Final Jeopardy: Blockbuster Movies (8-12-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (8/12/2021) in the category “Blockbuster Movies” was:
Based on a 1974 novel, this film has been described as combining “An Enemy of the People” & “Moby Dick”
16x champ Matt Amodio, a PhD student from New Haven, CT won $505,200 so far. In Game 17, the challengers are: Steve Spillman, a product manager from Los Angeles, CA; and Ruth Reichard, a judicial educator from Indianapolis, IN .
Round 1 Categories: Unusual Islands – Time for Seconds – Colorful Pro Sports Teams – Shirt Shorts – Riddle Me This – Dumb Answers
Matt found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Unusual Islands” under the $1,000 clue on the very first pick of the round. No one had a nickel. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
Miyake islanders have worn masks to thwart this element, Atomic No 16, prevalent in the air due to gassy Mount Oyama. show
Matt finished in the lead with $11,800. Ruth was second with $800 and Steve was last with negative $200. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Classic British Novels – Historic Groups – “Con” Game – Features of the Moon – City Transportation – The Gershwin Prize
Matt found the first Daily Double in “Features of the Moon” under the $2,000 clue on the 16th pick. He was in the lead with $22,600 now, $14,600 more than Ruth in second place. He bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
Apollo 17 astronauts landed near a mountain called “South” this; you may be familiar with the Vinson one in Antarctica show
Ruth got the last Daily Double in “Classic British Novels” under the $400 clue, with 7 clues left after it. In second place with $10,000, she had $15,600 less than Matt’s lead. She boldly bet $9,000 and she was RIGHT.
Seen here is a cover for one of the earlier editions of
this Wells novel show
Matt finished in the lead with $30,400. Ruth was next with $21,000 and Steve was in third place with $200. No clues went uncovered.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “JAWS”?
Released in June 1975, “Jaws” broke the American box-office record held by “The Godfather” in 78 days, giving rise to the term “summer blockbuster”. On The Morning News Website, William Orem comments on its connections to Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick” and Henrik Ibsen’s play “Enemy of the People”: “The link to Moby-Dick is clear…. In fact, Spielberg had originally wanted to introduce the character of Quint by showing him in a movie theater, watching the 1956 Moby Dick and laughing uproariously. (Gregory Peck refused to allow the scene.) More subtly than this, in the opening sequence when we first meet Chief Brody, he passes through downtown Amity and underneath a sign that reads “Tashtego.” Tashtego is one of the Pequod’s harpoonists, a native of Gay Head, on the Vineyard….
“Less immediately apparent is the link to Ibsen. Highbrow Jaws fans have suggested for a while that the first half of the movie is a retelling of Ibsen’s 1882 play An Enemy of the People, adapted by Arthur Miller in 1950, in which a lone protagonist comes to know that the local baths are contaminated (there’s something deadly in the water) but the moneyed powers-that-be don’t want him bruiting that information about. Amity is a summer town, after all, and they need summer dollars.”
Also see: 10 Hidden Details You Never Noticed in “Jaws”
Steve wrote “I had fun!” He lost his $99 bet and finished with $101.
Ruth drew a blank. That cost her $21,000 and left her with nothing.
Matt got it right. He bet $12,000 and won the game with $42,400. Matt’s 17-day total is $547,600.
A triple stumper from each round:
DUMB ANSWERS ($1000) Also a Jethro Tull album title, this 4-word rhyming phrase includes a building material
HISTORIC GROUPS ($1600) Formed by the U.S. to help China in World War II, the American Volunteer Group Air Corps was also known as these “felines”
5 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “20th Century English Nobility”
In Africa on Nov. 26, 1922, he anxiously asked Howard Carter, “Can you see anything?” show
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He might be able to win in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.
This is the easiest Final in a long time. I had the answer before I finished reading the question. I thought all 3 would nail the Final.
Agreed, cinch final, especially if you knew Peter Benchley’s novel came out a year before the movie. Ruth really should have bet no more than $9100 to ensure at least a 2nd-place finish. It cost her $1000 in real money eventually. She wins the game if she bets $9100, gets it right, and Matt misses with his $12K bet. A $0 wager by Ruth also wins the game if both she and Matt miss the final.
CORRECTION: $9401 was the amt she needed to wager in FJ, just in case Matt bet $0, not $9100.
Wow! Matt has officially passed Jason Zuffranieri’s 19 game winnings of $532,496 in just 17 games! He is now only behind James Holzhauer’s 32 game winnings of $2,462,216, and Ken Jennings’ 74 game winnings of $2,520,700, making him #3 in most winnings in the regular season. As for games, he is still #5.
I was expecting Ruth to get the final jeopardy response right and Matt to miss it.
Now that Matt has won 17 games & is the 3rd biggest regular season game winner with $547,600, we shall see how tomorrow goes. The final game of Season 37, and when that happens, honestly, I’ll be like “Thank G-d!” is over, because the only word that I can sum up this season is “Empty”.
Go Matt Go!
Ruth shoulda won this game but I think Matt would have won the most money in Final Jeopardy! as well.
This is the very first game where Matt didn’t even lose a single nickel. Or a dime. He has a very good sense of value that I think he would have in the Tournament of Champions. Go! Go! Go! You rock! I would love to see you sweep another week and wrap up Season 37 with another win by tomorrow! Keep on winning!
Ruth almost scared Matt into defeating him but that 9000 dollar bet daily double worked out in her favor. Once again Matt had a good opponent today but since ruth missed final , Matt made a comeback today. Hopefully the finale will ensure that our superchamp will end the season with a bang and let him relax to calm his nerves. Overall Matt and Ruth took control of the board makimg it impossible for steve to catch up. Speaking of jaws , Richard Kiel played that henchman jaws in James bond movies vj. So now Matt has overtaken Jason but he still has to pass Julia Collins.
I don’t recall any time during the game that Ruth had the lead so Matt didn’t need to make a comeback, Lou. He just needed to get FJ! right and he did.
3 people went with everyone would get FJ! today, including me. So I was never worried about Matt losing as long as he was in the lead. Besides, Roscoe was on deck today.
Like Trevor, I also expected Ruth to get FJ and Matt to miss it Although contestants are supposed to be trivia buffs, when you see “Blockbuster Movies” and 1974, if you were around at that time, you have a better shot at knowing the movie.
So, yeah, I was afraid Matt was finished.
@Roscoe— good kitty!.
Wow a game, Ruth knew what she had to do in order to have a shot at taking down the champion by wagering big. But in the end, Ruth missed FJ! and wagered everything while Matt responded correctly and that help him become a 17 time champion. Tomorrow is the season 37 finale of Jeopardy! I wonder what will happen tomorrow? Will Matt end the season as an 18 time champion or will one of the challengers take him down? It all comes down to an exciting finish of season 37.
Go Matt go!
Ruth sure put a scare into Matt!
At least 2 rare occurrences in this game: (1) this was the first game where Matt didn’t have a wrong answer. As strong as he is, I think he sometimes buzzes in with the confidence that the correct response will come to him in the allotted time (if he doesn’t already know it); (2j on cursory search through the archives, I believe this was the first time since April 23rd that a DD was uncovered on the lowest value clue (and Ruth sure capitalized).