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Movie Spoiler Contest Winners
Posted by KTK

After two weeks of heated competition (not really) in the First-Ever Movie Spoiler Jeopardy Contest, the promised judging has taken place. Hard decisions were made, playback tapes were reviewed, winners annointed and . . . well, not-winners sent home in tears. The results, I think, speak for themselves.

Below are movie spoilers I had previously posted, each followed by a Jeopardy-style question I had in mind for that spoiler. These are the questions contestants were supposed to come up with, using the spoilers as clues. I have offered remarks on common wrong guesses, misconceptions, or possible alternative answers submitted by contestants. Winning scores are given at the bottom.

SPOILERS AND QUESTIONS

1. His father.
   (In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker is shocked to discover Darth Vader is really who?)

   [Yeah, OK. Nobody missed this one. It was a setup for the ones that followed.]

2. His mother.
   (In Psycho, Norman Bates kills people while dressed up as which of his favorite taxidermy projects?)

   [Yeah, OK. Nobody missed this one either.]

3. His mother.
   (In The Manchurian Candidate, the main character’s Chinese Communist [or, American corporate – in the remake] mind-control agent turns out to be who?)

   [But nobody got this one. Almost everyone submitted a different slasher flick as a guess for this spoiler, though, suggesting it’s a rather overused meme in that genre. I let the slasher guesses cancel each other out and assigned no credit for this spoiler. Jeremy asked “Who does Blade find out one of the vampires is?” which I don’t even understand so I dismissed it as well.]

4. Her penis.
   (In The Crying Game, the main character is shocked to discover what about his girlfriend?)

   [Of course everyone got this. It was a setup for the next one . . .]

5. Her penis.
   (In M. Butterfly, the main character never manages to discover what about his wife?) [The movie is an artful adaptation of a true story!]

   [. . . which nobody got! Joe’s guess of Some Like It Hot was actually in my mind as I was crafting the contest, but it disqualifies because the audience is aware all along that the main characters are men. Same thing for an apparent gender-bender scene in one of the “Ace Ventura” movies, which also lost points for starring Jim Carey. No credit on this spoiler.]

6. Her psycho ex-boyfriend.
   (In There’s Something About Mary, the main character does not realize his best friend is what in relation to his girlfriend?)

   [I was afraid that “psycho ex-boyfriend” was going to be a much-overused theme, and it was. Most contestants answered “Scream”; I saw only one of those movies and couldn’t keep it straight, so I’m going to have to take y’all’s word for it. Joe’s answer of “Kill Bill” was disqualified, again because his involvement is revealed to the audience early in the movie.]

7. He’s already dead.
   (In The Sixth Sense, the main character does not realize what about himself?)

   [Another obvious setup . . .]

8. He’s already dead.
   (In Sunset Boulevard, the audience does not realize what about the main character?)

   [. . . for a movie I really hoped more people would remember! Only one person offered a guess here - Joe, with Jacob’s Ladder. I’m tempted to disqualify it because nobody understands what actually happened in that movie, but never mind . . .]

9. He’s not really dead.
   (In The Third Man, the main character is shocked to realize what about his murdered friend?)

   [Bizarrely, almost no one submitted a guess. I was afraid I’d just get more and more slasher flicks. What I was not expecting to see was The Passion of the Christ from Joe Carter! C’mon, Joe: did you really think nobody knew the ending in advance?]

10. They’re already dead.
    (In The Others, the central family members, and the audience, do not realize what about virtually everyone in the movie including the central family?)

    [Most people got this one. Joe submitted The Lost Things, which I wasn’t familiar with. I can’t quite tell if it fits, but from what I read it’s clearly a fascinating work. Credit to Joe for a plausible alternative.]

11. There are no monsters.
    (In The Village, the social order of the village in the face of threats from the monsters in the surrounding woods is undermined by the revelation of what secret?)

    [Another easy one - and I’m glad everyone saw that film. Well worth it.]

12. He is the mastermind.
    (In The Usual Suspects, a detective is dismayed when, after interrogating a mild-mannered henchman of a vicious criminal mastermind, he is too late in realizing what fact about the henchman?)

