Movies

The Time Machine (1960) opened on December 31, 1899.

Charles Foster Kane’s estate in Citizen Kane, Xanadu, was on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The estate of William Randolph Hearst, on whom Kane was based, is located in San Simeon, California.

The Godfather (1972) had the line, “I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense”?. Al Lettieri as Sollozzo says it.

Martin Scorsese played an irate passenger in Travis Bickle’s (Robert De-Niro’s) cab in Taxi Driver (1976). He was irate because his wife is having an affair.

Props or scenery such as barroom tables and walls that are constructed to break easily during action sequences are called breakaways.

“The Brazilian Bombshell”, Carmen Miranda, was born in Marco de Canavezes, Portugal, in 1909. She died in 1955.

Clint Eastwood’s first screen appearance was as a lab assistant in Revenge of the Creature (1955). His second appearance was as “Jonesy” in Francis in the Navy (1955).

Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone starred in two movies, Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). The two also acted together in The Dawn Patrol (1938).

The Cannes Film Festival was established in 1939. Winners of its Golden Palm (for Best Film) have included Marty (1955), La Dolce Vita (1960), M*A*S*H (1970), and The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978).

“News on the March.” was the newsreel that recaps Kane’s life in Citizen Kane.

The Island of Lost Souls (1933) was the first movie with the line “The natives are restless tonight”. It is said by Charles Laughton.

The ending was the brainstorm of the director originally assigned to the film, Robert Florey (later replaced by James Whale). Florey’s apartment was located over a Van De Kamp Bakery, whose trademark was a windmill.

The Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

Katharine Hepburn played Jo March, the eldest of the little women in Little Women (1933).

Nine Barbara Stanwyck films have lady or ladies in the title. They are: Ladies of Leisure (1930), Ladies They Talk About (1933), Gambling Lady (1934), A Lost Lady (1934), The Lady Eve (1941), The Great Man’s Lady (1942), Lady of Burlesque (1943), The Lady Gambles (1949), and To Please a Lady (1950).

Jack Nicholson’s first job in the movies was as an office boy in MGM’s cartoon department.

Charlton Heston’s son, Fraser played the infant Moses in The Ten Commandments.

Jack Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey, in 1937.

Grace Kelly made eleven movies before becoming Princess of Monaco, beginning with a bit part in Fourteen Hours (1951) and ending with High Society (1956). Born in Philadelphia, Kelly (1928-82) married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956.

Woody Allen said, “This year I’m a star, but what will I be next year, a black hole.”

The 1981 Oscar telecast was delayed for one day because on March 30, the day of the telecast, President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.

Rambo II did not preced Rambo III (1988). There were three Rambo movies in the 1980s, all starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, but none was called Rambo II. The three films were: First Blood (1982); Rambo: First Blood, Part II (1985); and Rambo III (1988).

Alfred Hitchcock did not win any directing Oscars.

Star Wars (1977) was also known as “Episode IV: A New Hope” according to the opening titles.

John Wayne played the centurion at the crucifixion in The Greatest Story Ever Told. His only line was, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” The movie was director George Stevens’s version of the life of Christ.

Elizabeth Taylor’s first film was There’s One Born Every Minute in 1942. Taylor was nine at the time.

Joel McCrea first played Dr. Kildare, in Interns Can’t Take Money (1937).

Hamlet was first put to film in 1907, in a silent film produced by George Melies.

Yes, there was a sequel to American Graffiti (1973). More American Graffiti (1979). It reunited Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, and Mackenzie Phillips, but not Richard Dreyfuss. Rosanna Arquette and Mary Kay Place were also in it.

Robert Redford played in the major league baseball team New York Knights in The Natural (1984).

New Orleans’ streets are threatened with panic in Panic in the Streets (1950). The city is threatened by a deadly plague which may be carried by a pair of murderers.

The most recent tie in Oscar voting for major awards was in the category of Best Actress in 1968. The award went to Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl.

Tales from the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror (1973) were the 1970s British horror films that were inspired by 1950s E.C. Horror Comics. Both were produced by Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg for Amicus-Metromedia. They were released by Cinerama.

David Lean made sixteen movies. David Lean won the Oscar for best director twice, for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Lauren Bacall sang for Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not (1944). Andy Williams was hired to dub her voice, but Bacall’s voice was used after all.

the name of the vampire in Nosferatu, the Vampire was Graf Orlok, played by Max Schreck. The film, directed by F. W. Murnau, was the first film version of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, but the name was changed to avoid copyright problems.

Director Rouben Mamoulian in City Streets (1931) introduced the use of “subjective sound”, a voice-over showing what a character is thinking. While Sylvia Sidney lay alone in bed, she “remembered” what Gary Cooper had said to her earlier, and Gary Cooper’s voice was heard on the soundtrack.

