|
|
inches tall in a non-letterboxed version might be eight inches tall in a
|
|
letterboxed one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
9) Why are clips of old films always fast?
|
|
|
|
Persistence of vision (which makes still film frames appear to be in
|
|
motion) only requires 16 frames per second to fool the eye, so that was
|
|
the speed used for early films. When sound was introduced, the
|
|
16-frame-per-second speed caused warbling, so the standard was increased
|
|
to 24 frames per second.
|
|
|
|
When you see a silent movie, shot at 16 frames per second, projected at
|
|
the faster rate, it looks "faster" but only because there aren't many 16
|
|
frame per second film projectors around. With modern videotape systems,
|
|
the films-on-tape can be slowed back down.
|
|
|
|
To complicate matters more, the early cameras were hand-cranked: if the
|
|
cameraman cranked too slow, the projector made the movie look too
|
|
fast...and vice versa. Early cameramen had to keep a steady rhythm.
|
|
|
|
However, this is complicated by the fact that in the silent era, there
|
|
was no universally "correct" film speed. The introduction of the 24-fps
|
|
rate used today had to do with sound, as was said, not with the images.
|
|
In the silent era, cameras were hand-operated, and so were most
|
|
projectors. In addition to the obvious difficulties of maintaining a
|
|
perfect rate by hand, the ability to speed up or slow down the progress
|
|
of the film through the camera and projector was used for artistic
|
|
effect. By undercranking (turning the crank slower and thus taking
|
|
fewer frames per second) on shooting while projecting at normal speed,
|
|
the action would speed up as more seconds of photographed time were
|
|
compressed into a given number of seconds of projected time.
|
|
Alternatively, overcranking would give the opposite effect -- slow
|
|
motion. By cranking faster, the projectionist could speed up the
|
|
action, while cranking slower on projection would slow down the action.
|
|
The classic example of projectionist overcranking is during chases or
|
|
other exciting scenes, to make the fast action seem even faster. I have
|
|
heard that some films were even released with advice about how fast to
|
|
crank during certain parts of the film. Also, shooting film
|
|
undercranked would be used for certain stunts and special effects,
|
|
giving the illusion of speed that wasn't actually present.
|
|
[Another source reported that a PBS documentary series said films were
|
|
sometimes undercranked to save film costs.]
|
|
|
|
The typical rate of cranking on a silent film was lower than 24 fps --
|
|
usually around 20 fps, I've been told, but it varied. Careless
|
|
projection of silent film shows it at 24 fps, which is faster than it
|
|
was intended to be shown. Hence, most people have seen silent film run
|
|
at the equivalent of slight fast forward.
|
|
|
|
One side effect of this method of shooting silent films is that any
|
|
serious film guide that discusses silent films will not give running
|
|
times for them, as that time could vary depending on the talent and mood
|
|
of the projectionist. While the difference might be only a couple of
|
|
minutes out of a couple of hours, printing a particular number of
|
|
minutes as a running time for a silent film is misleading and can cause
|
|
confusion. Typically, lengths are given in number of reels, or, when
|
|
they really want to be careful, number of feet of film.
|
|
|
|
It's worth noting that the technology hasn't been forgotten, though,
|
|
given one of the uses it's put to, maybe it should have been. Network
|
|
TV is fond of slightly speeding up the rate at which they show films,
|
|
thus permitting them to squeeze a long film into a time slot without
|
|
cutting anything. This practice gets filmmakers very angry, as it
|
|
damages any pacing or rhythm they put into the film.
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Douglas Ferguson, ferguson@andy.bgsu.edu, and Peter Reiher,
|
|
reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu, for this answer.]
|
|
|
|
10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies?
|
|
|
|
THE LODGER (1926): At a desk in a newsroom and later in the crowd watching
|
|
an arrest.
|
|
|
|
EASY VIRTUE (1927): Walking past a tennis court, carrying a walking stick.
|
|
|
|
MURDER (1930): Walking past the house where the murder was committed, about
|
|
an hour into the movie.
|
|
|
|
BLACKMAIL (1929): Being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book in
|
|
the subway.
|
|
|
|
THE 39 STEPS (1935): Tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie
|
|
Mannheim run from the theater, seven minutes into the movie.
|
|
|
|
YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1938): Outside the courthouse, holding a camera.
|
|
|
|
THE LADY VANISHES (1938): Very near the end of the movie, in Victoria
|
|
Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette.
|
|
|
|
REBECCA (1940): Walking near the phone booth in the final part of the film
|
|
just after George Sanders makes a call.
|
|
|
|
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940): Early in the movie, after Joel McCrea
|
|
leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper.
|
|
|
|
MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941): Midway through, passing Robert Montgomery in
|
|
front of his building.
|
|
|
|
SUSPICION (1941): mailing a letter at the village postbox about 45 minutes
|
|
in.
|
|
|
|
SABOTEUR (1942): Standing in front of Cut Rate Drugs in New York as the
|
|
saboteurs' car stops, an hour in.
|
|
|
|
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943): On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards.
|
|
|
|
LIFEBOAT (1944): In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad
|
|
for Reduco Obesity Slayer.
|
|
|
|
SPELLBOUND (1945): Coming out of an elevator at the Empire Hotel,
|
|
carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette, 40 minutes in.
|
|
|
|
NOTORIOUS (1946): At a big party in Claude Rains's mansion, drinking
|
|
champagne and then quickly departing, an hour after the film begins.
|
|
|
|
THE PARADINE CASE (1947): Leaving the train and Cumberland Station,
|
|
carrying a cello.
|
|
|
|
ROPE (1948): His trademark can be seen briefly on a neon sign in the view
|
|
from the apartment window.
|
|
|
|
UNDER CAPRICORN (1949): In the town square during a parade, wearing a blue
|
|
coat and brown hat, in the first five minutes. Ten minutes later, he is one
|
|
of three men on the steps of Government House.
|
|
|
|
STAGE FRIGHT (1950): Turning to look at Jane Wyman in her disguise as
|
|
Marlene Dietrich's maid.
