50 Fun Facts About 70s and 80s Movies

Which actor sent Sacheen Littlefeather to refuse his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather?

Marlon Brando boycotted the ceremony to protest Hollywood's depiction of American Indians. He was only the second winner to turn down Best Actor, after George C. Scott for Patton.

Which candy does Elliott leave in a trail to lure the alien home in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?

Reese's Pieces got the part after Mars refused to let M&M's appear, fearing the alien would frighten children. Sales of the candy climbed sharply once the film opened.

Which masked killer stalks babysitter Laurie Strode in John Carpenter's 1978 horror film Halloween?

Michael Myers wears a Captain Kirk mask bought for under two dollars, with the eye holes widened and the face sprayed a bluish white.

Which composer wrote the menacing two-note shark theme for Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws?

John Williams first played the two notes on a piano for Steven Spielberg, who laughed and assumed it was a joke. The director later said the film would have been half as successful without the score.

Which sports car does Doc Brown turn into a time machine in Back to the Future?

The DeLorean jumps through time when it reaches 88 miles per hour, running on plutonium that Doc swindled from Libyan terrorists.

Which city's Museum of Art steps does Rocky Balboa sprint up during his famous training run?

Philadelphia now keeps a bronze statue of the boxer by the 72 stone steps, and it has become a popular photo stop for visitors.

What do the knights' servants bang together to mimic hoofbeats in Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Coconut shells replaced real horses because the film's small budget could not cover them. The German release was even titled The Knights of the Coconut.

Which animals does Indiana Jones fear most, then find by the thousand in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Snakes were in such short supply on set that handlers across Europe rushed thousands more to the studio. Many were harmless grass snakes, and the cobras stayed behind plexiglas.

Which actor voiced Darth Vader in the original Star Wars while David Prowse wore the black suit?

James Earl Jones went uncredited at his own request, regarding his contribution as a special effect. George Lucas dubbed over David Prowse because of his West Country accent.

Which group of brothers gave the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack three American number-one singles?

Bee Gees songs were only added after filming, yet the album became the best-selling in music history until Thriller.

Which fictional school do Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson attend in the musical Grease?

Rydell High was really Venice High School in California, where the exterior scenes were shot during the summer of 1977.

Which actor won an Oscar as rebel patient Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

Jack Nicholson's win was part of a sweep of all five major Oscars, a feat no film had managed since It Happened One Night in 1934.

Which actress got her first leading film role as warrant officer Ripley in Alien?

Sigourney Weaver took a part that could have gone to a man, because the script noted that every crew role was unisex. She was the only actor to return for all four films of the original series.

Which Joseph Conrad tale did Francis Ford Coppola move to the Vietnam War for Apocalypse Now?

Heart of Darkness is set in the 19th-century Congo and drew on Conrad's time as a steamboat captain. George Lucas was first lined up to direct the film, with Coppola producing.

Which landmark does Roy Neary sculpt in his living room in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

Devils Tower in Wyoming became America's first national monument in 1906, proclaimed by Theodore Roosevelt. The crew filmed on location at the real rock.

Which Saturday Night Live star debuted on the big screen as the hard-drinking Bluto in Animal House?

John Belushi was the only established star among the young leads, and the part of Bluto was written specifically for him.

Which actor agreed to play Willy Wonka in 1971 only if he could enter with a limp and a somersault?

Gene Wilder kept the stunt a secret on set, so the crowd's surprise at the factory gates was real. Joel Grey had been the front runner but was judged not physically imposing enough.

Which Best Picture winner cast Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Depression-era con men?

The Sting revived the ragtime of Scott Joplin, whose piano piece The Entertainer became a top-10 single decades after it was written.

Which director released both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein in the same year?

Mel Brooks saw the two comedies finish 1974 as the second- and third-highest-grossing films in America. Both were later chosen for the National Film Registry.

Which Woody Allen romantic comedy beat Star Wars to the Best Picture Oscar?

Annie Hall won four Oscars, including Best Actress for Diane Keaton. Star Wars took home six that night, all for craft and music rather than acting, directing or writing.

Which Japanese director drew on a Shakespeare tragedy and a warlord's legend for his 1985 epic Ran?

Akira Kurosawa began with the legend of a warlord famed for three loyal sons, then imagined the sons turning against their father.

Which martial arts star died just six days before Enter the Dragon premiered in Hong Kong?

Bruce Lee was only 32 when he died in July 1973, and the film was his final completed screen appearance.

Which beer does the Bandit haul illegally from Texarkana to Atlanta in Smokey and the Bandit?

Coors could not be sold east of Texas in 1977, and with no preservatives it could spoil within a week unrefrigerated, which explains the 28-hour deadline.

Which conflict is the official setting of Robert Altman's 1970 army-hospital comedy M*A*S*H?

The Korean War is named in an opening caption the studio asked for, fearing audiences would take the story for Vietnam, the conflict in the news when the film was made.

Which disaster film traps Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in a burning San Francisco skyscraper?

