what is hidden?

zeph’s pop culture quiz #40
What is hidden?
As we have approached some kind of jubilee with #40 of zeph’s pop culture quiz, here is a special one, a double feature, two riddles in one. A man facing away from us, a woman’s head in the foreground. In the scene depicted: What does the man try to hide from the woman present? The aficionados among you may well solve that question in an instant. So, now for the hard one. Partially hidden behind the man’s head there’s a poster on the wall. Which movie is advertised by the poster?
    Just leave a comment with your educated guesses—you can ask for additional hints, too. [Leaving a comment is easy; just click the ‘Leave a comment’ at the end of the post and fill in the form. If it’s the first time you post a comment, it will be held for moderation. But I am constantly checking, and once I’ve approved a comment, your next ones won’t be held, but published immediately by the system.]

UPDATE and solution (05 September 2012):

Ryoku immediately solved both riddles in one sweep: It is Eli (Denzel Washington) trying to hide the book he is carrying from Solara (Mila Kunis) in the post-apocalyptic thriller The Book of Eli (Hughes & Hughes 2010). As ryoku suggested the room Eli is held in appears to be the projection room, or a storage room of an old, defunct cinema. Hence there are film canisters around, and hence the movie poster on the wall behind Eli, a fine easter egg. The poster promotes A Boy and his Dog (Jones 1975), starring a youthful Don Johnson. Wikipedia perfectly sums it up:

A Boy and His Dog is a cycle of narratives and films including or stemming from works of science fiction author Harlan Ellison.
    Ellison began the cycle with the 1969 short story of the same title, and a revised and expanded novella-length version was published in Ellison’s story collection ‘The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World’ the same year. Ellison continued the story in ‘Vic and Blood,’ a graphic novel illustrated by Richard Corben, who also illustrated two previously published short stories featuring Vic and Blood: ‘Eggsucker’ and ‘Run, Spot, Run.’
    Ellison’s expanded novella was the basis of a film adaptation in 1975, the post-apocalyptic science fiction film of the same name, directed by L. Q. Jones.


ELLISON, HARLAN JAY. 1969a. A boy and his dog. New Worlds 189: 4-16.
ELLISON, HARLAN JAY. 1969b. “A boy and his dog,” in The beast that shouted love at the heart of the world by Harlan Jay Ellison, pp. 217-254. New York: Avon.
ELLISON, HARLAN JAY. 1977. “Eggsucker,” in Ariel: The Book of Fantasy, Vol. 2 edited by Thomas Durwood, pp. 6-13. New York: The Morningstar Press, Ballantine Books.
ELLISON, HARLAN JAY. 1981. Run, Spot, run. Amazing Stories 54(4): 15-25.
ELLISON, HARLAN JAY AND RICHARD CORBEN. 1989. Vic and Blood: The chronicles of a boy and his dog [graphic novel]. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
ELLISON, HARLAN JAY AND RICHARD CORBEN. 2003. Vic and Blood: The continuing story of a boy and his dog [graphic novel]. New York: iBooks.
HUGHES, ALBERT AND ALLEN HUGHES. 2010. The book of Eli [motion picture]. Burbank: Warner Bros.
JONES, L. Q. (aka MCQUEEN, JUSTUS ELLIS). 1975. A boy and his dog (aka Psycho boy and his killer dog aka Mad Don aka Apocalypse: 2024) [motion picture]. Los Angeles: LQ/JAF.

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  • ryoku Tuesday, 4th September 2012 at 15:58

    the man tries to hide the title-giving “book of eli” (2010). the room he is staying / being kept in appears to be the projection room of an old cinema, which explains loose film reels lying around – and the movie poster in question. it is for “a boy and his dog” (1975). the tagline reads: “an R rated, rather kinky tale of survival” :D
    congrats on your 40th!

    • zephyrin_xirdal Tuesday, 4th September 2012 at 16:06

      Ryoku is back with a vengeance! Congratulations, everything is absolutely correct! How the hell … ? :o)

  • Alexander Rabitsch Wednesday, 5th September 2012 at 09:02

    … know thy films well …. :D

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