Shareware 1 2 the Maxx/sw_1.zip/sw_1/TEXT/MOVIEFAQ.ZIP/MOVIEFAQ.TXT

Text File | 1992-04-05 | 45KB | 938 lines

Archive-name: movies-faq

Last change:
Thu Feb 13 13:49:08 EST 1992

Changes include:
    Change to location of various ftp-able lists.

Questions include:
    1) "Does anyone know this movie?"  <plot summary follows>
    2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?"
    3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous
       star)?
    4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?"
    5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY?  Did Andy Williams
       dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT?  How come
       Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza
       Doolitle?
    6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no stinkin'
       badges?" come from ??
    7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel?
    8) What is letterboxing?
    9) Why are clips of old films always fast?
   10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies?
   11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's
       films?
   12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean?
   13) What "ethnic" actors have won Academy Awards?
   14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond?
   15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of
       films?

Topics include:
    1) Colorizing -- various legal and moral issues
    2) Product placements in movies
    3) Has anyone seen this great movie I just saw called HEATHERS?
    4) What's this talk about a ghost in THREE MEN AND A BABY?

Items covered in the rec.arts.sf.movies FAQ (cf):
     1. Star Trek.
     2. The animated LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi covers only the
        first half of the trilogy.  Bakshi did not make the second half.
     3. Frequent subjects.
     4. Abbreviations commonly used in this group:
     5. BLADE RUNNER: the sixth replicant, why voice-overs, and Deckard a
        replicant?
     6. "Can the X beat the Y?" where X and Y are mighty ships or alien
        races from different space opera movies/series.
     7. Is the movie HEAVY METAL out on video?
     8. Why is there an acknowledgment to Harlan Ellison in the credits of
        THE TERMINATOR?  or  Doesn't THE TERMINATOR have the same plot as a
        TWILIGHT ZONE episode?
     9. What about the relationship between HAL (the computer in 2001: A
        Space Odyssey) and IBM?  (If you add 1 to each letter in HAL you get
        IBM.)
    10. Who was the voice of the seductive Jessica Rabbit in the film
        "WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?"
    11. What are all of the "cute" gimmicks in the film BACK TO THE
        FUTURE?
    12. What role did Jamie Lee Curtis play in THE ADVENTURES OF
        BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION?
    13. When is George Lucas going to make more STAR WARS films?  What
        will they be about??
    14. In OUTLAND and TOTAL RECALL, astronauts exposed suddenly to vacuum
        promptly explode.  In 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a few seconds'
        exposure to vacuum doesn't bother one at all.  Which is right?

rec.arts.movies is a newsgroup devoted to discussions of movies.  It is
a high-volume newsgroup and this article is intended to help reduce the
number of unnecessary postings, thereby making it more useful and
enjoyable to everyone.

If you have not already done so, please read the articles in
news.announce.newusers.  They contain a great deal of useful information
about network etiquette and convention.

Before we begin, two pieces of net.etiquette.  Both of these are
mentioned in news.announce.newusers, but since they are so frequently
violated, and at least one of them is particularly relevant to this
group, we mention them here:

SPOILER WARNINGS:  Many people feel that much of the enjoyment of a film
is ruined if they know certain things about it, especially when those
things are surprise endings or mysteries.  On the other hand, they also
want to know whether or not a film is worth seeing, or they may be
following a particular thread of conversation where such information may
be revealed.  The solution to this is to put the words SPOILER in your
header, or in the text of your posting.  You can also put a ctl-L
character in the *first* column if you are using rn.  Some people think
that spoilers are not necessary.  We don't understand why, and do not
want to discuss it.  Use your best judgment.

REPLIES TO REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS:  When you think that many people will
know an answer to a question, or will have an answer to a request,
RESPOND VIA E-MAIL!!!  And if you don't know the answer, but want to
know, DON'T POST TO THE NET asking for the answer, ask VIA E-MAIL!  If
you think a lot of people will want the same information, you might
suggest that the person summarize to the net.

Even if you don't see an answer posted, and you have the answer, please
send it e-mail.  The thirty other people who answered may have already
sent it, and your site just hasn't gotten it yet.  It clogs the net and
gets very tedious to see 30 people answer the same question, and another
30 people asking for the answer to be posted.  All of that should be
done via mail.  The net is a highly asynchronous medium.  It can take
several days for an article to make it to all sites.  It is also quite
common for followups to messages to reach a site before the original.

Please keep in mind two points:

    1.  Always remember that there is a live human being at the
    other end of the wires.  In other words, please write your
    replies with the same courtesy you would use in talking to
    someone face-to-face.