The Towering Inferno paid its two leads $1 million each, and both of them wanted top billing.

Which newspaper employs reporters Woodward and Bernstein in All the President's Men?

The Washington Post first handed the break-in to a new reporter as a minor courthouse story, before it grew into the scandal that brought down a president.

Which director gave himself a cameo slashing Jake Gittes's nose in his own film Chinatown?

Roman Polanski used a special knife that could really have cut his star's nose if he had held it the wrong way.

Which novelist criticized Stanley Kubrick's The Shining for straying from what he had written?

Stephen King was unhappy enough to produce his own three-part television miniseries in 1997, made to be more faithful to the novel.

Which actor played parapsychologist Peter Venkman in the 1984 supernatural comedy Ghostbusters?

Bill Murray was singled out by Variety for his ad-libbing, in a film whose director encouraged the cast to improvise.

Which star of the 1976 satire Network became the first performer to win an acting Oscar after death?

Peter Finch died before the 1977 ceremony, and no other performer won a posthumous acting Oscar until fellow Australian Heath Ledger three decades later.

Which Michael Crichton film cast Yul Brynner as a robot gunslinger who turns on theme park guests?

Westworld was the first feature film to use digital image processing, which pixellated the picture to show the android's point of view.

Which dramatic actor reinvented himself as a deadpan comedian playing Dr. Rumack in Airplane!?

Leslie Nielsen was cast because the filmmakers wanted serious actors rather than comedians, and the role led on to his Naked Gun films.

What is the call sign of Maverick's rival pilot, played by Val Kilmer, in Top Gun?

Iceman nearly went unplayed, because Val Kilmer found the script silly and took the role only because he was under contract to the studio.

Which director made Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

John Hughes wrote for National Lampoon magazine before he directed, and one of his stories there became the basis for the hit comedy National Lampoon's Vacation.

Which British actor was first seen in cinemas as terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard?

Alan Rickman was already in his early forties, and he refused to throw the hero's wife to the floor because he felt it beneath the civilized villain.

Which diner waitress is a cyborg assassin sent back from 2029 to kill in The Terminator?

Sarah Connor is hunted by name, so the machine looks up the addresses of other women called the same thing and murders them first.

What are the bioengineered humanoids hunted by Rick Deckard called in Blade Runner?

Replicants are built by the Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies, and only a test of emotional responses can tell them from humans.

Which actor played dance instructor Johnny Castle opposite Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing?

Patrick Swayze insisted on doing his own stunts and fell off the log so often that his knee had to be drained. He also co-wrote and sang a hit song on the soundtrack.

Which French professional wrestler played the gentle strongman Fezzik in The Princess Bride?

André the Giant had undergone major back surgery and could not bear his co-stars' weight, so Cary Elwes walked on ramps hidden below the camera while seeming to cling to his back.

Which street-smart Detroit detective does Eddie Murphy play in the comedy Beverly Hills Cop?

Axel Foley was once meant for Sylvester Stallone, whose rewrite stripped out the humor and renamed the hero Axel Cobretti.

Which director's costly western Heaven's Gate flopped so badly that United Artists was sold off?

Michael Cimino won backing for the project on the eve of his Oscar wins for The Deer Hunter, and the studio later weighed firing him in mid-production.

Which apartment handyman teaches Daniel LaRusso to fight back in the 1984 film The Karate Kid?

Mr. Miyagi earned Pat Morita an Oscar nomination and revived a career that had rested mostly on comedy roles.

After what time of day must a mogwai never be fed, according to the three rules in Gremlins?

Midnight feeding is the gravest of the rules, which also ban water and bright light. The creatures get around it by sabotaging their owner's bedside clock.

Which crop does Kevin Costner's farmer plow under to build a baseball diamond in Field of Dreams?

Corn planted by the filmmakers took so long to grow that the interior scenes had to be shot first.

Which toy store has the oversized floor piano that Tom Hanks plays with his feet in Big?

FAO Schwarz's Walking Piano took practice, so Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia rehearsed on cardboard pianos at home while the studio hired doubles just in case.

Which stop-motion artist ended a long career with the creatures of 1981's Clash of the Titans?

Ray Harryhausen also co-produced the film, which set his creatures beside a cast that included Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith.

Which present does nine-year-old Indiana schoolboy Ralphie want above all else in A Christmas Story?

Red Ryder BB gun models were made by Daisy from 1938, but never in the exact form the film describes, with a compass and a sundial in the stock.

Which simple game does David Lightman have a military supercomputer play against itself in WarGames?

Tic-tac-toe between two experienced players can never be won, which teaches the machine that nuclear war is just as futile.

Which British film about two sprinters at the 1924 Olympics won Best Picture with a Vangelis score?

Chariots of Fire's slow-motion beach run made such an impression that Broadstairs town council put up a seafront plaque to commemorate it.

Which Wolfgang Petersen film follows the crew of German submarine U-96 during World War II?

Das Boot ranked among the most expensive films in German cinema, and its director earned Oscar nominations for both directing and writing it.