Really Good Movie Trivia Game: Questions & Answers

I'd like to think I write good trivia questions, the kind you'd find in one of those bar or pub quizzes. And, believe it or not, good free trivia isn't that easy to find on the web.

While it's easy to find a host of trivia questions online, like "When was The Godfather made?", it's not that easy to find really well-written free trivia questions. And many sites are actually charging for those questions. Here's some fun stuff on movies (my favorite trivia subject) that you can use in your own trivia games, whether that's a home game or a game that takes place in a bar or pub. And it's free!

The questions are posed in the upper part of the article without answers then repeated below with both questions and answers.

The average game is usually 30 tossup questions and 20 bonus questions.

Also note, the questions are intended to be read to a group of people and answered, which makes them perfect for the bar or pub quiz format. They are not intended, as much, to be read by individuals and answered, though I hope that is fun as well. If that was the case, many of the questions would be written differently and eliminate some of the clues that make them seemingly easier to answer when read in their entirety.

Q: In the film Miller's Crossing, Tom Regan lives in The Barton Arms, a reference to what other Coen brothers film?

A: Barton Fink

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Q: On a boxing poster in Drop Johnson's apartment in Miller's Crossing is the name Lars Thorvald, a reference to the character Lars Thorwald played by Raymond Burr in what Alfred Hitchcock film?

A: Rear Window

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Q: In Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock's cameo has him winding a clock in the apartment of the songwriter played by Ross Bagdasarian, who's a real life songwriter responsible for the creation of what famous high-pitched, animated singing rodents?

A: Alvin and the Chipmunks

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Q: In Heathers, friends Veronica Sawyer and Betty Finn reference two sets of friends from popular culture, Veronica and Betty, and Sawyer and Finn. Identify the comic strip and work of literature.

A: Archie and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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Q: The low-budget film The American Astronaut features a performance by Tom Aldredge telling a joke involving a donut. Aldredge is probably best known as the father of which character on The Sopranos?

A: Carmela

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Q: The Third Man was supposed to be the first film in a series of films from mega-producers Alexander Korda and who?

A: David O. Selznick

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Q: According to director Rob Reiner, Cary Elwes was cast in The Princess Bride because of his resemblence to Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn. Ironically, both actors played Robin Hood in different films. Elwes would later go on to spoof this iconic character in what Mel Brooks' film?

A: Robin Hood: Men in Tights

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Q: The artwork for the album "Smell the Glove" in This is Spinal Tap was inspired by what Whitesnake album?

A: Lovehunter

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Q: Marion Crane's 1957 white ford sedan in Psycho is the exact same car driven by what wholesome television family?

A: The Cleavers

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Q: The day River Phoenix died outside the Viper Room he was scheduled to meet the director of his favorite film. The meeting was set up by actor Jonathan Pryce, with whom Phoenix was filming Dark Blood, and who starred in Phoenix's favorite film, Brazil. Name the director he never met.

A: Terry Gilliam

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Q: Everyone knows that Mark Ruffalo played the Hulk in the 2012 version of The Avengers because virtually everyone has seen the film. However, who provided the voice of the Hulk in the film, a not surpising occurrence given that he was himself the Hulk in the Bill Bixby television show.

A: Lou Ferrigno

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Q: This film, the first major picture to film on location at Alcatraz Island after the closing of the federal prison in 1963 was directed by John Boorman in 1967 and stars Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson in a story based on the writings of Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. Name the movie.

A: Point Blank

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Q: What Rita Hayworth movie do the prisoners watch in The Shawshank Redemption?

A: Gilda

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Q: Madonna gave a signed copy of her album "Erotica" to Quentin Tarantino with this inscription: "It's not about dick. It's about love." This is a reference to a conversation about "Like a Virgin" that occurs in which Tarantino film?

A: Reservoir Dogs

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Q: Prior to the DVD release of The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers was sued by the town of Batman for name infringement. Batman is pronounced bot-min in its native country of what?

A: Turkey

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Q: In the movie Fight Club, the apartment block where the narrator lives is called "Pierson Towers" and the motto is "a place to be somebody". This is the motto of the city where the novel "Fight Club" takes place. Name it.

A: Wilmington, Delaware

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Q: What is the only Star Wars film not to have grossed $300 million domestically?

A: The Empire Strikes Back

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Q: After Star Wars achieved success and was re-released, it was preceded by a Daffy Duck cartoon at the request of George Lucas. What was Daffy's name in the 24 and 1/2 century?

