Random Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aristotle

"Poetics" by Aristotle is regarded as the earliest surviving work dedicated to dramatic and literary theory. Originally published around 335 BC, the book expands on Aristotle's theories that divide poetry into three distinct forms - verse drama (which includes comedy and tragedy), lyric poetry and epic poetry - with this work concentrating on drama. At some point, the "Poetics" was split in two, with the first part focusing on tragedy, and the second on comedy. Although the first part was rediscovered in the Middle Ages, the second part has been lost.

It is a copy of the lost "Second Book of Poetics" that holds the key to the mystery of numerous murders at the unnamed monastery in Northern Italy in "The Name of the Rose", as all of the victims come into contact with the book in one way or another.

Answer: Dartmouth

Dartmouth College is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. One of the oldest higher education institutions in the United States, it was founded in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock to educate Native Americans in Christian theology and the "English way of life", although it gradually became more secularised during its later history. By the 20th century it had become one of the country's primary liberal arts universities.

In "MASH", the only person with a vague notion of who the mysterious new chest surgeon might be is 'Hawkeye' Pierce, to whom the new man seems familiar. It is only after the pair toss a football that 'Hawkeye' realises that the chest surgeon is John McIntyre, the same man who was the quarterback he intercepted while playing for Androscoggin College in a game against Dartmouth.

Answer: Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein was one of the foremost members of the pop art movement during the 1960s. Having taught at both his alma mata, Ohio State, and Rutgers University during the 1950s, he rose to prominence during the 1960s, producing a number of works based on comic strips, but which parodied the situations they were depicting - two of his most famous works, "Whaam!" and "Drowning Girl", are both part of this genre of painting.

The painting hanging on the wall of Bernie Lomax's beach house in "Weekend at Bernie's" is "The Reclining Bather", one of Lichtenstein's abstract works, which was produced in 1977, and sold for $2m in November 2002.

Answer: Provo

Provo is the fourth-largest city in Utah. The seat of Utah County, the city also serves as the home of Brigham Young University. The city was founded in 1849 by Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City under the name Fort Utah. Within a year, the settlement was renamed Provo after a French-Canadian fur trapper who arrived in the area twenty-five years previously. Provo forms part of the state's second largest metropolitan area alongside the city of Orem.

Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, an investigative reporter on a Los Angeles newspaper, is embroiled in an increasingly bizarre mystery involving a man named Alan Stanwyk. In the course of his investigation, Fletch learns Stanwyk is from Provo, and goes to Utah to find out more, including visiting, in disguise, Stanwyk's parents.

Answer: Baby, I Love Your Way

"Baby, I Love Your Way" was originally written and performed by singer-songwriter Perter Frampton. Released as a single in 1975, it eventually reached Number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, although in the UK it only got to Number 43. In 1994, the song was covered by US reggae group Big Mountain, forming part of the soundtrack of the film "Reality Bites". The song became an international hit for Big Mountain, reaching the Top 10 in several countries, including a peak of Number 2 in the UK, but proved to be their only major mainstream success.

In "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle", Ruby Roundhouse is an avatar within the Jumanji computer game. A highly skilled, yet somewhat scantily clad commando, one of the character's particular skills is "dance fighting", wherein her abilities are enhanced significantly whenever "Baby, I Love Your Way" is played within the game.

Answer: Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg was born Patricia Neal in Birmingham, Alabama in 1944. With the encouragement of her father, she developed as both a writer and a performer; she wrote her first play at the age of 10 and, as a teenager, she won a scholarship to a local drama school by entering the Miss Alabama pageant. Having moved to New York, she needed a stage name to register with Equity, as there was already an actress named Patricia Neal. She chose Fannie Flagg at the suggestion of her grandfather. She made a number of television appearances through the 1970s and 80s, as well as acting roles, including the original Broadway production of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". Her writing career began by writing skits for the Upstairs at the Downstairs club in New York, which brought her to the attention of Allen Funt, who invited her to become a writer on "Candid Camera". Her first novel, "Coming Attractions", was published in 1981, while perhaps her best known book, "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe", came out in 1987.

