Answers: November 14th, 2005
Here are the answers I've emailed out to some of the questions you have asked. As you'll see, I don't always know the correct answer but hope to at least provide a hint to steer the person asking in the right direction. If you can clarify, or want to dispute, any of the answers- be sure to contact me and I'll follow up. Every so often I'll add a new page of answers so check back often!
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  Other Answer pages:  

I was looking for a "ask me about movies" website and I came across yours. Here is my question:

I was recently looking at the IMDB movies database on Edward Norton and saw that he was in "Red Dragon" in 2002 as FBI Agent Will Graham. This got me thinking about a movie I saw on NBC several years ago based on the same "Red Dragon" book by Thomas Harris. Before you send me to "Manhunter"...I rented it and I don't think that was the same one I remember seeing. The one I'm thinking of might have been a made-for-tv movie specifically for NBC. They were probably trying to cash in on the popularity of Silence of the Lambs in the mid 90's. I don't remember any actors that were in it, although it seems like it did have Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter (that could be just my memory playing tricks on me since I didn't see anything about it in Hopkins IMDB listing). There are a few things that I remember about this particular version of the movie.

1) It seems like there was more emphasis placed on the Chinese Red Dragon symbol(s) than in either "Red Dragon" or "Manhunter". It seems like the killer was leaving more of a calling card with the symbol at the murder scenes.

2) It also seemed to put emphasis on the lunar cycle to the murders more than the other movies.

3) Like "Manhunter" and unlike "Red Dragon" we didn't actually see Graham's capture of Lector...it was recounted by Graham during the movie, but never actually shown.

4) Like "Manhunter" and unlike "Red Dragon", Lecter takes off the cover of the phone (there are no buttons to dial with) that he is given and uses a metallic gum wrapper to get to the operator).

5) At the end of the movie, the Red Dragon character was first hit with a taser that we've previously been told "should stop anyone"...of course it doesn't and Graham has to use his gun which he's loaded with a special type of bullet (again
similar to Manhunter).

6) I'm sure that the title had both "Red Dragon" and "Hannibal Lector" in it. Something like..."Red Dragon: The Curse of
Hannibal Lecter". Again, I distinctly remember this being shown on NBC after Silence of the Lambs was relased because I already knew who Hannibal Lecter was.

So, my question is am I having a bad case of mixed up memories...or did a made-for-TV version of Red Dragon exist that now seems to have been forgotten. Thanks for your help.
-Doug
CMT Answer:
It seems like it's a combo of memory-mix and network shenanigans. The movie you saw probably was 1986's "Manhunter", although with a few changes for tv. The first and most major change was that they retitled the film "Red Dragon: The Pursuit of Hannibal Lecter", in order to cash in on the box-office bonanza of "Silence of the Lambs" as you mentioned. Subsequent changes would be more minor, involving editing inappropriate scenes out for tv but sometimes even reinserting cut footage in order to pad the time out to a tv-friendly time block. Nowadays more sophisticated techniques such as slightly speeding up or slowing down the film so that it shaves or adds an extra minute or two to fit in a time slot are used. Back in the early 90s and earlier, however, they often added in an extra minute or two of footage, or an alternate take, that didn't make it to the theater in order to adjust the time appropriately.

With most of the other similiarites you recall to "Manhunter" (other than the odd one which could be memory tricks or the above-mentioned time-padding), I'm fairly confident this is the movie you saw. I also checked Google (nothing), and IMDB for a character search on "Hannibal Lecter" (Silence, Red Dragon spelling), "Hannibal Lecktor" (Manhunter spelling), and "Dr. Hannibal" (friendly Oprah-esque shrink spelling), to see if the character turned up in any other movies. Nada. Definitely Anthony Hopkins hasn't played him in anything other than the three already released, although they are now filming a prequel of sorts featuring Hopkins again (just voice work this time, other actors are playing Lector at earlier ages). I'm surprised they don't try rebroadcasting the movie more now, since CSI's William Petersen was the lead, they can cash in on his popularity now. Well, maybe they have but I just missed it.
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Who owned the dog in the 1975 movie "Jaws"?
-Dave

CMT Answer:
If you're a Jaws freak, and there are tons of them out there, then this is one of the well known bits of trivia just like Indiana Jones freaks know that the club at the start of "Temple" is called "Club Obi-Wan", and Star Wars freaks know in "Empire" there is a shoe in the asteroid field.

However, back to the Jaws trivia tidbit: the Brody's dog in the movie was director Steven Spielberg's dog, and it also showed up in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". On the other hand, if you're thinking of "Pippet", the dog who becomes a Jaws-snack just before the shark eats the little kid Alex, then I don't know the owner. He was the lonely guy who ends up with just the stick that washes back into shore. :(
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What highschool was "The Breakfast Club" filmed at?
-?
CMT Answer:
I came across two filming locations for the 80's fave: Glenbrook North High School and Maine North High School. Glenbrook North was used for filming exterior shots of the movie, whereas some of the interior shots were filmed at Maine. Interestingly enough, the movie's director John Hughes was a student at Glenbrook, and used the high school again as a location when filming the 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", released the year after "Breakfast Club".
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What was the name of the high school dance where Marty McFly's parents kissed in "Back to the Future"?
-Peter

CMT Answer:
"Back to the Future" - great first movie with two mediocre sequels. In the first flick we see Marty desperately trying to get his parents to kiss at the big high school dance at the end of the movie- this was the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance. This was basically his last chance to get the two together, since threatening his dad as Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan with brain melting did not work.

