About This Quiz
Light! Camera! Action! No art is as exciting as cinema. From action-packed adventure flicks to gut-busting comedies, and from terrifying creature features to steamy romances, the Hollywood dream factory (more of a state of mind and a tradition than a location in California) has given audiences an escape from the doldrums of workaday life for more than a century. Although the technology changes, the world's long love affair with film shows no signs of stopping. Humans are addicted to storytelling, and the big screen continues to be the best way to deliver the emotional, escapist, narrative kick we all crave.
There's a movie for every mood — a film for every personality. Cinema can be life as it is lived or life as we wish it to be whether we seek the truth of the documentarian or the truth of the auteur. A good film can be a tonic; a great film, a life changer. Under the right circumstances, even a bad movie can be a ton of fun! And, sometimes, fun is enough.
This is a quiz for movie lovers, cinephiles and all other assorted celluloid junkies. Whether you're into romcoms, sci-fi, classics, drama or horror, we have you covered. You'll find every kind of film represented here, from the arthouse to the grindhouse and everything in between. Now it's time to make one last stop at the concession stand because the previews are about to roll! Can you beat our ultimate movie challenge?
If you don't recognize "The Wizard of Oz," we question your brain, your heart and your courage! This 1939 musical based on the works of L. Frank Baum stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, a farmgirl dropped into a colorful fantasy land by a Kansas cyclone, in this universally adored movie.
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Based on the 1940 film "Shop Around the Corner," "You've Got Mail" stars Tom Hanks as book magnate Joe Fox and Meg Ryan as shop owner Kathleen Kelly. They clash when Fox's business causes Kelly's store to close, neither knowing that they've been exchanging romantic, anonymous emails for months.
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Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, an '80s teen trapped in the '50s, in "Back to the Future." Directed by Robert Zemeckis, this time travel adventure was the highest-grossing movie of 1985. Two sequels followed it in 1989 and 1990 that would take Marty to the future and the old West.
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Tod Browning's 1931 Universal adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" launched its dashing star, Bela Lugosi, into international stardom. The Hungarian actor's performance has become an indelible part of popular culture and forever intertwined with the story of the Transylvanian count.
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When adjusted for inflation, the 1939 Civil War epic "Gone With the Wind" remains the highest-grossing film of all time. The film stars Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a plantation owner whose life is thrown into turmoil by the Civil War.
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John Hughes' teen classic "The Breakfast Club" is arguably the perfect '80s film. Starring a group of young actors dubbed the "Brat Pack," the story zeroes in on timeless themes of adolescence. The performances of the young cast transcend the stereotypes of other teen films of the era.
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Released just a month after the tragic car crash that claimed his life, "Rebel Without a Cause" stars James Dean as a troubled teen who runs afoul of a gang of juvenile delinquents. Directed by Nicholas Ray, the film captures Dean in an emotional performance that would define his carer.
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Director Don Siegel and star Clint Eastwood practically created the cynical, cop-on-the-edge subgenre with 1971's "Dirty Harry." In a signature role, Eastwood plays Harry Callahan, a San Francisco police inspector prepared to use any means necessary to bring in a serial killer known as Scorpio.
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"Saturday Night Live" stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, who took their beloved rhythm and blues act to epic heights with the 1980 musical comedy "The Blues Brothers." Directed by John Landis, the film features classic performances from Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Ray Charles.
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"A Star is Born," starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, is the third remake of the 1937 film of the same name. Released in 2018, the film garnered eight Oscar nominations and a win for Gaga's "Shallow" for Best Original Song.
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Kurt Russell heads up an all-star cast as legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in 1993's "Tombstone." Recounting the events of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the film follows the Earps on their vengeful quest for justice. Val Kilmer steals the show as gunfighter Doc Holliday.
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The Pythons once again prove nothing's sacred with their religious satire "Monty Python's Life of Brian." Graham Chapman stars as Brian Cohen, a frustrated Judean whose life runs just adjacent to that of Christ. Controversial, irreverent and hilarious, "Life of Brian" is one of Monty Python's best.
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George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" is a landmark film in the history of horror. Inspired by Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," the film tells the story of a group of survivors facing a plague of flesh-eating ghouls. The first film of its type, it took the genre in a grim, new direction.
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Based on the hit musical, the film version of "Grease" marks the peak of the 1970s infatuation with '50s nostalgia. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John are electrifyin' as greaser Danny and good girl Sandy heading up a perfect supporting cast that includes Stockard Channing and Jeff Conaway.
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Blake Edwards' 1961 beloved but sanitized adaptation of Truman Capote's novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's" cemented Audrey Hepburn as a Hollywood fashion icon. From her classic "little black dress" to her Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses, Hepburn's Holly Golightly exudes class and timeless style.
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Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was a miss with the mainstream in 1975 but quickly found its fishnet-encased legs as a midnight movie. Based on O'Brien's stage musical, the film is a demented homage to classic sci-fi and horror. Don't dream it. Be it!
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"The Sixth Sense" from 1999 stars Haley Joel Osment as a young boy with the uncanny ability to communicate with the dead. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the film is famous for Osment's unforgettable line "I see dead people" and for its shocking, twist ending.
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Hal Ashby's 1971 film "Harold and Maude" defies easy categorization. Bud Cort stars as Harold Chasen, a death-obsessed teen who develops a deep relationship with an older woman named Maude (Ruth Gordon). Weird, funny, touching and ultimately life-affirming, "Harold and Maude" is essential viewing.
