What was the name of the doctor who created the monster in the novel by Mary Shelley? Dr. Frankenstein? Hell naw, that’s Dr. Malavaqua. Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot
1) Pennsylvania 6-5000 was made famous by Glenn Miller, but it only hit number 5 on the Your Hit Parade charts. He did have many number one hits over his career including a rendition of what 1939 song which won the Best Original Song Oscar in 1940?
2) Speaking of, the local Transylvanian band butchers the song New York, New York, which naturally was written for the movie New York, New York. Not nominated for any Oscars (including Original Song, absurd), who directed that film?
3) The classic Universal Monsters (many of which are spoofed in this film) were considered to be what five monsters?
4) The film was financed by the Dow Chemical Company as a scheme to repatriate money accumulated in Yugoslav dinar that couldn’t otherwise be freed under Yugoslav law. Yugoslavia would split into Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Yugoslavia. What three countries did the Republic of Yugoslavia eventually split into?
5) Leonard Maltin is apparently somewhat famous for his one word review for the film which involved him in a video swaying along to Pennsylvania 6-5000 and when that part of the song comes up he says the name of the movie and what one word?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: On March 28th, 1997, Transylvania 6-5000 played on Comedy Central. A little earlier on TMC:
What is this film?
Answers
1) The hint here is: what the hell kind of song would you know from 1940? Well, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I did look for other number one hits I recognized by Glenn Miller, but nothing popped out. The Wizard of Oz got absolutely trounced by Gone With the Wind in the end, it wasn’t even really nominated for much besides Best Picture above the line.
2) That would be Martin Scorcece himself. Looking at the other songs I guess You Light Up My Life is probably decent, but then really only Nobody Does It Better (from The Spy Who Loved Me) could even come close to being as good as New York, New York. It did get nominated for a Golden Globe, but still didn’t win.
3) I think four are easy. Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, and The Mummy are like top four. But the fourth is The Phantom of the Opera which can often catch people out. They added others throughout time, but those are often considered to be the original five.
4) Serbia and Kosovo are maybe the easier two since Yugoslavia and Kosovo rebels fought a war in the 90s (Behind Enemy Lines? Ever heard of it?). The third country split off in 2006 and is Montenegro.
5) “Transylvania 6-5000 … stinks.” He claims the review is complete, that he’s proud of it, and it is one of his most well known reviews. I believe it.
Bonus NYTimes Listing Answer: Police? Rob Scheider? That has to be Blue Thunder. This movie / TV show is ripe for a remake, and there are some rumors it is in the works. That would be fun.
I did a whole analysis on helicopter films, and it is almost entirely based on trying to figure out if there are other weird films like Blue Thunder out there to watch.
Bad Movie Twins 