|
|
|
|
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951): Boarding a train with a double bass fiddle as
|
|
Farley Granger gets off in his hometown, early in the film.
|
|
|
|
I CONFESS (1953): Crossing the top of a staircase after the opening
|
|
credits.
|
|
|
|
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954): On the left side of the class-reunion photo,
|
|
thirteen minutes into the film.
|
|
|
|
REAR WINDOW (1954): Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment, a half
|
|
hour into the movie.
|
|
|
|
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955): Ten minutes in, sitting to the left of Cary Grant
|
|
on a bus.
|
|
|
|
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955): Walking past the parked limousine of an old
|
|
man who is looking at paintings, twenty minutes into the film.
|
|
|
|
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956): Watching acrobats in the Moroccan
|
|
marketplace (his back to the camera) just before the murder.
|
|
|
|
THE WRONG MAN (1956): Narrating the film's prologue.
|
|
|
|
VERTIGO (1958): In a gray suit walking in the street, eleven minutes in.
|
|
|
|
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959): Missing a bus during the opening credits.
|
|
|
|
PSYCHO (1960): Four minutes in, through Janet Leigh's window as she returns
|
|
to her office. He is wearing a cowboy hat.
|
|
|
|
THE BIRDS (1963): Leaving the pet shop with two white terriers as Tippi
|
|
Hedren enters.
|
|
|
|
MARNIE (1964): Entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi
|
|
Hedren passes by, five minutes in.
|
|
|
|
TORN CURTAIN (1966): Early in the film, sitting in the Hotel d'Angleterre
|
|
lobby with a blond baby.
|
|
|
|
TOPAZ (1969): Being pushed in a wheelchair in an airport, half an hour in.
|
|
Hitchcock gets up from the chair, shakes hands with a man, and walks off to
|
|
the right.
|
|
|
|
FRENZY (1972): In the center of a crowd, wearing a bowler hat, three
|
|
minutes into the film; he is the only one not applauding the speaker.
|
|
|
|
FAMILY PLOT (1976): In silhouette through the door of the Registrar of
|
|
Births and Deaths, 41 minutes into the movie.
|
|
|
|
I've seen it stated in several sources that he appeared in all of his movies
|
|
from THE LODGER (1926) onwards, so he definitely doesn't appear in:
|
|
|
|
THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925)
|
|
THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE (1926)
|
|
|
|
However, the following movies (mostly early British ones) are missing from
|
|
the above list:
|
|
|
|
Champagne
|
|
Downhill
|
|
Farmer's Wife, The
|
|
Jamaica Inn (1939)
|
|
Juno and Paycock
|
|
Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1934)
|
|
Manxman, The
|
|
Number Seventeen
|
|
Rich and Strange
|
|
Ring, The (1927)
|
|
Sabotage
|
|
Secret Agent
|
|
Skin Game, The (1931)
|
|
Waltzes from Vienna
|
|
|
|
Hitchcock almost definitely does not appear in "Adventure Malagache" or
|
|
"Bon Voyage", two short films he made (in French) for propaganda
|
|
purposes during WWII. Also, Peter Reiher didn't spot him in MARY, his
|
|
German-language version of MURDER: "Shot with an entirely different
|
|
cast, but, as far as I can tell from memory, using pretty much the same
|
|
sets, costumes, props, shots, and editing.) There are a lot of crowd
|
|
scenes in MARY, however, so I could have missed him in that film.
|
|
Also, I didn't check to see if he appears at the same point as in
|
|
MURDER. I would guess that he does."
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Colin Needham (cn@ibmpcug.co.uk) and Peter Reiher
|
|
(reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu) for this answer. Colin maintains a more
|
|
extensive "Hitchcock Information File" available on request.]
|
|
|
|
11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's
|
|
movies?
|
|
|
|
(Jerry Boyajian says it should be noted that the *original*
|
|
"See you next Wednesday" line comes from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
|
|
But Dianne Cosner (dcosner@tcsc3b2.tcsc.com) reports, "The line "See
|
|
You Next Wednesday", is used when John Landis uses an idea from a
|
|
screen play that he wrote when he was 15 that was called "See You Next
|
|
Wednesday." At a convention, Landis said that the movie was very
|
|
adolescent, just like something a 15-year-old boy would write, and he
|
|
will never make this film, but he does use ideas from it sometimes, and
|
|
when he uses an idea from that screen play he gives it credit by
|
|
inserting a reference to it when he uses it. It's not from 2001,
|
|
that's just coincidence.")
|
|
|
|
There are actually three trademarks in Landis's movies: Steven Bishop
|
|
("Charming Wildcard"), "See You Next Wednesday" previews, posters, or
|
|
references, and "Girl from Ipanema" music in the background.
|
|
|
|
SCHLOCK (1971):
|
|
Two promotional blurbs for SYNW during a newscast for the "movie at 6 on 6"
|
|
and on a poster in a theatre lobby (the real poster was for "King Kong vs.
|
|
Godzilla").
|
|
|
|
KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977):
|
|
Steven Bishop plays the "charming guy":
|
|
"Show me your nuts!"
|
|
"oooo, hey, how ya doing? Surfing U.S.A..."
|
|
SYNW is the title of the "Feel-a-Rama" movie.
|
|
|
|
ANIMAL HOUSE (1978):
|
|
Bishop plays the "I gave my love a cherry" man. The credit is "Charming
|
|
Guy," as usual. SYNW does not appear anywhere in this film. However,
|
|
that is not to say there is no reference to Landis' SCHLOCK, which was
|
|
the only film he made before ANIMAL HOUSE. [Moderator's note--not true;
|
|
he also made KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.] The actress who plays the girl with
|
|
whom the Schlockthropus (a "missing link"/ape type) falls in love also
|
|
appears in ANIMAL HOUSE as the girl who is at the desk of the girls'
|
|
school dorm where Otter (Tim Matheson) and company go to pick up dates
|
|
on their road trip. In a later scene, she is asked what she is studying
|
|
and she replies, "Primitive cultures," which has to be a reference to
|
|
SCHLOCK. At the end of ANIMAL HOUSE when the one or two lines
|
|
describes the future of each character for Nedermeir (sp?) it said that
|
|
Nedermeir was "killed by his own troops in Vietnam." During the part of
|
|
TWILIGHT ZONE when the person is in a swamp in Vietnam and some US
|
|
troops come by they can be heard to say "I told you we shouldn't have
|
|
shot Neidermeyer."
