Sunday, December 16, 2012

Berowne's Quiz Answer

Thanks to Dina, who came up with the correct answer, the movie in question is "Schindler's List." (Also submitted to Three-Word Wednesday and ABC Wednesday: "W" is for "Wheeling")
Each week I’ve been posting a little Berownial quiz. Folks seem to like them so here’s another one.
If we’ve had enough Shakespeare for a while, how about motion pictures as a topic? I wrote the following scene, inspired by one of the best movies of the past few decades. Your assignment – should you choose to accept it – is to figure out from the clues which movie it suggests.


“What is all this? I go on vacation for a couple of weeks and come back to chaos! What happened?”
“We’ve been closed down.”
“Closed down? What does that mean?”
“Well, it’s the opposite of ‘opened up,’ except it’s ’closed down’.”
“Come on, Irv. Skip the wisecracks. Tell me what has happened.”
“I thought you knew. It's been very eventful. We’ve got a new CEO and he’s moving the corporation to Wheeling, West Virginia. So he has very softly closed down our whole branch of the company.”
“Wheeling – where the hell is that?”
“I believe it’s in West Virginia, as I may have mentioned.”
“So why does this guy want to take the company there?”
“Well, it seems that he lived there as a kid and wants to move back.”
“You mean to tell me this whole huge corporation is being uprooted and torn apart and moved across the country, with all the hardships that implies, simply because the CEO wants to go back to his home town? Is that possible?”
“Welcome to Economics 101, titled ‘The Perks of Management’. Even worse, they're taking all our workers here in this division and shipping them off, almost like to prison.",
“But why would he shut us down? Our record is profitable.”
“But we’re manufacturing. Seems that in our country people who work in manufacturing, folks who actually make stuff as opposed to folks who just sit in front of computer screens, are on the way out.”
“But we make excellent products! We contribute to the national economy. We in manufacturing are what has made America great! There’s a moral issue here.”
“Sounds like you’re making a speech. As for the moral issue, that’s a pretty high-falutin’ term for what we’ve actually been doing here – making pots and pans for the military.”
“So what? They’re still excellent products!”
“Yes, but face it, they’re pots and pans that can be made by kids in Jiangsu Province or some such place for a fraction of what it costs here to make a pot. Or, as far as that goes, a pan.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to look into this. They say there's a lot of prejudice in our country because of the positions taken by our Leader. But here I am doing business with a Jewish guy and we're doing fine.”
“I'm happy to hear it.”
"I mean it. I’m going to see that at least you, Irving Starr, will have a job. Let’s face it, I’m the one in the front office but I’m just an echo of what goes on here. I'm well aware that you’re the guy who made things run. This business would have been nothing without you.”
“And now it’s going to be nothing with me.”

Go on, have a go. Which movie is suggested by the above scene?
(Also submitted to Sunday Scribblings.)

30 comments:

Unspoken said...

You have stumped me!

Jae Rose said...

Oh no..I have gone blank on films..I always feel your names must be clues..no doubt I will be slapping my head next week when you tell us! Keep up the mission..even though its mission impossible over here..

Other Mary said...

The only thing that comes to mind is a Michael Keaton movie called Gung Ho. ??? (Did I mention I don't get to see enough movies?)

Kathe W. said...

there's the movie "Outsourced" but I don't think that is quite it...ack- and I watch a lot of movies...dang nab it!

Irish Gumbo said...

For some reason this made me think of "Glengarry Glen Ross" but I suspect that is not it :)

Berowne said...

We've had some good guesses, but so far no one has come up with the correct answer. Who else would like to try?

kelvin s.m. said...

..interesting quiz...but i think i'll have to study further how this works...

smiles...

kaykuala said...

Can't think of any connection on this.

Hank

Kay L. Davies said...

Well, if no one else has come up with the right answer, I'm not even going to bother guessing.
But you certainly are good at keeping the suspense going in the blogosphere, Berowne.
A quiz with no answers...maybe there's a movie in that.
K

Berowne said...

"A quiz eith no answers..." Ah, there's an answer, Kay L. Maybe I should just be a little more generous with the clues.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Not a great movie go-er Berowne so - erm, erm, don't know!

Nevertheless it sounds kind of familiar - maybe I saw the movie on Sky.

Anna :o]

Silent Otto said...

"Pretty Woman " , leaps out of the ether for me, merry Xmas , Berowne.

Cindi said...

Wonderfully worded... and I'm clueless!

Roger Owen Green said...

I'll bet I've SEEN this movie, but I'm not getting it.

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Carrie Van Horn said...

You got me.....look forward to the answer to this quiz Berowne. :-)

Carver said...

I'm also clueless but I do so enjoy your writing. Carver, ABC Wed. Team

Berowne said...

I had no idea this quiz would be so difficult. Sorry. Maybe movies is not a good topic; we'll have to go back to Shakespeare. But I keep thinking someone will yet put the clues together and blurt out the name of the film. Good luck!

Lyn said...

Trying to read between the lines..nothing seems familiar to me..
It better not be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...
Bring back Will!!

Leslie: said...

You got me! No idea, but will be checking back to find out the answer.

Leslie
abcw team

Joy said...

Nope you've got me foxed. I even cheated by looking at a list of Irving Starr produced films and the only one I recognised was Bataan which is just the type of film that get shown on TV at Christmas here, although (unrelated to your question) I prefer my yearly fix of Meet Me in St Louis.
Looking forward to more film quizzes.
Joy - ABC Team

Hazel said...

Speechless in Seattle... err... Clueless in Bangkok!

Lydia said...

Hmmm. I am thinking maybe a Michael Moore documentary....Roger and Me, possibly?

Sheilagh Lee said...

sorry no idea

Berowne said...

Thanks for all the valiant efforts. Sorry the quiz was so difficult. I'll publish the answer tomorrow, Thursday - whichever comes first. :-)

Dina said...

Oh, now I get it! "Schindler's List"

Mary said...

You are just better with films than we all are! Nothing to apologize for.

Berowne said...

All Hail! At the last minute, we get the correct answer from Dina. I'll post the coment here.

Tess Kincaid said...

Your quiz thing is so much fun, Mr. B!

Berowne said...

Wonderful to hear that, Tess. Thanks so much.

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