Flagg based "Fried Green Tomatoes" on the Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, which was purchased by the author's aunt in 1932. Such was the importance of the location that, at the end of the book, the author included the recipes of the various dishes served by the cafe. Flagg adapted her novel into a 1991 film with Carol Sobieski, for which the pair were nominated for an Academy Award.

Answer: Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig was born in Chester, and began acting at the age of six in a school production of "Oliver!". At 16, he joined the National Youth Theatre in London, before entering Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1988. Following his graduation, he appeared in a number of supporting roles in various television and film productions, before his breakthrough role in the 1996 BBC series "Our Friends in the North". He gained a number of larger and more prominent roles, which eventually led to his casting by director Sam Mendes as Connor Rooney in the 2002 film "Road to Perdition", opposite Tom Hanks and Paul Newman.

In "Road to Perdition", Connor is at odds with Michael Sullivan (played by Tom Hanks), who is the chief enforcer and surrogate son of John Rooney. As a result, Connor attempts to remove Sullivan by having him and his family killed. The film received significant critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of both Craig and Hanks, while Paul Newman, who played John Rooney, received his final Academy Award nomination for the film.

Answer: Hawaii Five-O

"Hawaii Five-O" debuted on CBS in 1968, and ran for a total of 12 seasons, with one of its most iconic elements being the show's theme tune. Written by composer Morton Stevens, the instrumental piece became a major hit for surf rock group The Ventures, whose version peaked at Number 4 in the Billboard chart in 1969. It has also become a staple for high school and college marching bands in the United States, most notably (and perhaps predictably) at the University of Hawaii, where it has become a standard fight song for the university's sports teams.

"The Dish" is a fictionalised account of the use of the Parkes Observatory's radio telescope during the mission of Apollo 11. Owing to the importance of the telescope, NASA and the US government send a number of important people to the sleepy community in New South Wales, including the US ambassador to Australia. At a reception, with the local orchestra on stage, the assembled people are asked to stand for the US national anthem, at which point an enthusiastic rendition of the theme of "Hawaii Five-O" starts up, to the horror of the locals and bemusement of their guests.

Answer: Librarian

"Desk Set" is the penultimate of nine films to star Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. The film was adapted by screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron from a play by William Marchant. The original play did not feature significant interaction between the characters of Bunny Watson, the research librarian of the Federal Broadcasting Network, and Richard Sumner, an efficiency expert and inventor of a new computer system, and so the screenwriters adapted the two characters to better fit the sparky relationship between Hepburn and Tracy. The film was the first to feature the pair that was made in colour, and the first not to be made by MGM. Released in 1957, it was to be another ten years before their final pairing, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner".

One of the quotes delivered by Bunny Watson in the film is that she "associates many things with many things". In 2004, this inspired the creation of the radio programme "Bunny Watson", hosted by Bill Richardson, on CBC Radio in Canada. The premise of "Bunny Watson" was the free association sequencing of music, film and literature on a particular topic. The show was broadcast on CBC Radio between 2004 and 2005.

Answer: Struck by a loaf of bread

A cottage loaf is a traditional bread type from England, which consists of two round loaves, one large and one small, with the small one on top of the large one. The origin of both the name and the shape are unclear, as they may go back hundreds of years. The name did not appear written down until the 19th century. It has been surmised that the shape was a way of saving space in old-fashioned bread ovens. Due to their being difficult to make, owing to their shape, and inconvenient for slicing, cottage loaves are now rare in commercial bakeries.

In "About A Boy", Marcus, played by Nicholas Hoult, is in the park attempting to feed the ducks using his mother's home made cottage loaf, which is quite hard and difficult to pull apart. As he tires of the effort, he heaves the whole loaf into the pond, which causes all but one of the ducks to scatter - unfortunately the one that doesn't is hit square on by the loaf and rolls feet up into the water.