HeadScratcher No. 79: It's a Sign

So, what do James Brolin, Burt Lancaster, Vincent Price, Elisabeth Shue, and Rip Torn have in common? Well, this week's secret link was the new film Zodiac (starring Jake Gyllenhaal, pictured), and all of these actors starred in movies with signs of the zodiac in their titles. Brolin was a fugitive astronaut in Capricorn One (1978). Lancaster starred in spy thriller Scorpio (1973). Price starred in sci-fi/horror pic The Aries Computer (1972). Shue was in the James Joyce-inspired indie drama Leo (2002). And Torn starred as Henry Miller in the adaptation of Miller's Tropic of Cancer (1970).

This was a tough one, apparently; only Geoff Huntsman and HeadScratcher stalwart Patrick A. Yearout guessed right. Regulars Harold Reynolds and Jan Willemsen noted that all of these actors almost landed some prominent movie roles ultimately played by others. (Brolin, for instance, almost starred in Octopussy before Roger Moore decided to keep playing James Bond; Torn was once slated to play the role that ultimately made Jack Nicholson a star in Easy Rider; and Shue dropped out of The Number 23 when she became pregnant, leaving the role of crazy Jim Carrey's wife to Virginia Madsen.) And this honest response comes from reader Vanessa Bumpus: "I don't have an answer but do you guys think I should get bangs? They seem like they are making a comeback...."

Thanks for playing, everyone! Come back Friday for another HeadScratcher. And let Vanessa know where you stand: bangs or no bangs?