|
|
|
|
THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980):
|
|
On a billboard where two Illinois state troopers are lying in wait. It's
|
|
only there for a second as Jake and Elwood are speeding away from Bob's
|
|
Country Bunker. The billboard also pictures a large ape and looks like an
|
|
ad for a bad horror flick. Bishop plays the Charming Trooper in the mall
|
|
chase. "Girl From Ipanema" is playing in the elevator as they go to the
|
|
office with Spielberg (someone else claims it's Frank Oz, but Frank Oz is
|
|
the one who plays the prison official right at the beginning of the
|
|
movie who returns "one prophylatic, used" [along with his other
|
|
disreputable belongings] to Jake) in it.
|
|
|
|
(Also: on the laserdisc version, after the credits, there is a plug
|
|
to go visit Universal Studios with the line "Ask for Babs" (a reference
|
|
to the "Where are they now" part of ANIMAL HOUSE))
|
|
|
|
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981):
|
|
SYNW is the name of the porno film that is playing in the Picadilly Circus
|
|
theatre where David meets with Jack and his zombie friends. The movie bill
|
|
also appears in the London underground when the man is killed.
|
|
|
|
TRADING PLACES (1983):
|
|
SYNW is on a poster in Jamie Lee Curtis' apartment. No ape, just the
|
|
silhouette of two people.
|
|
|
|
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1983):
|
|
SYNW is in lines of dialogue from the movie within the video. "...scrawled
|
|
in blood...", "What does it say?", "It says, 'See you next Wednesday'."
|
|
(Also, if you look close enough, there is a poster for SCHLOCK in the
|
|
lobby as Michael and his date leave the theatre.)
|
|
|
|
TWILIGHT ZONE - THE MOVIE (1983):
|
|
Steven Bishop plays "Charming G.I." (bad pun)
|
|
|
|
INTO THE NIGHT (1985):
|
|
There are actually two posters in INTO THE NIGHT for SYNW. Both are in
|
|
the movie producer's office where Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum make a
|
|
phone call about a half hour or so into the film.
|
|
|
|
SPIES LIKE US (1985):
|
|
In one scene, Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd are in the office of the commander
|
|
of the army training post that is the site of their training. There is a
|
|
shot of the commander lecturing them, and on the office wall behind him is a
|
|
recruitment poster bearing the legend "See You Next Wednesday."
|
|
|
|
COMING TO AMERICA:
|
|
A movie poster in the subway station where the Prince's bride-to-be
|
|
returns her earring gift. (The movie claims to star Jamie Lee Curtis,
|
|
who starred in TRADING PLACES.) Later, the Prince, to prove to his
|
|
girlfriend that money isn't important to him, gives his sizable roll
|
|
of pocket money to a pair of street people, who turn out to be the
|
|
Duke brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from TRADING PLACES.
|
|
They even appear in the credits! You might recall that the Dukes are
|
|
destitute at the end of TRADING PLACES, so the plotlines are
|
|
consistent. It is also amusing that Eddie Murphy, who made them poor
|
|
in the former movie, made them rich in the latter.
|
|
|
|
INNOCENT BLOOD:
|
|
The marquee across the street from the Melody Lounge exotic dance bar.
|
|
(Visible over the shoulders of the Mafia folks the first time they
|
|
enter the bar.)
|
|
|
|
(Interestingly, that was not the only movie marquee set up to display
|
|
the SYNW title. The "car crash at the Shadyside gas station" scene
|
|
was filmed down the street from Stewart M. Clamen's residence (in
|
|
Squirrel Hill), and the nearby multiplex changed its marquee
|
|
appropriately every night after closing. The movie itself featured no
|
|
footage of that theatre (or the street on which it resides), although
|
|
it is possible that it was edited out.
|
|
|
|
This leads one to believe that Landis inserts many SYNW references in
|
|
the backgrounds of his scenes, so as not to constrain himself (and his
|
|
film editor) during editing.)
|
|
|
|
I haven't heard of any references from Landis's "Dream On" series on HBO.
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Randy Spencer, spencer@usc-oberon.UUCP, Stewart M. Clamen,
|
|
clamen@cs.cmu.edu, and Jerry Boyajian for this answer. Jerry also wants
|
|
to know if anyone has catalgoed other "Ask for Babs" references.]
|
|
|
|
[And regarding the John Landis stuff, I wonder if anyone has compiled a list
|
|
of the films that feature the "When In Hollywood Visit Universal City
|
|
Studios (Ask for Babs)" card at the end of the closing credits.]
|
|
|
|
12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean?
|
|
|
|
The Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) is responsible for
|
|
assigning these numbers. It is part of their film rating service. Any film
|
|
can be submitted to the MPAA for rating (the G/PG/PG13/R/NC-17 ratings
|
|
Americans are familiar with), for a small fee. Any film rated by the MPAA
|
|
is issued a unique number. Any film can be submitted, but many aren't,
|
|
including most adult sex films, many foreign films, industrial films and
|
|
other training and educational films, television films, and some
|
|
independently made films.
|
|
|
|
The rating service (and the numbering associated with it) was started in
|
|
1968. There is no publicly available list of films and numbers, and the
|
|
MPAA information office does not have the title of the film issued
|
|
certificate #1 readily available.
