General questions about movies, TV and more

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Don't know title or cast; only that there was a runaway train, not Jon Voight, a chain gang laying track to divert said train, and at the end, one convict, daringly cooly, steps across the tracks in front of the oncoming train, and the train hurtles past behind him.

Answer: This is very possibly "Disaster on the Coastliner" starring Lloyd Bridges, William Shatner, with Robert Fuller and Raymond Burr. A disgruntled ex-employee sabotages the signal control system, putting two passenger trains on a collision course in southern California.

Which British Second World War film, set in a desert, featured a girl singing a song to soldiers which included the following lyrics: "Till the right time comes, it's all just a snare and delusion, it's just a romantic illusion, till the right time comes." Also, who was the girl? (I thought it was Jean Simmons, but her filmography doesn't seem to include any war films).

Answer: Sounds like Ice Cold in Alex to me.

GalahadFairlight

I wonder if anyone out there can help me. I am trying to find out which film star was once awarded the freedom of every toy shop in Tokyo? Any ideas gratefully received.

Answer: This was one of the questions in the Northern Echo's Superbrain 2008 quiz. Their answer was Ricky Schroder.

There is only one scene I remember from this movie. An African American girl was, I think, trying to get home to her dying grandmother. For some reason she was in a subway station, on a pay phone calling home, and the family told her that she probably wasn't going to get home in time to see her grandmother alive. So she told them to put the phone to the grandmother's ear, and she sang a song. A group of young people overheard and were laughing until they realized something was wrong. Hopefully someone will know the name of this movie.

Answer: This was a HBO series called "Subway Stories".

mrsjaybubba

I am trying to track down an Italian (?) movie that depicts a small group of people going to the cinema in the afternoon to watch a western and when the western reaches a certain point the bad cowboy turns and shoots someone in the audience. The police are called and when the film is re-run it happens again. Can't remember how it ends, but would like to track it down and see it again. Can you help with the title?

Answer: Circuito chiuso - aka Closed Circuit.

I believe this was a made for TV movie in the 70s or 80s. From memory, it was about two young boys that meet at a camp for bad boys. One boy wets the bed and runs away when the other kids find out. The older boy follows him and they begin a road trip. I also remember a scene with a herd of buffalo. Does anybody know the title of this movie?

Answer: This sounds like "Bless the Beasts and the Children" with Billy Mumy.

JC Fernandez

This was a movie where a man and woman, who aren't a couple at first, are taking care of three children (not theirs) for some reason. One of them is a girl named Sarah. At one point, the woman sees that the man bought two new beds, and thinks that he is hoping to get her to sleep with him in the big one. When she goes to a tavern place he is hanging out at, he says that one bed is for the two boys, and yells that the smaller bed is for Sarah. I'm thinking that it had a Western setting, but I'm not sure. It was a color movie.

Answer: This is the 1975 Disney movie The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Bill Bixby, Susan Clark, Don Knotts and Tim Conway.

Jean G

Why has 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' (1980), starring Alec Guinness and Rick Schroder, never been released on DVD?

Answer: Probably no perceived demand for it. This is the type of movie that is frequently given away for 'free' on the covers of various newspapers.

GalahadFairlight

I'm trying to find the name of a movie that was out not too long ago. The only thing I remember from the commercial is that it's about a woman who is the only one left that can have children. Hopefully, someone knows the movie I'm talking about.

I think the film I'm thinking of is pretty well known, but I only actually know one scene from it. There are men in a desert (I think) and they all stand up claiming to be someone - saying "I am!", and "No, I am!", but I just can't remember the name they say. I think the name is also the name of the film. Hopefully someone can figure out the name of this film from this information.

Answer: The film is called "Spartacus", and yes there is a scene where everyone is saying "I'm Spartacus". This scene has been spoofed many times in other films, such as "Life of Brian".

Blibbetyblip

I'm trying to remember the name of a Christmas movie that I think was on Nickelodeon around 2000, or so. It was about a bunch of toys who desperately wanted to see what kind of new toys would be coming to the house. They were lead by a stuffed lion. It had basically the same premise as 'Toy Story', but this one was more puppet-y, kind of like Sesame Street puppets. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Danelle Williams

Chosen answer: The Christmas Toy. (1986) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099263/.