The following actors played Indians: Linda Darnell—Buffalo Bill (1944) Burt Lancaster—Apache (1954) Audrey Hepburn—The Unforgiven (1960) Paul Newman—Hombre (1967)

“He’s the kind of guy that, when he dies, he’s going up to Heaven and give God a bad time for making him bald” referred to Frank Sinatra. The quote is from Marlon Brando.

Young Jack Napier (the character who later becomes the Joker) is played by Hugo E. Blick in Batman (1989).

Eleven actors have played Marc Antony on film, in thirteen movies. They are: Frank Benson—Julius Caesar (1911) Henry Wilcoxon—Cleopatra (1934) Charlton Heston—Julius Caesar (1950) Marlon Brando—Julius Caesar (1953) Raymond Burr—Serpent of the Nile (1953) Helmut Dantine—The Story of Mankind (1957) Georges Marchal—Legions of the Nile (1959—Italy, Spain, France) Philip Saville—An Honourable Murder (1960—UK) Bruno Tocci—Caesar … Read more

Gene Wilder’s character in Young Frankenstein (1974) was Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, pronounced “FRONK-ensteen.”

No, John Davidson who appears in old movie credits has no relation to TV’s John Davidson. The earlier John Davidson (1886-1968) was a character actor who usually played dapper, sinister foreigners in silent and sound films. His movies included The Green Cloak (1915), Romeo and Juliet (1916), Dinner at Eight (1933), A Tale of Two … Read more

Bette Davis says, “I’d love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair” in Cabin in the Cotton (1932).

Director Ken Russell played the spy master Walter in The Russia House (1990).

Yes, AlfredHitchcock directed two costume dramas, Jamaica Inn (1939), and Under Capricorn (1949), both set in the nineteenth century. Hitchcock once said he didn’t like to direct historical movies because he couldn’t “imagine anyone in a costume picture ever going to the bathroom.”

Vincent Gardenia played gangster “Dutch” Schultz in Mad Dog Coll (1961).

Stewart Granger’s real name was James Stewart.

The sequel to the silent version of The Mark of Zorro (1925) was Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925). Douglas Fairbanks played Don Diego Vega (Zorro) in both movies, and also Don Cesar de Vega, the son of Zorro.

Chuck Yeager was Fred the bartender in The Right Stuff (1983).

Mike Todd, Jr., introduced the aromatic cinema gimmick Smell-O-Vision in 1960. Smells were directed at each individual theater seat through a tubing system activated by a “smell track” on the film. The only film made in Smell-O- Vision was Scent of Mystery. John Waters’s “Odorama” system, introduced with Polyester in 1981, used a more low-tech … Read more

As built by special-effects supervisor John Evans from a design by production designer Anton Furst, the Batmobile in Batman (1989) was about twenty feet long by eight feet wide. Its body was made of black fiberglass.

“Mister Senor Love Daddy” (Sam Jackson) is the DJ at WE LOVE radio, 108 FM in Do the Right Thing (1989), “The last on your dial, but the first in ya hearts, and that’s the truth, Ruth!”

W. K. L. Dickson (1860-1935), Thomas Edison’s assistant, was the first film director. He directed Edison’s first films in 1889.

No one knows what day Louis B. Mayer’s birthday was, but he decided to make it July 4. Mayer (1885-1957) claimed he had lost the records of his real birthday during emigration from Russia. He celebrated the nation’s birthday, and his own, with a big MGM picnic every Fourth of July.

The brand that Tom Dunson (John Wayne) draws at the end of Red River (1948) was a river with a D on the top and an M on the bottom. The D is for Dunson, the M is for Matthew Garth (Montgomery Clift). Dunson tells Garth, “You’ve earned it.”

Desreta Jackson, who played Celie as a child in The Color Purple (1985).

In the closing lines of The Grapes of Wrath, Jane Darwell says, “Can’t nobody wipe us out. Can’t nobody lick us. We’ll go on forever, Pa. We’re the people.”

The biggest-grossing movies, by decade were: 1910-19 The Birth of a Nation (1915) 1920-29 The Big Parade (1925) 1930-39 Gone With the Wind (1939) 1940-49 Song of the South (1946) 1950-59 The Ten Commandments (1956) 1960-69 The Sound of Music (1965) 1970-79 Star Wars (1977) 1980-89 E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Louis (1864-1948) and Auguste (1862-1954) Lumiere developed the first motion picture projector (which also served as a camera), the Cinematographe, patented February 13, 1895. December 28, 1895, is widely considered the birthday of cinema. This was the first time the Lumiere brothers showed their films to paying customers at the Grand Café in Paris. The … Read more

Steven and Cyril Marcus were the real-life gynecologists. The twins were found dead in their Upper East Side apartment in 1975, having killed themselves with barbiturates. In the movie, the twins were named Beverly Mantle and Elliot Mantle, both played by Jeremy Irons. Elliot was the confident, arrogant one; Beverly the shy, sensitive one.