A: Duck Dodgers

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Q: In Forrest Gump, Gary Sinise's character tells Tom Hanks' character that the day Forrest works on a shrimp boat is the day he'd be an astronaut. Coincidentally, the next year Sinise and Hanks starred in what film about astronauts?

A: Apollo 13

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Q: Carrie-Anne Moss, who starred in the film The Matrix, also starred in the short-lived 1993 television show called Matrix starring what actor as Steven Matrix?

A: Nick Mancuso

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Q: In Seven, Brad Pitt's character explains several motives serial killers give for doing things. He refers to John Hinckley's excuse that "Jodie Foster made me do it." The second explanation is "My dog told me to do it" which refers to what serial killer also known as the "Son of Sam"?

A: David Berkowitz

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Q: Salvador Dali is famous for a picture called "In Voluptas Mors" that features seven naked women shaped to look like a human skull. This image was replicated in the Death's-Head Hawk Moth on the movie posters for what Oscar winning film?

A: Silence of the Lambs

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Q: After shooting, composer Max Steiner didn't want to use "As Time Goes By" for Casablanca, preferring to write an original song in order to get royalties. Producer Hal B. Wallis explained that Ingrid Bergman could not reshoot scenes that used the song because she had already cut her hair short for her next film, which was what film co-starring Gary Cooper?

A: For Whom the Bell Tolls

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Q: The famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones is dragged under and then out behind a moving truck is a tribute to stuntman Yakima Canutt's similar famous stunt in what movie?

A: Stagecoach

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Q: The RKO Effects department on It's a Wonderful Life received a technical award from the Motion Picture Academy for creating a snow effect involving foamite, soap, and water. Prior to this movie, snow was created using what breakfast cereal?

A: Cornflakes (painted white)

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Q: Anterograde Amnesia is a real medical condition in which the subject is unable to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. The condition provides the premise for what Christopher Nolan film?

A: Memento

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Q: The script for this movie was originally written in 1969 and called "The Psychedelic Soldier". Name this John Milius script that was finally turned into a movie in 1979 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

A: Apocalypse Now

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Q: This film was produced and filmed during the summer of 1963. The first test screening was scheduled for November 22, 1963. Because of the obvious, the producers decided people would not be in the mood for a dark comedy and rescheduled the film's first test screening for late January. Name the film.

A: Dr. Strangelove

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Q: Richard Nixon is an alumnus of Whittier High School, just outside of Los Angeles. Whittier High School served as Hill Valley High in the highest grossing film of 1985. Name it.

A: Back to the Future

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Q: The Louisville Slugger baseball bat that Wendy Torrence uses to bludgeon Jack is signed by what baseball player, a tribute to Stephen King's love of the Boston Red Sox?

A: Carl Yastrzemski

Q: When Vincent calls Lance on his cell phone in Pulp Fiction, Lance is eating a bowl of Fruit Brute. Fruit Brute was a discontinued cereal and one of the five monster cereals from the old monster cereal family. Name the other four cereals.

A: Yummy Mummy, Frankenberry, Boo Berry, Count Chocula

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Q: According to Henry Fonda himself, what were the three best films he ever made?

A: 12 Angry Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox-Bow Incident

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Q: I'll give you a tagline from a movie made in the 1950s, you identify the movie.

1. "A hard cop and a soft dame." (The Big Heat)

2. "he had to find her... he had to find her." (The Searchers)

3. "Alfred Hitchcock engulf you in a whirlpool of terror and tension." (Vertigo)

4. "Life is in their hands -- Death is on their minds." (12 Angry Men)

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Q: Many famous films have used fake film names in some fashion to either put on the film cannisters to keep them from getting stolen or opened, or to misdirect the public or journalists so as to not disturb filming or production. These are sometimes known as "working titles". I'll give you the name of the fake film or "working title", you identify the real film.

A: This Peter Jackson film was "Till Death for Glory" on the film cannisters (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King)

This film used the title "Blue Harvest" (The Return of the Jedi)

This huge superhero film used the title "Group Hug" (The Avengers)

This Steven Spielberg film had the working title "A Boy's Life" (E.T.)

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Q: Three actors in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ended up as villains in Batman movies years later. Name them.

