[What Do They Have in Common?]

Thanks, Amanda!  There's a merry-go-round in Strangers on a Train, of course, but I don't remember a ferris wheel, either.

Next:

House of Wax (1953)

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Passion Fish (1992)

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

[ClassiCategories]

Caligula (1979) (Malcolm McDowell)

Salome (1953) (Rita Hayworth as Princess Salome; Charles Laughton as King Herod)

Quo Vadis? (1951) (Peter Ustinov as Nero)

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992) (Georges Corraface as Columbus; Marlon Brando as Spanish Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada)

Galileo (1968: Cyril Cusack; 1975:  Topol)

Quills (2000) (Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade)

Reds (1981) (Maureen Stapleton as Emma Goldman--pioneering anarchist, feminist, and birth-control advocate)

Kinsey (2004) (Liam Neeson as pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey)

Roots: The Next Generation (1979, TV miniseries) (Marlon Brando as George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party)

Malcolm X (1992) (Denzel Washington)

Che Guevara: Omar Sharif in Che! (1969); Antonio Banderas in Evita (1996); Gael García Bernal in Fidel (2002) and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004); Benicio Del Toro in Che (2008)

Abbie Hoffman: Richard D'Alessandro in Forrest Gump (1994); Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

The Last King of Scotland (2006) (Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin)

A Cry in the Dark (1988) (Meryl Streep as wrongly-accused murderer Lindy Chamberlain)

The Iron Lady (2011) (Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher)

Milk (2008) (Sean Penn as Harvey Milk)

Snowden (2016) (Joseph Gordon-Levitt as NSA leaker Edward Snowden)

The Comey Rule (2020, TV miniseries) (Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump)

[The Seven Degrees of Paul Newman]

Telly Savalas was in Genghis Khan (1965) and Inside Out (1975) with James Mason,

who was in The Mackintosh Man (1973) and The Verdict (1982) with Paul Newman.

OR

Telly Savalas was in The Slender Thread (1965) with Sidney Poitier,

who was in Paris Blues (1961) with Paul Newman.

OR

Telly Savalas was in Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) with Sally Field,

who was in Absence of Malice (1981) with Paul Newman.

OR

Telly Savalas was in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) with Roddy McDowall,

who was in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman.

-----------------

Next:

Dominique Swain

[What Do They Have in Common?]

4 hours ago, AmandaBonner said:

My turn then:

1.  Strangers on a Train (1951)

2. Grease (1978)

3.  The Jerk (1979)

4. Pinocchio (1940)

5.  The Third Man (1949)

Amusement parks, funfairs, carnivals?

[ClassiCategories]

Mister Radio (1924)

Mister Dynamite (1935)

Mister Big (1943)

Mister Taxi (1952)

Mister Ten Per Cent (1967)

Mr. Jealousy (1997)

Mr. Death (1999)

Mr. Handy (2004)

Mr. Fix It (2006)

Mister Lonely (2007)

Mr. Nobody (2009)

Mr. Nice (2010)

Mr. Perfect (2011)

Mr. Right (2015)

Mr. Wrong (1996)

Mr. In-Between (2001)

[ClassiCategories]

Sweetie (1989)

Georgy Girl (1966)

Billy Liar (1963)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Baby Face Nelson (1957)

Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)

Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Johnny Dangerously (1984)

Johnny Handsome (1989)

The Desert Fox (1951)

Man of A Thousand Faces (1957)

[What Do They Have in Common?]

Thanks, Peebs! It was fun to do.  The main challenge was getting the right number of syllables and word-stress to match the tune.  (And also finding something other than "veranda" to rhyme with "Amanda").

Partly because it's headless, that photo of the dress inevitably reminds me of the statue of Winged Victory at the Louvre:

But also because it's a wrap dress, which is a classically-inspired style (via ancient Greece).

Hepburn was famously athletic throughout her life, but there may have also been some pinning or even under-wiring involved. The wide, dropped shoulders also make her waist seem even tinier by comparison.

