General questions about movies, TV and more

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What western or Alaska movie from around early 70's had an Indian gunfighter with the name Whitey? Maybe Paul Newman was in it and Paul Koslo.

Answer: If you're thinking of Paul Newman. It's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. He played the title role and Stacy Keach played a crazed albino gunfighter, but his name was Bad Bob Johnson.

Answer: Paul Keslo starred as "Whitey" in a movie called "Freebie and the Bean" (1974). No word of Paul Newman in it but this may be what you're looking for.

Many actors and actresses have openly admitted that they hated the movies they starred in. If they felt that way, why do they agree to be in them?

Answer: There could be a handful of reasons. Perhaps they entered the project believing it could have been a good movie, but later realised the end product wasn't good or wasn't what they were expecting. Maybe the studio interferes and it goes through reshoots or rewrites. Or maybe they didn't really have that much investment in the project to begin with and were only doing it for the money.

Casual Person

Answer: Another possibility is to try to diversify and/or avoid being stuck in a particular type of role. For example, Daniel Radcliff did not want to be known forever as Harry Potter, so got involved in other types of movies (more adult roles) in order to continue having a career as an actor. (I'm not claiming that he didn't like the new roles - I'm only giving an example of why actors try to move on).

KeyZOid

Answer: Because they were contracted by the film company or studio and had to be in the movie whether they wanted to or not. A classic example is Val Kilmer, who didn't want to be in Top Gun, but was contractually obliged to. https://news.sky.com/story/val-kilmer-i-didnt-want-to-be-in-top-gun-but-begged-to-appear-in-reboot-11977483.

stiiggy

Answer: To expand on the other fine answers, actors will take roles in mediocre movies solely because they need the money. They have to support a lavish lifestyle or their careers have peaked and, no longer being offered plum roles, take any job they can get, often in low-budget horror or mediocre sci-fi movies.

raywest

Answer: Some actors will accept almost any role in order to work under a particular well-known/famous director or alongside a superstar, hoping to become better performers via the experiences and, in turn, get better offers in the future. (It doesn't always work out, so there may be regrets).

KeyZOid

I've noticed that in some TV shows, District Attorneys have the authority to investigate cases and make arrests - that's not the case in real life, is it?

Answer: The answer depends on jurisdiction and such things as the statutorily defined duties of the District Attorney (DA), population, amount of criminal activity in the area and resources. I can provide a partial answer using general information about DAs in U.S. counties. The DA is the elected prosecutor and known as The Chief Law Enforcement Officer. The DA is usually quite busy deciding whether to prosecute and, if so, trying the case in court. Both of these depend on whether there is sufficient evidence to go to trial and get a conviction. The DA usually relies on police to investigate crimes and acquire evidence, but it is the prosecutor's (DA's) ultimate responsibility to investigate criminal activity - so the DA could investigate/participate in collecting evidence. Almost anyone can make what is known as a citizen's arrest. The police are armed/better prepared to make arrests and there's little reason for a DA to risk injury/death by making arrests. In movies, it's all about drama.

KeyZOid

There was either a TV show or a movie I watched in the '90s. It was about a man who lived secluded in a cabin in the woods. A female reporter keeps visiting him because there are no records of where or when he was born and tells him that he's news. Not wanting to be found out, he tries to escape but his vehicle runs out of fuel so he goes to a camper and removes water from it and turns it into gasoline. Just as he's finally about to leave, the female reporter appears with her cameraman happy that she caught him. Unfortunately, the military appear and capture all three. While the military believe the man is an alien, I believe the cameraman thinks that the man might actually be God because of how he was able to turn the water into gas.

Answer: It's an episode of the TV Reboot, The Outer Limits. "Josh" Season 4 Episode 7. Kate Vernon (Battlestar Galactica) plays the reporter, who investigates the story of a man with healing powers, Alex MacArthur (Kiss the Girls).

I am trying to find the name of the Disney animated movie that has a scene where a monkey runs off a cliff while saying "oops wrong movie".

Rafiki3

Something I'm trying to find - basically a skit that makes fun of people who say the show Jackass was a bad influence and should be pulled off the air; in it a kid who watched Golden Girls died pulling a stunt from it which led to people railing against Golden Girls.

