The Tangibly Reel 1980s Movie Quiz: The Tangibly Reel Movie Quiz, #1

By S. A. Burke

Cinema of the 1980s was very commercially focused on the one hand and yet, paradoxically, incredibly inventive on the other. The 1970s had smashed up the cookie-cutter machines and though the following decade began with a very noticeable transition which brought with it the returning armies of accountants and bottom-liners, the creatives were certainly still allowed to make their own individual shapes. And what fun they had – as long as it was proving popular. So much so that in terms of sheer fun and popular crazes their audiences were perhaps kept more enthralled and engaged than any other. Not that they were denied in any way high artistry and contemplative drama to sober their senses and provoke their minds.

Similarly, this quiz book, in its layout and in its meandering content, has not been shaped by a cookie-cutter machine. The questions and answers are not rattled off for a competitive readership. Rather, they are left to breathe and take in their surroundings, making this experience as much a read as it is a test.

If you are happy with how we pace things around here, let's begin:

It's 1980, and you are soon to experience the cinematic fallout from the Johnson County War – expect an abrupt and noticeable transition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. A. Burke
• Release date: Jul 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227920577

Book preview

Introduction

Cinema of the 1980s was very commercially focused on the one hand and yet, paradoxically, incredibly inventive on the other. The 1970s had smashed up the cookie-cutter machines and though the following decade began with a very noticeable transition which brought with it the returning armies of accountants and bottom-liners, the creatives were certainly still allowed to make their own individual shapes. And what fun they had – as long as it was proving popular. So much so that in terms of sheer fun and popular crazes their audiences were perhaps kept more enthralled and engaged than any other. Not that they were denied in any way high artistry and contemplative drama to sober their senses and provoke their minds.

Similarly, this quiz book, in its layout and in its meandering content, has not been shaped by a cookie-cutter machine. The questions and answers are not rattled off for a competitive readership. Rather, they are left to breathe and take in their surroundings, making this experience as much a read as it is a test.

If you are happy with how we pace things around here, let’s begin:

It’s 1980, and you are soon to experience the cinematic fallout from the Johnson County War – expect an abrupt and noticeable transition.

1980

Q.

1. This year, which French actress, generally known for her icier femmes, appears in an epic American western that is being critically received in a way that complements her acting niche with its record-breaking volume of sub-zero reviews?

2. Give the name of the Hollywood celebrity who is an uncredited producer of David Lynch’s sophomore dalliance with black-and-white, the elegiac and punchline-free The Elephant Man, and whose production company actually made the movie.

3. Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker return to the screen in which movie sequel this year?

4. Name the director who has recently been sacked from the Superman franchise, having already captured all of Superman (1978) and most of this year’s Superman II in a single shoot, and replaced by veteran Richard Lester who has refilmed a very different, slapsticky second film.

5. What is the name of Jason’s mother in current craze Friday the 13th?

A.

1. Isabelle Huppert. While Heaven’s Gate’s reputation will enjoy a great thaw in a few years’ time and even get to bask proudly under warm rays further on out into the future, our young actress will continue to skate down her much-preferred frozen path for many, many decades to come.

2. Mel Brooks. It is prudent advertising by Mr. Brooks to let Brooksfilms and not Mel Brooks take the credit for this movie.

3. The Empire Strikes Back or Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. It looks like they might even get the opportunity to surround themselves in the metals of C-3PO and R2-D2 yet again for a third and presumably final time in the not-to-distant future!

4. Richard Donner. In the future, Christopher Reeve will don the cape again in the disappointing Superman III (1983) and the regrettable Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) but, quite miraculously, and satisfactorily, will do so yet again, and soar back into his prime and the warm embrace of Margot Kidder in Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006). While it will be considered more of a loose, unrefined curio than a recognised alternative and while Richard Lester’s version will remain the much-loved definitive one, it will be meaningful and emotionally pleasing in a way that might perhaps even be considered transcendent.

5. Pamela Voorhees or simply Mrs. Voorhees. She steals a little of the limelight from her boy here, but, hey, he will come into his own in the near future.

Q.

6. Having already played the King last year in John Carpenter’s TV movie Elvis, a maturing Kurt Russell continues to distance himself from his Disney years by playing a scheming used-car salesman in the new movie by up-and-coming writer/director Robert Zemeckis, Used Cars. But which veteran character actor shows these youngsters how it is done by playing the two roles of Kurt’s affable boss Luke Fuchs and his nasty brother who owns the lot across the street, Roy L. Fuchs?

7. Who plays Melvin Dummar opposite Jason Robards’s Howard Hughes in Jonathan Demme’s winning comedy drama Melvin and Howard (or Melvin (and Howard))?

8. With the success of Piranha (1978) still lingering in his mind, screenwriter John Sayles returns this year to the horror formula that involves taking his villains from the natural rather than the supernatural world. Well, the natural world and some! Add in military-funded genetic engineering in the case of the piranha from a couple of years ago and this time around experimental growth treatments and the Chicago sewer network! Name the Robert Forster-starring horror currently in the movie theatres, again named after one of nature’s creatures.

9. In which movie does John Travolta’s character win $5,000 riding a mechanical bull?

10. Martin Sheen finds himself in an equally surreal combat environment to last year’s Apocalypse Now, but this time there is a science-fiction twist that involves a time-travelling aircraft carrier. Name the movie.

A.

6. Jack Warden. This movie has all the elements in place… except the audience. Who knows? Maybe they will show up in the future?

7. Paul Le Mat. With an impressive start last decade (American Graffiti (1973), Aloha, Bobby and Rose (1975), Handle with Care (or Citizens Band; 1977), More American Graffiti (1979)), he deserves to become firmly established over the 1980s.

8. Alligator. In the future, there will be more sub-municipal shenanigans in the direct-to-video sequel Alligator II: The Mutation (1991).

9. Urban Cowboy. This movie will increase the popularity of mechanical bull riding somewhat. But on a much larger scale, it will almost do for country music what Saturday Night Fever (1977) has done for disco.

10. The Final Countdown. The cast also includes Kirk Douglas, Katharine Ross and Charles Durning.

Q.

11. Who plays the titular character in the Mike Hodges-directed sci-fi Flash Gordon, lending himself completely to the spirited comic-strip-paced space operatics that whiz by on screen?

12. Name the two legendary familial scream queens who are currently starring in John Carpenter’s The Fog. No half point. Both or no point!

13. Name the distinctively unrestrained director who was an appropriate replacement for Arthur Penn as the helmer of this year’s Altered States.

14. Which legendary stand-up comedian of, well, long standing is now sharing a golf course and the big screen with Saturday Night Live alumni Chevy Chase and Bill Murray?

15. The Overlook Hotel’s head chef Dick Hallorann addresses Danny Torrance (played