[The Seven Degrees of Paul Newman]

11 minutes ago, Peebs said:

Do you have the next name for us?

Oops, sorry!

Next:

Martin Lawrence

[The Seven Degrees of Paul Newman]

George Brent was in Stamboul Quest (1934) and The Rains Came (1939) with Myrna Loy,

who was in From the Terrace (1960) with Paul Newman.

[Who worked with ____________]

Donald Sutherland

Next:

Rod Steiger

George C. Scott

Warren Beatty

[What Do They Have in Common?]

9 hours ago, AmandaBonner said:

Lighthouses?

 

5 hours ago, Peebs said:

Yep, that's it.  Well done, Amanda!  

To the tune of "Farewell, Amanda":

Well done, Amanda,

you've deciphered Peebs' latest clue,

Well done, Amanda,

there's nothing you've won, but well-done, woo-hoo!

When you're online, fair Amanda,

any semblance of reward is rare,

At the county fair you'd go home with a stuffed panda,

fair Amanda--no fair!

 

[Help ID a movie, woman jumps out a window]

2 hours ago, Peebs said:

This came up in the What Do They Have in Common game.  The quote is from Fausterlitz but I thought I'd post it here to see if any of our resident movie experts could help identify the movie

Thanks for doing this, Peebs!  Much appreciated.  🙂

[Help ID a movie, woman jumps out a window]

51 minutes ago, scsu1975 said:

Dvorak jumps out of a window in Three On a Match

Thanks, scsu! I've only ever seen that last part of the film, so  I couldn't think what it was. I recalled the child as being a Dickie Moore type (turns out to be Buster Phelps).

Good to know I wasn't hallucinating about the Ann Dvorak part.  She was a very distinctive actress!  🙂

[1968. It was a very good year.]

On 11/21/2021 at 10:51 PM, rjbartrop said:

this blog is dedicated to the idea that 1966 was the best year in pop culture, and it posts a few compelling arguments.

And this poster, with its strategically-placed guitar, is undoubtedly one of them:

[1968. It was a very good year.]

Belle de Jour and King of Hearts are from 1967.  (Perhaps released in the US in '68?)

A few others not yet mentioned:

Les Biches

(The Loves of) Isadora

Memories of Underdevelopment

Twisted Nerve

[What Do They Have in Common?]

1 hour ago, Peebs said:

Autodefenestration ?

Yes, exactly, Peebs--and if "autodefenestration" isn't yet an official term, it definitely should be!

In the case of Stage Door and The Front the actual jumping-out-the-window part isn't directly shown (the camera discreetly cuts away after Andrea Leeds moves offscreen in the former; in the latter, the camera pans around Zero Mostel's hotel room, revealing curtains blowing).

Helen Mack's unsuccessful suicide attempt in His Girl Friday is the impulsive one (she's trying to teach the heartless journalists a lesson).

The non-suicide attempt is in The Prisoner of Zenda: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. realizes that in Ronald Colman he's facing a more formidable swordsman than he'd anticipated, and cheerfully jumps out the window into the moat below.

The scene in Ida is the longest, most realistic, and most disturbing.  (As in The Front, during the long preparation sequence, we don't quite recognize what's about to happen at first.)

Incidentally, I was hoping to use a scene (the final scene of another film) in which a mother is trying to prevent criminals from taking her son.  After she jumps out a window, we see that she has used lipstick to write a message to the police on her clothes telling them where he is.  I thought the actress in question was Ann Dvorak, but I can't find anything in her filmography that includes this scene.  Do you happen to know what film that is?

In any case, nice work, and your turn.  🙂

[What Do They Have in Common?]

On 11/20/2021 at 12:55 PM, Fausterlitz said:

Next:

Stage Door (1937)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

His Girl Friday (1940)

The Front (1975)

Ida (2011)

Hint: in each film a character engages in the same (brief) action.

Hint 2:  four of these are suicide attempts (the most impulsive one is unsuccessful); two of these are not shown directly onscreen but strongly implied.

[What Do They Have in Common?]

Thanks, cinemaman!

