Final Jeopardy: 1970s Movies (7-19-18)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/19/2018) in the category “1970s Movies” was:
Earning its director the first of many Oscar nominations, this 1977 film had the working title “Watch the Skies”
6x champ Ryan Fenster, a student from Washington, has won $127,397. Going for his 7th win, he is up against: Justin Moody, a paralegal from North Carolina; and Michelle Mueckler, a stay-at-home mom, from South Carolina.
Round 1 Categories: Word Puzzles – Autobiographical Novels – Trail Mix – Classic Songs’ First Lines – I Read the News Today – O’Boy
Justin found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Trail Mix” under the $800 clue, with 11 clues to go after it. He was in the lead with $2,400, $200 more than Ryan in second place. He bet $800 and he was RIGHT.
The complex of roads known as this Communist leader’s trail was a major supply route for North Vietnam. show
Justin finished in the lead with $5,600. Michelle was second with $2,600 and Ryan was last with $1,000.
Round 2 Categories: God Bless Americium – From Book to TV – Entitled – Middle “Age” – World History – The ABCs of the CIA
Justin found the first Daily Double in “World History” under the $800 clue on the 2nd pick. He was in the lead with $6,000 now, $3,800 more than Michelle in second place. He bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
The Ancient World had 2 important cities named Thebes; one in Greece & one in this land. show
Justin found the last Daily Double in “The CIA” category under the $800 clue on the 15th pick. In the lead with $9,800, he had $2,800 more than Michelle in second place. He bet $1,000 again and he was RIGHT again.
If you know what CIA stands for, you’re 2/3 of the way to knowing DCI, as in head honcho, is short for this. show
Ryan finished in the lead with $14,600. Michelle was next with $11,400 and Justin was in third place with $11,200.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
This 1977 movie was the third film that Steven Spielberg directed for wide release, on the heels of “Jaws” (1975) and “The Sugarland Express” (1974). At the Oscars in 1978, Best Director went to Woody Allen for “Annie Hall.” Spielberg went on to rack up 6 more Best Director nominations for a total of 7 nominations and two wins, for “Schindler’s List” (1993) and “Saving Private Ryan” (1998). From IMDB trivia: It is the only time so far that Spielberg was nominated for a Best Director Oscar in a film not nominated for Best Picture.
Also interesting: Richard Dreyfuss, who starred as Roy Neary in “Close Encounters” also had top billing in “The Goodbye Girl” as Elliot Garfield. The two films came out within weeks of each other near the end of 1977. Dreyfuss won the Best Actor Oscar in 1978 for his performance in “The Goodbye Girl.”
Justin bet $11,199. He finished with $22,399.
Michelle bet it all, bringing her up to $22,800.
Ryan bet $14,500 so he won this game with $29,100. His 7x total is $156,497.
A triple stumper from each round:
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS ($400) “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” is a portrait of him, its author
FROM BOOK TO TV ($1600) Kelsey Grammer played a vindictive Hollywood producer in Amazon’s adaptation of this Fitzgerald novel
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Religion”
Letters mailed to “God, Jerusalem” are placed in this alliterative landmark. show
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Discounting You instead of You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling is petty. Unfair.
I’m sorry but did Michelle Mueckler say the legacy she is leaving her kids are expensive designer handbags?
I did. It has do to with the fact I would love them to have some vintage designer pieces when they are older. I had a friend who was left some beautiful things by her grandma and I always thought it was such a neat thing to be able to pass on.
Well, I guess that’s the purpose of the game, you came third then the next, you’re in the lead. Alex is right, Ryan gave a sigh of relief. Justin got all 3 DDs right, but midway, he started to ran out of fuel, giving Ryan the advantage. And, sorry to say but I haven’t watched that film although it is great. @VJ, was that film included in the AFI list of some sort?
Alex also said that you have to pick the two choices. Had they wrote down “Star Wars”, that would’ve been wrong. What really is the connection between “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Watch the Skies”?
@John Christian, on the AFI’s original Top 100 list, “Close Encounters” was No. 64.
It was dropped from the list altogether on their 10th anniversary list
@ John Christian
I guess because the aliens came from the sky?? There was also almost a mid-air collision of 2 planes? But primarily because the aliens came from outer space=the sky I guess.
Congrats to Ryan and to all who got final right. I sure wish ryan could have hit on a daily double but still a win is a win. Justin could have bet a bit more though but still the low bet strategy won’t work all the time for most contestants. Furthermore I think Michelle cabral has learned something after her run. Also VJ, do you have a favorite quote from close encounters of the third kind? And John I agree with you but I like players getting final.l right instead of getting it wrong.
@Lou I’m afraid that I’m too young to watch that film. Steven Spielberg is a legend, and I think he should’ve won for that and “Jurassic Park”.-
@Lou
Of course. Seeing that people are intelligent and/or knowledgable is always uplifting. A triple strike out, especially when you could have deduced the right FJ is always kind of depressing, at least for me. I’d rather be wrong predicting ) or 1 and everybody gets it than the other way around.
A note on the “Charge of the Light Brigade” clue, since Ryan was dinged for saying “You Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” in the First Lines category. The line from the poem does not have the word “the” in it. Many people read it that way (even when the poem is right in front of them), but it is
“Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them”
Funny I was just thinking of that poem this morning, as a good example of someone knowing something you wouldn’t expect them to know. I won a $50 bet with a 40-something lawyer when I was 17. He insisted I was wrong when I said Tennyson wrote it.
Congratulations to Ryan! Unfortunately for Justin, the low bets on the DDs cost him the game, since he got all DDs and FJ right.
Ryan is now #4 on the ToC list, passing Rob and with one more win he would be #3, just trailing – or joining- the 2 tournament winners, Dhruv and Larry. I am rooting for Ryan now, I just hope he does not get too confident. At his age that is a real danger.
@John, you should really watch the game before you go on and on about Ryan’s greatness. Despite Justin’s low DD bets, Justin still would have finished in the lead if he had not taken two guesses that cost him $3,600 at the very end of the round.
There’s no question that Ryan has had some really great luck but I’m not giving him credit for another player’s mistakes.
@VJ
Well, that would apply to Michelle (Cabral) then as well. She won mostly because other players made mistakes as well, but more costly than Michelle’s. No question she knows a lot but she lucked out in all 3 wins. And often there are many reasons for success or failure, not just one.
Might there be a “Link” for today’s show?
@Len, nope but you can probably find one by yourself if you search for today’s date and a video
@Len, sorry if you meant the extra clues link — I got totally sidetracked here by requests for Jimmie Rodgers videos and forgot to post it.
LINK: 10 more clues from the match
YES! THE WONDERFUL “EXTRA CLUES LINK!” THANK YOU!
You’re welcome, Len, and THANK YOU! for reminding me 🙂
@John I think Josh Hill needs to be very afraid because if he wins tomorrow, he could overtake him as the new leader. With a week left in this season, I think he could possibly break Julia Collins’ record.
@ John Christian
Does not really matter (except re: his bank account. He’ s in the ToC anyway and everything else was and is just (financial )gravy.
Wow! What a game this has been. You’re showing off now, Ryan.
Keep it going, Ryan.