We also see the dance scene again in the sequel, as things get unnecessarily convuluted with a second Marty creeping around backstage, trying not to get noticed by the first time-travelling Marty. Anyhow as you well know, at the Enchantment Under the Sea, the 'rents end up having their big smooch and things turned out kosher.
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What breed of dog was used as Rosie's pet in the movie "Payback" staring Mel Gibson?
-Mike
CMT Answer:
The only dog info on the movie I could find was that a dog named Porter was a Dogue de Bordeaux (aka the French Mastiff). I don't know off-hand if this is the same dog that was Rosie's pet, or if this is a different dog in the movie- I haven't seen the flick in too long. Anyhow it's a big, mean looking mastiff so if this is the one, then there you go.
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Why did they create Star Wars Episode 4 first, instead of starting with Episode 1?
-Kim

CMT Answer:
A good question, and there are two main reasons Lucas has given whenever the question comes up:

1) He knew from the start that the story of episodes 4 - 6 was more of a true 'adventure' tale. It had the classic elements of the movies he loved growing up (not least because he borrowed liberally from alot of classic films in writing the story). This series of films was more likely to captivate an audience since it was, in fact, a 'funner' story arc to follow. Although he didn't have all the details of the prequel trilogy worked out back in the 70's, he did know that it was going to basically be about Anakin's fall to the dark side, and much more 'political' in nature rather than the swashbuckling fun of the later episodes. He figured (rightly) that many audience members would not find this story as engaging.

2) The special-effects technology of the 70's and 80's was not up to the task. Again, he knew the story would be more 'political', and would feature large galactic-scale armies battling each other rather than small rebel attack squadrons. Therefore the special effects required to accurately display his vision would need to be much more advanced than what was available at the time. He mentioned that after the first "Jurassic Park" movie came out that he could see special effects were finally catching up to be able to do what he wanted to show, and so it would be time to get into making the prequel trilogy.
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What was the name of Matt Dillon's band in the movie, "Singles"?
-Bee

CMT Answer:
The band name in the Cameron Crowe grunge-era flick was called "Citizen Dick". It featured Matt Dillon as the lead, and the other band members were members of Pearl Jam. They performed a song titled "Touch Me I'm Dick", which was a rewrite of "Touch Me I'm Sick", by another grunge band fave Mudhoney.
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My 13 year old son recently watched a movie on Country Music Television that was not listed anywhere in the digital tv menu for that particular day, but he enjoyed it so much I am trying to locate the movie. He said that it is a story about a young guitar player that helps a legendary blues singer/songwriter escape from a nursing home to travel with him to the city for a guitar competition. Along the way the elderly legend teaches the young boy how to play and appreciate the timeless art and beauty of his blues music. The boy wins the competition and then the elderly songwriter has to return to the nursing home, but tells the boy to carry the torch on for him in teaching others.

He said it was the BEST movie he had ever seen, and I can not find ANYTHING or any resource to help me locate it. My search has been limited because of the details that my son was not able to provide. Can you please help me locate this movie? Thanks for any help!
-Patty

CMT Answer:
Sounds like the movie is 'Crossroads' (not the Britney Spears version), which was released in 1986 and starred "Karate Kid" Ralph Macchio. In the flick he does indeed help an aging blues singer escape from a nursing home and the two go on a road trip. There is also a supernatural twist towards the end in regards to the competition. The Karate Kid not only is facing off against an amazing foe (Steve Vai), he is also battling Satan in order to negate a 'deal with the devil' that the legendary blues singer made in his younger days.

You can take a look at the plot details and even see a trailer for the flick at IMDB here.
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What actress starred in a movie with her two sons where she played their grandmother?
-Jen

CMT Answer:
Good question - and I couldn't find the answer. Came across movies where people played their own grandmother, but not a mom being the grandmother.

If anyone knows the answer to this one, send me a note!
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What is Zorro's full name?
-Cathy

CMT Answer:
The "classic" character name of Zorro's alter-ego is Don Diego de la Vega. This is the name of the character in the 1920 movie "The Mark of Zorro" starring everyone's favorite screen hunk Douglas Fairbanks, and the name of the character through the 50's tv show, the 60's and 70's movies (including the much-loved 1972 porn flick "The Erotic Adventures of Zorro"), and even the 1981 'comedy' "Zorro the Gay Blade".

The difference with the new Antonio Banderas movies was that Anthony Hopkins portrayed Don Diego, who as you know died at the end of "The Mask of Zorro". Antonio's character's name was "Alejandro Murrieta", and it was he who became the new Zorro to keep the common folk of California safe and sound, in "Mask of Zorro" and 2005's sequel "The Legend of Zorro".
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What is Mr. T's real name?
-Shawn

CMT Answer:
I pity the fool who doesn't know it's Lawrence Tureaud.
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