Category: Trivia

“Deliverance” Trivia!

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Rob Hunter at Film School Rejects posted 31 Things We Learned from John Boorman’s ‘Deliverance’ Commentary.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorites…

9. Dickey took Boorman aside, made him promise not to repeat this, and said, “I’m going to tell you something I never told a living soul, everything in that book happened to me.” The director later learned that he did the same with other members of the cast and crew. “When I got into a canoe with James Dickey and he capsized it, I realized that nothing in this book had happened to him.”

(Dickey was not well liked on the set — there’s another quote in the piece that talked about Dickey’s drinking and interfering with the movie and Burt Reynolds has a funny response. – Craig)

15. “I had no doubles, no stuntmen,” says Boorman. “I don’t like the idea of stuntmen because if a shot is dangerous enough that you need a stunt man then you shouldn’t be doing it.” He acknowledges that there are exceptions including one instance where Voight was doubled (while Reynolds insisted on doing his part himself), but in general he prefers doing the scenes with the actual actors.

(Reynolds, as most folks know always wanted to do his own stunts and respected the stunt crew.  But stunts were not the only differences between Voight and Reynolds are you’ll see in the next quote. – Craig)

26. While Reynolds preferred to move quickly through every scene, Voight challenged almost every decision in need of explanation and reason which dragged things out. Voight would also require three minutes before shooting scenes where he’s meant to seem exhausted because he would run around the area to tire himself out. Reynolds, by contrast, would spritz his face to simulate sweat and then breath hard. Boorman found the two to be good influences on each other.

(They have two different schools of thoughts in preparing for a scene.  Some like to prepare, research and stay in character and others are able to just do it.  I can’t remember the actor and I’m paraphrasing but when asked how he was able to just jump into a scene and take on whatever emotion without first preparing, his response was, “I act.” – Craig)

Remembering Burger Chef, Star Wars, Mike Kott and Me!

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If you’re of a particular age, it is almost a certainty that you dined ate at a Burger Chef.  If you’re younger, then you may not have ever heard of the one-time fast food giant. 

Back in the 1970s, Burger Chef was second only to McDonalds as far as fast food franchises went.  Burger Chef was a hit and as a result their investors were earning returns where 50% wasn’t unheard of. 

Burger Chef’s popularity was because they served a comparable (some would say even better) meal than other fast food joints and Burger Chef was making innovative moves.  Burger Chef was the first with…

  • Funmeals: geared towards kids.  Each Funmeal came with a sandwhich, small fries, small drink and a toy!  Five years later McDonalds started serving Happy Meals using the same concept.
  • Works Bar:  Burger King said you could have it “your way”.  Burger Chef took things a step further with the Works Bar.  Each Works Bar contained everything you might want to doctor up your sandwhich!
  • Salad Bar:  Burger Chef offered a fully stocked salad bar and this was waay before the health craze hit.
  • Media Tie-Ins:  Burger Chef saw the importance of media tie-ins and so they made deals linking their food to kid popular franchises like Star Wars and The Brady Bunch.

I worked at a Burger Chef when I was in college.  I’ve shared this story before but if you missed it or would just like to revisit it, check out Star Wars, Burger Chef, Mike Kott and Me.

I have good memories of the folks I worked with and the food we served at Burger Chef.  It’s too bad the chain didn’t survive.  MeTV posted What ever happened to the Burger Chef chain? that explains their rise and fall.  Since you’ve read this far, you’d probably enjoy it.  

“Airplane” Trivia

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I saw Airplane in a packed theater when it was initially released.  The laughter was non-stop.  Airplane is a film that benefits from a crowd.  I’ve watched it several times since and the bigger the crowd the bigger the laughs.   Airplane is still worth a watch either alone or with others.

Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 31 Things We Learned from the ‘Airplane!’ Commentary.   Before you click over, here are three of my favorite comments…

These early drafts (of the script) were initially titled The Late Show as they intended to include their commercial gags as well with the spoof movie itself being filler. They brought it to Lloyd Schwartz who suggested that the airplane story was “funnier and more interesting” than the commercial spoofs.

(I think that they were wise to drop the commercial gags.  Playing it straight made for a much funnier film. – Craig)

Lloyd Bridges had a lot of questions trying to understand his character, his motivation, and his dialogue, and Robert Stack pointed out that the visual gags were so frequent and nonsensical that no one in the audience was going to care. “Lloyd, we are the joke,” said Stack to Lloyd.