|
|
|
|
Films before 1968 were assigned numbers based on their agreement to the
|
|
Production Code, instituted July 1, 1934. Under that scheme, the film SHE,
|
|
released in 1935, has number 985. Rod McKim (rod@wet.uucp) reports that
|
|
THE SCARLET EMPRESS, released in 1934, has number16, the lowest by far that
|
|
he has seen. Reports of any other low number spottings would be
|
|
appreciated. Given that the current number is in the 30,000, I believe the
|
|
current numbers are continued from those, rather than restarted in 1968.
|
|
|
|
A word or two more about MPAA ratings. The ratings are assigned by a board
|
|
composed of "ordinary citizens", largely parents, as the intent of the
|
|
rating system is to protect the tender minds of children from harm. The
|
|
board watches the film and collectively assigns a rating. If the producer
|
|
doesn't like the rating, s/he has a couple of options. The rating can be
|
|
appealed to the MPAA official in charge of rating films. On a few
|
|
occasions, the appeal has been successful. Not too surprisingly, appeals by
|
|
large studios tend to have a better success rate than appeals by smaller
|
|
studios. Alternately, the producer can recut the film and resubmit it. The
|
|
MPAA rating board will tell a filmmaker what caused a film to get a rating,
|
|
but they never actually tell a filmmaker that if this scene is cut, you will
|
|
get that rating. Somehow or other, though, the information tends to get to
|
|
the filmmakers, so that Alan Parker, for instance, somehow knew that cutting
|
|
a few seconds of Mickey Rourke humping Lisa Bonet while blood drips from the
|
|
ceiling changes ANGEL HEART from a film no child should see to a film merely
|
|
requiring parental presence.
|
|
|
|
While we're at it, what is the MPAA? It's an industry organization for the
|
|
American film production business, particularly for the major studios. Its
|
|
members are Disney, Columbia, MGM, Orion, Paramount, 20th Century Fox,
|
|
Universal, and Warner Brothers. These companies pay fees to the MPAA that
|
|
are used as the primary source of financing for the organization. In
|
|
addition to the ratings, the MPAA performs other services for their members,
|
|
including lobbying the government. (They prefer to refer to this service
|
|
as "working on issues important to the film industry.") Jack Valenti, the
|
|
head of the MPAA, is a prominent spokesman who speaks for "Hollywood" as
|
|
a whole, generally on issues important to all the studios, like film
|
|
piracy, trade disputes with other countries, and censorship. The MPAA was
|
|
founded in 1922, so it's been doing this sort of thing for quite a while.
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Peter Reiher, reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu, for this answer.]
|
|
|
|
13) What ethnic actors have won/been nominated for Academy Awards?
|
|
|
|
(This question seem to come up every year at Oscar time.)
|
|
|
|
"Actors of ethnic extraction other than European/Mediterranean who have
|
|
been nominated for Academy Awards" (so we don't start quibbling over Omar
|
|
Sharif). I'm not a big fan of groupings by race, but it has its educational
|
|
values in a situation like this, showing Hollywood's record in honoring
|
|
minority contributions. In borderline cases, we have gone by the "as
|
|
generally perceived" standard--thus no Ben Kingsley, who seems thoroughly
|
|
British despite the fact that his father was Gujrati, and none of the many
|
|
American actors who proudly say they're "part Indian" when they mean 1/16 or
|
|
1/32. With that ponderous preamble out of the way, here's the list:
|
|
|
|
BLACK
|
|
|
|
Hattie McDaniel 1939 supp Gone with the Wind WON
|
|
Dorothy Dandridge 1954 lead Carmen Jones
|
|
Sidney Poitier 1958 lead The Defiant Ones
|
|
1963 lead Lilies of the Field WON
|
|
Beah Richards 1967 supp Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
|
|
Rupert Crosse 1969 supp The Reivers
|
|
James Earl Jones 1970 lead The Great White Hope
|
|
Paul Winfield 1972 lead Sounder
|
|
Cicely Tyson 1972 lead Sounder
|
|
Diana Ross 1972 lead Lady Sings the Blues
|
|
Diahann Carroll 1974 lead Claudine
|
|
Howard E. Rollins Jr 1981 supp Ragtime
|
|
Louis Gossett Jr. 1982 supp An Officer and a Gentleman WON
|
|
Alfre Woodard 1983 supp Cross Creek
|
|
Adolph Caesar 1984 supp A Soldier's Story
|
|
Whoopi Goldberg 1985 lead The Color Purple
|
|
1991 supp Ghost WON
|
|
Margaret Avery 1985 supp The Color Purple
|
|
Oprah Winfrey 1985 supp The Color Purple
|
|
Dexter Gordon 1986 lead Round Midnight
|
|
Morgan Freeman 1987 supp Street Smart
|
|
1989 lead Driving Miss Daisy
|
|
Denzel Washington 1987 supp Cry Freedom
|
|
1989 supp Glory WON
|
|
1992 lead Malcolm X
|
|
Jaye Davidson 1992 supp The Crying Game
|
|
Laurence Fishburne 1993 lead What's Love Got to Do with It?
|
|
Angela Bassett 1993 lead What's Love Got to Do with It?
|
|
|
|
ASIAN (including Polynesian)
|
|
|
|
Miyoshi Umeki 1957 supp Sayonara WON
|
|
Sessue Hayakawa 1957 supp The Bridge over the River Kwai
|
|
Mako 1966 supp The Sand Pebbles
|
|
Jocelyn LaGarde 1966 supp Hawaii
|
|
Haing S. Ngor 1984 supp The Killing Fields WON
|
|
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita 1984 supp The Karate Kid
|
|
|
|
NATIVE AMERICAN
|
|
|
|
Chief Dan George 1970 supp Little Big Man
|
|
Graham Greene 1991 supp Dances with Wolves (Oneida (Iroquois))
|
|
|
|
HISPANIC
|
|
Norma Aleandro 1987 sup Gaby--A True Story
|
|
Andy Garcia 1991 supp The Godfather Part III
|
|
Rosie Perez 1993 supp Fearless
|
|
|
|
Note that John Singleton is now the first black to be nominated as
|
|
best director (1991, BOYZ N THE HOOD).
