Movie Quiz

When I was in college, one of the things I studied was cinema ... not so much how to make it, but what to watch for and how to appreciate it (think "critic"). As a result, I'm now all too aware of how costuming, editing, music, and directing contribute to a film's success or failure.

One of the more obscure things I learned was how - in most cases - a film's title is designed to give you a hint as to the filmmaker's message, or motivation, and how it is usually more than simply a descriptive title.

One of my favorite recent titles was "Stranger Than Fiction," an offbeat Will Ferrell/Emma Thompson/Dustin Hoffman movie that grew on me until I'd seen it at least four times and my son bought me the DVD. The movie was about, in the end, the truth that all the little things in life wind up being so very important in what happens to us. And truth, as we know, is what is "stranger than fiction."

For today's post, I'm going to list eight movies and their original working titles. You try to match them up. Make a guess before you read the answers.

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1. Pretty Woman
2. Back to the Future
3. Tootsie
4. Boys Don't Cry
5. Help!
6. The Grapes of Wrath
7. Annie Hall
8. Blazing Saddles

a. Spaceman from Pluto
b. Route 66
c. Take It Like A Man
d. Would I Lie to You?
e. Eight Arms to Hold You
f. Tex X
g. Anhedonia
h. 3000

ANSWERS

1 = h. $3,000 was the amount it took to "rent" an escort for a week when Pretty Woman was made.

2 = a. The head man at Universal Studios said no movie with the word "future" in the title ever made money, so he changed it. Steven Spielberg stepped in and changed it back. To the future. (Heh, heh, heh.)

3 = d. "Tootsie" was actually suggested by star Dustin Hoffman. It was the name of his mother's dog.

4 = c. The producers decided the song "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure was dark enough to express what they were doing in the movie and named the film after the song.

5 = e. The Beatles' second film was titled "Help" but there was already a film named "Help" registered with the movie people, so director Richard Lester renamed the film to avoid copyright law ... but then he found out that all he needed to do was add an exclamation point and bam! Original title restored.

6 = b. Director John Ford pretty much was always going to name this film "The Grapes of Wrath," but Steinbeck's novel didn't sit too well with the people of Oklahoma, as you might imagine, where Ford was shooting many scenes, so he gave it the working title of "Route 66" and told the people of that great Midwest state it was a documentary about the "Mother Road."

7 = g. Anhedonia is the scientific term for the inability to experience pleasure and was actually Woody Allen's first choice. The executives at United Artists talked him out of it when they convinced him the movie would be unmarketable with that name.

8 = f. The writer of "Blazing Saddles" had originally named his script "Tex X" as a sly Hollywood tribute to Malcolm X, considering the lead character in the film was an African-American fighting prejudice. But director Mel Brooks never liked the name and chose the new name when it popped into his head during a shower one day.

[taken pretty much in whole from the Mental Floss blog]

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Well, my band is playing for the "Iron Sharpens Iron" National Men's Conference here in town tomorrow. It's an all day gig, so I'll be up and about early with the first song starting at 8:25 tomorrow morning. Should be fun.

But hey, somebody tell me this: Are khaki pants a style, or a color? If the answer is "yes," please define.

Meanwhile, I'll see you on Monday.

Mark

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WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "Just because you call all the shots doesn't mean you're at the right end of the barrel." (Phil Simborg)