First off, my thanks to the readers who made it to the bottom of last Monday's column regarding the Hollywood writers strike and sent in e-mails correctly identifying the movie lines in question.
What a comfort it is to be surrounded by such intelligence.
The names of the winners: Tyler Leckington, Lisa Horne, Laurie Metcalf, Rachael Sheffield, Jim Hoag, Greg Stewart, Brian Barker, Courtney Henderson, Merrily Hill, Charlotte Pratt, Theron Millar, Andy and Lisa Sipple and Doug Robinson.
The correct answers: "What we have here is a failure to communicate" — "Cool Hand Luke." "Are you talkin' to me?" — "Taxi Driver." "I'm as mad as h---, and I'm not going to take this anymore." — "Network." "You can't handle the truth." — "A Few Good Men." "You've been ruining everybody's lives and eating all our steak." — "Napoleon Dynamite." "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?" — "Dirty Harry." "Go ahead, make my day." — "Sudden Impact." "Show me the money." — "Jerry Maguire." "Hasta la vista, baby." — "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."
Technically, Robinson doesn't count because he's an employee of the Deseret Morning News, plus he sort of missed one answer. He said "Go ahead, make my day" was a line from "Dirty Harry" when in actuality it was from "Sudden Impact." But the issue gets a little blurry because "Sudden Impact" is the fourth in the "Dirty Harry" series and the line was spoken by Dirty Harry/Clint Eastwood.
The Sipples also had this misconception, but since I'm an easy grader they get full credit, too.
So there you go. No quiz is perfect.
Several of the e-mails offered support for the writers strike, which is now entering its third week.
"Writers definitely deserve all they can get," said Theron Millar. "
"I L-O-V-E a good movie! And without good writing, there ain't no movie!" wrote Laurie Metcalf.
"I think the writers should be paid for all the work they do, even as it lives on in so many different forms," said Rachael Sheffield.
John Schulian, a University of Utah graduate and noted screenwriter, sent an e-mail from Los Angeles, where he is walking the picket line.
"Thanks for sticking up for the Hollywood scribes," he wrote. "We're going to need all the help we can get in this strike. I fear that it's going to be long and nasty, maybe even worse than the 22-week siege we endured in '88."
Schulian added a postscript:
"Before I sign off, let me give you one more great movie quote: 'All I want is to enter my house justified.'
"It's from 'Ride the High Country,' an absolutely beautiful western that was a farewell to two great cowboy stars, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott. If you haven't seen it, treat yourself."
It never fails. Talking about movie lines always begets more talk about movie lines.
I asked Robinson, after informing him of the "Dirty Harry" technicality, for his favorite movie-line exchange. He did not hesitate.
"It's in 'Groundhog Day,"' he said, "When Rita (played by Andie McDowell) is discussing her ideal man for Phil (played by Bill Murray).
Rita: "He's kind, sensitive and gentle. He's not afraid to cry in front of me."
Phil: "This is a man we're talking about, right?"
Rita: "He likes animals and children, and he'll change poopy diapers."
Phil: "Does he have to use the word poopy?"
He added another, this one from "Jeremiah Johnson," where the mountain man Jeremiah Johnson finds a man named Delgue buried up to his neck in sand and asks: "Was it Indians that put you there?"
Delgue: "T'weren't Mormons."
Among my most memorable movie-line exchanges is in "The Fugitive," when Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Harrison Ford) shouts across a ravine and proclaims his innocence to the earnest U.S. marshal, Samuel Gerard (played by Tommy Lee Jones), whose job it is to apprehend him.
Kimble: "I didn't kill my wife."
Gerard: "I don't care."
Speaking of wives, I asked mine, Kerri, for her favorite movie line.
She also did not hesitate.
"It's from 'Princess Bride,"' she said. "What Wesley always says to Buttercup.
"As you wish."
I looked it up on the Web in movie quotes. He says it a lot.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.