Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 4 -- TIEBREAKER 1

James Taylor -- folk singer, or pop singer cum light-FM staple? Discuss. Yes, that was Laurie Bird last week as she appeared in the great American existentialist masterpiece, Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop. (An absolute must-see if you haven't.) And while her two co-stars were singers (Dennis "I'm not Brian" Wilson and James Taylor), the folksters Filmbrain had in mind were the boys from Queens - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Bird was living with Garfunkel when she committed suicide at the age of twenty-five, and she appeared as Tony Lacey's (Simon) girlfriend in Annie Hall. Did she have any lines? Working with the auditing firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Filmbrain has tallied up all the entries for Round 4, including the bonus points. With an impressive 13 out of a possible 14 points, the first prize goes (once again) to über-cineaste and Premiere critic Aaron Hillis. Nudging ahead of the pack for second place (thanks to last week's answer) is harakiwi (initials NN). Congratulations to the both of you -- any DVD used in this round is yours for the asking. Third place is going to be more of a challenge -- there are a huge handful of you with a total of 10 points, including former winner Matthew "Esoteric Rabbit" Clayfield. The contest is still open to everybody, so even those with fewer than 10 points can still pull ahead to victory. For the first tiebreaker -- difficult? Easy? Who can say. . . Send your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[Aaron Hillis]

I'd like to thank the Academy, Joe Bob Briggs, Billy Barty, Uschi Digard, Norman Fell, Angel Tompkins, Armond White, Bruce La Bruce, Hoyt Pollard, the cast of TV's "Square Pegs," everyone over at CAA, and of course Filmbrain -- your quizzes inspired me more than the Daily Jumble in the newspaper.

Since I got 13 out of 14 points, I better take my medicine and ask for That Which I Could Not Answer... Imamura's The Pornographers. Thanks again, Filmbrainiac.

[la_depressionada]

fewer FEWER than 10 points! oy.

tony lacey's g/f did have a smokin' outfit on, but jeff goldblum stole that scene. 2 lane blacktop? you really deserve a better decade filmbaby.

[Filmbrain]

Fewer/less - Hell, I was on Percocet when I wrote the post - I'm amazed that it's coherent at all!

Are you seriously dissing 2LB? Ah....but you wouldn't understand -- it's a boy thing.

[Aaron Hillis]

Interesting timing:
DVDBeaver just posted that Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing will be coming out as a Criterion DVD in September. As I'm sure Filmbrain knows, that's the film Garfunkel was shooting when Laurie Bird killed herself in his apartment.

Relatedly, 9/05 is looking none too shabby for Criterion: Leigh's Naked (my fave of his), The Man Who Fell to Earth (commentary by Roeg, Bowie AND Buck Henry), Masculin muthafrickin' Feminin, and Campion's An Angel At My Table!

[Filmbrain]

Great news about Bad Timing. I've got the cheapie UK edition which, while serviceable, could use an upgrade.

However, hearing that Criterion is doing Naked is a real cause for joy. Mike Leigh's greatest film is the It's A Wonderful Life for misanthropes.

[cynthia]

this one is definitely super-easy, i never know the answers but i know this one...

[Peter]

This is what I get for sticking to post 1970 films.

[dvd]

This one is indeed easy - in fact, this has been the easiest round yet, minus The Pornographers and Candy! So why did I never bother to enter, damn it? Live and learn.

[la_depressionada]

i am SO not dissing 2lb. i'm saying: your taste is goddamned good, that it's shame (for you) this isn't the 70s.

also, if you sent me some of that percocet, i'd be so much easier on your grammar. in fact, i'd just be easy. (easy like sunday morning.) sorry, i'm so retarded.

[Flickhead]

No one's taken you up on discussing James Taylor. Once he did the duet on "Mockingbird," his career turned to sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

But both he and Dennis Wilson give memorable non-performances in Two-Lane Blacktop, a good Monte Hellman film—though I prefer The Shooting and Cockfighter.

[Billy M.]

I agree, James Taylor was good in BLACKTOP. Having worked with him years ago, I can tell you that he has a healthy taste for foreign cinema. Ran into him attending the first NYC run of KINGS OF THE ROAD, and once saw SWEPT AWAY with him -- JT's second viewing. Re: your query, I've always kind of thought of him as a Boomer Frank Sinatra.