Classic FilmsTrivia Questions & Answers
48 classic films trivia questions, each with the correct answer and a short explanation.
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Each question reveals the answer and a quick explanation below it.
1. Which actress played Evelyn Mulwray in Roman Polanski's 1974 neo-noir 'Chinatown'?
Answer: Faye Dunaway. Faye Dunaway played Evelyn Mulwray, the mysterious woman at the center of the conspiracy in Chinatown.
2. In 'The Godfather,' what business does Virgil Sollozzo want the Corleones to back?
Answer: Narcotics. Sollozzo approaches the Corleones specifically to finance and protect his drug trafficking operation.
3. What Kubrick film was banned in the UK for over 25 years at Kubrick's own request?
Answer: A Clockwork Orange. Kubrick withdrew 'A Clockwork Orange' from UK distribution in 1973 after alleged copycat violence; the ban lasted until after his death in 1999.
4. In Hitchcock's 'Vertigo,' what is the name of the real woman Scottie is unknowingly manipulated through?
Answer: Judy. Judy Barton is the real woman hired to impersonate the fictional 'Madeleine'; Scottie falls for the persona, not knowing Judy is the actual person.
5. Peter Sellers plays THREE roles in 'Dr. Strangelove.' Which of these characters is NOT one of them?
Answer: General Buck Turgidson. General Buck Turgidson was played by George C. Scott; Sellers played Muffley, Mandrake, and Dr. Strangelove.
6. Which film holds the record as the only X-rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture?
Answer: Midnight Cowboy. 'Midnight Cowboy' (1969) won Best Picture while carrying an X rating, which was later downgraded to R without any cuts.
7. In 'Schindler's List,' what color is used on the little girl's coat in the otherwise black-and-white film?
Answer: Red. Spielberg used selective colorization to depict the little girl's coat in red, making her stand out as a symbol of innocence amid the Holocaust.
8. Which actress turned down the role of Mrs. Robinson in 'The Graduate' before Anne Bancroft accepted it?
Answer: Doris Day. Doris Day was originally offered the role of Mrs. Robinson but declined it, finding the material too scandalous.
9. What is the name of the fictional African nation in the 1988 comedy 'Coming to America'?
Answer: Zamunda. Eddie Murphy's character Prince Akeem is the heir to the throne of Zamunda, the fictional wealthy African kingdom in the film.
10. In 'Citizen Kane,' what is the name of the fictional newspaper that Kane takes over from Thatcher?
Answer: The New York Inquirer. Kane takes over the struggling New York Inquirer and turns it into a populist sensation in 'Citizen Kane' (1941).
11. In 'Casablanca,' Humphrey Bogart's Rick never actually says 'Play it again, Sam.' What does he say instead?
Answer: Play it, Sam. Rick says 'Play it, Sam' — the famous misquote 'Play it again, Sam' never appears in the actual film.
12. Which classic film ends with the line 'Nobody's perfect,' delivered as a punchline after a major character revelation?
Answer: Some Like It Hot. The final line of Billy Wilder's 'Some Like It Hot' (1959) is Osgood's iconic 'Nobody's perfect' after Jerry reveals he is a man.
13. Which director appears on screen as a corpse in 'Sunset Boulevard' (1950)?
Answer: Billy Wilder. Billy Wilder, the film's director, makes a brief cameo as one of the corpses floating in the pool at the film's opening.
14. Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' is partly based on a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. What is that story's title?
Answer: The Sentinel. 'The Sentinel' (1951) by Clarke provided the central concept of a mysterious artifact on the Moon that Kubrick expanded into the film.
15. Which actress turned down the role of Clarice Starling in 'The Silence of the Lambs' before Jodie Foster was cast?
Answer: Michelle Pfeiffer. Michelle Pfeiffer was the studio's first choice but turned down the role, reportedly because she found the material too disturbing.
16. Cary Grant's character Roger Thornhill in 'North by Northwest' is chased by a crop duster near which U.S. state?
Answer: Nebraska. The iconic crop duster sequence was filmed near Bakersfield but set in the flat prairies of Indiana — though the script places Thornhill outside Prairie Stop in Indiana.
17. In Disney's 'Fantasia' (1940), which piece of classical music accompanies the 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' segment?