(Can you imagine you’re the director prepping the scene and Bridges wants to discuss background and motivation for his, “I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue” line? – Craig)

Stack was apparently offered a percentage of the film or an extra $20k, and he chose poorly.

($20K in the hand or a percentage on a risky film with Hollywood bookkeeping?  Not an easy choice. – Craig)

MetaCritics Rankings of Every “Rocky” Movie

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Mark Birrell at ScreenRant looked at Metacritic ratings for all eight Rocky movies.  I thought it would be interesting to compare Metacritics’ rankings with mine.  Your mileage may differ.

Metacritic

 Craig

8. Rocky IV (40)

 8. Rocky V (55)

7. Rocky V (55)

 7. Rocky IV (40)

6. Rocky III (57)

 6. Rocky II (61)

5. Rocky II (61)

 5. Creed II (66)

4. Rocky Balboa (63)

 4. Rocky III (57)

3. Creed II (66)

 3. Rocky Balboa (63)

2. Rocky (70)

2. Creed (82)

1. Creed (82)

1. Rocky (70)

“Jaws” Trivia!

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Dan Grant, at Top 10 Films, in honor of the 45th anniversary of the release of the first summer blockbuster presents: 45 Things About “Jaws” You Might Not Know.  Before you click over, here are three of my favorite Jaws facts as well as my thoughts on each…

4. Richard Dreyfuss’ casting – Richard Dreyfuss originally turned down the role of Hooper because he thought making the movie would be a pain in the ass. After he saw himself on big screen in the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz he thought he was so awful that his career would be over and he immediately called Steven Spielberg to ask if he could have the role.

(Funny the difference a day or perceived poor performance can make. – Craig)

9. Percy Rodriguez’s iconic trailer voice-over – Percy Rodriguez did the voice-over in the trailer for Jaws. When the producers first came to him, they wanted an upbeat, happy-sounding and almost adventurous voice-over for the trailer. It was Percy’s idea to have a darker and brooding and ominous sounding tone. It worked a treat.

He eventually got his way and many people credit lines in the trailer like “there is a creature that is alive today which has survived millions of years of evolution” and “it was as if God created the devil and gave him (dramatic pause) Jaws”, as major reasons why people flocked to the theatre to see it.

(Watching the “Jaws” trailer attached to this fact at Grant’s post it reminded me of how, in the pre-internet days, important a trailer was to the success of a film.  The “Jaws” trailer made you want to see the film.  Much credit needs to go to Percy Rodriguez.  He was right to push for a darker, more ominous tone! – Craig)

14. Dreyfuss’ surprise – Richard Dreyfuss was so disillusioned with the movie that after his time on set was done, he proceeded to trash it on several different talk shows in the United States. But when he saw the film opening day, after he left the theatre, he jumped into Roy Scheider’s arms and exclaimed “He did it! He did it!” Roy asked him who he meant and he said “Spielberg, Spielberg actually did it!”

(Sounds like Dreyfuss was going through a period of seeing the glass half-full.  He only agreed to star in “Jaws” because he thought he was so terrible in his previous film that he wouldn’t be offered more roles.  Then filming wraps on “Jaws” and Dreyfess downplays how good it is… until he sees it with an audience. – Craig)

Sly Stallone’s All-Time 10 Best Movies!

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Colin McCormick at ScreenRant decided to do a little research and came up with the 10 Best Sylvester Stallone Films, According To IMDb.  Well, you know me and lists.  Below I’ve compared the IMDb rankings to mine followed by my thoughts…


Sylvester Stallone’s Best Films

IMD Rating

Craig

10. Rocky IV (1985:) 6.9

10. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (2017)

9. Cop Land (1997): 6.9

9. Rocky IV (1985)

8. Rambo (2008): 7.0

8. Creed II (2018)

7. Rocky Balboa (2006): 7.1

7. Rocky II (1979)

6. Creed II (2018): 7.1

6. Creed (2015)

5. Rocky II (1979) 7.3

5. First Blood (1982)

4. Creed (2015): 7.6

4. Rocky Balboa (2006)

3. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (2017): 7.6

3. Rambo (2008)

2. First Blood (1982): 7.7

2. Cop Land (1997)

1. Rocky (1976): 8.1

1. Rocky (1976)

The IMDb list is a good one.  For my rankings, I put a little more emphasis on the films that starred Sly than for one’s where he co-starred or had a cameo (GotG2).  Creed rated higher than Rocky 2 because of Sly’s performance.  He should have received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Had I made the Top Ten List I would have tried to find a way to include Nighthawks and Get Carter… Paradise Alley and FIST… but there are just too many Stallone favorites to list just ten.  Still, it was a fun exercise.  Your mileage may differ, but give it a shot!