    2.  Try to recognize humor and irony in postings.  Tone of
    voice does not carry in ASCII print, and postings are often
    snapped off quickly, so that humorous intent may not be
    obvious.  More destructive and vicious arguments have been
    caused by this one fact of net existence than any other.  It
    will help if satiric/ironic/humorous comments are marked with
    the "smiley face," :-)

The first part of the list is a compendium of information that has been
posted to rec.arts.movies many times in the past.  If you have received
this list through e-mail, without requesting it, this is most likely
because you posted one of the questions on the list.

The second part of the FAQ list contains a series of topics that are
repeatedly discussed, along with a bit of editorial comment on each one.
The reason for including this information is merely to provide new
readers with some background and context.  In no way do we mean for this
to preclude anyone from discussing these topics again.  While the items
listed in part one are (indisputable??) facts, the topics in part two
are objects of opinion.  As such, they can be discussed ad infinitum
without any resolution.  Do so if you wish.  Remember the first
amendment...

The last part of the FAQL contains a few further bits of information for
readers of rec.arts.movies.  This includes several other lists that are
kept by members of the group, trivia contests etc.  Interested readers
should seek out the companion FAQ in rec.arts.sf.movies.

If you have any questions about this list, or if there is something you
think should be added, you can contact me through e-mail at:

                        [e-mail]


Now, here are some frequently asked questions...


PART ONE: Frequently asked questions, and some answers (and some
of them may be right).


1) "Does anyone know this movie?"  <plot summary follows>

When making this kind of request, ask that all responses be e-mailed
back to you.  After having found out what it is, then post the correct
answer to the net.

If you know the answer but are unable to send a message to the requester,
wait a few days.  It's likely that someone else will post the correct
answer, thus sparing you the effort.

Do not post messages like "I want to know, too" to the net.  E-mail the
person who asked the question and request that they send you any
information they get by e-mail.  Only if you cannot reach the person by
e-mail *and* no one has posted about the request after several days
should you post.


2) "What stories/movies/tv shows are about X?"

When making these kind of requests, ask that all replies be e-mailed to
you and that you will summarize.  Note that a summary is not just
concatenating all the replies together and posting the resulting file.
Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate information, and
write a short summary.


3) How can I get an address &/or a phone number for (some famous
   star)?

You *can't* get phone numbers.  But you can get contact addresses
(usually an agent or publicist), by calling the Screen Artist's
Guild at 213-465-4600.  They will give you a phone number &/or
address for the agent.  The agent can provide you an address to
write and may send pictures on request or provide the publicist's
addresses.


4) "Does anyone want to talk about X?"

If nobody seems to be discussing what you want to talk about, post a
(polite) message opening the discussion.  Don't just say, "Does anyone
want to talk about X" or "I really like X" however; try to have
something interesting to say about the topic to get discussion going.

Don't be angry or upset if no one responds.  It may be that X is just a
personal taste of your own, or quite obscure.  Or it may be that X was
discussed to death a few weeks ago, *just* before you came into the
group.  (If this is the case, you'll probably know, though, because
some rude fool will probably flame you for "Bringing that up
*AGAIN*!!!"  Ignore them.)


5) Did Audrey Hepburn do the singing in MY FAIR LADY?  Did Andy Williams
   dub Lauren Bacall's singing voice in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT?  How come
   Julie Andrews did not reprise her Broadway performance of Eliza
   Doolitle?

Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also did the singing
for Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY.

Although the legend about Andy Williams and Lauren Bacall is so deeply
entrenched that you'll find it repeated even in some film reference
books, it's not true.  Director Howard Hawks, when asked about this,
explained that he had indeed planned to have Andy Williams sing for
Bacall, but after hearing Bacall sing during the rehearsals for the
scene he abandoned that plan and ended up using Bacall's own voice.
(Source:  Hawks on Hawks by Joseph McBride [Berkeley, University of
California Press, 1982] p.130.)  (Jon Corelis, [e-mail])

Andrews was not considered popular enough to be cast in the movie of
MY FAIR LADY.

6) What movie did the quote: "Badges?? Badges?? We don't need no stinkin'
   badges?" come from ??

This quote was originally spoken in the film "Treasure of the Sierra Madre",
written and directed by John Huston.  A band of Mexican bandits approaches
Humphry Bogart and crew (Walter Huston & Tim Holt) claiming to be federales.
When Bogart asks to see their badges, the head of the band says:

        "Badges?  We ain't got no badges.  We don't need no badges.
        I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"

This quote has been satirized in a number of films, perhaps most famously in
Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles."

(By the way, this version of the quote has been verified as the exact
transcription from the film by Wayne Hathaway and Jerry Boyajian.)


7) What is the earliest *numbered* sequel?

THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974) certainly started the modern wave of numbered
sequels, followed by (just up to 1980):

1975  THE FRENCH CONNECTION II
1976  THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! PART 2  (Jerry Boyajian thinks they really
        missed the boat on this one by not calling this THAT'S
        ENTERTAINMENT, TOO! and wants it stated for the record he
        thought of this *before* LOOK WHO'S TALKING TOO came out.)
1977  EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC
1978  DAMIEN: THE OMEN II
1978  JAWS II
1979  ROCKY II
1980  SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, PART II
1980  HIGH NOON, PART II: THE RETURN OF WILL KANE [TV movie]

But it was no means the earliest numbered sequel. The runner up for that
prize is:

1957  QUATERMASS II [US title: ENEMY FROM SPACE, though released on
                     laserdisc in the US under the original title]

which is a film version of the British television serial of the same name,
and a sequel to the serial and feature film THE QUATERMASS [E]XPERIMENT
[US title: THE CREEPING UNKNOWN].

And the winner is:

1946  IVAN THE TERRIBLE, PART II

Eisenstein started, but did not complete, a PART III the next year.

(Recently in alt.cult-movies, in a discussion of Fritz Lang, someone had
suggested that an even earlier numbered sequel was DR. MABUSE, DER SPIELER
PART 2 (a.k.a. DR. MABUSE, KING OF CRIME), made in 1922.  I suppose a case
can be made for it, except that the two parts were originally made and
exhibited together under a single title.  Only in more recent times have
the two parts been shown as individual works.)

[Thanks to Jerry Boyajian, [e-mail], for this answer.]

8) What is letterboxing?

In case you hadn't noticed, movie screens have a different shape than
television screens.  This means that when a movie is shown on a
television screen, it doesn't fit.  Up until recently, this meant that
either the left and right ends of the picture were cropped off, or the
picture was "panned and scanned" (the camera would seem to go back and
forth between the left and right sides, usually done for scenes in which
the two characters speaking were at the far left and right of a scene),
or that the picture was warped so that everyone looked tall and thin
(this was usually done for credit sequences so the full names could fit
on the screen, or you would think you were watching "ne with the Wi").
Now some companies are releasing "letterboxed" versions of films on
videocassettes and videodisks.  These have a black bar at the top and
bottom of the screen, allowing the full width of the picture to be
included, but resulting in a smaller picture--that is, a character ten
inches tall in a non-letterboxed version might be eight inches tall in a
letterboxed one.


9) Why are clips of old films always fast?

Persistence of vision (which makes still film frames appear to be in
motion) only requires 16 frames per second to fool the eye, so that was
the speed used for early films.  When sound was introduced, the
16-frame-per-second speed caused warbling, so the standard was increased
to 24 frames per second.

When you see a silent movie, shot at 16 frames per second, projected at
the faster rate, it looks "faster" but only because there aren't many 16
frame per second film projectors around.  With modern videotape systems,
the films-on-tape can be slowed back down.

To complicate matters more, the early cameras were hand-cranked: if the
cameraman cranked too slow, the projector made the movie look too
fast...and vice versa.  Early cameramen had to keep a steady rhythm.

However, this is complicated by the fact that in the silent era, there
was no universally "correct" film speed.  The introduction of the 24-fps
rate used today had to do with sound, as was said, not with the images.
In the silent era, cameras were hand-operated, and so were most
projectors.  In addition to the obvious difficulties of maintaining a
perfect rate by hand, the ability to speed up or slow down the progress
of the film through the camera and projector was used for artistic
effect.  By undercranking (turning the crank slower and thus taking
fewer frames per second) on shooting while projecting at normal speed,
the action would speed up as more seconds of photographed time were
compressed into a given number of seconds of projected time.
Alternatively, overcranking would give the opposite effect -- slow
motion.  By cranking faster, the projectionist could speed up the
action, while cranking slower on projection would slow down the action.
The classic example of projectionist overcranking is during chases or
other exciting scenes, to make the fast action seem even faster.  I have
heard that some films were even released with advice about how fast to
crank during certain parts of the film.  Also, shooting film
undercranked would be used for certain stunts and special effects,
giving the illusion of speed that wasn't actually present.
[Another source reported that a PBS documentary series said films were
sometimes undercranked to save film costs.]

The typical rate of cranking on a silent film was lower than 24 fps --
usually around 20 fps, I've been told, but it varied.  Careless
projection of silent film shows it at 24 fps, which is faster than it
was intended to be shown.  Hence, most people have seen silent film run
at the equivalent of slight fast forward.

One side effect of this method of shooting silent films is that any
serious film guide that discusses silent films will not give running
times for them, as that time could vary depending on the talent and mood
of the projectionist.  While the difference might be only a couple of
minutes out of a couple of hours, printing a particular number of
minutes as a running time for a silent film is misleading and can cause
confusion.  Typically, lengths are given in number of reels, or, when
they really want to be careful, number of feet of film.

It's worth noting that the technology hasn't been forgotten, though,
given one of the uses it's put to, maybe it should have been.  Network
TV is fond of slightly speeding up the rate at which they show films,
thus permitting them to squeeze a long film into a time slot without
cutting anything.  This practice gets filmmakers very angry, as it
damages any pacing or rhythm they put into the film.

