You Are The Doorman, Okay Trivia Quiz

Answer: Knocked Up

"Knocked Up" (2007) starred Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen as Alison Scott and Ben Stone, two young and incompatible soon-to-be parents, owing to a drunken one-night stand. Alison's sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) has a meltdown when the doorkeeper at a club house (Craig Robinson) won't let them in. "You old.

She pregnant," he says. Debbie makes fun of his doorman's clipboard and gloves. This film was directed by Judd Apatow and won several awards. It asks us to consider immaturity, poor choices, and growing up.

The photo hint is a door knocker.

Answer: Dead as a Doorman

Gary Youngman directed "Dead as a Doorman" (later renamed "Doorman") in 1986, casting the talented Bradley Whitford ("West Wing") in his movie debut. Whitford plays Terry Reilly, a novelist and sometime doorman forced to investigate the murder of three doorkeepers whose necks were broken, after it becomes clear he is next. I found two opposing reviews. "...masterpiece," says one.

The other, "Dumb as dirt." Either way, Bradley Whitford got his start here. The hint was "nailed" as in dead as a doornail.

Answer: Baby mama

Tina Fey plays Kate in "Baby Mama", a goofy 2008 comedy directed by Michael McCullers. Kate is a successful and sterile business lady who arranges for a surrogate birth mother (Amy Poehler playing Angie). Jesus A. Del Rosario Jr. ("Indelible") plays a singing, dancing and aptly dressed doorman who offers unwanted insight and advice, insisting Angie is Kate's baby mama. Doormen in movies are often discreetly aware of the complicated lives of their residents or guests, but this doorman is anything but discreet.

The term baby mama loosely means the person who has your child. The term originated in Jamaica ("bebi mada"), moved into hip-hop and finally everyday language. The movie features a broad cast including Steve Martin, Sigourney Weaver and 51 other silly people.

Answer: The Last Laugh

"The Last Laugh" (1924) starred Emil Jannings as the proud peacock doorman of an exclusive hotel, effusively greeting the rich and famous. When his age occasionally hampers him, he is abruptly demoted to a lowly bathroom attendant, earning much scorn and ridicule.

In its native German the film was "The Last Man", but like many directors of the time F.W. Murnau tacked on an unlikely but happy ending. With the gifted German cameraman Karl Freund ("Metropolis", "Key Largo") Murnau invented the first moving camera shots, and the film was truly a silent film, with only one intertitle. Murnau also directed "Nosferatu" and one of the most respected films of all time, "Sunrise" (1927). Emil Jennings was a great talent actor who left the USA for Germany, where he was sympathetic to the Nazis, destroying his career.

Answer: Cooler

Directed by Rowdy Herrington, "Road House" (1989) stars Patrick Swayze (James Dalton) as the "cooler", the boss of bouncers, hired to cool the level of violence at the Double Deuce bar. Dalton is injured and falls in love with his physician, Elizabeth "Doc" Clay (Kelly Lynch), but makes an enemy of the local tycoon Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).

This movie has often been called "the worst movie you love to watch". Fun fact: actors Vin Diesel, Mr. T, Vincent D'Onofrio, James Gandolfini, Dolph Lundgren and Patrick Swayze all held real-life jobs as bouncers, that is, tough doorman. Bouncers decide who gets in, but they also "bounce" folks out.

Answer: Spider-Man

"The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012) uses web-shooters to scale tall buildings. This Marc Webb film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. Peter was unable to get past the doorman (Michael Arthur) to see his girl Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). "What's in the bag?" "Who are you here to see?" the adamant doorman kept asking.

When Peter wouldn't open his bag the doorman shut him out. "No bag, no Gwen." Limiting access is the awesome power of a doorman. Little does he know, Peter can climb the building. He appears on Gwen's fire escape 20 floors up. "I came up the fire escape," he fibs to Gwen. "Your doorman is intimidating." In "Spider-Man 2" (2004) Peter also had a run-in with a doorman.

Answer: The Strong Man

"The Strong Man (Part 3)" directed by Frank Capra, stars Harry Langdon as the gullible and puny Paul Bergot, a WWI Belgian soldier. Paul becomes the assistant to a circus strongman to earn his way to the US, where he hopes to find his pen-pal Mary Brown (Priscilla Bonner).

He naively asks a Los Angeles doorman if he'd seen Mary Brown around. "Sure, there she is," he says, pointing to the girlfriend of a gangster, steering Paul into hilarious trouble. Lily (Gertrude Astor) pretends to be Mary and uses Paul to hide stolen stash. Eventually Paul does find Mary, but puny Paul must pretend to be a strongman.

The film was shot in the streets of LA, and is Langdon's best known work. It is preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Film Registry.

Answer: Full Contact

"Full Contact" (1992) is an action film directed by Ringo Lam. It stars the much loved actor Chow Yun-Fat as a shady biker and working bouncer (Ko Fei) who is double-crossed when he joins a jewelry store heist. Ko Fei survives a stabbing, but becomes entangled with a nasty loan shark. Parts of the film are set in Bangkok, Thailand. Yun-Fat remains an unredeemed bad guy and the plot was panned as thin, but action fans enjoyed it. Pow! Bash! The photo hint is a full moon.

Answer: Sleep Tight

Directed by Jaime Balaguero, "Sleep Tight" (2011) follows concierge Cesar (Luis Tosar) as he warmly greets his residents and even walks their dogs, only to secretly plant creepy misfortune in their homes while they are gone. He especially resents the kind and happy Clara (Marta Etura), so he sets out to destroy her. Tosar is one of the best known actors in Spain, seen by US audiences in "Miami Vice".

In "Sleep Tight" viewers watch Cesar's nasty violations from his own perspective, not that of a pursuing detective, for instance. Concierge is the French term for the person in charge of hotel or resident comings and goings, often called a caretaker or doorman in the USA.

Answer: The Doorman

The doorman! In 1999's "The Doorman" a soldier goes home and gets a job as a bouncer. In a 2006 Cannes Film selection a Latino doorman (Jamil Mena) succumbs to the bad influence of a resident. "The Doorman" (2007) is a comedy directed by Wayne Price, about a nightclub doorman (Trever W., played by Lucas Akoskin) who loses his job. "The Doorman" (2013) is based on a popular blog. In "The Doorman" (2014) a man earns cash by seducing middle-aged residents.

A doorman holds the keys, opens and closes access, interacts with everyone. He safeguards, threatens or is threatened. He's a fascinating character. Creating a good name for a doorman film though, appears to be a challenge.