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Based on Christina Crawford's explosive memoir, "Mommie Dearest" stars Faye Dunaway as actress Joan Crawford. What could have been a harrowing tale of abuse descends into unintentional comedy thanks to a disjointed script and over-the-top performances. Proceed with caution!
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Half a century since its release, Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" stands as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. Suggested by Arthur C. Clarke's story "The Sentinel," the film raises questions about human evolution, artificial intelligence and man's place in the universe.
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Martin Scorsese's 1990 film "Goodfellas" is based on Nicholas Pileggi's 1985 book "Wiseguy." It stars Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, a Mafia associate turned informant whose testimony led to 50 convictions. Co-star Joe Pesci won an Oscar for his role as Tommy DeVito.
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Comedian Eddie Murphy was riding high on his success as the breakout star of "Saturday Night Live" when he was cast in Walter Hill's action-comedy "48 Hours." In the film, Murphy is a convict given 48 hours on the outside to help a detective (Nick Nolte) track down a cop killer.
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1958's "Vertigo," starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, is Hitchcock at his best. Stewart ultimately sheds his nice guy persona to play an obsessed former police detective on the trail of a woman (Novak) with a dark past. "Vertigo" challenges "Citizen Kane" for the title of best film ever made.
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Filmmaker David Lynch originally conceived "Mulholland Drive" as a television series, but when ABC rejected his pilot, he retooled the project into a feature. Like much of Lynch's work, the film has a surreal, hallucinatory quality that leaves interpretation up to the viewer.
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1971's "A Clockwork Orange" stars Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge, the leader of a brutal youth gang in a dystopian near future. Hooked on drugged milk, Beethoven and ultraviolence, DeLarge undergoes an aversion treatment to "cure" him, but at what price?
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"Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror," F.W. Murnau's stylish but unauthorized adaptation of "Dracula" nearly became a lost film. Florence Stoker, widow of author Bram Stoker successfully sued for copyright infringement. Although the film was ordered destroyed, several prints fortunately survived.
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The late Patrick Swayze was the thinking man's alternative to '80s action stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger. 1989's "Road House" stars Swayze as Dalton, a philosophical "cooler" hired to clean up a rowdy roadside watering hole. It might not be high art, but it is an action-packed good time!
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"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" finds Clint Eastwood returning for his last outing as "The Man With No Name." This time out, Eastwood forms an uneasy alliance with a Mexican bandit named Tuco (Eli Wallach) to beat mercenary Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) to a cache of stolen gold.
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Based on S.E. Hinton's 1967 coming-of-age novel, "The Outsiders" is a poignant examination of teenage class warfare. With a cast that's a who's who of '80s teen stars, the film is a touching and faithful take on Hinton's tale of rich versus poor in rural America.
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Wes Anderson takes his signature, eccentric style to the high seas with 2004's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou." Bill Murray stars as the film's titular protagonist, a world-famous oceanographer/documentarian seeking revenge for the death of his partner, who was eaten by a rare jaguar shark.
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Throughout the late '30s and '40s, Vincent Price attained a modest degree of success in supporting roles in films like"Laura" and "Dragonwyck." However, the cinema's master of menace came into his own as horror royalty with 1953's "House of Wax." A long career of onscreen villainy followed.
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"Repo Man" stars Emilio Estevez as Otto, an aimless suburban punk recruited to be an auto repossessor. A colorful crew of repo men led by Harry Dean Stanton shows him the ropes, but it's every man for himself when a mysterious '64 Malibu with a deadly alien secret fetches a $20,000 bounty.
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Filmmaker Spike Lee brings humor, pathos and humanity but no easy answers to the problems of racism and intolerance in his 1989 masterpiece, "Do the Right Thing." Lee stars as Mookie, a pizza delivery man caught in the middle as his Brooklyn neighborhood boils over during a brutal summer.
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Comedian Eddie Murphy earned rave reviews for his stunning performance as the legendary Rudy Ray Moore in the 2019 biopic "Dolemite Is My Name." The film traces Moore's life from obscurity to cult fame with his alter ego Dolemite, a flamboyant hustler with a knack for wordplay.
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"Grey Gardens" documents the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale. Once wealthy socialites, the Beales, relatives of Jackie Onassis, live a reclusive life in a decaying mansion. "Grey Gardens" is an endearing trainwreck from which it's impossible to look away.
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Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock," based on Joan Lindsay's 1975 novel of the same name, is haunting, dreamlike and terrifying in its implied horror. Filled with ethereal and hallucinatory imagery, it's a horror film that discards all genre clichés for the logic of a waking nightmare.
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Comic Paul Reubens brought his manchild alter ego Pee-wee Herman to the big screen for the first time in the 1985 comedy "Pee-wee's Big Adventure." In his feature debut, Tim Burton brings his trademark quirky aesthetics to Reubens' material for a funny, weird and sweet thrill ride of a movie.
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Combining elements of comedy, drama and surrealism, director Federico Fellini created a masterpiece of avant-garde cinema with his 1963 film "8 1/2." Marcello Mastroianni stars as filmmaker Guido Anselmi whose current project, a sci-fi epic, is in a perpetual state of collapse.
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Max Von Sydow is Antonius Block, a medieval knight struggling with the futility of life during the Black Plague in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal." Laden with meaning in every frame and rife with biblical allusions, "The Seventh Seal" is a complex and beautiful film from a master of cinema.
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Despite being the most notorious lost film in Hollywood history, "London After Midnight" is instantly recognizable to horror fans thanks to Lon Chaney's makeup for the shark-toothed "Man in the Beaver Hat." The last known print of the film was destroyed in a film vault fire at MGM in 1965.
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