Grumpy Scot

I'm trying to remember the name of a movie I watched on Lifetime around the mid 90s. Two high school age girls become extremely upset and/or jealous of their best friend and they end up drowning her in a local river/lake by shoving her head under the water and holding it there with a big rock. I think it shows the moments leading up to the murder, and some of the trial, too.

Danelle Williams

Chosen answer: That was made in 1991, and it was called, "A killer among friends" also starring Tiffini Amber Thessian. This movie was based on true events.

I saw this movie what seems like a long time ago, but I don't know how long. I don't remember it well at all, but I can remember little bits. There was a bus that sank in a river or lake. There was a character who had baseball cards taken away by the principal of the school. At the very end of the movie, the main character is grown up and looking at the grave of his friend that died. Any help?

Answer: It could be "Simon Birch".

Brenda Elzin

The only scene I remember from this movie, is that one or two boys who liked science created something that looked like a little glowing blue circle of light. It flew around and went through a shelf of books, putting holes through all of the books. I thought it might be Weird Science, but I haven't seen that whole movie before, so I'm not sure. I saw this when I was younger kid, so please forgive me if it's a really popular/obvious movie.

Answer: Sounds like Explorers (1985) to me.

GalahadFairlight

I remember seeing a film when I was younger. It featured a group of children as the lead characters, and the main antagonist was an evil, magical ventriloquist dummy that resided in an eerie house. I seem to recall the lead character having a robotic toy that came to life as well, and I know that one of the characters was fixated on Darth Vader, and actually saw a vision or a re-creation of him near the end of the movie. (He says something about seeing his "hero" afterwards.) I think it was an 80's or early 90's release. Anybody have any ideas what this was?

Answer: I will have to answer my own question. The film is Roland Emerich's early film "Joey", which was released in some foreign territories (including the US) as "Making Contact.

TedStixon

Does anyone recall a fairly recent film where a present day guy, on looking some through some old stuff, is viewing a faded photo of three characters from the American old west. He looks carefully and notices that one of the guns being held is a modern gun and could not possibly have existed in the old west. It takes him on a time travelling adventure, back to the cowboy era.

Answer: Yes. This film is a TV movie called Timestalkers (1987).

Madstunts

This was an episode of a cartoon show that I saw sometime in the 1990's, probably not later than 2002. Two kids, who I think were friends and not siblings, were in a magical place where they got to create their own worlds. There was a river dividing their pieces of land. Their parents are watching this from some kind of room, and as the parents argue and won't get along, the children also argue and begin to create more scary and negative things in their worlds. I remember that the girl started with a pet kitten and the boy had a pet puppy, but after they started fighting over who was going to come over to whose side of the river, they got impatient and angry. The boy made his puppy into a wolf and the girl made her kitten into a big cougar/wild cat. Does anyone remember what show this was?

Answer: That was an episode of Captain Planet.

papajim

Movie from the mid-90's or early 2000's. A creature from the deep attacks a cruise liner in the South China Sea. A team of thieves board the ship to raid the vault as part of some insurance fraud plot. Violence ensues, good guys escape; they use some jet skis to get to nearby island. Please help me think of the title.

Answer: Deep Rising. 1998. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118956/.

Grumpy Scot

I can't remember if I was watching Tales from the Crypt or Twilight Zone or what. But it was about this lady and a man (let's just call them Bob and Mary). Well Mary was cheating with Bob and on one occasion the husband was watching them and they were saying to each other "I want your body." So the husband knocked them out and when they came to, he had attached Mary's head to Bob's body and Bob's head to Mary's body. And then the husband sai,d "Well you said you wanted each others body." Does anyone know what I was watching and the name of the episode?

Answer: It was from Tales from the Crypt, an episode called 'Spoiled.'

This is about a show called "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" And I want to know if anyone knows the episode in which a guy is hustled out of (as I remember it) a bar. The person throwing him out tossed a coin and said "Tails I win, heads you lose". Does anyone know the name of the episode?

Answer: The name of that segment is "Deadbeat Dad" and it's from Episode 30 of Season 3.

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