Answer: There was an SNL skit where MSNBC reports of a group of 4 boys liked to imitate the Golden Girls and one kid (Chris Katan) died from doing so. But there wasn't really people railing against the Golden Girls. https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/msnbc-investigates/3459076.

Bishop73

What was Darth Maul's actual birth name?

Answer: His birth name was Maul. He has two brothers, Savage Opress and Feral, so it's possible his last name is Opress, although his mother is only known by one name, so that would be speculation.

Bishop73

There was a movie about a mad scientist who was trying to create a clone of his dead wife. He had a handsome young lab assistant. When the assistant's girlfriend falls into a coma after an accident, the scientist offers to clone her as well. The assistant declines, saying a clone wouldn't be the woman who fell in love with him; the girlfriend later recovers. The scientist realises he'll never be able to recreate the past and ends up marrying a much younger woman.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Sounds like the 1985 film "Creator", starring Peter O'Toole, although I can't be certain about the lab assistant and his girlfriend. But a young woman who agrees to donate her egg and the scientist fall in love. There's also the 2017 film called "Andover" where a scientist clones his dead wife, although that film has less in common with your description than the first.

Bishop73

Yep, 'Creator' was it. Thank you.

Brian Katcher

I'm looking for the title of the movie where the lead character has a string of partners who after they break up then go on to meet the person they marry, and it really bums him/her (can't remember) out. It's like they're the person everyone has to date to figure out what they really want in life.

Answer: Sounds like it could be "Good Luck Chuck" with Dane Cook and Jessica Alba.

Phaneron

I am looking for a Crime/Thriller/Suspense/Mystery American movie that was produced in the 70s or 80s or 90s. The Plot: a young couple who lives with their kids and dog in a nice house. One day an elderly lady comes to visit them claiming to be related to the wife. The couple naively believes her and allows her to move in. Overtime, she starts to subtly, cunningly and stealthily try to kill each of them including the dog. I cannot recall the cast as I was young when I watched it. I thought the title was, "The stepmom/mother;" however each time I google it, I end up with a Julia Roberts movie. Can someone please remember this movie and its title?

MovieSeeker

Trying to figure what this movie was, saw it when I was a child. 4 characters, 2 children and 2 adults, adult Male looks like Dick Van Dyke. At one point in the movie they are running through a thick forest, singing and locate a 'City in the Woods'. They have all these weird gadgets and doodads, lots of singing in the movie. The characters are a mix of puppets and live action. Can anyone piece this together?

Answer: Except for the mix of puppets and live action, the movie you describe is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Answer: Babes in Toyland is my best guess.

dizzyd

I saw a movie on TV in the early-to-mid 90's. I didn't catch the beginning, but I think a kid shot and killed a criminal and is heralded as a hero afterward. When he returns to school, there are wrapped presents on his desk from his classmates. One of his classmates was jealous of the attention he was getting, and maliciously knocked some of the presents out of his hand when he was walking home from school. Later in the movie, he goes hunting with his dad and starts throwing up after they shoot a deer. At the end of the movie, the partners of the criminal he killed drive around the family's property and terrorize them. He goes out to confront them and I believe broke their windshield with a rock. He later tells his mom that he isn't brave, and she responds by telling him what he just did in confronting the men was the bravest thing she's ever seen anyone do. Anybody know the name of this movie?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It's a 1994 TV-Movie Titled, "Armed and Innocent." Gerald McRaney, (This is Us), played the father.

There was a short film on IFC starring Troy Evans. In the short film, he is a lumberjack who happens to come across a tree woman. She ends up kissing Troy and after that he is never seen again. What's it called?

This has been annoying the hell out of me for years. I'm thinking of an early 1960s (?) black and white American movie that features numerous cameos by A-List Hollywood actors who are so heavily made-up (with wigs and latex facial prosthetics) that they are all thoroughly unrecognizable. At the end of the film, as a complete surprise, there is a sequence of each of these otherwise unremarkable cameo characters removing their makeup for a big reveal. For example, a plain, middle-aged woman who only appeared for a few seconds onscreen grandly removes her latex face to reveal none other than Burt Lancaster. I believe Robert Mitchum and Tony Curtis were also among the reveals. What is this film?

