Some movies do so much more than entertain – they epitomize the look, the sound … the feel of an era.
Here are my choices for the films that evoke their time and place. Discuss:
- The 50s: “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955): James Dean, dated hipster dialogue and teens whose level of malevolence seems quaint by today’s standards
- The 60s: “The Graduate” (1967): Earns its place here just for the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack alone. But Benjamin Braddock’s malaise echoed the turbulent ’60s in a less obvious but equally vital way as “Easy Rider” would do two years later.
- The 70s: “Taxi Driver” (1976): The prime example of the auteur-driving decade, and De Niro was clearly in the driver’s seat for these 10 artful years.
- The 80s: “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984): Eddie Murphy’s cop comedy epitomized the era’s fast-talking, hard charging action movies. The synth soundtrack was duplicated on every other ’80s movie thereafter.
- The 90s: “Pulp Fiction”: Quentin Tarantino’s finest hour inspired a generation of young, less talented filmmakers and opened up mainstream cinema to non-linear storytelling.
(Hat Tip: Daggnabbit)
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Way off base here in the 80s, if you’re going to define that era, I’d argue either for a John Hughes flick as representative of younger Americans (16 Candles or Breakfast Club) or Wall Street, a movie that captured a sea change in the way America views ambition, successs and financial acumen … the play of how Charlie Sheen sees his father’s old-school workaday union job versus Gordon Gecko’s wheeling dealing, and the way Americans saw the stock market at a time when 401(k) investing was replacing old-style dependence on pensions.
Was torn on picking a Hughes pick or not. Thought BHC’s impact on the decade, and the kind of movies hit it big at the box office, superseded the Hughes collection.
Wall Street is another good choice, but I stand by BHC for the aforementioned reasons.
Wall Street???? I think Toto is looking for movies that actually define an era, not the left narrative of the MSM at the time.
Oh, right, it was the MSM, my bad, Ms. Palin …
Another good choice, though more obvious than BHC, would be “Top Gun.”
I never saw it in the theater and didn’t particularly care for it on video, although when I worked in a video store, we would play it, but I liked it more for its bombast than anything. In fact, I loved it for the kitschiness of it all (the pumping fist while riding the bike, “You’re going to Miramar, etc.).
Still, it was a huge hit and to its critics and champions, it was, sometimes, a polarizing film, in a way that BHC was not. Every liberal critic of the film will almost certainly use the term “Reaganite” as a pejorative, while the smaller group of those liking the film will have to respond.
Coming in 1986, this film wasn’t the first to be defined as “Reaganite,” but it seemed, I think, to solidify the thoughts or the attitudes underlying so many other such type films, if not in any specific way, than in a general sense of the commonalities of such films. “Red Dawn” and “Rambo” had the big anti-Commie thing, but “Top Gun” took the pro-military, pro-America, and anti-Communist themes and, coupled with a popular soundtrack, made the ideals rather attainable to the average person.
That is, there weren’t going to be any Russians to fight in your hometown, nor was anyone going to be a killing machine superhero like Rambo, waging the last war. But, you could put on some Wayfarers, a flight jacket, and walk on down to the military recruiters to defend against the present threats. You might not be a pilot, but you could be support on an aircraft carrier.
This happened, of course. Military recruitment shot up.
All the more reason for many to hate the movie.
So, I’d say “Top Gun” for the 80’s.
Great thoughts, David … and a film that could easily replace my ’80s selection.
It’s not over yet, but I wonder what would the movie for the aughties so far. I can’t think of one.
Maybe Spider-Man. It set off the big superhero blockbusters, even if X-Men preceded it. X-Men was on a smaller scale.
I don’t know what a Spider-Man would mean for this time period, but the only thing I can think of that defined the period in movies–if not outside it–is the big superhero blockbuster. It just wasn’t with us before 2002. It’s been with us every year since.
Are the superhero movies mere escapism in a post 9/11 world. I suppose you can say that about any movie–Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Narnia. Or would they have been successful absent 9/11. I think they would have been.
