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David Wilson's Literary Quiz
A new literary quiz each week or so, usually with a theme. This week: The Movies! I'm not quite set up to embed actual
movie excerpts, so you'll have to make do with chunks of script. Here's the deal. You get a date and a slice of scenario,
such as
(1949) In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo,
Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and
peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
You get a point each for The Third Man, Carol Reed, Harry Lime, and Orson Welles. Simple, eh?
Roll 'em!
The quotations in these quizzes reflect my own tastes - Dead White Males, for the most part (Jane Austen,
of course, counts as an honorary DWM). There will never be anything wilfully obscure. If you're the sort of person who sneers
at the naïveté of the reviewers in the TLS and New York Review of Books, you'll recognize them at once.
I welcome suggestions and insults. You'll find an e-mail tag lying around somewhere. Please put QUIZ in the subject line.
David J Wilson.
Quiz No. 105
1)
(1956) An Injun will chase a thing till he thinks he's chased it enough .... Then he quits .... Same when he runs .... Seems
he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that might just keep comin' on .... So we'll find them in the end, I promise
you that .... We'll find them just as sure as the turning of the earth.
Answer
2(Translation)
(1957) My life has been filled with work, and for that I am grateful. It began with a struggle for daily bread and developed
into the continuous pursuit of a beloved science. I have a son living in Lund who is a physician and has been married for
many years. He has no children. My mother is still living and quite active despite her advanced age (she is ninety-six). She
lives in the vicinity of Huskvarna. We seldom see each other. My nine sisters and brothers are dead, but they left a number
of children and grandchildren. I have very little contact with my relatives. My wife Karin died many years ago. Our marriage
was quite unhappy. I am fortunate in having a good housekeeper. This is all I have to say about myself. Perhaps I ought to
add that I am an old pedant, and at times quite trying, both to myself and to the people who have to be around me. I detest
emotional outbursts, women's tears and the crying of children. On the whole, I find loud noises and sudden startling occurrences
most disconcerting. Later I will come back to the reason for writing this story, which is, as nearly as I can make it, a true
account of the events, dreams and thoughts which befell me on a certain day.
Answer
3)
(1992) What the fuck am I doing here? I felt funny about this job right off. As soon as I felt it I shoulda said "No thank
you", and
walked. But I never fucking listen. Every time I ever got burned buying weed, I always knew the guy wasn't right. I just felt
it. But I wanted to believe him. If he's not lyin' to me, and it really is Thai stick, then whoa baby. But it's never Thai
stick,
and I always said if I felt that way about a job, I'd walk. And I did, and I didn't, because of fuckin' money!
Answer
4(Names changed)
(1946) Bill, I'm an old man, and most people hate me. But I don't like them either, so that makes it all even. You know just
as well as
I do that I run practically everything in this town but the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. You know, also, that for a number of years
I've been trying to get control of it .... or kill it. But I haven't been able to do it. You have been stopping me. In fact,
you have beaten me, Bill, and as anyone in this county can tell you, that takes some doing. Take during the depression, for
instance. You and I were the only ones that kept our heads. You saved the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and I saved all the rest.
Answer
5)
(1974) There was this kid that I grew up with; he was a couple years younger than me, and sort of looked up to me, you know.
We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good and we made the most of it. During prohibition,
we ran molasses up to Canada and made a fortune; your father too. I guess as much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him.
Later on he had an idea to make a city out of a desert stop-over for G.I.'s on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name
was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man; a man with vision and guts; and there isn't
even a plaque or a signpost or a statue of him in that town. Someone put a bullet through his eye; no one knows who gave the
order. When I heard about it I wasn't angry. I knew Moe; I knew he was headstrong, and talking loud, and saying stupid things.
So when he turned up dead, I let it go, and said to myself: this is the business we've chosen. I never asked, who gave the
go ahead because it had nothing to do with business.
Answer
6)
(1970) Okay, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. Give me an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast
- no butter, no mayonnaise, no lettuce - and a cup of coffee.
Answer
7)
(1944) Come on, you never read an actuarial table in your life. I've got ten volumes on suicide alone. Suicide by race, by
color, by occupation, by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. Suicide, how committed: by poisons, by fire-arms, by
drowning, by leaps. Suicide by poison, subdivided by types of poison, such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic,
alkaloid, protein, and so forth. Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places, under wheels of trains, under wheels
of trucks, under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But Mr. Norton, of all the cases on record there's not one single case
of suicide by leap from the rear end of a moving train. And do you know how fast that train was going at the point where the
body was found? Fifteen miles an hour. Now how could anybody jump off a slow moving train like that with any kind of expectation
that he would kill himself? No soap, Mr. Norton. We're sunk, and we're going to pay through the nose, and you know it.