    [Another setup. Sure, you knew this one, but . . .]

13. The mastermind is him.
    (In Fight Club, the main character is dismayed when he is too late in realizing what fact about the violent, psychotic mastermind?)

    [. . . yeah, OK, you knew this one too. Oh, well.] [And everybody got them in the right order, too! I guess my clues need to be more obscure.]

14. The “good” personality is the fake one.
    (In Primal Fear, the defense attorney is dismayed, after getting his client off on a multiple-personality insanity plea, when he realizes too late what fact about his client?)

    [This one definitely needed to be. I almost didn’t include it because I couldn’t figure out how to write a clue that wasn’t too obvious. Sure enough, almost everyone got it. Joe suggested Identity, which is another apparently-fascinating film I haven’t seen, and I can’t tell from the writeups if it fits.]

15. The dead man is the hero.
    (In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the reporters are surprised to discover what?)

    [Nobody got this one. There seems to be a tendency to assume all these movies are horror or slasher films, but there are surprise twists in lots of movies, including this one that I always liked. Joe suggested 12 Monkeys, but I’m not sure, in part because it appears that there are several alternate interpretations and because I don’t understand any of them.]

16. He really never left Earth.
    (In Total Recall, interplanetary superagent Arnold Schwartzenegger’s adventures are undermined by what psychological revelation?) [OK – the movie is ambiguous on this point – I’m throwing it in anyway.]

    [Hah! No one came close. I suppose this is the flip side of the 12 Monkeys situation, though - the film I had in mind was ambiguous enough that nobody was confident about it. My bad.]

17. They really never left Earth.
    (In the original Planet of the Apes, interplanetary monkey-bait astronauts are heartbroken to realize what about the strange world they’ve landed on?)

    [This is not good, though. Everyone got Planet of the Apes as the question for spoiler 16 - shame on Jeremy for describing Charleton “Cold Dead Hands” Heston as “crying like a little girl” at the end - but I was specifically intending spoiler 17 to refer to that movie (”they,” meaning the whole group of astronauts), forcing you to think of a one-person plot for spoiler 16. I forgot that only the Charleton Heston character actually realizes the truth, because the others are all dead by the end of the movie. From that perspective, “he” works just as well for Planet of the Apes, and I inadvertently forced everyone to think of a multi-person revelation at the end of another space-travel movie for spoiler 17. Not surprisingly, no one could do so (neither can I). Joe suggested Capricorn One, but there’s no surprise in that movie, just a coverup. Bad clue. Sorry.]

18. The rabbit is not from Earth.
    (In Donnie Darko, you have to be really stoned to realize what about the strange creature that lives in the main character’s mind?)

    [Most people got this one, which makes me worry about you.]

19. He’s solved the crime before.
    (In Memento, the main character never realizes what fact?)

    [Most people got this one, too, which is surprising - I didn’t think the movie was that widely seen.]

20. It’s the wrong bird.
    (In The Maltese Falcon, Sydney Greenstreet is strangely not heartbroken to discover what about the fabulous statue he’s been chasing for years?)

    [Jeremy got this right but attrituted the main role to Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck?! All I can say is, Lauren Bacall never told Gregory Peck to pucker up and blow.]

I wasn’t exactly swamped with entries, but among those who submitted guesses, about 70-80% right was a good score. Giving credit for possible answers I wasn’t sure about, and ignoring some egregious disqualifiers like citing Jim Carey movies and mistaking Humphrey Bogart for Gregory Peck (or did you confuse Sydney Greenstreet for Gregory Peck?!), Jeremy Doan gets 16 out of 20, while Joe Carter gets 14.

Jeremy wins his choice of: Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook 2005, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide 2005, or The DVD & Video Guide 2005 by Martin & Porter. Joe wins his choice of the remainder. The third-place prize was for “funniest wrong answers,” but the wrong answers were mostly just sad. So third place goes to Rob Brooks. Good job guys, and thanks to all who responded.

Next week: The “Win tgirch’s car” trivia contest!

February 22nd, 2005 General, Bloggin, Media | 10 comments