The Eighties Club
The Politics and Pop Culture of the 1980s
Trivia Challenge # 5
1. Tom Cruise uttered the line "I feel the need, the need for speed!" in what 1986 movie?
2. When the hit sitcom M*A*S*H ended, several of the show's characters were resurrected in the sequel AfterMASH (1983-1984). One of them was Father Mulcahy. Name the other two characters.
3. Name the rather ungainly white basketball player who became a superstar and led the Boston Celtics to several NBA championships in the 1980s.
4. Milo, Binkley and Opus were all characters in one of the most popular comic strips of the Eighties. Name that strip. (Hint: Berke Breathed was the artist.)
5. The Mongoose was a (A) popular '80s video game, (B) popular '80s dance step, or (C) popular brand of BMX bike.
6. What presidential hopeful had to drop out of the race for the 1988 Democratic nomination after it was revealed that he had lied about his college record and plagiarized a speech by a British politician?
7. Culled from the film Dead Poet's Society (1989), carpe diem became an integral part of '80s slang. What does it mean?
8. In 1988, Panamanian leader ______ _______ was indicted by a federal grand jury on drug bribery charges.
9. The wedding of Luke and Laura (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis), two characters on the popular soap opera _______ ________ (two words), was a huge television event.
10. In his second term as president, Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with, and had surgery for, what kind of cancer?
11. Which of the following popular young movie stars of the '80s was NOT in the hit film Pretty in Pink -- Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy, Jon Cryer?
12. Which of the Taylors in the band Duran Duran -- Nick, John and Roger -- are brothers?
13. In 1985 the corpse of Nazi war criminal _____ _______ was discovered and positively identified in Brazil.
14. Actress Tawny Kitaen married the lead singer of what '80s hard rock band? (Bonus Point: Name the singer.)
15. What hit Berlin song was featured on the soundtrack of the film Top Gun?
16. Why was the name of the main character in the TV series The Greatest American Hero changed after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981?
17. Name the star who appeared as Madonna's father in the video for "Papa Don't Preach." (Hint: He also starred in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing.)
18. How many days were the American hostages (seized by militants during the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran) held captive in Iran?
19. Dennis Franz, star of the '90s TV series NYPD Blue was a cast member (for two seasons) in another cop show, this one in the Eighties. Name that show.
20. What was the name of Mr. Roarke's diminutive sidekick in the long-running TV series Fantasy Island?
21. Bea Arthur starred in the short-lived 1983 sitcom Amanda's on ABC. The series was based on a popular British comedy program starring John Cleese. Name that British program.
22. Which author called Ronald Reagan "a triumph of the embalmer's art"?
23. What names did Miami Vice cops Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs use as aliases when they went undercover?
24. Identify the popular '80s band that took their name from a chapter title in Arthur Janov's book, Primal Scream. (Hint: Roland Orzabal was one of the members of this group.)
25. Toon character Jessica Rabbitt said, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way" in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Name the actress who provided Jessica's sultry voice.
26. The popular '80s sitcom The Facts of Life (1979-1988), starring Kim Fields and Nancy McKeon, was a spinoff of what equally popular comedy series?
27. What ex-president was paid $2 million for a nine-day speaking tour of Japan in 1989?
28. Some record store owners were arrested on obscenity charges for selling a Miami-based rap group's album, Nasty as They Wanna Be. Name the group. (Choices: Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, 2 Live Crew, Public Enemy.)
29. Name the wife of a congressman who had sex with her husband on the steps of the Capitol, posed nude in Playboy, and released a reggae album.
30. Who was the Dodgers pitcher who, in 1988, set a record with 59 scoreless innings?
31. What drug, also known as MDMA, was legal until 1985?
32. Heather O'Rourke, Dominique Dunne, Will Sampson and Julian Beck all died tragically in the 1980s after appearing together in what 1982 film?
33. If you were a fan of groups like False Prophets, Kraut and Reagan Youth, you were most likely into what kind of dancing? (Choices: breakdancing, slamdancing, dirty dancing, ballroom dancing.)
34. Dolores Benedict (The Man With Two Brains), Sarah Leary (The Accidental Tourist) and Irene Walker (Prizzi's Honor) were all characters played by the same actress. Can you name her?
35. What actress uttered the immortal line, "The dingo's got my baby!" in the 1988 film A Cry in the Dark?
36. Tatum O'Neal, daughter of actor Ryan O'Neal, married what tennis star in 1986?
37. What was billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley convicted of in 1989?
38. Also in 1989, L. Douglas Wilder became the nation's first elected black governor. What state did he govern?
39. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death warrant for author Salman Rushdie because Rushdie "insulted" Iran in a novel entitled ___ ________ ______ (3 words.)
40. "My name is Ted / One day I'll be dead" are lyrics from what 1986 hit song? (Hint: It was recorded by Boys Don't Cry.)
41. Actor John James played the same character, Jeff Colby, in not one, but two primetime soaps. One of these series was Dynasty. Can you name the other?
42. In 1985, Nintendo introduced Super Mario Brothers. The game became so popular that the two brothers it featured had their own Saturday cartoon show by the end of the Eighties. What were the brothers' names?
43. Michael Milken headed the junk bond division of what brokerage firm?
44. In 1984, Louis Farrakhan described a certain deceased foreign leader as "a very great man." Can you identify the object of Farrakhan's admiration?
45. Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton were two of the three female singers who performed on the 1987 country album Trio. Can you name the third performer?
46. What 1987 film did the Washington Post call "the feel-bad movie of the decade"? (Hint: It starred Michael Douglas.)
47. Which of the following Broadway shows was composer Andrew Lloyd Webber NOT involved in? (Choices: Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, Les Miserables.)
48. In November 1984, People magazine devoted -- for the first time in its history -- an entire issue to one performer. Who was it?
49. Kurt Waldheim, UN Secretary General and president of Austria, was banned from entering the United States during the 1980s. Why?
50. Why was Alan Berg, a Denver talk show host, killed in 1984 by a band of neo-Nazis calling themselves The Order? (Actually, this was tragic, not trivial.)

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