1. For the movie the Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland was paid $35 a week while Toto received $125 a week.

2. The Blues Brothers once held the record for crashing the most police cars in a movie at approximately 30. The record was eventually broken by Blues Brothers 2000.

3. In the movie E.T. there is a scene where the young boy lures the extraterrestrial with some Reese's pieces. Originally Spielberg was going to use M+M's, but he could not get the rights. Reese's pieces were the replacement.

4. When the Mother-Ship passes over the Devil's Tower near the end of Spielberg's movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, R2-D2 can be seen hanging from the bottom of the ship.

5. When filming summer scenes in winter, actors suck on ice cubes just before the camera rolls - it cools their mouths so their breath doesn't condense in the cold air.

6. The Godfather was the first movie in over twenty years in which Marlon Brando was required to audition.

7. Before anyone is killed in the movie The Godfather, an orange is always seen somewhere.

8. Near the beginning of the movie Back To The Future there's a scene where they show all of the clocks at Doc's house. If you look closely there is one clock with a little man hanging from the minute hand.

9. Brooke Shields spent a lot of time during the filming of Blue Lagoon standing/walking in a trench beside Chris Atkins so that she wouldn't be taller than him in the scenes that they had together.

10. The producers of the movie Gone With The Wind were fined 5,000 dollars for allowing the word "damn" to be heard within the movie's dialog.

Here's the famous scene from the Godfather III:

The Godfather trilogy became a classic and the "Michael Jordan" of films related to organized crime, the Mafia, and Italian gangsters. Somehow, Mafia flicks begun to multiply and become commonplace during the next three decades following the first Godfather film (which was first released in 1972). Some examples are The Untouchables, Donnie Brasco, and Goodfellas. There are so many films like these, and many film critics say: "We've had enough of these Mafia films!!"

Well, just when we thought Mafia stories are out, they pull it back in. This time Mafia stories hit the TV industry. In the early 2000's, the TV series "The Sopranos" revived the savour of the Italian gangster underworld. This time it was not a Michael Corleone who made it all come to life, but a Tony Soprano and a family more adjusted to modern American lifetlye. Times have changed: No more elaborate Sicilian parties, or Nino Rota's waltzes. Instead, we see characters dealing with more serious challenges in the modern world, enjoying the benefits of mass media, and the ownership of a gangster bar called Bada Bing, where moral standards are more wicked than that of their forefathers. Strangely though, the Golden Ages of the Mafia underworld are long gone, but the Italian ganglords in The Sopranos are counting a whole lot of money more than ever.

And this time, it's no longer Al Pacino a.k.a Michael Corleone who recites the famous line (just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in), but an interesting character named Sylvio Dante who looks surprisingly similar to Pacino during younger years. You decide if this scene from "The Sopranos" give justice to the classic "Godfather" movie:

Ben Hur was a classic film that talks about the rise, fall and restoration of a righteous Jew who was wrongfully imprisoned for a petty crime he did not commit. Sentenced to die, scheduled to be thrown in a far off island, and his family thrown to the dungeons, Ben Hur (the name of the main character) succeeded in escaping imprisonment by getting out of a sinking ship and saving the life of an influential Roman General. After finding wealth, success and favor with the general and to Caesar himself, he only had two things left to do: Finding his long lost family, and executing revenge to those who have done him wrong in the past.

In this chariot race scene, Ben Hur reunites with his old friend that betrayed him in the past:

The Godfather - Classic opening scene

The first movie in the "The Godfather" trilogy appeared in 1972, and it became a timeless classic since then. It became a platform of popularity and remembrance for actors and actresses such as Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton. The movie tells the saga of a powerful Mafia family named Corleone. It's a tale of crime, power, love, death, ambition and many other underlying themes. Even experienced movie watchers claim that though this film trilogy was released more than thre decades ago, it is still unsurpassed in overall finesse, plot and filmmaking.

Here's the classic opening scene from the Godfather (Part 1):

Forrest Gump - "Run, Forrest, Run!!" scene

Forrest Gump enabled Tom Hanks to win the best actor award for the second time. Playing the role of a retard and social reject, the protagonist captured the hearts of many movie watchers. Forrest Gump is a story of both failure and success. It's about courage and it seems to tell people that there's a reason to live. As we have said earlier, the protagonist is a retard, whom no one believed in, but he was able to get far in life and be an important factor in several momentous events in human history. The theme of the movie was embodied in one popular phrase: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get".