[Thanks to Douglas Ferguson, [e-mail], and Peter Reiher,
[e-mail], for this answer.]

10) What are the Hitchcock cameos in all his movies?

THE LODGER (1926): At a desk in a newsroom and later in the crowd watching
an arrest.

EASY VIRTUE (1927): Walking past a tennis court, carrying a walking stick.

MURDER (1930): Walking past the house where the murder was committed, about
an hour into the movie.

BLACKMAIL (1929):  Being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book in
the subway.

THE 39 STEPS (1935):  Tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie
Mannheim run from the theater, seven minutes into the movie.

YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1938):  Outside the courthouse, holding a camera.

THE LADY VANISHES (1938):  Very near the end of the movie, in Victoria
Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette.

REBECCA (1940): Standing close to a phone booth in the final part of the
film.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940):  Early in the movie, after Joel McCrea
leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper.

MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941):  Midway through, passing Robert Montgomery in front
of his building.

SABOTEUR (1942):  Standing in front of Cut Rate Drugs in New York as the
saboteurs' car stops, an hour in.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943):  On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards.

LIFEBOAT (1944):  In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad
for Reduco Obesity Slayer.

SPELLBOUND (1945):  Coming out of an elevator at the Empire Hotel,
carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette, 40 minutes in.

NOTORIOUS (1946):  At a big party in Claude Rains's mansion, drinking
champagne and then quickly departing, an hour after the film begins.

THE PARADINE CASE (1947):  Leaving the train and Cumberland Station,
carrying a cello.

ROPE (1948): His trademark can be seen briefly on a neon sign in the view
from the apartment window.

UNDER CAPRICORN (1949):  In the town square during a parade, wearing a blue
coat and brown hat, in the first five minutes.  Ten minutes later, he is one
of three men on the steps of Government House.

STAGE FRIGHT (1950):  Turning to look at Jane Wyman in her disguise as
Marlene Dietrich's maid.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951):  Boarding a train with a double bass fiddle as
Farley Granger gets off in his hometown, early in the film.

I CONFESS (1953):  Crossing the top of a staircase after the opening
credits.

DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954):  On the left side of the class-reunion photo,
thirteen minutes into the film.

REAR WINDOW (1954):  Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment, a half
hour into the movie.

TO CATCH A THIEF (1955):  Ten minutes in, sitting to the left of Cary Grant
on a bus.

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955):  Walking past the parked limousine of an old
man who is looking at paintings, twenty minutes into the film.

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956):  Watching acrobats in the Moroccan
marketplace (his back to the camera) just before the murder.

THE WRONG MAN (1956):  Narrating the film's prologue.

VERTIGO (1958):  In a gray suit walking in the street, eleven minutes in.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959):  Missing a bus during the opening credits.

PSYCHO (1960):  Four minutes in, through Janet Leigh's window as she returns
to her office.  He is wearing a cowboy hat.

THE BIRDS (1963):  Leaving the pet shop with two white terriers as Tippi
Hedren enters.

MARNIE (1964):  Entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi
Hedren passes by, five minutes in.

TORN CURTAIN (1966):  Early in the film, sitting in the Hotel d'Angleterre
lobby with a blond baby.

TOPAZ (1969):  Being pushed in a wheelchair in an airport, half an hour in.
Hitchcock gets up from the chair, shakes hands with a man, and walks off to
the right.

FRENZY (1972):  In the center of a crowd, wearing a bowler hat, three
minutes into the film; he is the only one not applauding the speaker.

FAMILY PLOT (1976):  In silhouette through the door of the Registrar of
Births and Deaths, 41 minutes into the movie.

I've seen it stated in several sources that he appeared in all of his movies
from THE LODGER (1926) onwards, so he definitely doesn't appear in:

THE PLEASURE GARDEN (1925)
THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE (1926)

However, the following movies (mostly early British ones) are missing from
the above list:

Champagne
Downhill
Farmer's Wife, The
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Juno and Paycock
Man Who Knew Too Much, The (1934)
Manxman, The
Number Seventeen
Rich and Strange
Ring, The (1927)
Sabotage
Secret Agent
Skin Game, The (1931)
Suspicion (1941)
Waltzes from Vienna

[Thanks to Colin Needham, [e-mail], for this answer.
Colin maintains a more extensive "Hitchcock Information File"
available on request.]

11) What are the references to "See You Next Wednesday" in John Landis's
movies?

(Jerry Boyajian says it should be noted that the *original*
"See you next Wednesday" line comes from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.)

There are actually three trademarks in Landis's movies: Steven Bishop
("Charming Wildcard"), "See You Next Wednesday" previews, posters, or
references, and "Girl from Ipanema" music in the background.

