Today's feature film is Semi-Tough, a vehicle giving the youthful duo of Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson the chance to show off their charms as football players Billy Clyde Puckett and Marvin "Shake" Tiller (respectively) vying for the attention of their attractive young roommate, Barbara Jane Bookman, played by Jill Clayburgh. Directed by Michael Ritchie, the film received mixed reviews criticizing a sloppy script with some superior comedy.
Question:
Burt Reynolds has been acting since his debut in 1959 on the television series Riverboat, often playing athletes or masculine heroes. In the 1972 film Deliverance, he gave one of the best performances of his career, playing a humbled anti-hero opposite Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox. What happens to Reynolds' character, Lewis Medlock, in the film that takes him out of commission?
a) He falls off a cliff
b) He gets shot
c) He breaks his leg
d) He is killed by backwoods locals
e) He is drowned in the river
Answer below.
Today in History:
September 23rd, 1845 was the day that the New York-based Knickerbockers Baseball Club was founded. The first team to play using the modern rules familiar to fans today. Four years later, the club designed and wore their own uniforms, also considered the first of the sport. The games took place across the Hudson River from Manhattan in the town of Hoboken. Because some of the players did not want to travel so far from home, they abandoned the team and eventually started their own, the New York Nine.
Richard Milhouse Nixon was the vice president under Eisenhower, between 1953 and 1961, but that almost never happened. While campaigning in 1952, Nixon was accused of unacceptable practices for political expenses during his tenure in the Congress.
Nixon gave a speech on national television on this date to defend himself, confronting those who condemned him in front of the American public in what turned out to be a career-saving move. Famously identified as the "Checkers Speech," Nixon described himself as completely innocent of receiving any gifts except that of a dog named Checkers, which he refused to give back because of the affection his children held for the dog.
Births:
Mickey Rooney turns 93 years old today. Born in 1920, the 5'2" New Yorker first walked onto a stage in his father's vaudeville show at seventeen months old, and has been a performer ever since. The first time he stood in front of a camera was at the age of seven, and he has not wandered far from the limelight since then. As a teenager, Rooney starred opposite Judy Garland in the Andy Hardy movies, wherein the duo performed song and dance as they entertained audiences during the Great Depression. He has since been recognized as an accomplished performer in movies, television, and on the stage. Rooney has also developed some notoriety for his private life, as he has been married eight times.
Today is also the birthday of actress Elizabeth Pena. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, has done much to
advance the cause of Latin American culture in the United States. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Pena has acted in and directed television and movies since the late-1970s.
Quotes:
Always get married in the morning. That way if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted the whole day. --Mickey Rooney.
Answer: c)