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: "The List of Adrian Messenger" (1963). Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and Tony Curtis, along with Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra, remove their heavy makeup during the epilogue to reveal who they are. Although Lancaster and Sinatra didn't actual portray the characters they claimed to have been.

Bishop73

Thank you. The name of this movie has been on the tip of my tongue for many years.

Charles Austin Miller

Love this movie as a kid. It's rarely shown on TV anymore, but it is (or was) available for free on YouTube.

raywest

Lancaster, Curtis, Sinatra, and Mitchum did indeed portray those characters in heavy make-up. However, their voices (except for Mitchum) were dubbed over by other actors, Otherwise, the audience would have recognized their actual voices, spoiling the surprise reveal at the end.

raywest

Incidentally, director John Huston (who also made a cameo appearance in the film) tried to convince Elizabeth Taylor to play a disguised part in this movie; but, when Taylor learned that her lovely face would be completely hidden under heavy latex, she turned down the role.

Charles Austin Miller

Dax Shepherd played a homeless man living in the woods helping out 3 young boys with bullying - I'm trying to find out what the title of the movie was.

Answer: Except for the part of the homeless man living in the woods, the plot is from Drillbit Taylor. A trio of bullied boys pull their money together looking for a Rambo type commando for protection. Owen Wilson is a homeless man wearing a thrift store army jacket, hearing of the money, convinces them he's what they're looking for.

There was a movie on the HallMark Channel. In the movie, a guy goes to a town and makes friends with a woman. While there, the woman convinces the guy to be in an eating competition. The competition deals with needing to eat a huge stack of pancakes. When the competition starts, all of the contestants are eating rapidly except for the guy. When the woman demands to know why he isn't eating rapidly, he says that food is meant to be savored not devoured. I never saw the rest but I'm pretty sure he lost, making the woman angry.

What is the name of a Woody Allen movie containing a bird and a snail? I saw a few scenes in this over 20 years ago but don't really remember the film.

Answer: Broadway Danny Rose (1984)?

KeyZOid

There was a movie about a vampire. In the movie, he watches as the woman he loves gets hanged and he is forced to watch. Centuries later, while at a ball, the vampire sees a woman that looks exactly like the woman he was in love with. This is not "Bram Stoker's Dracula".

Answer: It could be the TV Series, Dracula, it was on NBC about eight to ten years ago for half a season.

That's the one.

How come in many movies that are based on true events, many of these events are false? Ex. In the movie "The Blindside", Leigh taught Michael how to play football but, in real life, he already knew how to play it. If movies are going to be made about true events about a person's life, then why aren't they ever a hundred percent true?

Answer: There are a variety of reasons, but it boils down to telling a compelling story. In the example you give, although I haven't seen the movie, I'd imagine it lends itself to better character development as well as possibly adding to the narrative. In the movie "Argo" which is also based on true events, the movie ends (spoiler) with the characters narrowly escaping the Iranian Hostage Crisis as the authorities at the airport become aware that they are on a departing plane and attempt to chase down the plane on the tarmac before it takes off. In real life, one of the people on the plane said their flight departed without any hiccups. This alteration was made to add tension to the movie, whereas the characters escaping with no resistance might feel anticlimactic.

Phaneron

I am trying to remember a short that I saw when I was about ten years old. It was on TV and I only remember seeing it once. A big man is sitting on some wood high above the clouds and a strange person dressed up like a robot appears. He examines him, like his eyes and his heart, and I think he even checks his teeth and feels his stomach as well. The last thing he did before leaving was he looked inside of his head and he saw his memories or something. After this he puts nails into the man's head and then he stamps his stomach for some reason and disappears. That is all that I can remember from this short. Also it was like stop motion animation like clay animation or something so I hope that helps. Can anyone help me out?

Answer: Sound like it might be The Saint Inspector a short where a strange being in a box visits a man on a wooden pedestal. He gives a physical examination of sorts which involves some of what is described. I am pretty sure that this is what you are looking for.

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