If you want a movie that incorporates the superhero genre with the actual events outside the theater, then there is “The Dark Knight.”
If you take into account the outside world, then I think you’d have to go with “The Dark Knight.”
If you take into account just the films, I’d say Spider-Man.
In any case, I don’t see any other film or genre defining the 00’s.
But, I’ll ponder it.
This was just all spontaneous speculation.
And thank you for your kind words regarding “Top Gun.”
David
You’re reading my mind re: “Spider-Man” — but also LOTR for its blockbuster status — and the ability to merge CGI and real life footage so well. That defines movie making of the past 8-plus years.
For the 2000’s, don’t forget “Eagle Eye.”
Such a thought provoking movie (insert a hint of sarcasm).
I just don’t care for the Spiderman movies, but he did tell me to vote, which was like, really cool.
~Heidi
I don’t think we should try to project too much of a political message onto Hollywood entertainment. It is not that they don’t have political undertones; it’s that any really good film transcends easy labels. I’d say “Wall Street” is pro-capitalism (it’s dedicated to Stone’s father, a stock-broker) and “Top Gun” is just an updated cowboy movie.
As for decade-defining movies — that’s always tantalizing but always impossible to single out just one. For the 70’s, let me suggest “The Godfather,” and for the 80’s, I propose “Flashdance.” Or maybe “Blade Runner.”
Good picks all, Nell. It’s a totally subjective selection, which is half the fun. “Flashdance” … hmmm … maybe I’m in denial over that one.
I accidentally erased everything I wrote here, so some quick points, regarding Nell.
I don’t think it particularly matters what the political message may be in a film. But, to define an era, it matters whether that message is popular, influential, or what it has in contrast with what came before.
Top Gun definitely reflected a mood in the public that was a big break than the mood in the 70’s.
It’s the stark contrast of it all that is remarkable. The 70’s had the paranoid thrillers and all were fairly small. The 80’s were big, populist, and patriotic. The 70’s were the auteur decade. The 80’s was when the blockbuster reached its full force.
As to Blade Runner, I would say no. It’s more of a cult film that really didn’t affect the rest of the 80’s films. I think its influence was to be felt after the 80’s, especially when CGI became more prevalent.
Flashdance, on the other hand, definitely had an influence. It was the first film to utilize the power of the soundtrack with the outlet of MTV to synergistically promote the film itself.
You went from Irene Cara to Kenny Loggins.
It’s interesting that for the 80’s we all picked Simpson/Bruckheimer flicks that all utilized this MTV/Soundtrack/movie=box office smash concept.
Please, Rambo: First Blood (1981) or Die Hard (1988) would be better choices for action movies. The first Lethal Weapon (1987) perhaps also.
BUT … I can’t believe you all forgot THE 1980’s movie of all time: RAIDERS! Yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) DEFINED the 1980’s: Humor mixed with action, bad puns at the conclusion of the action, a mis-matched or everyman hero who has more depths than he seems, malignant Eurotrash bad guys, class snobbery between the oily Euro villain and the working-class attitude American hero, and tension between the workaholic type hero, not good at opening up his feelings, and the demanding but smoldering, sometimes greatly compassionaite heroine.
RAIDERS pretty much defined the formula: BIG intense action, quips at the end of a sequence, outmatched hero uses smarts and toughness not sheer musclepower, a girl to be saved and won, and the villain to be stopped.
Pretty much ALL of the 1980’s Action Movies were using the formula of RAIDERS, and used it mostly well. You also had, btw, action leads who had both toughness and intelligence at the same time: Willis, Gibson, Glover, etc. But they all copied Ford, the way Eastwood ripped off Mifune.
If you wanted to go with Comedy, then Stripes (1981), Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984), and probably Sixteen Candles would be the winners.
But I’d vote RAIDERS. No other movie comes close, and people are STILL copying it for pretty much every action movie that makes money.
I think I give Raiders too much credit … if only other action films of the era worked the formula like Raiders did … in picking BHC I figured in the fact that it set a generic template others gleefully followed. But the factors you mention here are pretty darn sound.