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Jon Conrad, conrad@sun.acs.udel.edu, for bulk of this answer.
|
|
John Cawley, johnmike@news.delphi.com, maintains a list of Native American
|
|
actors and their tribes.]
|
|
|
|
|
|
14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond? When is the
|
|
next James Bond film?
|
|
"Casino Royale" episode of CLIMAX TV series 1954 Barry Nelson
|
|
Dr. No 1962 Sean Connery
|
|
From Russia With Love 1963 Sean Connery
|
|
Goldfinger 1964 Sean Connery
|
|
Thunderball 1965 Sean Connery
|
|
Casino Royale 1967 David Niven*
|
|
You Only Live Twice 1967 Sean Connery
|
|
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 George Lazenby
|
|
Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Sean Connery
|
|
Live and Let Die 1973 Roger Moore
|
|
The Man With the Golden Gun 1974 Roger Moore
|
|
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Roger Moore
|
|
The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation
|
|
as We Know It 1977 ?
|
|
Moonraker 1979 Roger Moore
|
|
For Your Eyes Only 1981 Roger Moore
|
|
Octopussy 1983 Roger Moore
|
|
Never Say Never Again 1983 Sean Connery
|
|
The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. 1983 George Lazenby+
|
|
A View to a Kill 1985 Roger Moore
|
|
The Living Daylights 1987 Timothy Dalton
|
|
Licence to Kill 1989 Timothy Dalton
|
|
"Diamonds Aren't Forever" episode of ALFRED
|
|
HITCHCOCK PRESENTS 1989 George Lazenby=
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Woody Allen plays his nephew, "Jimmy Bond"
|
|
+ Only a cameo--Lazenby drives an Aston Martin with license plate "JB" in
|
|
this made-for-television movie and is clearly supposed to be Bond,
|
|
though he is never called by name.
|
|
= Lazenby plays "James ... [sic]"
|
|
|
|
(Many people say that CASINO ROYALE is not a real Bond movie, but
|
|
rather a parody. NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN is a movie not made by Broccoli
|
|
& Co, but otherwise has the usual look. "The Strange Case...," "The
|
|
Return of ...," and "Diamonds Aren't Forever" are also not part of the
|
|
"main line" of Bond films.)
|
|
|
|
(Michael Golan mentions also CANNONBALL (1976), but in that Roger Moore
|
|
is explicit that he is *Roger Moore*, not James Bond, in spite of all
|
|
appearances. Still, some may want to count this. "M" and "Miss
|
|
Moneypacket" appear in "The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as
|
|
We Know It," a 1977 British television production starring John Cleese;
|
|
they were played by Kenneth Benda and Charlotte Alexandra respectively.)
|
|
|
|
And as far as the *next* Bond film goes:
|
|
UA, who made the Bond films, is still owned by MGM, which is in moderately
|
|
bad financial trouble. They keep making movies, but they tend not to
|
|
make big budgetbusters, at the moment. MGM still has a distribution
|
|
deal with Broccoli for James Bond films, so any he made would have to go
|
|
through them, meaning they would presumably be financed by MGM, too.
|
|
|
|
In addition to the financial problems at MGM, there are legal problems.
|
|
For a while MGM/UA was owned by Pathe Communications, which was run by
|
|
an Italian weasel named Paretti. He bought the studios under shady
|
|
circumstances; everyone predicted he wouldn't have enough money to pull
|
|
it off, and, in the end, he didn't. He's now hiding out from U.S.
|
|
indictments in his native land. At any rate, one of the measures he
|
|
took to dig up money for his acquisitions was to sell the television
|
|
rights to the James Bond films. But part of the money from this sale
|
|
was to go to Broccoli, and he felt that the rights were sold for bargain
|
|
basement prices to help Paretti out of his financial troubles (at the
|
|
expense of Broccoli). So Broccoli is suing. Until the suit gets settled,
|
|
chances are there will be no more Bond films.
|
|
|
|
Should the suit get settled, and should MGM pull itself out of trouble,
|
|
there will probably be another Bond film. While the last two performed
|
|
poorly in the U.S., they were big hits in Europe and Asia, more than
|
|
recouping their costs. As part of a lengthy series, they have more library
|
|
value than they would otherwise. Also, given the poor performance of the
|
|
last "Rocky" film, and the collapse of the Pink Panther films (I doubt
|
|
if the upcoming one will change that), Bond is the only valuable series
|
|
that MGM/UA still have.
|
|
|
|
At this point, it's anyone's guess about when the film will appear, what
|
|
the title, plot, or setting will be, and who will star.
|
|
|
|
[The above re the future of Bond films is courtesy of Peter Reiher,
|
|
reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu.]
|
|
|
|
On 5/14/93, according to ClariNet, "MGM ... has green-lighted the new
|
|
Bond film, to be produced by ... Barbara Broccoli and Michael G.
|
|
Wilson, and that a screenwriter has been hired for the project. ...
|
|
[Timothy] Dalton, who starred in the last two Bond movies, has
|
|
reportedly met with the producers, but final casting is not yet set.
|
|
Anthony Hopkins has reportedly expressed interest in playing a villain
|
|
in the film."
|
|
|
|
|
|
15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of
|
|
films?
|
|
|
|
These are cue marks, or "reel-change dots," signaling the projectionist
|
|
that it is time to change reels. There is actually a set of dots.
|
|
Four consecutive frames are marked with a little circle in the upper
|
|
right-hand corner of the frame. The first set (4 frames) of cue marks
|
|
(the motor cue) is placed 198 frames before the end of the reel. (198
|
|
frames is 8.25 seconds, or 12.375 feet.) There are 172 frames between
|
|
the first set of cue marks and the second set of 4 frames, the
|
|
changeover cue. There are 18 frames between the changeover cue and the
|
|
runout section of the trailer (or foot) leader. The projectionist
|
|
threads up the next reel of film so that he has about nine feet of
|
|
leader between the lens and the start of the film. At the first cue
|
|
mark, he starts the motor on the second projector. This gives the
|
|
projector time to get up to to speed and for the speed to stabilize.
