Image: The Movie DB
About This Quiz
This British movie about the battle of wits between a virtuous Christian policeman and free-loving, island-dwelling neopagans has become a cult classic! Do you dare to revisit the island with our quiz?
What is Sgt. Howie's first name?
Adam
Henry
Neil
Neil Howie was portrayed by Edward Woodward. He did a lot of stage work in England and Australia, as well as TV and film work.
Nigel
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What is the name of the island Howie visits?
Atlantea
Tir Na Og
Summerisle
"Summerisle" evokes the island's fertility and its inhabitants' pagan religion. It is also the name of the island's de facto leader.
St. Xavier's Island
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Who played Lord Summerisle?
Roger Moore
Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee was deeply involved in the making of the film. He considered it his best film, and paid his own way on a tour promoting it.
Alec Guinness
Peter O'Toole
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What is the first name of the missing girl?
Annie
Bronwen
Rowan
Most of the inhabitants of Summerisle have names that evoke nature. Rowan is a tree with light-red berries. It's also both a male and female name (see Rowan Atkinson).
Kern
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How does Howie learn of Rowan Morrison's disappearance?
a mainland newspaper
a phone call from her distant cousin
an anonymous letter
Sgt. Howie doesn't really seem beholden to any sort of "Chief Inspector" figure. He goes to the island by himself and seems to operate entirely on his own. (At least, in the theatrical cut. We do see more of Howie's mainland life in the director's cut.)
his Chief Inspector simply assigns him the case
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What painted symbol marks the dinghy that Howie rides to shore in?
an eye
The symbol is called the "evil eye" in some writings about the film, although it doesn't look particularly scary. The boat belonged to a local near where "The WIcker Man" was filmed - it was borrowed for these scenes.
a tree branch
a wolf's head
a smiling sun
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What is May Morrison's job on the island?
lighthouse keeper
magistrate
postmistress
It seems like Sgt. Howie should have shown her the envelope the anonymous letter came in, and asked if she remembered who mailed it. He doesn't, though -- he merely asks the questions a police officer would ask a mother in this situation.
schoolteacher
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Rowan's mother makes what surprising claim about the girl?
that Rowan wrote the letter as a prank and is fine
that she is away studying ballet in Russia
that she committed suicide
that she never existed
The men Howie first meets at the harbor say the same thing. Actually, they say it a little too well, passing around the photo with lots of head-shaking and denials that frankly seem rehearsed.
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What is Myrtle Morrison painting when Howie talks to her?
a cat
a dog
a rabbit
a hare
While "hare" and "rabbit" seem interchangeable, Mrs. Morrison insists on using the first term. It's also the word that Myrtle Morrison uses to describe her pet.
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What is the name of the inn Sgt. Howie stays at?
The Frog and Peach
the Green Man
"The Green Man" is one of many touches that reflect the island's pagan religion. It suggests a kind of fertility god, and also the wicker statue that Howie will eventually be burned in.
The Globe
the Savoy
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What is the name of Myrtle Morrison's hare?
Cuddles
Jinny
Peter
Rowan
Sgt. Howie naturally gets excited when Myrtle mentions "Rowan." But when he asks if she'll be home for tea, Myrtle says, "Hares don't have tea!"
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What is the name of the innkeeper's daughter?
Liesl
Gwen
Tara
Willow
The name Willow would go on to be very popular after "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," featuring Willow Rosenberg. In 1973, however, it was simply a name which suited a pagan girl on Summerisle.
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Who played Willow?
Julie Christie
Britt Ekland
Julie Andrews would have been a good choice also, since Willow sings in the movie. Ekland had to be dubbed by singer Rachel Verney.
Julie Andrews
Olivia Hussey
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Which harvest-festival photograph is missing from the wall?
the first one
1970's
1972's
Howie looks with interest at the photos, all of which show a girl or young woman standing among the harvested crops. Of course, we're going to see the missing photograph soon enough.
all of them have been taken down
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As Howie says his evening prayers, what is shown in flashbacks?
images from his afternoon talking to the villagers
Howie taking communion and reading from the gospel
In the longer version of the movie, the audience sees his life on the mainland, including him at church. In the theatrical cut, the church is only seen in flashback.
Howie praying with his mother as a child
Howie being punished by his father for skipping church
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What is unusual about the way Willow tries to seduce Sgt. Howie?
it is completely wordless
it is through a bedroom wall
Willow sings and dances up against her bedroom wall, knocking on it at times. Howie presses himself against the wall, sweats, kneels to pray and ultimately resists going to her room.
she wears a mask
she wears a man's clothing
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Howie's investigation into Rowan's death finally gains traction when he finds what?
her locket on the beach
her name in the school registry
Sgt. Howie asks the schoolgirls if they know Rowan, and they all say no. When he finds the name in the register, he calls them "despicable little liars." The man isn't exactly a charm-school graduate.
a large bloodstain in her house
another anonymous note encouraging him not to give up
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What does Howie find in Rowan Morrison's desk?
a beetle circling a nail
The beetle is tethered to the nail, and a giggling girl explains that it will keep going in a circle until he's wound up tightly against the nail. Golly, what could that be a metaphor for?
a dead mouse
a girl's bracelet
an old spelling test with the initial R.M.