Answer
8)
(1941) Be careful, Charles! .... Pull your muffler around your neck, Charles. .... Yes. I'll sign those papers now, Mr. Thatcher.
.... It's going to be done exactly the way I've told Mr. Thatcher. .... I want you stop all this nonsense, Jim. .... I want
you to stop all this nonsense, Jim. .... Where do I sign, Mr. Thatcher? .... It is. .... Go on, Mr. Thatcher. .... Charles!
Go on, Mr. Thatcher. .... I've got his trunk all packed. I've had it packed for a week now. .... Charles! .... You better
come inside, son. .... This is Mr. Thatcher, Charles. .... Charles. .... Mr. Thatcher is going to take you on a trip with
him tonight. You'll be leaving on Number Ten. .... We have to stay here, Charles. .... You won't be lonely, Charles. ....
Why, Charles! .... Charles! .... You've got to be ready. .... Jim! .... That's what you think, is it, Jim? .... That's why
he's going to be brought up where you can't get at him.
Answer
9)
(1986) Hey neighbor. Shit for brains! You forgot I have a police radio. I know where your cute little butt is hiding. Here
I come! Ready or not! .... Hey fuck. I can hear your radio! Hey you stupid fuck. You got about a second to live. .... Hey
pretty pretty. .... Hey fuck, where are you?
Answer
10)
(1969) They didn't take it out. We haven't lost them. I could point to them right now. Sit still damn it! You think Pike and
Sykes haven't been watching us? They know what this is about. What do I have? Nothing but you chicken stealing gutter trash
with not even 60 rounds between you. We're after men. And I wish to God I was with them. The next time you make a mistake,
I'll ride off and let you die. Come on.
Answer
1)
The Searchers. An easy one to start with - the greatest Western ever made. As well as the title, you get a point each
for John Ford, Ethan Edwards, and John Wayne. If you ever hear anyone say that John Wayne wasn't a good actor - tell 'em from
me that they're wrong.
Back to Question 1
2)
Wild Strawberries. The only thing it has in common with No. 1 is that they are both masterpieces. Additional points
for Ingmar Bergman, Professor Isak Borg, and Victor Sjöström (who could fairly be called Bergman's collaborator on this movie).
Back to Question 2
3)
Reservoir Dogs. Another contrast! Quentin Tarantino, Mr Pink, and Steve Buscemi. Quite an unusual achievement for Mr
Buscemi to get to the final frame in one piece.
Back to Question 3
4)
It's a Wonderful Life. Too easy, even with the obfuscations! Frank Capra, Henry F. Potter, and the great Lionel Barrymore.
Back to Question 4
5)
Godfather II. Yes, another easy one .... A great movie, better even than its predecessor, and an extraordinary performance,
in his first screen role, from Strasberg. Francis Ford Coppola, Hyman Roth, and Lee Strasberg. Of course, in real life Meyer
Lansky had to give the OK before anyone dared to whack Bugsy Siegel.
Back to Question 5
6)
Five Easy Pieces. Perhaps this is the toughest of the ten - the most mundane piece of dialogue ever to accompany a
classic movie scene. In a moment or two, Mr Nicholson is going to say, "Hold the chicken!" Bob Rafelson, Robert Eroica Dupea
(give yourself a 500-point bonus if you remembered Bob Dupea), and the splendidly seedy Jack Nicholson.
Back to Question 6
7)
Double Indemnity. An easy one, to make up for your abject failure with No. 6. One of the great films noirs of
all time: Billy Wilder, Barton Keyes, and Edward G. Robinson.
Back to Question 7
8)
Citizen Kane. The "extract" consists of every line uttered by Kane's mother in the entire movie. Suppose you were a
stage actress, offered your first movie role, and these were your lines. Would you think that you could make it into one of
the most memorable performances in movie history? Orson Welles, Mary Kane, and the incomparable Agnes Moorehead.
Back to Question 8
9)
Blue Velvet. Wow! Another super-colossal performance! David Lynch, Frank Booth, and Dennis Hopper. In just a moment,
Frank will get his fucking brains blown out.
Back to Question 9
10)
The Wild Bunch. I finish with another tremendous Western. Sam Peckinpah, Deke Thornton, and Robert Ryan. Well! A grand
total of 540 points were available - how did you do?
Back to Question 10
Don't bottle up your contempt and fury. Mail to davidjw@mindspring.com
Return to Start
Last Updated: 24 August 2007
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