Next:

Stage Door (1937)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

His Girl Friday (1940)

The Front (1975)

Ida (2011)

Hint: in each film a character engages in the same (brief) action.

[What Do They Have in Common?]

12 hours ago, cinemaman said:

next:   Little  Women  1933    Stage  Door  1937    The  Women  1939    The  Group   1966    Steel   Magnolias   1989

1) They all have multiple scenes involving a large group of exclusively female characters? 

2) They all feature multiple actors with Academy Award nominations and/or wins?

(Little Women: Katharine Hepburn/Paul Lukas winners; Edna May Oliver/Spring Byington nominees

Stage Door: Katharine Hepburn/Ginger Rogers winners; Andrea Leeds/Eve Arden nominees

The Women: Joan Crawford/Joan Fontaine/Norma Shearer winners; Rosalind Russell/Paulette Goddard/Lucile Watson/Ruth Hussey/Marjorie Main nominees

The Group: Candice Bergen/Joan Hackett/Elizabeth Hartman/Shirley Knight/Hal Holbrook nominees

Steel Magnolias: Shirley MacLaine/Sally Field/Julia Roberts/Olympia Dukakis winners; Dolly Parton/Sam Shepard nominees)

[ClassiCategories]

Too Young to Marry (1931)

Play Girl (1932)

Man's Castle (1933)

The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)

This Man is Mine (1934)

Gambling Lady (1934)

[What Do They Have in Common?]

2 hours ago, cinemaman said:

Truman  Capote   Murder  By  Death  1976   Jimmy  Breslin  If  Ever  I  See  You  Again  1978   Norman  Mailer  Ragtime  1981   George  Plimpton  Good Will  Hunting  1997  Penn  Jillette   Fear  and  Loathing  in  Las  Vegas  1998   each  film  has a  writer,  author  or  journalist  in  these  movies.  Thanks

Hi cinemaman, that's close enough for jazz--good job!  What I was specifically looking for was that these films each featured (as actors) writers known as purveyors of the so-called "New Journalism" that emerged in the U. S. in the 1960s and 70s.  In the case of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I was thinking of Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote the original novel and who has a brief cameo in a flashback scene.  The others (whom you correctly identified) all had fairly sizeable supporting roles in their respective films.

Nice work + your thread.  🙂 

[What Do They Have in Common?]

Thanks, Broadway, and my apologies for the delay in responding.  🙂

Next:

Murder by Death (1976)

If Ever I See You Again (1978)

Ragtime (1981)

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Hint: unexpected cast members

[What Do They Have in Common?]

On 11/9/2021 at 12:36 PM, _Broadway_ said:

Babbitt (1934)

Kind Lady (1935)

Three Men on a Horse (1936)

Man of the People (1937)

Sh! The Octopus (1937)

A character actor receives top billing in each film?  (Guy Kibbee, Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, Thomas Mitchell, and Hugh Herbert, respectively)

[What Do They Have in Common?]

9 hours ago, Peebs said:

Opera singers?

Kane tries to make his second wife into an opera singer

Maria Callas in Medea

Giorgio Tozzi in Shamus

The Music Teacher is about a retired opera singer

William Shimell in Certified Copy

Yes, specifically opera singers in dramatic (i.e. mostly non-singing) roles.  The Citizen Kane example is Fortunio Bonanova, who plays Susan's frustrated voice teacher (and who has a memorable scene in Kiss Me Deadly where Ralph Meeker breaks his treasured Caruso record).  The Music Teacher example is José van Dam, one of the outstanding bass-baritones of the century.

Incidentally, I accompanied voice lessons for Giorgio Tozzi for several years back in the 90s.  A fantastic singer and a lovely, lovely man, and the main inspiration for this question.

Apologies for the delay in responding (I've been a bit swamped at work).  Great job, Peebs, and your turn again.  🙂

[What Do They Have in Common?]

Thanks, C-man!

Next:

Citizen Kane (1941)

Medea  (1969)

Shamus (1973)

The Music Teacher (1988)

Certified Copy (2010)