Here's one of the most memorable scenes from Forrest Gump:

Gladiator - Strength and Honor scene

The film "The Gladiator" won many Academy Awards after it was released in the year 2000. It shows the glory of Rome during its Golden Ages. Maximus, played by actor Russel Crowe, is an influential general who fought for the Roman Empire. He is a skilled warrior and exhibits battle prowess. Eventually, the righteous emperor who is good to Maximus suddenly died (due to murder). A new wicked emperor assumed power and tried to dispose Maximus and even obliterate his family. In short, Maximus lost everything, became a slave, and sold to a far off colony to become what people call as a Gladiator -a man who fights and risks his life for the entertainment of others.

Here's one of the most popular scenes from the Gladiator, which exhibits Maximus' motto in every battle - "Strength and Honor":

Titanic - The sinking ship scene

Who will ever forget the movie Titanic? It raked in dozens of Oscar and Golden Globe Awards in 1997, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also opened up doors of opportunity for young Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The film is about love, freedom, courage and survival. Obviously, when a seemingly unsinkable ship suddenly gets stuck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, it certainly would make a good story, wouldn't it?

Here's the popular scene from the Titanic film (it's a little bit mushy for me, but I'm posting it anyway):

Saving Private Ryan - The Omaha Beach D-Day battle scene

Very few films have been made about the gruesome and brutal reality of the Normandy Invasion during World War 2. Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, gives a searing account of this dark yet succesful moment in history. After watching the film, your concept of war will surely never be the same again. This film also has a strong effect on youngsters who love the thrill of being in a simulated war zone, where everything feels and looks real. It's like going back to World War 2 and experiencing the entire thing.

Here's the scene:

Silence Of The Lambs - Conversation Between Clarice and Doctor Hannibal

Silence of the Lambs is a psychological thriller that goes deep inside the mind of a serial killer and a hardworking detective who was depraved during childhood. Surprisingly, the detective and the serial killer (who was a prisoner) develops a strange psychological bond and rapport. While the serial killer's main objective was to escape from prison, the detective's goal is to get in touch with her past and get rid of her inner demons that have been hiding within for her entire life.

Here's a creepy and mind boggling scene from Silence Of The Lambs:

Whether the United States is the global equivalent of a justified policeman, a sanctimonious criminal, or a muddled combination of the two is personally explored in the narrative of The Departed through the lives of two Massachusetts State Policemen, one of whom is posing as a criminal (Leonardo DiCaprio) while the other (Matt Damon) is quite genuinely integrated into mob boss, Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson) crime syndicate. In Scorsese's opening sequence, Costello, bestowing advice unto a young Colin Sullivan, declares, “When I was your age they used to say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying to you is this...When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?” In terms of war, Costello's “what's the difference?” simultaneously validates and condemns America's self-superior and noble interference in the political schemas of foreign countries by casting the nation as the amalgamation of gallant and morally negotiable intentions.

Besides parallels between the sentiments of the American public and the thematic preoccupations of the film, The Departed makes direct references to the prevailing paranoia about terrorism today and to the current and possible political agendas of the future United States. In Captain Queenan's (Martin Sheen) speech of narrative exposition to William Costigan (DiCaprio) early on, Queenan announces “We (The United States) will probably be at war with the Chinese in twenty-odd years and Costello is selling a military technology.” Special significance should be attributed to the fact that it is this particular crime, the obtaining and bartering of United States military technology, for which Costello is most vilified. The initial stakeout and sting operation performed by the Special Investigation Unit (to which the corrupt Sullivan gets promoted) is not concerned with the murders that Scorsese allows the audience to see Costello commit or the drugs being peddled by his number one, Mr. French (Ray Winstone).

Instead the focus centers on Costello's apparent betrayal of American, terrorist paranoia, namely his selling of military microprocessors. Even though the sting operation fails and Costello and his Chinese buyers appear to have made their transaction without a hitch, Scorsese directs The Departed to satisfy American patriotism by revealing that not even Costello, in his unadulterated wickedness could deliver military secrets into the hands of a foreign government. By arranging for Costello to double-cross his Chinese buyers, Scorsese serves two purposes; He maintains Costello's villainous persona while concurrently preserving America's safety from retribution, deserved or not, from a foreign threat.