|
|
On the second cue mark, he throws the switches that change the picture
|
|
and sound sources. In some old films on TV, you'll see long changeover
|
|
cues since some projectionists were paranoid that they would not see
|
|
the marks.
|
|
|
|
Video versions usually do not have these dots because when the transfer
|
|
was made, the original negative was used, or a postive that was made
|
|
from the original negative was used. Sometimes an interneg is used.
|
|
In any event, only prints that make it to the theatre have the
|
|
change-over dots. For older movies, sometimes the only available
|
|
print is a release print, which means the dots will appear.
|
|
|
|
(Paul Parenteau [dog@sequent.COM], Ron Birnbaum [ron@osf.org], Harris
|
|
Minter [harris.minter@ehbbs.gwinnett.com], Jeffry L. Johnson
|
|
[ac717@cleveland.freenet.edu], and Mike Brown
|
|
[vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu]).
|
|
|
|
16) How do films, actors, etc., get nominated for Academy Awards?
|
|
|
|
The general model is that the Academy members who work in the particular
|
|
specialty make the nominations. Thus, the Academy's actors nominate the
|
|
performers (no sex differentiation - actors/actresses both nominate actors/
|
|
actresses), directors nominate directors, writers nominate writers, etc.
|
|
All Academy members get to nominate films. In the categories of foreign
|
|
language film, documentary, and short film, the Academy does things a bit
|
|
differently. (See below.)
|
|
|
|
All Academy members get to vote on all awards, except for the foreign
|
|
language film (and possibly the documentary and short film awards).
|
|
Only members who have seen the nominated films get to vote on the foreign
|
|
language film awards.
|
|
|
|
Foreign language films are nominated by a complicated [and totally
|
|
ineffective] process. Each nation of the world (except possibly the
|
|
United States) [though there was a Puerto Rican entry a few years ago]
|
|
can submit one film per year for consideration. The film must have had
|
|
its first run in that country that year, and there are a variety of
|
|
other arcane, frequently changing rules to determine eligibility. (A
|
|
few years ago, the Dutch film "The Vanishing" wasn't eligible because
|
|
of a rule that stated the film had to be almost entirely in the
|
|
language of its native country to qualify; "The Vanishing" had much
|
|
more French than Dutch. That rule was changed. Recently, a supposedly
|
|
Uruguayan film was removed from consideration because the Academy
|
|
determined that the Uruguayan participation in it was insufficient to
|
|
make it truly Uruguayan.) The national film boards of the various
|
|
countries select the film they will submit, and there is room for
|
|
controversy here, too. A couple of years ago, the German national film
|
|
board caused a major fuss by refusing to nominate "Europa, Europa" for
|
|
the award. Both German and American filmmakers protested, but to no
|
|
avail. The nature of the nominating process is such that, some years,
|
|
two great films will come from one country, but only one can be
|
|
nominated. In some cases, the producers of the other will use various
|
|
tricks to get it submitted by another country. For example, "Close To
|
|
Eden" was a French financed film, but was made in Russia by a Russian
|
|
director, and hence could be submitted by Russia. More
|
|
controversially, "Black and White In Color", a French film largely in
|
|
French, by a French director, but set in Africa, was submitted by the
|
|
African nation where it was filmed.
|
|
|
|
A board of "experts" [and Lord only knows what makes them experts!]
|
|
then reviews all submitted foreign films to select five to nominate.
|
|
|
|
In the case of documentary and short films, anyone can send their film
|
|
to the Academy for consideration. The film basically has to have been
|
|
made for theatrical purposes (this issue is very fuzzy, but an obvious
|
|
television episode is not eligible), and has to have had its first
|
|
release that year. There are separate boards for documentaries (full
|
|
length and short) and short films (dramatic live action and animated).
|
|
They review all submitted films and select at most five for
|
|
nomination. [And apparently they often don't view each film
|
|
completely.] The animation board frequently chooses only three films,
|
|
rather than five. These boards are generally made up of volunteers who
|
|
may or may not work in the particular fields.
|
|
|
|
This process has come under fire in the last few years, particularly as
|
|
regards documentaries. Many of the best known and best reviewed
|
|
documentaries of the past five years ("Roger and Me", "The Thin Blue
|
|
Line", "Paris Is Burning", "Brother's Keeper", and "A Brief History of
|
|
Time", to name a few) have not been nominated. There are periodic
|
|
calls to do something about it, but, basically, the Academy doesn't
|
|
give a damn about these categories, and, in fact, is trying to drop the
|
|
short film categories. (In the interests of, in the words of one
|
|
commentator, "more smoke and dancing girls" at the Awards ceremony.)
|
|
Short films received a one-year reprieve in 1993, but may be dropped
|
|
from future Award ceremonies, or perhaps be treated like the scientific
|
|
and engineering awards. [Though even in 1993, the winners were merely
|
|
announced; they did not get to come up and accept the awards, or give a
|
|
thank-you speech.]
|
|
|
|
Special awards (like those recently given to Audrey Hepburn and
|
|
Federico Fellini) are handled specially. They are chosen by the
|
|
Academy's board, and they are not necessarily given every year.
|
|
|
|
I'm not sure what the procedure is for the special and scientific
|
|
awards. I suspect that the Academy has committees that handle these.
|
|
|
|
[Thanks to Peter Reiher, reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu, for this.]
|
|
|
|
17) What is the secret of THE CRYING GAME? (rot13'd)
|
|
|
|
Spoiler for THE CRYING GAME follows in "rot13" format. If you don't
|
|
know what else to do with this to read it, save the three lines in a
|
|
file and filter it through 'tr "[a-zA-Z]" "[n-za-mN-ZA-N]"' (on SysV
|
|
systems, you may have to use 'tr "[a-z][A-Z]" "[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-N]"').