A: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Vincent Schiavelli

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Q: I'll describe the three shortest speeches in Oscar history, you tell me who gave them:

1. This actor's speech consisted of "This is an honor and a privilege. Thank you" for his role in a Martin Scorsese film. Name him. (Joe Pesci)

2. The second shortest acceptance speech was made by this actor in 1954 for Stalag 17 and consisted of "Thank you". (William Holden)

1. The shortest acceptance speech was made by this iconic director for an honorary Oscar he received in 1968 and consisted of "Thanks". (Alfred Hitchcock)

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Q: I'll give you the tagline from a film made in the 1970s, you name the film.

1. "This is the weekend they didn't play golf." (Deliverance)

2. "Don't go in the water." (Jaws)

3. "On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody." (Taxi Driver)

4. "A nervous romance." (Annie Hall)

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Q: The movie voted as having the best plot twist on IMDB was "The Usual Suspects". Name the three movies it beat out for the honor - a supernatural thriller, a transnatural thriller, and a courtroom thriller.

1. The Sixth Sense

2. The Crying Game

3. Witness for the Prosecution

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Q: Answer these trivia questions about Raiders of the Lost Ark

1. The name Indiana Jones has two origins. The first was the name of George Lucas's pet what? (DOG)

2. The second is a play on the character name Nevada Smith in the film of the same name starring what actor? (STEVE MCQUEEN)

3. Who played the role of Marion Ravenwood in the screen tests for actors auditioning for the Indiana Jones role? (SEAN YOUNG)

4. The name Marion Ravenwood is a combination of two names. The first name was the name of the grandmother of the film's screenwriter. Name him. (LAWRENCE KASDAN)

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Q: Rear Window was unavailable for decades because Alfred Hitchcock bought back the rights to the film along with four others and left those rights to his daughter. The films were known as the "Five lost Hitchcocks". They were rereleased in 1984 after a 30 year absence. Name the other four films.

1. The Man Who Knew Too Much

2. Rope

3. The Trouble with Harry

4. Vertigo

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Q: Three actresses were offered the role of Norma Desmond prior to Gloria Swanson. Name them.

1. Mae West

2. Mary Pickford

3. Pola Negri

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Q: I'll give you a tag line from a movie made during the 1990s, you identify the movie.

1. "His story will touch you even though he can't." (Edward Scissorhands)

2. "Leave your inhibitions at the door." (Showgirls)

3. "On the air. Unaware." (The Truman Show)

4. "Work sucks." (Office Space)

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Q: During the filming of The Shining, Stanley Kubrick made the cast watch three films in order to get them in the right frame of mind. Name these classic, modern horror films.

1. Eraserhead

2. Rosemary's Baby

3. The Exorcist

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Q: Name the only three animated films to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

1. Beauty and the Beast

2. Up

3. Toy Story 3

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Q: Identify the five actors to appear in all three of Christopher Nolan's Batman films.

1. Christian Bale

2. Michale Caine

3. Gary Oldman

4. Cillian Murphy

5. Morgan Freeman

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Q: Identify the two actors to appear in all of the Batman films directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher.

1. Michael Gough

2. Pat Hingle

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Q: Identify the first name of the person who served as a double for their actor sibling in the following movies.

1. Because Jodie Foster was 12-years-old, she needed a body double for the more explicit scenes in Taxi Driver. Name her 19-year-old sister. (Connie)

2. Linda Hamilton's twin sister doubled for her in Terminator 2. (Leslie)

3. On Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Penelope Cruz was pregnant and starting to show, so her actress sister stood in for her. (Monica)

4. What was the name of Melanie Griffith's character in the 1984 film Body Double? (Holly Body)

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Q: I'll give you the name of a movie, you provide the name of the actor who died while filming that movie.

1.Gladiator - (Oliver Reed)

2. Twilight Zone: The Movie - (Vic Morrow)

3. The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - (Heath Ledger)

4. Wagons East - (John Candy)

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Q: Channel 4 in the UK named its top 100 list of best tearjerkers. Although there are some unusual entries only the British could think up (Blackadder: The Complete DVD set at #13?), the top four films are American releases. The top three are successful modern films made after 1982. The fourth is a holiday classic. Name them.

1. E.T.

2. The Green Mile

3. Titanic

4. It's a Wonderful Life

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Q: I'll give you a piece of classical music, you identify the film with which it is most closely identified.

1. Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries (Apocalypse Now)

2. Bach - Goldberg Variations (Silence of the Lambs)

3. Strauss - Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2001: A Space Odyssey)

4. Beethoven Symphony No. 7 - (The King's Speech)