Chuck Norris Trivia!

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Jake Rossen from Mental Floss is back and this time he brought Chuck Norris with him.  Check out 8 Surprising Facts About Chuck Norris.  Here are three of my favorite facts and my thoughts on each…

STEVE MCQUEEN GOT CHUCK NORRIS INTO ACTING.
(This one surprised me.  I would have thought Bruce Lee would have gotten credit for this since it was Lee who gave Chuck Norris his first big break.  Maybe it was McQueen who first suggested that Norris give acting a try. – Craig)

CHUCK NORRIS NEEDED TO OBEY A PRODUCER’S REQUEST IN ORDER TO FACE OFF AGAINST BRUCE LEE.
(Chuck Norris tells the story that when Bruce Lee contacted him about co-starring in Way of the Dragon, Norris jokingly asked who would win the climatic fight.  Lee replied that he would.  Norris said, “So you want to beat the World Karate Champion?”  Lee’s response: “No, I want to kill the World Karate Champion.” 🙂  – Craig)

CHUCK NORRIS HAD HIS OWN CARTOON SERIES.
(It’s easy to forget just how popular Chuck Norris was.  At one point he had his own line of jeans, a cartoon, a comic book series, a television series, made movies, created his own style of martial arts and more.  Oh, and let’s not forget the ever popular Chuck Norris jokes. – Craig)

If you’ve read this far, you’ll enjoy Rossen’s 8 Surprising Facts About Chuck Norris.

“Demolition Man” Trivia

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Chris Hayner, at Gamespot, came up with a piece called Demolition Man Easter Eggs: All The References And Things You Didn’t Know.  My guess, is our regular readers will know most of these, but then again, unless you click over, how can you be sure?  At any rate, here are three of my favorites and thoughts on them…

3. Modern-day LA almost looked very different:  When John Spartan goes in to capture Simon Phoenix, he’s brought to the scene by helicopter. Originally, director Marco Brambilla and his team planned to use a blimp in the scene. However, due to the fire effects used in the scene and the presence of heavy winds, it was decided that would be too dangerous.

(While I think blimps are cool, that helicopter scene with Stallone bunging jumping to the rooftop while under fire set the tone for a great action movie!  I wish Demolition Man had leaned harder into that than some of the comedy elements. – Craig)

5. Another Simon Phoenix:  According to many sources, including AMC, Snipes was not the first choice to play the villainous Simon Phoenix. Stallone actually wanted Jackie Chan in the role. However, Chan reportedly turned it down because he didn’t believe his fans wanted to see him play a bad guy.

(Jackie Chan would have made a great Simon Phoenix, but I’m glad the role went to Snipes.  My guess is if Chan had accepted the part, the comedy elements would have increased.  – Craig)

10. Sandra Bullock wasn’t the first choice for Huxley:  Originally, Lori Petty (Tank Girl, Point Break, A League of Their Own) was cast in the role and even shot a scene. “It just wasn’t working,” the director said.

(Bullock was perfectly cast, but I would love to see the scenes shot with Petty. – Craig)

“What We Do In the Shadows” Trivia!

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I hope you’re watching What We Do in the Shadows.  It is the best movie to tv adaption yet.  What We Do in the Shadows is funny and clever, but most folks I talk to haven’t checked it out.

