"American" Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: American Beauty

A wonderful, poignant, heart-wrenching, multi-faceted and, at times, painful to watch film, "American Beauty" is at once depressing, uplifting and confounding. Unflinchingly, it explores and unravels some of the most troubling and intriguing American myths and conventions. The movie is a tour de force for lead actor Kevin Spacey, who won the best acting Oscar for his role as Lester Burham, despite the initial reluctance of the Dreamworks studio to give him the part.

Briefly, a middle-aged suburban father, whose wife holds him in contempt and whose daughter loathes him, realizes the emptiness of his life and decides to make some changes. This leads him on a roller coaster ride of self-discovery. He discovers his wife's affair. He becomes infatuated with his daughter's best friend. He quits the advertising job he hates, then gets a job at a fast food joint. He develops an understanding with his neighbor's alienated son, realizes the ex-military neighbor is gay, and ultimately figures out what really matters after it might be too late. All that only begins to describe the complex and surprising turns of the plot. The movie also won best original screenplay (Alan Ball) and best director (Sam Mendes). See this film if you haven't already done so.

Answer: American Graffiti

The classic George Lucas directed film from 1973 features Ron Howard, 19 years old at the time, and Richard Dreyfus, who was 26. It also has Harrison Ford, perhaps the biggest future star of all, as a supporting player. He was 31 in 1973, with most of his great roles still to come.

The movie deals with a particularly eventful day and night in the lives of a group of friends wrestling with typical adolescent issues of career choice, college, girls, alcohol and everything related. The movie was a big box-office hit, as the dialogue and action really rang true for many people.

It was also notable for a soundtrack of songs from the 1950s and early 1960s which greatly enhanced the cinematic effect.

Answer: American Psycho

What is going on in this movie? Is it a deep psychological study of a truly sick individual? Is it a social satire skewering the narcissistic culture of the 1980s, or maybe just an over-hyped high budget slasher flick? While its reality is sometimes elusive, the film surely is a comment on the shallowness, depravity and corruption of Wall Street's young movers and shakers, and the high powered financial arena of New York in the 1980s. Whatever it is trying to say, it takes satire to bizarre and gruesome lengths. Christian Bale is mesmerizing on the screen. Don't watch this movie alone. If you really want to understand it, read the novel, by Bret Easton Ellis, on which it is based. Published in 1991, the book is even more violent and misogynistic than the movie, and it caused Simon & Schuster to drop Ellis from its roster of authors.

However, it does clear up some details that the film's director, Mary Harron, seems to have purposely left ambiguous.

Answer: American Gangster

This is another of several American themed movies based on true stories, which generated controversy by not sticking to the facts about both people and events, thus opening itself to criticisms of historical inaccuracy. Understandably, it was also accused of glorifying the drug trade.

The most common complaint was that the real Frank Lucas was not the good looking, brilliant, magnetic personality portrayed by Washington, but was just a brutal, ruthless thug. On the other side of the argument, there is artistic license. Director Scott clearly had his reasons for crafting the film as he did, whether it was enhancing dramatic effect or realizing his vision, both of which he did successfully.

The story as told pulses with drama, and Denzel Washington's lead performance is undeniably commanding and powerful.

Answer: American Hustle

A real-life FBI sting inspired this biting, humorous tale of greed, trickery and the sheer prideful stupidity of both criminals and authorities who should know better. The stranger than fiction fiasco on which the movie is loosely based took place in the late 1970s, and was known as ABSCAM.

It involved a man/woman team of scam artists turned informants attempting to help catch some corrupt politicians from Philadelphia and New Jersey (are there any other kind?) in a bribery sting. A key element of the plan posed FBI agents as rich Arabs willing to pay for influence, which also outraged Arab anti-defamation groups.

The movie, directed by David O. Russell, was notable for earning ten Academy Award nominations- including the four major acting categories, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay- without winning any Oscars. Englishman Peter Bradshaw writes on film for "The Guardian".

Answer: American Pie

The 1999 coming of age comedy has become something of a cultural phenomenon, having generated a lucrative franchise with five sequels through 2016, and probably more to come, as well as an extremely loyal cult following. All this success and attention is evidently based on the proposition that losing one's virginity is the most hilarious situation on the planet, and that is where the action lies.

A group of high school buddies make a pledge to erase this stigma from their resumes before graduation.

They are goaded on and sometimes assisted by Stifler, the one member of their group who is not a virgin. The boys get themselves into all manner of embarrassing situations as they try to manipulate various girls into doing the deed with them. In the process, they learn some life lessons about treating women as real people, not objects for fantasy fulfillment. Blink 182 provided soundtrack tunes, and members of the band appeared briefly in the movie as viewers of a scene "accidentally" broadcast over the internet. Trivia: Actress Alison Hannigan, who as Michelle admits to questionable activity with her flute, actually played clarinet in her high school orchestra.

Answer: An American Tail

How sad that we must turn to a cartoon mouse from Russia in order to escape all the raunchiness and violence we seem to be encountering in the preeminent "American" movies! "An American Tail" tells the feel good story, in musical fashion, of Fievel Mouskewitz and his family of mice.

They journey to the United States to escape cat oppression and find a new life in America, encountering many trials along the way. Fievel is separated from the others, thrown overboard, and almost drowned. His adventures reuniting with his mouse brethren in the new world drive the story. Don Bluth directed and produced the movie, which was released in November of 1986.

The character voices include Phillip Glasser, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Plummer, and Dom DeLuise.

Answer: American Sniper

This film made its debut in November of 2014 at the American Film Institute Festival, and was in wide release in the States in January of 2015. It is loosely based on Kyle's memoir, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most lethal Sniper in American History", published in 2012. Kyle is an American ex-Navy S.E.A.L. operative who did four tours of duty in the Iraq war. 160 of his kills were officially confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense. According to the film, he saved the lives of many coalition force members, and became a much pursued target of the insurgents they fought against.

The movie generated lots of debate about whether it was pro-war, anti-war, or somewhere in between, and about how well it addressed the toll the war took.

It does specifically focus on Kyle's isolation from his family, the emptiness of his life upon his return to the States, and the psychological pain of who he has become.

Answer: American Gigolo

This was the movie that cemented Richard Gere's stardom as a leading male sex symbol and box office draw, perhaps because it was one of the first major Hollywood films to allow/show frontal male nudity from its star. Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson were allegedly considered for the lead role. Lauren Hutton plays the politician's wife, the romantic entanglement for Gere's character, Julian.

In the movie, Julian is a successful male escort who makes his living squiring rich and lonely women around fancy Los Angeles society affairs, then satisfying their desires in bed. One such lady who likes it rough ends up murdered in gruesome fashion, and Julian becomes a suspect. Perhaps the politician's wife can save him? Deborah Harry of "Blondie" is on the soundtrack singing the hit single "Call Me".

Answer: The American

Yes, the world's obsession with all things American had to result in a movie with this most basic title. Ironically, the movie was a disappointment at the box office, and was criticized for lacking action and having a slower, more European style, favoring character study and development over car chases and shoot-outs.

This makes sense, since the screenplay is adapted from the novel "A Perfect Gentleman", written by British author Martin Booth. The movie has George Clooney playing against type as the reluctant assassin trying to get out of the business.

This is a visually beautiful film, with lots of location shots in the central Italian countryside as well as small towns where the action takes place.