This coming Monday in the U.S. is Labor Day, a holiday. You won't see much holiday spirit in the faces of most American children, but their parents may be whooping up like it's New Year's Eve. That's because next week is Back to School.
Hence, this week's quizzz(yawn)zzz: movies about workers and movies about students.
From the descriptions below, try to guess the titles. (Hint: Even though most American schools are run like medium security prisons, "I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is NOT one of the answers!)
Ready? Keep your eyes on your own paper, er, computer screen!
1. An uncouth businessman played by Rodney Dangerfield accompanies his confidence-challenged son to college.
2. Doris Day leads her co-workers in a sleepwear factory to strike for an additional seven-and-half-cents in their paychecks.
3. Teenaged surfing enthusiast Jeff Spicoli irritates his strait-laced teacher, Mr. Hand.
4. Sally Field plays the title character who has just one word for her fellow-workers at a textile manufacturing plant: "Union!"
5. An out-of-it teenager, confused by the antics of his eccentric brother and uncle, starts to blossom when he befriends a classmate newly arrived from Mexico. Source of the ubiquitous tee-shirts with the slogan, "Pedro for President!"
6. John Sayles wrote and directed this film based on a true story about the volatile labor relations in a West Virginia mining community.
7. Julia Roberts inspires her art students toward self-determination in this movie set in the pre-women's liberation 1950s.
8. In this cult comedy which arguably may be the funniest all-time movie about work, a cog in the corporate machine is vexed by a middle manager, Bill Lumbergh, who, among other indignities, wants him to come in on weekends. When rumors about "downsizing" flare up, the worker enlists his colleagues in a hilarious attempt to sabotage the company.
9. Matthew Broderick plays the madcap hero of this comedy which transforms playing hooky into an art form.
10. Office workers played by Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda conspire to kill their obnoxious boss.
11. The Father of All Bullies, Flashman, torments boys at an English school.
12. Melanie Griffith takes two things from her boss, Sigourney Weaver. First she takes over her job, and then she steals her boyfriend.
13. Spike Lee's opinionated, exuberant, and energetic look at a Southern college campus amid the civil rights movement.
14. Meryl Streep's character becomes a threat -- and threatened -- when she uncovers safety violations at a nuclear facility.
15. Prep school student in love with his pretty teacher discovers that his rival for her affections is a wealthy industrialist played by Bill Murray.
Answers
(No cheating, or you'll be sent to the Principal's Office!)
1. Back to School (1986)
2. The Pajama Game (1957)
3. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
4. Norma Rae (1979)
5. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
6. Matewan (1987)
7. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
8. Office Space (1999)
9. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
10. Nine to Five (1980)
11. Tom Brown's School Days (1940)
12. Working Girl (1988)
13. School Daze (1988)
14. Silkwood (1983)
15. Rushmore (1998)
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