a weblog of wordplay by Eric Harshbarger
String of Movies
Walking to a friends house tonight I pondered a word challenge using the titles of movies (I see a lot of movies in the theaters -- of course, I keep track of all of them too). A movie I enjoyed this year was one entitled Stranger Than Fiction. I noticed later in the year that another movie (one I did not see) was called Perfect Stranger -- it ended with the exact word that began the first title.This would allow a "chain" to be made between the two titles, linked by the word "Stranger":
Perfect Stranger Than Fiction
I then recalled a Jennifer Aniston film (which I also did not see) that came out several years ago titled Picture Perfect.
The challenge was on. I was now at: Picture Pefect Stranger Than Fiction.
I own the DVD of The Kid Stays In The Picture.
At this point I was pretty sure there had probably been a movie made titled "Billy The Kid," but I wasn't sure.
At the end of my walk I caught up with my friend Robert (another movie buff) who said he was positive of a movie called Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid.
This is where we stopped before we moved on to other things:
Pat Garret & Billy The Kid Stays In The Picture Pefect Stranger Than Fiction.
Later, when I was back home and online, I decided to see how long I could keep this chain going with the aid of The Internet Movie Database. Here's what I got:
(While Supplies [Last) Man (Standing] [Pat) Garrett & Billy (The Kid] Stays In The [Picture) (Perfect] [Stranger) Than Fiction]
I certainly could have extended it further since the IMDb lists very obscure, short, limited-run, never-even-heard-of, movies.
But my interest waned at this point. maybe you will stay interested long enough to find a longer list.
-- Eric
P.S.: I suppose the real challenge would be to make such a chain using only movies which I have seen myself, or even just own on DVD.
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Comments about this article:
I tried this myself and... you are right, this gets pretty boring. However, it could be the basis for a fun game. What two movie mashup stars Tim Allen and Rae Dawn Chong? What about Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie? John Cleese and John Clesse? What triple feature has Johnny Depp, Kevin Bacon, and Jim Carrey?Posted by: Alan Morgan
It sounds fun to me. I will try this on my movie record, which I kept only since 2010 but some chain should be found.
Posted by: Bo
http://methmath.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/lets-chain-those-movies/
I knew I'd be fun. :)
It'd be really interesting to have a really big list (~ 10k) of relevant and known titles.
Posted by: Bo
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