SCHLOCK (1971):
Two promotional blurbs for SYNW during a newscast for the "movie at 6 on 6"
and on a poster in a theatre lobby (the real poster was for "King Kong vs.
Godzilla").

KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977):
Steven Bishop plays the "charming guy":
        "Show me your nuts!"
        "oooo, hey, how ya doing?  Surfing U.S.A..."
SYNW is the title of the "Feel-a-Rama" movie.

ANIMAL HOUSE (1978):
Bishop plays the "I gave my love a cherry" man.  The credit is "Charming
Guy," as usual.  SYNW does not appear anywhere in this film.  However,
that is not to say there is no reference to Landis' SCHLOCK, which was
the only film he made before ANIMAL HOUSE.  [Moderator's note--not true;
he also made KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.]  The actress who plays the girl with
whom the Schlockthropus (a "missing link"/ape type) falls in love also
appears in ANIMAL HOUSE as the girl who is at the desk of the girls'
school dorm where Otter (Tim Matheson) and company go to pick up dates
on their road trip.  In a later scene, she is asked what she is studying
and she replies, "Primitive cultures," which has to be a reference to
SCHLOCK.  At the end of ANIMAL HOUSE when the one or two lines
describes the future of each character for Nedermeir (sp?) it said that
Nedermeir was "killed by his own troops in Vietnam."  During the part of
TWILIGHT ZONE when the person is in a swamp in Vietnam and some US
troops come by they can be heard to say "I told you we shouldn't have
shot Neidermeyer."

THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980):
On a billboard where two Illinois state troopers are lying in wait.  It's
only there for a second as Jake and Elwood are speeding away from Bob's
Country Bunker.  The billboard also pictures a large ape and looks like an
ad for a bad horror flick.  Bishop plays the Charming Trooper in the mall
chase.  "Girl From Ipanema" is playing in the elevator as they go to the
office with Spielburg in it.

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981):
SYNW is the name of the porno film that is playing in the Picadilly Square
theatre where David meets with Jack and his zombie friends.  The movie bill
also appears in the London underground when the man is killed.

TRADING PLACES (1983):
SYNW is on a poster in Jamie Lee Curtis' apartment.  No ape, just the
silhouette of two people.

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (1983):
SYNW is in lines of dialogue from the movie within the video.  "...scrawled
in blood...", "What does it say?", "It says, 'See you next Wednesday'."
(Also, if you look close enough, there is a poster for SCHLOCK in the
lobby as Michael and his date leave the theatre.)

TWILIGHT ZONE - THE MOVIE (1983):
Steven Bishop plays "Charming G.I." (bad pun)

INTO THE NIGHT (1985):
There are actually two posters in INTO THE NIGHT for SYNW.  Both are in
the movie producer's office where Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum make a
phone call about a half hour or so into the film.

SPIES LIKE US (1985):
In one scene, Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd are in the office of the commander
of the army training post that is the site of their training.  There is a
shot of the commander lecturing them, and on the office wall behind him is a
recruitment poster bearing the legend "See You Next Wednesday."

COMING TO AMERICA:
A movie poster in the subway station where the Prince's bride-to-be
returns her earring gift.  (The movie claims to star Jamie Lee Curtis,
who starred in TRADING PLACES.)  Later, the Prince, to prove to his
girlfriend that money isn't important to him, gives his sizable roll
of pocket money to a pair of street people, who turn out to be the
Duke brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from TRADING PLACES.
They even appear in the credits!  You might recall that the Dukes are
destitute at the end of TRADING PLACES, so the plotlines are
consistent.  It is also amusing that Eddie Murphy, who made them poor
in the former movie, made them rich in the latter.

INNOCENT BLOOD (NYR):
The marquee on the theatre (according to Stewart M. Clamen, whose
friend saw them filming).

[Thanks to Randy Spencer, [e-mail], Stewart M. Clamen,
@NUMCALLS@@INCONF@@LASTTIMEON@@SECURITY@[e-mail], and Jerry Boyajian, b
for this answer.]

12) What does the number at the end of the end credits mean?

The Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA) is responsible for
assigning these numbers.  It is part of their film rating service.  Any film
can be submitted to the MPAA for rating (the G/PG/PG13/R/NC-17 ratings
Americans are familiar with), for a small fee.  Any film rated by the MPAA is
issued a unique number.  Any film can be submitted, but many aren't, including
most adult sex films, many foreign films, industrial films and other training
and educational films, television films, and some independently made films.

The rating service (and the numbering associated with it) was started in
1968.  There is no publicly available list of films and numbers, and the
MPAA information office does not have the title of the film issued certificate
#1 readily available.

Films before 1968 were assigned numbers based on their agreement to the
Production Code, instituted July 1, 1934.  Under that scheme, the film SHE,
released in 1935, has number 985.  Reports of any earlier number spottings
would be appreciated.  Given that the current number is in the 30,000,
I believe the current numbers are continued from those, rather than restarted
in 1968.