Laurel Near plays the woman with the deformed cheeks who sings about Heaven in Eraserhead (1978). The music and lyrics of her song are by Peter Ivers. Fans know the character as the “Lady in the Radiator.”

No, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was not Peter O’Toole’s first film. O’Toole played several secondary roles in Ombre Bianche, Les Dents du Diable, The Savage Innocents, The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, and Kidnapped (all 1960). He did not become famous until he appeared as T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia.

The 1963 Burton-Taylor flop Cleopatra cost $37 million, a then unheard-of sum.

The first movie directed by Steven Spielberg associate Frank Marshall was Arachnophobia (1990).

Nicholson and Karloff appeared together in two movies filmed on the same sets, one right after the other: The Raven (1963) and The Terror (1963).

James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote the book on which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is based on.

Sleeptite Pajamas in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was the name of the pajama company in The Pajama Game (1957).

Boris Karloff made two with Abbott and Costello: Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). Karloff did not appear in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), where Glenn Strange played the Frankenstein monster.

Played by Dean Martin, Matt Helm was a secret service agent for ICE (Organization for Intelligence and Counter-Espionage). The four Matt Helm movies were: The Silencers (1966), Murderer’s Row (1966), The Ambassadors (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1969). The character is taken from a series of novels by Donald Hamilton.

Jessica Walter, playing Evelyn Draper requested that DJ Dave Garland (Clint Eastwood) Play Misty for Me (1971).

Robert Redford’s directorial debut was Ordinary People in 1980.

Richard Burton (1925-1984) was the most nominated actor who never won an Oscar. He was nominated for an Oscar six times.

The Egg and I (1947) gave Ma and Pa Kettle their debut. It is about a city woman (Claudette Colbert) who marries a chicken farmer (Fred MacMurray). Ma and Pa Kettle were supporting characters played by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. They went on to star in the same roles in their own movie series.

Two Vietnamese extras, six-year-old Renee Chen and seven-year-old Myca Dinh Lee, died with actor Vic Morrow during the filming of Twilight Zone The Movie (1983). All were killed while a helicopter scene was being shot for the segment by John Landis.

Geena Davis’s screen debut was in Tootsie (1982), where she played the dressing-room mate of Dustin Hoffman.

Serge, played by Bronson Pinchot was the art gallery worker with the funny accent in Beverly Hills Cop.

Bernard Herrmann’s final movie score was the Oscar-winning score was for Taxi Driver (1976).

A Passage to India (1984) was David Lean’s last picture. He was scheduled to start on an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo when he died in 1991.

Lana Turner’s teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane, stabbed Turner’s boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato on April 4, 1958.

Alec Guinness plays all of the eight members of an aristocratic family killed off in the dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Steve McQueen in the 1965 movie of the same name was the Cincinnati Kid. John Wayne in Stagecoach (1939) was The Ringo Kid. Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles (1974) was The Waco Kid.

Cecil B. DeMille said, “My mind is not one that grasps the immorality of the bathroom”, defending his right to film bathtub scenes.

Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh the female character murdered by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960). Her boyfriend is Sam Loomis (John Gavin) and her sister is Lila Crane (Vera Miles).

Fatty Arbuckle was accused of killing Virginia Rappe. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was accused of killing her in a drunken stupor after a Labor Day party in San Francisco in 1921, but he was acquitted of criminal charges.

Shirley Booth played Dolly Levi in the 1958 film version of the play The Matchmaker which was later played by Barbra Streisand. Booth won an Oscar for her performance in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) and went on to become TV’s “Hazel” (NBC, CBS, 1961-66).

Best Foreign Language Film was introduced as a regular category in the Academy Awards in 1956. The first winner was La Strada (Italian, 1954), directed by Federico Fellini.

From its founding in 1979 until 1990, the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre and Institute for Theatre Training was located in Jupiter, Florida. Since then, the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training has moved to Tequesta, Florida, while the dinner theatre (under new ownership) has become the Jupiter Dinner Theatre.

The acrobatic dancers the Nicholas brothers, who appeared in films like Down Argentine Way (1941), Stormy Weather (1943), and The Pirate (1948), were named Fayard and Harold Nicholas.

The Motion Picture Association of America started the Code and Rating Administration Board in 1968.