|
|
|
|
Vf Wnlr Qnivqfba n zna be n jbzna? Naq vs n zna, qvq ur hfr n obql
|
|
qbhoyr? Wnlr Qnivqfba vf n zna. Ur qvq abg hfr n obql qbhoyr. Vg unf
|
|
orra fnvq gung ur vf n genafirfgvgr, ohg guvf vf abg pregnva.
|
|
|
|
18) What are the top ten/twenty grossing films of all time?
|
|
|
|
As of 19 Nov 93, the top twenty domestic United States grossers are:
|
|
1. E.T.--THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982) $399.8M
|
|
2. JURASSIC PARK (1993) $330.8M
|
|
3. STAR WARS (1977) $322.0M
|
|
4. HOME ALONE (1990) $281.6M
|
|
5. RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983) $263.0M
|
|
6. JAWS (1975) $260.0M
|
|
7. BATMAN (1989) $251.2M
|
|
8. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) $242.4M
|
|
9. BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984) $234.8M
|
|
10. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) $223.0M
|
|
11. GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) $220.9M
|
|
12. GHOST (1990) $217.0M
|
|
13. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) $208.2M
|
|
14. ALADDIN (1992) $206.7M
|
|
15. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) $204.0M
|
|
16. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1987) $197.2M
|
|
17. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) $184.2M
|
|
18. INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) $179.8M
|
|
19. PRETTY WOMAN (1989) $178.4M
|
|
20. THE FUGITIVE (1993) $177.5M
|
|
|
|
As of 19 Nov 93, the top ten overseas grossers are:
|
|
1. JURASSIC PARK (1993) $511.0M
|
|
2. E.T. -- THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982) $301.6M
|
|
3. GHOST (1990) $290M
|
|
4. THE BODYGUARD (1992) $289M
|
|
5. PRETTY WOMAN (1989) $279M
|
|
6. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) $263M
|
|
7. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1987) $258M
|
|
8. RAIN MAN (1988) $240M
|
|
9. BASIC INSTINCT (1992) $235M
|
|
10. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991) $202M
|
|
|
|
Therefore, it appears as though the worldwide winners are:
|
|
1. JURASSIC PARK (1993) $842M
|
|
2. E.T. -- THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982) $701M
|
|
3. GHOST (1990) $507M
|
|
4. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) $467M
|
|
5. PRETTY WOMAN (1989) $457M
|
|
6. INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1987) $455M
|
|
|
|
[These are not are adjusted for inflation. I will note that
|
|
three-quarters of them are SF in some form or other.]
|
|
|
|
19) How can I find out where a certain movie is playing?
|
|
|
|
In general, there is no way that works everywhere. In the New York
|
|
and New Jersey area, there is a phone service to help you. Call
|
|
777-FILM and follow the instructions (you punch in the first three
|
|
letters of the film title and your ZIP code) to find out the theater
|
|
closest to you with a particular film, and the remaining show times.
|
|
You can also order tickets by credit card through them. In the
|
|
Dallas/Fort Worth area, it's 444-FILM. For something more esoteric
|
|
(like "where can I see the latest Jackie Chan film?") you're out of
|
|
luck unless you know the distributor and call them.
|
|
|
|
20) What is a director's cut?
|
|
|
|
Contracts under the terms of the Hollywood Director's Guild allow about
|
|
six weeks for a director to assemble a cut without studio
|
|
interference. This is fully edited and has a synchronized sound track,
|
|
however, it is usually not color-corrected nor density-corrected and
|
|
may not have the final music and effects track. In more recent times
|
|
due to an expanding video aftermarket, the term director's cut has
|
|
acquired a popular meaning that implies a finished final print
|
|
different from the theatrical release that the director has complete
|
|
artistic control over. [muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au]
|
|
|
|
21) Are there any FTP sites for movie scripts?
|
|
|
|
Not that I am aware of (though there may be scripts at sights with
|
|
archives related to specific films or sub-genres.). Don't forget that
|
|
most scripts are copyrighted. Scripts may be obtainable by stores
|
|
dealing in movie materials or books; see the rec.arts.books FAQs on
|
|
bookstores for some suggestions.
|
|
|
|
22) What is Roger Ebert's email address?
|
|
|
|
As advertised in the CompuServe Roger Ebert Forum as the "talk to Roger"
|
|
address, it is 76711.271@compuserve.com.
|
|
|
|
However, CompuServe has a surcharge for both receiving (if read) and
|
|
sending email to the Internet, so there's no guarantee that email sent
|
|
to the above address will be accepted, much less read, much less
|
|
responded to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
PART TWO: Frequent Topics and other things we just thought you might
|
|
like to know. First a few general notes... The readership of
|
|
rec.arts.movies is in the whole very knowledgeable about a wide
|
|
range of movies. However, it is my informal assessment that
|
|
science fiction and fantasy movies are discussed and analyzed far
|
|
beyond their popularity in most of the rest of the world. This is
|
|
neither good nor bad, and the reason for it seems fairly obvious
|
|
to me. The readership of this group reflects the broader
|
|
readership of USENET. This latter population is top heavy with
|
|
computer scientists and other forms of science scholars. There is
|
|
a correlation (though not necessarily a causal relationship) between
|
|
being in one of these professions, and an interest in science
|
|
fiction and fantasy. Okay, enough of that. Now, here are some
|
|
things which come up often, and, while you are free to discuss
|
|
them, you should be forewarned that some long-time readers may get
|
|
fairly fed-up with you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
PART THREE: Frequently discussed topics:
|
|
|
|
1) COLORIZING -- Various legal and moral issues. As most of you
|
|
probably know, Ted Turner and others have taken to adding "color" old
|
|
black and white films. "Color" is in quotes, because it is questionable
|
|
whether you can really call it color. Anyway, there is, every so often,
|
|
a discussion of some aspect of this. There are a whole host of legal
|
|
and moral/ethical issues involved here. Suprisingly there really seems
|
|
to be a fair mix of opinion on this issue. No, you cannot just turn off
|
|
the color on your television; adding color changes the values of the
|
|
various sections so they show up differently. However, adding color
|
|
requires a restored clean print, so many claim that the money from
|
|
selling color-added films is being used to preserve the films (in black
|
|
and white as well as in color). It has been ruled illegal to add color
|
|
to CITIZEN KANE due to the way Orson Welles's contract was written.