Answer: Dukas' L'apprenti sorcier. Paul Dukas composed 'L'apprenti sorcier' (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) in 1897, and it became the most celebrated segment of Fantasia.
18. In 'Chinatown' (1974), what is the last name of the character played by Faye Dunaway?
Answer: Mulwray. Faye Dunaway plays Evelyn Mulwray, the wife of Hollis Mulwray, whose murder drives the plot of Roman Polanski's neo-noir classic.
19. In which film did Katharine Hepburn win her third Academy Award for Best Actress, a record at the time?
Answer: The Lion in Winter. Hepburn won her third Oscar for 'The Lion in Winter' (1968), which was a record at the time; she tied with Barbra Streisand that year.
20. In 'The Godfather,' what item does Jack Woltz wake up next to in his bed as a warning from the Corleones?
Answer: A severed horse's head. Woltz wakes to find the severed head of his prized racehorse Khartoum in his bed, a scene iconic for its shocking imagery.
21. Which actor played the villain Hans Gruber in the original 'Die Hard' (1988)?
Answer: Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman made his Hollywood film debut as Hans Gruber, a role that cemented him as a definitive screen villain.
22. In 'Chinatown' (1974), what shocking revelation does Evelyn Mulwray make about the girl Jake Gittes has been trying to protect?
Answer: She is both Evelyn's sister and her daughter. Evelyn reveals the girl is her sister AND her daughter—both fathered by her own father Noah Cross—the film's devastating central twist.
23. Composer Ennio Morricone wrote the iconic whistling theme for which Sergio Leone film?
Answer: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Morricone's whistling motif is the central theme of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' (1966), one of cinema's most recognizable scores.
24. In 'Chinatown' (1974), what is the actual name of the water scandal conspiracy at the center of the plot?
Answer: The San Fernando land grab. The conspiracy involves Noah Cross secretly buying up San Fernando Valley land before a public water diversion is announced, making the land enormously valuable.
25. In 'Casablanca,' what is the name of the nightclub owned by Humphrey Bogart's character Rick Blaine?
Answer: Rick's Café Américain. Rick runs Rick's Café Américain, the neutral gathering place in wartime Casablanca where much of the film's drama unfolds.
26. In 'Chinatown' (1974), director Roman Polanski himself appears on screen briefly. What does his character do to Jake Gittes?
Answer: Slashes his nostril with a knife. Polanski plays a thuggish hood who slices open Nicholson's nose with a switchblade, a scene that became one of noir cinema's most memorable.
27. The iconic shower scene in Hitchcock's 'Psycho' used which unconventional substance as a stand-in for blood in the black-and-white film?
Answer: Chocolate syrup. Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the shower scene because its consistency showed up well in black-and-white and flowed convincingly.
28. In 'Chinatown' (1974), what is the exact profession of Jake Gittes before he became a private detective?
Answer: Police officer in Chinatown. Jake Gittes was formerly a police officer who worked in Chinatown, a backstory central to the film's tragic irony and conclusion.
29. Which actress played both Marion Crane and a separate character in different Hitchcock films, making her unique among his leads?
Answer: Vera Miles. Vera Miles appeared in both Psycho (as Lila Crane) and The Wrong Man (1956), and was Hitchcock's intended star for Vertigo before pregnancy changed his plans.
30. What is the name of the fictional country ruled by the villain in the original 1968 'The Lion in Winter'?
Answer: The film is set in real medieval England and France. The Lion in Winter is a historical drama set in actual medieval England and France, depicting Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine — no fictional country is involved.
31. In 'Sunset Boulevard,' what does Norma Desmond incorrectly believe about her former director Cecil B. DeMille contacting her?
Answer: He wants her to star in a new epic film. Norma deludes herself that DeMille's call—actually about renting her vintage car—means he wants her to star in a spectacular new film comeback.
32. In 'Casablanca,' Rick says he came to Casablanca for the waters — but what is the actual punchline of the exchange?
Answer: He was misinformed. When Renault notes there are no waters in Casablanca (it's a desert), Rick replies 'I was misinformed' — a perfectly deadpan line revealing his world-weary wit.
33. In 'Citizen Kane,' what is the real-world building that Kane's Xanadu estate was modeled after architecturally?
Answer: Hearst Castle. Xanadu was directly inspired by Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California, home of William Randolph Hearst, on whom Charles Foster Kane was based.