Costello's importance to the narrative as a villain cannot be overstated, considering the values for which he stands, and considering that he is the antithesis of the “Serve and Protect” SIU that he has infiltrated. The Irish mob boss begins the film in voice over with his perverse interpretation of the “American Dream.” Over newsreel footage of the race riots in Boston “some years ago,” Frank Costello declares, “I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me…Twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a fucking job, we had the presidency…No one gives it to you. You have to take it.” In the very next scene, Scorsese shows Costello in his neighborhood “shaking down” a local grocery store clerk, essentially taking “it.”

From that moment on, Costello's role in the narrative is to force his reading of the American Dream upon as many people as possible and it becomes up to those people to discover their identity within Costello's greedy interpretation. Costello alternately advises Sullivan and Costigan in his way of thinking, passing along such mantras and insights as “A man has to make his own way,” and “I haven't needed the money since I took Archie's milk money in third grade. And to tell you the truth I don't need pussy anymore either…But I like it.” Sullivan and Costigan, the respective recipients of this skewed advice, represent opposing values while sharing similar identities.

Sullivan, Costello's deceitful, conniving, SIU mole operates toward personal ends and embodies the ardent pursuer of personal wealth who characteristically views America's policing of the world as a right by a survival of the fittest attitude. Costigan, the equally deceitful, conflicted “rat” in Costello's crew sacrifices personal time and ambition in order to serve the commonwealth, channeling the modern counterculture, which objects to the United States occupation of Iraq as well as the American government's self-appointed duty to bring democracy to the rest of the world. Though strikingly similar, Sullivan's and Costigan's relevant deception of SIU and Frank Costello differ most decidedly in whom each deceives and whom each believes he is deceiving.

William Costigan initially believes he is misleading no one. As a cadet at the Police Academy, Costigan (like Sullivan) genuinely performs well enough to be assigned to SIU's Undercover Department. In his first council with Captain Queenan and Staff Sergeant Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), Dignam ridicules Costigan's tragic lineage and speculates as to why he joined the state police. Immediately afterwards Queenan alleges about his department, “We deal in deception here. What we do not deal with is self-deception.” The “here” that the captain refers to is of course SIU, which acts as the upholder of, even if not the participator in [as evidenced by Dignam and Captain Ellerby (Alec Baldwin)], the moral standard of America and consequently the ethical voice of The Departed. With that ethical voice, Queenan condemns self-deception. Costigan generally heeds Captain Queenan's warning and identifies for much of the film with neither cop nor criminal.

After a year of undercover work, his behavioral deception takes its toll on him and Costigan, in a heated exchange with Dignam proclaims, “I can't be someone else every fucking day.” The statement supports Costigan's avoidance of the perilous self-deception, yet once Costigan is officially retired from having to deceive Costello and his crew as well as everyone outside of Queenan and Dignam, Costigan betrays Queenan's warning. After steadfastly declaring to Sullivan in their first meeting late in the film, “Being a cop's not an identity. I want my identity back,” Costigan attempts to arrest Sullivan, contradicting what he knows to not be his identity. Reassuming the cop role after Queenan's warning and his own declaration, Costigan is not permitted to survive The Departed.

Sullivan too, must deceive everyone, even Costello, the man he had been most loyal to since the film's first sequence. He deceives his unit, his employers, his father figure, Costigan, and his fiancé, but like Costigan, Sullivan's most menacing moments of deception occur when he allows is personal ambitions to deceive himself. Sullivan often looks to the State Senate on Beacon Hill in the film, minimally but effectively expressing his desire to become an ever-important authority figure in an institution that ideally exists to uphold the moral fiber of American values. The problem with this of course is that Sullivan is morally negotiable and not ideally dependable in his ethical ideology.

Sullivan seems always trying to convince himself that he can attain this status even through his whole-hearted acceptance of Costello's perversion of the American Dream. The ultimate deception of himself comes after Costigan's murder, when Sullivan attempts to assume the power to judge the moral integrity of another, by recommending Costigan for the Medal of Merit. Two scenes later, Dignam, the last man remaining from SIU (besides Captain Ellerby) executes Sullivan in the same way that Costigan was killed.

Scorsese's denunciation of the perverse interpretation of the American Dream as well as the importance of defining oneself within it, is well supported through the narrative events of The Departed. Scorsese interestingly pardons neither Sullivan nor Costigan for his transgressions of duality. However, the ultimate triumph is still enjoyed by the morally upstanding who aspire to punish the wicked.