Check Out Time? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marion Crane

One of the most famous scenes in movie history, the 1960 "Psycho" scene in the shower has been scaring people for decades. Alfred Hitchcock, "The Master of Suspense", directed, with a young Anthony Perkins as innkeeper Norman Bates.
Marion Crane, the thief who chose the wrong stopover in the rain, was played by Janet Leigh (whose daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, apparently inherited her ability to scream).
Lila Crane, Marion's sister, was played by Vera Miles, Virginia Gregg voiced Norma Bates, and Helen Wallace (uncredited) played a hardware store customer.

Answer: Hotel Park Hyatt

I thought this one was tough, but don't we all need a challenge? "Lost in Translation" (2003) was Sofia Coppola's second film as director. The movie starred Bill Murray as movie star Bob Harris, with Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte, a neglected newlywed. Bob is an 'over-the-hill' actor in Tokyo making a whiskey commercial. Charlotte is there accompanying her photographer husband.

The Hotel Park Hyatt is the backdrop for these two Americans, both strangers in Japan, to meet and find distraction and understanding with each other. Sofia Coppola, aside from directing, won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.

Answer: John Cusack

"1408" (2007) represents the room number at the Dolphin Hotel with a reputation for serious psychic happenings. John Cusack played successful author Mike Enslin, who is world famous for debunking the supernatural in his books. The hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him the room is not available because of strange occurrences, and repeatedly warns Enslin to stay away. Of course our hero rejects the warning and winds up spending the night in room 1408 anyway. John Cusack was in several teen films in the 1980s, like "Better Off Dead" and "Say Anything", and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for "High Fidelity" in 2000.

He has acting siblings.

Answer: Catskills

It's 1963 and Frances 'Baby' Houseman (Jennifer Grey before her nose job) travels with her family to a resort in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Her parents expect her to go to college, then the Peace Corps to save the world, and finally marry a doctor (like her father).

But Baby meets the resort's womanizing dance instructor, Johnny Castle, played by Patrick Swayze. Castle has impregnated his former partner so Baby takes her place and, as they say, sparks fly. Unfortunately, the former partner has an illegal abortion and complications, so Baby's father is called on to help.

After some "Romeo and Juliet"-like problems, Johnny and Baby have 'the time of their lives'!

Answer: Key Largo

The choices are all part of the Florida Keys, i.e. a string of tropical islands off the southern tip of the state. The movie in question is "Key Largo" (1948). Key Largo is the first and most northern of the Keys and, as you might guess, particularly susceptible to hurricanes. "Key Largo" was the last film which paired Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) and Lauren Bacall (1924-2014). Frank McCloud travels to a run-down Florida hotel to honor the memory of his friend who was in his unit and was killed in World War II.

The hotel is being run by Nora Temple, the widow, and her disabled father-in-law until a gangster takes over, forcing McCloud to fight both him and the storm.

Answer: Maid in Manhattan

You may have guessed from the title that the answer was the 2002 movie "Maid in Manhattan", where Jennifer Lopez is Marisa Ventura, a single mother and maid at a posh New York hotel. A typical mistaken identity plot leads rich politician Christopher Marshall to see Marisa trying on a guest's dress, and he thinks she is a socialite staying at the hotel.

The two of them wind up together for a magical night when, all of a sudden, her true identity is revealed; much like Edward and Vivian in "Pretty Woman", they find that their lives are worlds apart.

The other choices include "The Wedding Planner" (2001), "The Cell" (2000) and "Gigli" (perhaps the worst) in 2003.

Answer: Neil Simon

That prolific storyteller Neil Simon is the author of "Plaza Suite" (1971) and "California Suite" (1978), both of which include a series of vignettes about guests in hotels on the East and West coasts. In "Plaza Suite", Walter Matthau played three different roles, i.e. a husband who returns with his wife to their honeymoon hotel to rekindle their relationship, an aging movie producer set on seducing an old flame, and a father trying to get his daughter to her own wedding. "California Suite" has different actors portraying four different scenarios. Among Simon's other plays are "The Odd Couple" (1966),"Barefoot in the Park" (1964) and "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1984).

Answer: Ten Little Indians

"Ten Little Indians" was a 1965 movie which was filmed at the Kenure House in Dublin, Ireland. It is a remake of the 1945 movie "And Then There Were None", which is from Christie's book of the same name published in 1939. The plot involves 10 strangers who are invited to a stay at a fancy mansion, where they are expecting entertainment.

Instead their host tells them that they are all responsible for someone's death and will receive the same fate. Agatha Christie is responsible for the other movies too: "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "Death on the Nile" (1978) and "Evil Under the Sun" from 1982.

Answer: The Marx Brothers

Did you pick the Marx Brothers, that zany trio that included Groucho, Chico and Harpo? "Room Service" also featured both Lucille Ball and Ann Miller. It is about... 78 minutes (ha! a Groucho-type joke) and the plot tells the story of a producer who is broke and must try to outwit the hotel employee who is trying to evict him, while he is trying to raise money for a new show (sort of a pre-"Producers"). Did you know that there were originally four Marx Brothers in movies (no, not Karl, Zeppo)? Their first film was in 1929, called "The Cocoanuts", and their 13th and final film, "Love Happy", was released 20 years later.

Answer: Fourteen Hours

The answer is the 1951 film "Fourteen Hours", NOT to be confused with the 2005 TV disaster movie "14 Hours". "Fourteen Hours" is a black and white thriller about Robert Cosick, a depressed young man, played by Richard Basehart, who checks into room 1505 of the Rodney Hotel in order to check out permanently! The movie shows 14 hours in Cosick's life where he is planning to end it all. Paul Douglas plays a policeman trying to 'talk him down'. Agnes Moorehead and Robert Keith are his dysfunctional parents and Barbara Bel Geddes is his girlfriend, all of whom only make the situation worse. BTW, Grace Kelly made her film debut here in a small role.