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Why does Miss Rose say the islanders weren't lying about not knowing Rowan?
they were respecting the family's privacy
they were deeply confused
they don't trust the police
Rowan no longer exists
Miss Rose continues with an explanation of how the villagers see death as reincarnation into nature and the elements. Which is nice, but doesn't really justify the runaround they gave Howie.
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In the town's cemetery, Howie comes across a woman holding a baby in her arms and what in one hand?
an egg
The filmmakers later explained that this was part of a fertility ritual. A great many things come down to fertility -- of land and of humans -- on Summerisle.
a flower
a pocket watch
a wine bottle
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What hangs in the tree on Rowan Morrison's grave?
a doll, hanging by the hair
red ribbons
a pair of baby shoes tied together
a dried umbilical cord
The groundskeeper calls it Rowan's "navel string." It likely has some kind of superstitious purpose.
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How does Lord Summerisle defend the ritual of women jumping through a fire naked?
he says it's a courage-building ritual
he says it's a bonding ritual
he says no one's forced to do it
he says jumping through a fire with clothes on is much too dangerous
He says this as though it's entirely obvious. There's really no shaking Lord Summerisle's aplomb.
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When Lord Summerisle says, "I think I could turn and live with animals," who is he quoting?
Robert Burns
Robert Browning
Geoffrey Chaucer
Walt Whitman
It's a little surprising that a pagan on an isolated island quotes Whitman, but the town does have a library. Or perhaps audiences were meant to think that Summerisle's words were original to him.
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How did the people of Summerisle become pagans?
they've always been pagans
Lord Summerisle's grandfather instituted the religion
This is a surprisingly unromantic explanation. The first Lord Summerisle was a Victorian botanist who introduced new crops to the island, and thought, correctly, that the people would work harder if they felt a connection to nature and the land.
they had a mass vision of the sun god
they overthrew the Christian clergy in a people's revolt
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When Sgt. Howie exhumes Rowan's grave, what does he find?
nothing
a freshly-killed hare
The hare is obviously newly dead, as its fur is still soft and brown and it hasn't begun to decompose. Howie now has the distinct idea the islanders are toying with him.
a baby doll
a jackal skeleton
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What does Howie do with the hare?
leaves it in the grave
takes it to the Morrison home
throws it on Lord Summerisle's rug
Lord Summerisle is playing the piano in the evening, while Miss Rose sits on the parlor rug and sings along. Howie, throwing the hare's body in from the doorway, brings that to an abrupt halt.
makes soup with it
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What is the Hand of Glory?
another wicker statue, like the Man, but hand-shaped
a candle shaped like a human hand
It's implied that the candle has drugs in the wax, as Willow whispers, "This will make you sleep, my pretty sergeant." Then again, given that the whole thing's a set-up, maybe it's just a candle.
a promontory on the island with five "fingers"
a kind of weapon
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Which costume does Howie steal from the innkeeper?
the sun god
the man-beast
Punch (the fool)
Punch is the fool, and also "king for the day," according to the lore Howie has read. As he joins the procession, Lord Summerisle pretends not to know it's him and urges him to "cut capers, man!"
the orchard goddess
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The ideal sacrifice must be willing, king-like, a fool, and what other thing?
male
ethnically Anglo-Saxon
Christian
a virgin
The "virgin" requirement casts Willow's attempt to seduce him in an odd light. If she'd succeeded, she would have ruined a plan months in the making. Could she have felt sorry for him?
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In what way is Sgt. Howie "king-like"?
his middle name is King
he represents England and its monarchy
he is wearing the costume of Punch, the "king for a day"
both #2 and #3
In addition to his "king for a day" costume, Howie represents a king because he came to Summerisle "with the power of a king." (And, sadly, it's pretty clear that the islanders consider him a fool as well.)
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As he bargains for his life, Howie says that next year, if the crops fail again, the sacrifice will be _________.
an innocent child
two people or more
Lord Summerisle himself
Howie mostly addresses Lord Summerisle at the end. He says last year's crop failure was simply due to the climate, and that if the next crop fails as well, the only acceptable sacrifice will be Summerisle.
"any one of you!"
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What does Howie sing inside the Wicker Man?
the 23rd Psalm
Howie sings as he stands at the barred window of the Wicker Man. Outside, the villagers joyfully sing an old folk song, "Sumer is icumen in." The face-off between religions is chilling because the villagers are so blissfully unconcerned about a man being burned to death.
"Nearer My God to Thee"
"Amazing Grace"
"How Great Thou Art"
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Who stepped into Sgt. Howie's sensible cop shoes for a 2006 remake?
Josh Brolin
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage has a reputation for accepting all sorts of roles (see also "Left Behind"), but this choice was unusually ill-fated. The movie was terribly received by critics and holds a 15 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating at the time this quiz was written.
Jonathan Frakes
Viggo Mortenson
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Also in the remake, who took over the role of Lord Summerisle?
Colin Farrell
Johnny Depp
Ben Affleck
Ellen Burstyn
The remake made substantial changes to the original. They include a matriarchal society led by "Sister Summerisle," an American setting, and a main character who not only isn't a virgin, but learns he is the father of the missing Rowan.
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For which TV show was Edward Woodward best known?
Doctor Who
The Equalizer
"The Equalizer" aired in the late 1980s. Woodward played a former British secret agent who takes the law into his own hands when crime victims, or those in peril, can't get help from the system.
Cheers
ER
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The Movie DB