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?" 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: ecl@mtgzy.att.com 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?" 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, jon@lindy.stanford.edu) 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, boyajian@ruby.enet.dec.com, 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, ferguson@andy.bgsu.edu, and Peter Reiher, reiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov, 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, cn@hplb.hpl.hp.com, 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, spencer@usc-oberon.UUCP, Stewart M. Clamen, @NUMCALLS@@INCONF@@LASTTIMEON@@SECURITY@clamen@cs.cmu.edu, 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, reiher@onyx.jpl.nasa.gov, 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, conrad@sun.acs.udel.edu, 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, dog@sequent.COM) 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: brian@b11.ingr.com (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: bell@cs.tamu.edu (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, (chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com), 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 (ecl@mtgzy.att.com) 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 thakur@cfa.harvard.edu. Several "filmography" lists are kept by various rec.arts.movies gurus, and are posted regularly. These lists are: List | Maintained by ---------- |--------------------------------------- Directors | Dave Knight Dead actors | Col Needham Actresses | Andy Krieg Actors | Col Needham Writers | Andy Krieg Cinematographers| Michel Hafner Composers | Michel Hafner Goofs | "Starman" 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 (cn@otter.hpl.hp.com). 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 | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com