34. In 'Psycho' (1960), Hitchcock deliberately cast Janet Leigh, a major star, as Marion Crane. What was the primary strategic reason?
Answer: To mislead audiences into thinking she was safe. Hitchcock cast a recognizable star specifically to make audiences assume Marion was the protagonist, making her early shocking death far more disorienting and unexpected.
35. Which composer wrote the score for the original 'Planet of the Apes' (1968), known for its groundbreaking use of avant-garde atonal techniques?
Answer: Jerry Goldsmith. Jerry Goldsmith's score for 'Planet of the Apes' was revolutionary, using prepared piano, unusual percussion, and twelve-tone techniques rarely heard in mainstream Hollywood films.
36. Marlon Brando's iconic 'I coulda been a contender' speech in 'On the Waterfront' was directed at which other actor in that scene?
Answer: Rod Steiger. Rod Steiger played Charley, Terry Malloy's brother, in the famous taxi cab scene where Brando delivers the 'contender' monologue.
37. Which Hollywood studio produced the original 'King Kong' (1933), which was credited with saving that studio from bankruptcy?
Answer: RKO Radio Pictures. RKO Radio Pictures produced 'King Kong' (1933), and its massive box office success helped rescue the struggling studio financially.
38. Which director's cameo in 'Chinatown' (1974) involves him slitting Jake Gittes' nose with a knife?
Answer: Roman Polanski. Roman Polanski, who directed Chinatown, personally appears in the film as the knife-wielding thug who slits Jack Nicholson's nose.
39. Marlon Brando famously demanded his own unique preparation for 'The Godfather.' Which of these did he actually put in his mouth to alter his appearance?
Answer: Cotton balls in his cheeks. For his screen test, Brando stuffed his cheeks with cotton balls to get the jowly look of Vito Corleone; for the actual film he used a dental mouthpiece.
40. What is the last line of dialogue spoken in 'Some Like It Hot' (1959), considered one of the greatest closing lines in film history?
Answer: Nobody's perfect.. After Osgood refuses to believe all the reasons Jerry can't marry him, he shrugs and delivers the immortal final line: 'Nobody's perfect.'
41. In 'Goodfellas,' Henry Hill narrates that as far back as he could remember, he always wanted to be a gangster. Who wrote the book the film was based on?
Answer: Nicholas Pileggi. Nicholas Pileggi wrote 'Wiseguy' (1985), the nonfiction account of Henry Hill's life, and co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese.
42. In 'Apocalypse Now,' what is Colonel Kurtz reading aloud when Willard first finds him?
Answer: T.S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men'. Marlon Brando's Kurtz recites lines from T.S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men,' whose epigraph itself references Conrad's Kurtz.
43. In 'Chinatown' (1974), what profession does Jake Gittes practice?
Answer: Private detective. Jack Nicholson plays J.J. 'Jake' Gittes, a Los Angeles private detective specializing in matrimonial cases in Roman Polanski's noir classic.
44. The line 'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse' is spoken by which character in 'The Godfather'?
Answer: Vito Corleone. Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone delivers this iconic line to Johnny Fontane, though Michael later repeats a version of it in 'The Godfather Part II.'
45. Which Kubrick film features a chapter titled 'Poole and Bowman' named after two astronaut characters?
Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film adaptation of '2001' follows the structure of Arthur C. Clarke's novel, with Frank Poole and Dave Bowman as the Discovery's two primary astronauts.
46. In 'The Godfather,' what item does Jack Woltz find in his bed to terrorize him into compliance?
Answer: A horse's head. The infamous scene shows movie mogul Jack Woltz waking to find the severed head of his prized racehorse Khartoum beneath his sheets.
47. Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' featured a classical piece as its iconic opening theme — who composed it?
Answer: Richard Strauss. The thunderous opening uses 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss (not Johann Strauss II, who wrote the Danube waltz also featured in the film).
48. In 'Psycho' (1960), Janet Leigh's character Marion Crane is killed in the shower — how far into the film does this occur?
Answer: About 45 minutes. Hitchcock's masterstroke was killing off his apparent protagonist Marion Crane roughly 45 minutes in, shocking audiences who expected her to be the film's heroine.
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