# Cool movie trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594 "2019-10-10T14:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/41 "2019-10-11T16:08:17Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Can you explain why that might be a notable fact? 24601 was Jean Valjean’s prisoner number in Les Miz. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/42 "2019-10-11T16:08:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Another Rosemary’s Baby bit: Tony Perkins, who was a friend of Mia Farrow’s, visited the set unannounced one day. Before she could see him, Polanski had him call her, playing the role of Donald Baumgart, who Rosemary calls. Mia’s puzzlement is real. She knows she knows the voice, but can’t place it. I’d heard it was Tony Curtis. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/43 "2019-10-11T16:21:31Z")
Of all the people involved in making the movie _O Brother Where Art Thou_?, only Tim Blake Nelson had read Homer’s Odyssey (which is the story the movie is loosely based on). He has a degree in the classics from Brown University, and he was a neighbor of Joel Coen. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/44 "2019-10-11T16:41:44Z")
Viggo Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn in the _Lord of the Rings_ films; after filming had begun, Peter Jackson realized that Townsend was too young for the role. Mortensen wasn’t familiar with the books, but accepted the role at the urging of his son, who was a Middle-Earth fan. Mortensen familiarized himself with the story by reading the book on the flight to New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/45 "2019-10-11T17:13:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Viggo Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn in the _Lord of the Rings_ films; after filming had begun, Peter Jackson realized that Townsend was too young for the role. Mortensen wasn’t familiar with the books, but accepted the role at the urging of his son, who was a Middle-Earth fan. Mortensen familiarized himself with the story by reading the book on the flight to New Zealand. Vigo was once married to **X** ’s Exene Cervenka, featured in the film [The Decline of Western Civilization](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082252/) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/46 "2019-10-11T17:14:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In _ **Some Like It Hot** _ (1959), George Raft asks a coin-flipping hood “Where did ya pick up that cheap trick?" Raft himself had done the same “trick” in \*\*\*Scarface \*\*\*(1932). > > The hood (who later popped out of the birthday cake and machine-gunned Raft and his crew) was played by Edward G Robinson, Jr. Billy Wilder wanted to cast Edward Sr as Little Bonaparte, but he refused to appear in the same picture as Raft, whom he intensely disliked. Nehemiah Persoff was cast instead (and gave Bonaparte a Mussolini-type persona). I don’t know if it counts as movie trivia but I just found out today that Nehemiah Persoff is still alive at the age of 100. I believe he’s the last living member of that movie’s cast. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/47 "2019-10-11T17:25:57Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Viggo Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn in the _Lord of the Rings_ films; after filming had begun, Peter Jackson realized that Townsend was too young for the role. Mortensen wasn’t familiar with the books, but accepted the role at the urging of his son, who was a Middle-Earth fan. Mortensen familiarized himself with the story by reading the book on the flight to New Zealand. As an addendum - his son Henry had a speaking role in “The Two Towers”, as a young Rohirrim recruit. He’s anxious & terrified about the upcoming battle, and is advised by Aragorn “There is always hope”. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/48 "2019-10-11T17:35:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Did someone say he was? Or is that just an example of the most trivial trivia? Looked it up. Some people think [this guy](http://www.bundyology.com/deliver.html) (still photo from _Deliverance_) is Ed O’Neill. I guess there is a slight resemblance, but most obviously the nose is all wrong. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/49 "2019-10-11T17:55:06Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Looked it up. Some people think [this guy](http://www.bundyology.com/deliver.html) (still photo from _Deliverance_) is Ed O’Neill. I guess there is a slight resemblance, but most obviously the nose is all wrong. Yeah, that is NOT close. At all. Hair is wrong, nose is wrong, eyes are wrong, ears are too high. I wonder if people who think that’s him even recognize themselves in the mirror. Here’s a still from 1980’s “The Dogs of War” where he looks shockingly similar to-- Ed O’Neill: [https://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EdONeill.jpg](https://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EdONeill.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/50 "2019-10-11T18:17:42Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Looked it up. Some people think [this guy](http://www.bundyology.com/deliver.html) (still photo from _Deliverance_) is Ed O’Neill. I guess there is a slight resemblance, but most obviously the nose is all wrong. Thanks. Never heard of this. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Here’s a still from 1980’s “The Dogs of War” where he looks shockingly similar to-- Ed O’Neill: [https://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EdONeill.jpg](https://movieboozer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/EdONeill.jpg) Um, what are you saying? Isn’t that Ed in The Dogs of War? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/51 "2019-10-11T18:26:38Z")