A word or two more about MPAA ratings.  The ratings are assigned by a board
composed of "ordinary citizens", largely parents, as the intent of the
rating system is to protect the tender minds of children from harm.  The
board watches the film and collectively assigns a rating.  If the producer
doesn't like the rating, s/he has a couple of options.  The rating can be
appealed to the MPAA official in charge of rating films.  On a few occasions,
the appeal has been successful.  Not too surprisingly, appeals by large
studios tend to have a better success rate than appeals by smaller studios.
Alternately, the producer can recut the film and resubmit it.  The MPAA rating
board tends to be coy on exactly what caused a film to get a rating, and they
never actually tell a filmmaker that if this scene is cut, you will get that
rating.  Somehow or other, though, the information tends to get to the
filmmakers, so that Alan Parker, for instance, somehow knew that cutting a few
seconds of Mickey Rourke humping Lisa Bonet while blood drips from the ceiling
changes "Angel Heart" from a film no child should see to a film merely
requiring parental presence.

While we're at it, what is the MPAA?  It's an industry organization for the
American film production business, particularly for the major studios.  Its
members are Disney, Columbia, MGM, Orion, Paramount, 20th Century Fox,
Universal, and Warner Brothers.  These companies pay fees to the MPAA that
are used as the primary source of financing for the organization.  In
addition to the ratings, the MPAA performs other services for their members,
including lobbying the government.  (They prefer to refer to this service
as "working on issues important to the film industry.")  Jack Valenti, the
head of the MPAA, is a prominent spokesman who speaks for "Hollywood" as
a whole, generally on issues important to all the studios, like film
piracy, trade disputes with other countries, and censorship.  The MPAA was
founded in 1922, so it's been doing this sort of thing for quite a while.

[Thanks to Peter Reiher, [e-mail], for this answer.]

13) What ethnic actors have won Academy Awards?

(This question seem to come up every year at Oscar time.)

"Actors of ethnic extraction other then European/ Mediterranean who have
been nominated for Academy Awards" (so we don't start quibbling over Omar
Sharif).  I'm not a big fan of groupings by race, but it has its educational
values in a situation like this, showing Hollywood's record in honoring
minority contributions.  In borderline cases, we have gone by the "as
generally perceived" standard--thus no Ben Kingsley, who seems thoroughly
British despite the fact that his father was Gujrati, and none of the many
American actors who proudly say they're "part Indian" when they mean 1/16 or
1/32.  With that ponderous preamble out of the way, here's the list:

                        AFRICAN-AMERICAN

Hattie McDaniel       1939   supp   Gone with the Wind   WON
Dorothy Dandridge     1954   lead   Carmen Jones
Sidney Poitier        1958   lead   The Defiant Ones
                      1963   lead   Lilies of the Field  WON
Beah Richards         1967   supp   Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Rupert Crosse         1969   supp   The Reivers
James Earl Jones      1970   lead   The Great White Hope
Paul Winfield         1972   lead   Sounder
Cicely Tyson          1972   lead   Sounder
Diana Ross            1972   lead   Lady Sings the Blues
Diahann Carroll       1974   lead   Claudine
Howard E. Rollins Jr  1981   supp   Ragtime
Louis Gossett Jr.     1982   supp   Officer & Gentleman  WON
Alfre Woodard         1983   supp   Cross Creek
Adolph Caesar         1984   supp   A Soldier's Story
Whoopi Goldberg       1985   lead   The Color Purple
                      1991   supp   Ghost                WON
Margaret Avery        1985   supp   The Color Purple
Oprah Winfrey         1985   supp   The Color Purple
Dexter Gordon         1986   lead   Round Midnight
Morgan Freeman        1987   supp   Street Smart
                      1989   lead   Driving Miss Daisy
Denzel Washington     1987   supp   Cry Freedom
                      1989   supp   Glory         WON

                  ASIAN (including Polynesian)

Miyoshi Umeki         1957   supp   Sayonara             WON
Sessue Hayakawa       1957   supp   Bridge over the River Kwai
Mako                  1966   supp   The Sand Pebbles
Jocelyn LaGarde       1966   supp   Hawaii
Haing S. Ngor         1984   supp   The Killing Fields   WON
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita 1984   supp   The Karate Kid

                         NATIVE AMERICAN

Chief Dan George      1970   supp   Little Big Man
Graham Greene         1991   supp   Dances with Wolves

Note that John Singleton is now the first African-American to be
nominated as best director.

[Thanks to Jon Conrad, [e-mail], for bulk of this answer.]


