Screenplay Games: Lines: Movie Newsletter Vol. 1

This is volume 4 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.

Many of us watched Ronny Howard grow up to become Ron Howard, one of America's greatest directors. From those days as Opie Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) to Ritchie Cunningham in Happy Days (1974-1980), Howard learned the craft well. Here is some interesting info about Ron Howard.

Movie Facts on Ron Howard:

Born in Duncan, OK, Ron comes from an acting family. Father Rance and Mother Jean Howard were actors as is brother Clint. Ron often casts Clint in his movies and his Apollo 13 included all three. Rance played the minister at the Lovell home waiting for the return of the astronauts. Jean played Jim Lovell's mother, Blanche. Clint played the technician who announced to Gene Kranz that there just couldn't be a quadruple failure of the spacecraft systems.

Ron was in his first movie in 1955. He was 18 months old and it was called Frontier Woman. His first memorable role was the lisping Winthrop Paroo in 1962's The Music Man .

As a director, Ron Howard started out with the "classic" Eat My Dust in 1977 in which he also wrote and starred. He was 23.

In 1982, Howard released Night Shift usually considered his first significant motion picture. This well made film has some interesting trivia. It is the first movie for Michael Keaton. His Bill Blazejowski was just one of those roles we will never forget.

Brother, Clint Howard plays the nebbish college student who hires Billy Blaze to drive him and his date to the prom in a hearse.

Finally, if you look closely at the fraternity party scene in the morgue, you will see one of our most popular actors. He is listed in the credits as "Frat boy #1". He also was in Fandango , No Way Out and Field of Dreams . Yes, it is Kevin Costner in his first movie.

That frat party scene also has the fraternity's Greek letters in sparklers. The frat is Delta Tau Chi, the same fictional fraternity whose Animal House members included Bluto, Boon, Otter, Flounder and D-Day. Howard just had to salute the wildest fraternity of them all.

Ron Howard directed Ransom (1996) starring Mel Gibson and Rene Russo. This was a remake of a 1956 release with the same name which starred Glenn Ford. Russo was one of Ron's high school classmates.

Who can forget Earl Hindman's endearing character, Wilson, on TV's Home Improvement . We never got to see his face. There was nothing wrong with him. It was just a running gag about the neighbor across the fence. Several years ago I was watching the 1981 film, Taps with Tom Cruise and Timothy Hutton. The closing credits listed Earl Hindman as Lt. Hanson. I thought that finally we could see Wilson's face. Next time it came on I watched with interest. State trooper, Hanson had only one scene where he talked to the boys holding a military academy. He was talking through a bullhorn. No face. But, if you have a burning desire to see Wilson, check out Silverado (1985). He plays J.T. Hollis.

The Jazz Singer (1927) is considered the first "talkie. This is only partially true. In fact, it was a silent film except for Al Jolson's nightclub act. All of the dialogue was still displayed as written text (called intertitles) except for the singing. Jolson's line, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet." Was unscripted and came at the end of a song. The director left it in the film and it turned out to be a forecast for many great lines to come. Remember that when you are playing Movie Time!

Update :

I saw an ad for A Mighty Wind . It will be released in May. If it is anything like previous Christopher Guest efforts, Best in Show , Waiting for Guffman , and This is Spinal Tap, it should be great.

Input :

If there is any movie or personality trivia you would like us to look into, send an e-mail with the request and we will see what we can find. If you have heard some interesting movie trivia that you would like to share with the other Movie Time! people, send it to us and we will distribute it.

Free Movie Lines:

In what movie will you hear Jack Nicholson say, "He-e-e-re's Johnny."?

In what movie will you Katharine Hepburn say, "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above."?

In what movie will you hear Kelly McGillis say, "So you're the one." And Tom Cruise replies, "Yes ma'am."?

In what movie will you hear Barbra Streisand say, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." and Ryan O'Neal replies, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

For the answers click on and play the game. If you received this as a forward and would like to receive future volumes directly, send a message to jim@screenplaygames.com and we will put you on the list.