|
|
(Boyajian points out that "colorization" is a trademarked term.)
|
|
|
|
2) PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN MOVIES. In many films, the film company
|
|
will get paid by some companies to use their products. Some
|
|
readers object to this as a fairly manipulative and distracting
|
|
presence. Others do not object, commenting that people really do
|
|
use name-brand products, so using them in films makes sense.
|
|
Many have commented on the pack of Marlboro cigarettes in DEAD AGAIN,
|
|
saying this was the best product placement they had ever seen.
|
|
|
|
3) HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS GREAT MOVIE I JUST SAW CALLED HEATHERS?
|
|
For some reason, every time someone stumbles across this movie,
|
|
they feel like they should post to the net and ask if anyone else
|
|
has seen it, and do they want to discuss it. This is fine, of
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course, but it does get to be a little repetitive. The film stars
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Winona Ryder as Veronica and Christian Slater as J.D. Two students
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at a high school in Ohio. The three most popular girls at the
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school, and Veronica's best friends, are all named Heather. The
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film is a black comedy which revolves around the relationship of
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JD & Veronica, and how they interact with the 3 Heathers and
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others. Some people think it is very good, although many netters were
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disappointed with the ending. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.
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4) WHAT'S THIS TALK ABOUT A GHOST IN THREE MEN AND A BABY?
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There is a rumor that if you watch TMATB very closely you will see a
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ghost in it. The scene in question is the one where Ted Danson's
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character meets his mom in his apartment. If you look near the window
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you can see an image resembling a small boy. This is supposedly the
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ghost of a boy who was killed in the house where the movie was filmed.
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|
First of all, the movie was not filmed in a house, but on a Toronto
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soundstage. So the whole premise is hokey to begin with. But here is
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more evidence provided by: brian@b11.ingr.com (Brian Enright)):
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> I then rewound and ran it through super slow mo. When they pass the
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> window on their way in, you can't see the boy but it looks like there
|
|
> is a bed post sticking up. When they pass the window again it looks
|
|
> like a two-dimensional cut-out but not of Ted Danson. It's a little
|
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> boy with a baseball cap, a white tee-shirt and a blue unbuttoned
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> button-down shirt in my opinion. Hmmmm. I had to investigate.
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>
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> After further investigation of other scenes in the movie I found there
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> were no bed posts on the bed. Then I hit the clue that gave it away.
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> This particular scene is almost at the end of the movie. In this
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> scene Ted Danson walks to a window where there is a cut-out of him in
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> a black top hat and a black tuxedo with a white shirt. If you
|
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> examine this cut out closely and go back to the scene in question,
|
|
> you will notice that they are the same cut out. You can see that the
|
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> boy *is* Ted Danson and he is wearing a top hat and even his shoulders
|
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> hidden behind the curtain are noticeably not a little boy's but a man
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> in a tuxedo.
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>
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> I hate to burst any bubbles but it *definitely is* a cut-out of Ted
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> Danson in a *tuxedo*..
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5) Can someone explain BARTON FINK?
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So far as I can tell, no. :-)
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~From: bell@cs.tamu.edu (Will Bell):
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Other information: There are several lists revolving around film that
|
|
are kept by netters. These frequently come up.
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|
|
One major project is a list of votes/ratings of a plethora of movies.
|
|
This list is maintained by Chuck Musciano,
|
|
(chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com), and it is posted regularly, with a
|
|
chance for people to vote. The report is also available via anonymous
|
|
ftp from penguin.gatech.edu (128.61.9.46) in the pub/movie directory.
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Evelyn Leeper (ecl@mtgzy.att.com) provides several services for the
|
|
r.a.m readers (aside from her many postings), including maintaining
|
|
these lists:
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|
-- Academy Award Nominations & Winners from 1987 on
|
|
-- Hollywood Vocabulary (such terms as chopsocky, bowed,
|
|
helmed, etc.)
|
|
-- Information on what all those people listed in film
|
|
credits do (e.g. key grip, gaffer...).
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Evelyn is also the moderator of the group rec.arts.movies.reviews, which
|
|
is a collection of movie reviews written by USENET-ers.
|
|
The rec.arts.movies.reviews archives are currently stored on FTP.UU.NET
|
|
which is a UNIX machine, and are in the directory
|
|
~ftp/usenet/rec.arts.movies.reviews. The archives are currently
|
|
available to anyone with FTP access to this machine. The files are
|
|
arranged alphabetically in parallel directories, one with full-length
|
|
filenames, one with 14-character filenames. There is also a directory
|
|
with the reviews by archival number. Read the README in
|
|
~ftp/usenet/rec.arts.movies.reviews for details. You can also refer to
|
|
the INDEX* files, which will help you find reviews within festival
|
|
reports and so on. If you have no FTP access, you can request copies
|
|
of reviews (12 or less at a time) by sending mail to Evelyn.
|
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|
|
Another group of interest is rec.arts.cinema. This is a moderated
|
|
group, devoted to more serious analyses of film and film related issues.
|
|
|
|
Bob Niland (rjn@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM) has several articles on Laser Disc
|
|
technology and availability available from his archives. You may request
|
|
any of these at any time. Recent copies are also available for anonymous
|
|
ftp on:
|
|
princeton.edu (128.112.128.1, directory pub/Video/Niland) and
|
|
bobcat.bbn.com (128.89.2.103),
|
|
wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (192.88.110.20).
|
|
|
|
Lastly, there are a series of movie trivia contests. Some of these
|
|
even offer prizes! The initial contest postings generally include
|
|
information on how to enter. The important point is that you
|
|
should never post answers, but should send them e-mail.
|
|
|
|
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | ecl@mtgpfs1.att.com / Evelyn.Leeper@att.com
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