14) What are all the James Bond films and who played Bond?
    "Casino Royale" episode of CLIMAX TV series    1954    Barry Nelson
    Dr. No                        1963    Sean Connery
    From Russia With Love                1964    Sean Connery
    Goldfinger                    1964    Sean Connery
    Thunderball                    1965    Sean Connery
    Casino Royale                    1967    David Niven*
    You Only Live Twice                1967    Sean Connery
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service            1969    George Lazenby
    Diamonds Are Forever                1971    Sean Connery
    Live and Let Die                1973    Roger Moore
    The Man With the Golden Gun            1974    Roger Moore
    The Spy Who Loved Me                1977    Roger Moore
    The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation
         as We Know It                1977    ?
    Moonraker                    1979    Roger Moore
    For Your Eyes Only                1981    Roger Moore
    Octopussy                    1983    Roger Moore
    Never Say Never Again                1983    Sean Connery
    The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.        1983    George Lazenby+
    A View to a Kill                1985    Roger Moore
    The Living Daylights                1987    Timothy Dalton
    License to Kill                    1989    Timothy Dalton

* Woody Allen plays his nephew, "Jimmy Bond"
+ Only a cameo--Lazenby drives a car with license plate "007" in this
  made-for-television movie and is clearly supposed to be Bond, though he
  is never called by name.

(Michael Golan mentions also CANNONBALL (1976), but in that Roger Moore
is explicit that he is *Roger Moore*, not James Bond, in spite of all
appearances.  Still, some may want to count this.  "M" and "Miss
Moneypacket" appear in "The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as
We Know It," a 1977 British television production starring John Cleese;
they were played by Kenneth Benda and Charlotte Alexandra respectively.)

15) What are those funny dots that blink on in the upper-right corner of
    films?

These are change-over cues, or "reel-change dots," signaling the
projectionist that it is time to change reels.  The average reel
contains about twenty minutes of 35mm film.  In some old films on TV,
you'll see long changeover cues since some projectionists were paranoid
that they would not see the marks.  so, they extended the marks to
include more frames.  Sometimes they would just use a paper punch and
make *big* holes in the film.  Hard to miss these....

Video versions these days usually don't have these dots, though you may
see them in older movies, or in wide-screen films that have been panned-
and-scanned.  (The video versions lack the dots in part because the sides
of the picture get trimmed when it is transferred to video.)

(Paul Parenteau, [e-mail])


PART TWO: Frequent Topics and other things we just thought you might
like to know.  First a few general notes... The readership of
rec.arts.movies is in the whole very knowledgeable about a wide
range of movies.  However, it is my informal assessment that
science fiction and fantasy movies are discussed and analyzed far
beyond their popularity in most of the rest of the world.  This is
neither good nor bad, and the reason for it seems fairly obvious
to me.  The readership of this group reflects the broader
readership of USENET.  This latter population is top heavy with
computer scientists and other forms of science scholars.  There is
a correlation (though not necessarily a causal relationship) between
being in one of these professions, and an interest in science
fiction and fantasy.  Okay, enough of that.  Now, here are some
things which come up often, and, while you are free to discuss
them, you should be forewarned that some long-time readers may get
fairly fed-up with you.


PART THREE: Frequently discussed topics:

1) COLORIZING -- Various legal and moral issues.  As most of you
probably know, Ted Turner and others have taken to adding "color" old
black and white films.  "Color" is in quotes, because it is questionable
whether you can really call it color.  Anyway, there is, every so often,
a discussion of some aspect of this.  There are a whole host of legal
and moral/ethical issues involved here.  Suprisingly there really seems
to be a fair mix of opinion on this issue.  No, you cannot just turn off
the color on your television; adding color changes the values of the
various sections so they show up differently.  However, adding color
requires a restored clean print, so many claim that the money from
selling color-added films is being used to preserve the films (in black
and white as well as in color).  It has been ruled illegal to add color
to CITIZEN KANE due to the way Orson Welles's contract was written.
(Boyajian points out that "colorization" is a trademarked term.)

2) PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN MOVIES.  In many films, the film company
will get paid by some companies to use their products.  Some
readers object to this as a fairly manipulative and distracting
presence.  Others do not object, commenting that people really do
use name-brand products, so using them in films makes sense.
Many have commented on the pack of Marlboro cigarettes in DEAD AGAIN,
saying this was the best product placement they had ever seen.

3) HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS GREAT MOVIE I JUST SAW CALLED HEATHERS?
For some reason, every time someone stumbles across this movie,
they feel like they should post to the net and ask if anyone else
has seen it, and do they want to discuss it.  This is fine, of
course, but it does get to be a little repetitive.  The film stars
Winona Ryder as Veronica and Christian Slater as J.D.  Two students
at a high school in Ohio.  The three most popular girls at the
school, and Veronica's best friends, are all named Heather.  The
film is a black comedy which revolves around the relationship of
JD & Veronica, and how they interact with the 3 Heathers and
others.  Some people think it is very good, although many netters were
disappointed with the ending.  If you haven't seen it yet, you should.