Scott Beggs at Mental Floss has.  He came up with  12 Regular Human Facts About What We Do in the Shadows.  So without further delay, here are my top three facts and thoughts on ’em…

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS BEGAN AS A SHORT FILM, AND HAS TURNED INTO A FRANCHISE.
(I did know that What We Do in the Shadows is a television adaptation of Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We Do In the Shadows movie.  I’ve seen and loved it!  What I didn’t know was the movie was an offshoot of their short film, What We Do in The Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires.  I will have to look for the short film! – Craig)

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS HOSTED AN EPIC GATHERING OF POP CULTURE VAMPIRES.
(In addition to a perfect cast, What We Do In the Shadows features a variety of guest stars such as Mark Hamill, Wesley Snipes, Craig Robinson, Haley Joe Osment, Taika Waititi, Tilda Swinton, Danny Trejo, Paul Reubens and Dave Bautista. – Craig)

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS CONSTANTLY REMINDS US THAT VAMPIRES ARE HUMANS, TOO.
(THAT is it!  They are so relatable… except for the drinking human blood and turning into bats and stuff. – Craig)

If you haven’t checked out What We Do In the Shadows, please consider giving it a shot.

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Andy Griffith Trivia!

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When I think of Andy Griffith, I think of his classic The Andy Griffith Show.  Mr. Griffith played Andy Taylor, the Sheriff of Mayberry, a small town in the south.  Griffith was joined by a perfect cast in a top-rated show that spawned two spin-off series (Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and Mayberry, R.F.D.) and ran for eight years (finishing at #1 in it’s last season).

But Andy Griffith was much more than Andy Taylor.  Andy Griffith made comedy records, sang and played on county and gospel albums, appeared on Broadway, starred in feature films, television movies as well as other tv series.

MeTV has 12 surprising things we learned about Andy Griffith.  A lot of these facts were new to me.  Here are my thoughts on three of them…

His favorite snack was peanut butter and mayonnaise on crackers.
(I grew up eating peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches.  Not many folks I know have ever tried one and the thought usually grosses them out.  I’ll bet Andy would have given a peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwich a go.  I’d also wager that the crackers he ate were Ritz and after taking a bite he’d say, “Goooood cracker.  Good cracker.”  Most of you probably aren’t old enough to remember his commercials for Ritz crackers where he’d say that after taking a bite of one. – Craig)

He regretted ending The Andy Griffith Show after eight seasons.
(I’ll bet he did.  The Andy Griffith Show was always in the top ten for each season it was on.  It was also one of only three tv series to quit while in the number one spot.  – Craig)

He made $25,000 a week in clubs while The Andy Griffith Show was on break.
(That translates to about $185,000 a week in 2020.  Wow.  Andy was making bank! – Craig)

Click over and check out 12 surprising things we learned about Andy Griffith.

Rambo Franchise Trivia!

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Sam Hutchinson at ScreenRant posted Rambo: 10 Things Fans Never Knew About The Franchise.  My guess is most readers here will know most of these facts.  Here are my three favorites with my thoughts.

The Only Rambo To Receive An Oscar Nomination.
(Rambo: First Blood Part II was nominated for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing.  That’s right, Rambo is an Oscar-nominated film franchise.  – Craig)

Rambo Was Banned In Myanmar.
(Rambo was set in Burma / Myanmar and due to the spotlight the movie brought to the treatment of many in the country, the film was banned. Hopefully some reforms came about due in at least a small part to Rambo. – Craig)

Broken Nose.
(Sly accidentally broke Alf Humphrey’s nose during First Blood filming, which is why his character is seen wearing a bandaid after Rambo’s jailhouse escape. – Craig)

To get all the facts and details click over to Rambo: 10 Things Fans Never Knew About The Franchise.

Bruce Lee Trivia!

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Jay Serafino at Mental Floss presents 10 Amazing Facts About Bruce Lee.  Here are my thoughts about three of the best…

BRUCE LEE REFUSED TO LOSE A FIGHT TO ROBIN.
(It’s pretty impressive that Lee took this stand since Batman was one of the most popular shows on tv, and Lee wasn’t the star of Batman or The Green Hornet. – Craig)

ROMAN POLANSKI MAY HAVE (BRIEFLY) THOUGHT BRUCE LEE MURDERED SHARON TATE.
(I was surprised when I first learned of this fact.  What are the odds Lee would lose his glasses around the same time of the murder and that a pair would be found at the scene of the crime?  Coincidences do happen and can get people locked up or worse. – Craig)

BRUCE LEE WAS DEEMED PHYSICALLY UNFIT FOR THE U.S. ARMY.
(This is probably the most surprising fact.  Who’d have guessed that Bruce Lee would be deemed unfit for anything? – Craig)

For more on Bruce Lee please consider checking out…