AFI’s Top 100 Movie Facts Part 2
As I indicated last week, the approach of my 100th blog at “Movie Musings…” is cause for celebration! So we’re continuing a countdown of AFI’s Top 100 movie…looking at little bits of trivia you might not be aware of for each of these treasured films…this time films ranked 51 through 75. Let me know of your favorite trivia and you might add!
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967) — This hit in ’67 is Sidney Poitier’s favorite film among all the films he has ever made.
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — Anthony Hopkins, who won his only Best Actor Oscar for his 20-minute performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the film, based his character voice for the role as a combination of Truman Capote and Katherine Hepburn. Hopkins incidentally worked with Hepburn in the role that won her a third Best Actress Oscar: The Lion in Winter (1968).
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) — Katharine Ross played the female lead, Etta Place, in this film. Her future husband, Sam Elliot had a bit part in the film also, but Ross and Elliot never officially met until 1978. They were married on May 1st 1984.
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) — Morgan Freeman received his third Academy Award Nomination for his performance as Ellis Boys “Red” Redding in this film. He lost the award to Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994). Freeman finally won an Oscar in the category of Best Supporting Actor ten years later in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004).
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998) — Tom Hanks’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Captain John Miller in this film earned him an induction into the U.S. Army’s Ranger Hall of Fame in 2006.
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971) — Gene Kelly was so offended by the way Malcolm McDowell portrayed the title song and dance number from Singin’ in the Rain (1952) in this film that when he and McDowell were introduced at a party several years later, Kelly walked away in disgust.
69. Tootsie (1982) — While in production, on one occasion Dustin Hoffman disguised himself as “Dorothy Michaels” for a parents night at his daughter’s school. It was so convincing, the teachers there never even suspected who he really was.
68. Unforgiven (1992) — Clint Eastwood received both the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for this film. He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, but lost that award to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992), his 8th nomination (August 7th, 2017, is Unforgiven’s 25th anniversary.)
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) — Elizabeth Taylor, who won her second Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal as Martha in this film, was only 34 at the time, despite the fact that her character was supposed to be 52.
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) — Steven Spielberg and the crew originally tried to use mechanical snakes for the Well of Souls sequence. Ultimately, it was decided that they looked to fake, and were replaced with real snakes.
65. The African Queen (1951) — Humphrey Bogart’s wife, Lauren Bacall, became very close with Katharine Hepburn during the making of this film. They remained close until Hepburn’s death on June 29th, 2003.
64. Network (1976)-This was Peter Finch’s final feature film before his untimely death at the age of 60 due to a heart attack. He won the Best Actor Oscar posthumously.
63. Cabaret (1972) — Joel Grey won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the Master of Ceremonies in this film, and had previously originated the role on the Broadway stage, where he also won the Tony Award. He beat Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, and James Caan for the Oscar—all nominated that year for their performances in The Godfather (1972). (He also beat Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid (1972)).
62. American Graffiti (1973) — During the post-production of this film, one of the members of the sound crew wanted George Lucas to retrieve Reel #2 of the Second Dialogue track. The crew member asked Lucas “Could you please get R2-D2 for me?” Lucas liked the sound of that and kept that in mind for future projects.
61. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) — In the movie, John L. Sullivan (played by Joel McCrea) plans to make a movie entitled “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” That title was later borrowed by Ethan and Joel Coen for their 2000 movie of the same name.
60. Duck Soup (1933) — This was the very last film of Zeppo Marx.
59. Nashville (1975) — All of the songs in this film were recorded live rather than prerecorded in a studio, including the Oscar-winning, “I’m Easy.”
58. The Gold Rush (1925) — This is the fifth highest-grossing silent film in the history of movies.
57. Rocky (1976) — The line from this movie, “Yo, Adrian!,” was voted #80 on AF1’s Top 100 list of Movie Quotations.
56. Jaws (1975) — There is a reference to “Jaws,” played for a joke in the movie Stakeout (1987) where Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss are playing “Guess the movie by its quote,” and Estevez quotes Dreyfuss’s line from “Jaws.” “This was no boating accident,” and Dreyfuss replies “I don’t know what that’s from.”
55. North by Northwest (1959) — Cary Grant was reluctant to accept the role of Roger Thornhill in this movie since he was 55 years old—much older than the character.
54. M*A*S*H (1970) — According to Tom Skerrit, who played Duke Forrest, about 80% of the dialogue in this movie was improvised. Director Robert Altman cast several people in this movie from improvisational clubs who had no previous movie experience whatsoever.
53. The Deer Hunter (1978) — This movie earned Meryl Streep an Academy Award Nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress. It was her very first nomination among her record 20. She lost the award to Maggie Smith in California Suite (1978), but won the following year in the same category of for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
52. Taxi Driver (1976) — The Genie in Disney’s Aladdin (1992) parodies Robert DeNiro’s “You talking to me,” line from “Taxi Driver,” in the scene midway through the film, where Aladdin doubts the Gene’s powers.
51. West Side Story (1961) — Marni Nixon’s singing voice was dubbed in for Natalie Wood’s singing voice and Betty Wand’s singing voice was dubbed in for Rita Moreno’s singing voice in “West Side Story.” Nixon did, however, sing a brief bit for Moreno in the “Tonight” sequence. Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film despite not having done her own singing, but Wood unfortunately wasn’t even nominated.
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