4) WHAT'S THIS TALK ABOUT A GHOST IN THREE MEN AND A BABY?
There is a rumor that if you watch TMATB very closely you will see a
ghost in it.  The scene in question is the one where Ted Danson's
character meets his mom in his apartment.  If you look near the window
you can see an image resembling a small boy.  This is supposedly the
ghost of a boy who was killed in the house where the movie was filmed.

First of all, the movie was not filmed in a house, but on a Toronto
soundstage.  So the whole premise is hokey to begin with.  But here is
more evidence provided by: [e-mail] (Brian Enright)):

> I then rewound and ran it through super slow mo.  When they pass the
> window on their way in, you can't see the boy but it looks like there
> is a bed post sticking up.  When they pass the window again it looks
> like a two-dimensional cut-out but not of Ted Danson.  It's a little
> boy with a baseball cap, a white tee-shirt and a blue unbuttoned
> button-down shirt in my opinion.  Hmmmm.  I had to investigate.
>
> After further investigation of other scenes in the movie I found there
> were no bed posts on the bed.  Then I hit the clue that gave it away.
> This particular scene is almost at the end of the movie.  In this
> scene Ted Danson walks to a window where there is a cut-out of him in
> a black top hat and a black tuxedo with a white shirt.  If you
> examine this cut out closely and go back to the scene in question,
> you will notice that they are the same cut out.  You can see that the
> boy *is* Ted Danson and he is wearing a top hat and even his shoulders
> hidden behind the curtain are noticeably not a little boy's but a man
> in a tuxedo.
>
> I hate to burst any bubbles but it *definitely is* a cut-out of Ted
> Danson in a *tuxedo*..

From: [e-mail] (Will Bell)

Other information:  There are several lists revolving around film that
are kept by netters.  These frequently come up.

One major project is a list of votes/ratings of a plethora of movies.
This list is maintained by Chuck Musciano,
([e-mail]), and it is posted regularly, with a
chance for people to vote.  The report is also available via anonymous
ftp from penguin.gatech.edu in the pub/movie directory.

Evelyn Leeper ([e-mail]) provides several services for the
r.a.m readers (aside from her many postings), including maintaining
these lists:

       -- Academy Award Nominations & Winners from 1987 on
       -- Hollywood Vocabulary (such terms as chopsocky, bowed,
          helmed, etc.)
       -- Information on what all those people listed in film
          credits do (e.g. key grip, gaffer...).

Evelyn is also the moderator of the group rec.arts.movies.reviews, which
is a collection of movie reviews written by USENET-ers.  The
rec.arts.movies.reviews archives are currently stored on LCS.MIT.EDU
(18.26.0.36) which is a UNIX machine, and are in the directory
/common/movie-reviews.  The archives are currently available to anyone
with FTP access to this machine.  The files are numbered, so you will
need to refer to the latest index to see which ones you want.  Every
hundred issues is a cumulative index (n00).  The number of reviews has
made it necessary to split them up into subdirectories.  Thus, numbers
0001 through 0099 are in 00xx.dir, 0100 through 0199 in 01xx.dir, and so
on.  There is a file "INDEX" in the directory /common/movie-reviews that
indexes all reviews.  If you have no FTP access, you can request copies
of reviews (12 or less at a time) by sending mail to Evelyn.


Another group of interest is rec.arts.cinema.  This is a moderated
group, devoted to more serious analyses of film and film related issues.
The moderator is Manavendra Thakur.  Send submissions to
[e-mail].


Several "filmography" lists are kept by various rec.arts.movies gurus, and are
posted regularly.  These lists are:


 List            | Maintained by
 ----------      |---------------------------------------
 Directors       | Dave Knight <[e-mail]>
 Dead actors     | Col Needham <[e-mail]>
 Actresses       | Andy Krieg <[e-mail]>
 Actors          | Col Needham <[e-mail]>
 Writers         | Andy Krieg <[e-mail]>
 Cinematographers| Michel Hafner <[e-mail]>
 Composers       | Michel Hafner <[e-mail]>
 Goofs           | "Starman" <[e-mail]>

The lists are also available via anonynmous FTP from boulder.colorado.edu
(128.138.240.21) in the directory ~ftp/pub/tv+movies/lists.

Colin Needham has written a set of shell scripts for creating and
searching a massive movie database using the information contained on
all the lists.  The scripts are also available via ftp in the directory
~ftp/pub/tv+movies/lists/tools.  He also publishes a set of scripts for
managing the task of voting in Chuck's Movie Ratings poll; they are
available via anonymus ftp from  penguin.gatech.edu in the
pub/movie/process directory or via e-mail from him
([e-mail]).

Lastly, there are a series of movie trivia contests.  Some of these
even offer prizes!  The initial contest postings generally include
information on how to enter.  The important point is that you
should never post answers, but should send them e-mail.

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   [phone]   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [e-mail]