Screenplay Games: Movie Lines Newsletter Vol. 11

This is volume 11 of what we hope are interesting bits of motion picture trivia, legend and other useless stuff brought to you by Movie Time! the game of memorable movie quotes. This information was compiled from numerous sources and is offered to customers and supporters of Movie Time! to make their game playing more enjoyable.

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We saw "Seabiscuit" this weekend and it was outstanding. Probably an Oscar contender for best picture and other nominations. I had always heard of the great race horse, Seabiscuit, and just assumed he was a Triple Crown winner or at least won the Kentucky Derby. He never raced in those events. He was primarily a west coast racer which ran in 89 races and won 33 of those. Anyway, the movie tells the story with great heart and a real feel for the times.

Sports Movie Movie Travia

Here is some movie trivia from selected sports themed motion pictures.

In 1942, Gary Cooper portrayed Lou Gehrig in "Pride of the Yankees". Gehrig was left handed but Cooper was right handed. Rather than teach Cooper how to perform as a southpaw (his athletic skills were only marginal anyway) they reversed everything including uniform numbers and logos. He batted right handed and ran to third base, then the images were reversed in post production to simulate a left handed batter. 

" Heaven Can Wait" (1978) was a great "make you feel good" movie with a football theme. Warren Beatty portrayed an LA Rams quarterback who was killed before his time and was allowed to come back to life in the body of another man. The movie is actually a remake of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan " (1941). In that one, the lead character, Joe Pendleton, was a boxer. Heaven Can Wait was also supposed to be about a boxer with Muhammad Ali as the lead. His boxing schedule did not fit the shooting schedule and Director Beatty cast himself in the lead role and changed it to a football player because he could not box but could play football.

  There is a scene in "Bull Durham" (1988) where the bat boy tells Kevin Costner's character, Crash Davis, to "Get a hit". Costner ad libbed a response of, "Shut up!". The child actor, unaware of the ad lib, started crying. The movie was filmed primarily in October and November in North Carolina so the grass had to be colored green since it had already begun to fade. Also, some of the night scenes we can see the actors' breath, not likely for the summer sport.

Hopefully, we all know that Ronald Reagan played the role of George Gipp in the classic "Knute Rockne, All American" (1940) starring Pat O'Brien in the title role. It was Gipp's line on his death bed, later repeated by Rockne to the Notre Dame football team that "Sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper". It was one of Reagan's most memorable roles but did you know that John Wayne, William Holden, Robert Young, Dennis Morgan and Robert Cummings were all considered for the part of George Gipp.

" Tin Cup" (1996) is another Kevin Costner film about a talented but underachieving golf hustler, Roy 'Tin Cup' McAvoy. The movie was filmed primarily in Arizona and Texas . He is supposed to own a driving range in Salome , Texas (in far West Texas ). These scenes were filmed in Arizona around Tucson and Tubac. In the finale, the characters travel to the US Open in North Carolina . These scenes were filmed around Houston . The  US Open golf scenes were filmed at Kingwood Country Club in Humble, TX. In the scene where he is caddying for his nemesis played by Don Johnson, Tin Cup sets up a wager that requires him to hit a long shot over water and land it on the green. The hole at the Tubac Golf Resort that they wanted to use for this scene had no such hazard, so the production company dug and filled a lake for that one scene. The cost was reported to be $50,000 and was left for the course when filming ended. It has been dubbed ' Tin Cup Lake '. Tubac Golf Resort is also the course where Roy competes in the first round of qualifying for the Open.

The movie "Field of Dreams" (1989) was based on the 1982 novel 'Shoeless Joe'. In the book, Ray Kinsella searched for reclusive author JD Salinger but his name was dropped when Salinger threatened legal action against the film. He was incensed that his name was used in the novel. This threat made the producers create James Earl Jones' character, Terrance Mann. Among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scene are then unknown actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

Famous Movie Lines

In what movie will you hear Cary Grant say, "23 December 1941, Sighted a tanker and sunk a truck."?

In what movie will you hear Mel Gibson say, "Swing away, Merrill, swing away."?

In what movie will you hear Jack Palance say, "We didn't know there was a map until a year ago when ma died. Ninety-five, stabbed in a bar fight."?

In what movie will you hear Wilford Brimley say, "Batting practice tomorrow, be there." and Robert Redford reply, "I have been...every day."?