Another one that got shot down recently: Denzel Washington [did not make his film debut](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1603820/denzel-washington-just-shot-down-one-of-the-biggest-rumors-about-his-career) in _Death Wish_. He was listed as an uncredited cast member on IMDB for years. The film _did_ have early roles for some popular actors: Jeff Goldblum made his movie debut as a violent thug. Christopher Guest played a NYPD patrolman, and Olympia Dukakis also appeared briefly as a cop. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/52 "2019-10-11T19:08:29Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > According to _Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling Through Hollywood_ (Bailey, 2014), Spencer Tracy was a closet binge drinker. He’d lock himself in a room at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn for “weeks at a time, downing bottle after bottle of whiskey” in the bathtub naked, not even getting up to use the toilet. He was so prolific a drinker that Louis B. Mayer had the “Tracy Squad,” an ambulance driver, a doctor and four security guards dressed as paramedics whose only job was to pick up Tracy and other drunk film stars. And apparently, every bar and nightclub within 25 miles of the MGM lot had a private number to call the studio to call if Tracy walked in. Reminds me of André the Giant; according to Cary Elwes, André always had an undercover member of the NYPD follow him around whenever he was visiting the city. The officer was there to warn people in case the Giant toppled over while drunk, which had happened before and trapped a bystander. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/53 "2019-10-11T19:11:08Z")
The script for _Taxi Driver_ contained a stage direction that read simply, “Travis looks in the mirror.” While doing so, Robert Deniro ad libbed the entire “You talkin’ to me?” scene, which of course became the film’s most-remembered line. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/54 "2019-10-11T19:16:14Z")
[A113](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A113) is a longstanding inside joke referencing a room at Cal Arts. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/55 "2019-10-11T20:21:15Z")
The North Avenue Presbyterian Church depicted in Disney’s _The North Avenue Irregulars_ really did lose its charter at some point after Rev. Hill took on the local numbers running racket. The church was purchased and restored by Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera and his wife Clara, who is a Pentecostal minister. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/56 "2019-10-11T20:43:39Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > The script for _Taxi Driver_ contained a stage direction that read simply, “Travis looks in the mirror.” > While doing so, Robert Deniro ad libbed the entire “You talkin’ to me?” scene, which of course became the film’s most-remembered line. Deniro may have been inspired by this scene from The Twilight Zone: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK4uK82nis4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK4uK82nis4) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/57 "2019-10-11T21:27:25Z")
The German motorcyclist Steve McQueen kills in _ **The Great Escape** _ was Steve McQueen himself. I’ve always wondered what the Germans would have done to a POW who kills one of their own while attempting an escape. I doubt they’d just send him back to camp, especially after the \*Kugel \*Order was issued. > **[Aktion Kugel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_Kugel)** > > The Kugel-Erlass (English: bullet decree), also known as Aktion Kugel, was a secret decree (Geheimbefehl), issued by Nazi Germany on 2 March 1944. The decree stated that escaped Allied prisoners of war, especially officers and senior non-commissioned officers, should be handed over to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) who should execute them, "im Rahmen der Aktion Kugel" (transl. as part of Aktion Kugel), in Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. > This order was in direct contravention of the provisions... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/58 "2019-10-11T21:42:03Z")
In _The Empire Strikes Back_, just after Luke lands on Cloud City, he briefly encounters Leia and Chewbacca, who are being led away from the carbon-freezing chamber to Darth Vader’s shuttle by Imperial troops. As Leia cries out, “it’s a trap!”, [she’s dragged off by a blonde-haired Imperial officer.](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/2/25/Sheckil-TESB30.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100807232919) That officer was played by Jeremy Bulloch, who also played the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the film (whose face was never seen, due to wearing a helmet). ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/59 "2019-10-11T22:07:35Z")
In _The Godfather: Part II_, Troy Donahue plays Merle Johnson. Donahue’s real name? Merle Johnson (Jr.). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594/60 "2019-10-11T22:37:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Um, what are you saying? Isn’t that Ed in The Dogs of War? I believe DCnDC’s point was that O’Neill was recognizable even in his early films. So if he had been in _Deliverance_ he would be more obviously recognizable than the actor who’s pictured. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-movie-trivia/841594.md?page=4)