Old movies and changes in technology and society

[Johnny L.A.]

I watched a biography show on Steven Spielberg that showed clips from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. How the world has changed! In 1977 there was no Internet. Computers were huge things that often used punch cards for programming. There were mobile phones, but mostly for the wealthy or government people; and they were installed in cars rather than being carried in a pocket.

Hospitals. Ever watch a scene that takes place in a hospital in the early-'70s?

Kids playing. When I was a kid we road bikes and skateboards. We built models. We built forts and played various active games. There are a few kids in my neighbourhood, mostly adolescents, and I never see them 'playing'. I see them walking to someplace. Now that it's Summer, I see them on skimmers when the tide is out, or I'll see some families flying kites. And when I was a kid, kids went out and played. 'Come home when the street lights come on.' ISTM that nowadays letting kids roam on their own is practically a crime.

Travel and vehicles. I have The Long, Long Trailer on the DVR. I watched a little of it. Desi Arnaz picks up a 40-foot travel trailer, and the hitch guy is explaining to him about the trailer brakes and trailer directional indicators. Nowadays the brakes and lights would be integrated into the car's system. In other movies, getting a flat tire or having some other car problem was a major device to strand someone. Now we have better tires and better roads and more reliable vehicles. Sure, flats and breakdowns still happen; but not as often as it would appear from films of the '50s. And speaking of 'fifties', 50 mph seemed to be a reasonable speed at one time. People would get nervous above that. Personal airplanes were rare, but ISTM that there were more of them in films from 50 or 60 years ago. Deriving numbers anally, ISTM that you could buy a new airplane for a year's or two years' salary. Today I think it would take four to seven years' salary.

People were always running into hunters or others in the woods who were carrying a firearm. It was normal. Today I think a lot of people would be frightened.

The way women were treated decades ago is appalling. That just wouldn't fly today. The same goes for non-Whites.

Things seemed to be more 'quiet' in old films. The TV wasn't playing all the time, there were no computers occupying people's time, if someone wasn't home there was no way to reach them. An urgent message might take a day or two to reach someone by Western Union. No email!

[Annie-Xmas]

Smoking was the norm.
Drinking and drunks were funny.
Hitting your wife and/or children was perfectly acceptable and often encouraged.
Any drug would make you insane (ever watch Refer Madness?),

[Johnny L.A.]

I have Refer Madness! (And I've seen Cocaine Fiends.) ;)

[Leaffan]

Man, even watching an episode of Seinfeld lately had me snickering at the size of the cordless phone in his apartment. The thing was a shoe box.

[Johnny L.A.]

Oh, yeah. I notice that too. And the cordless phones with the chrome-plated antenna you had to extend.

[AuntiePam]

An urgent message might take a day or two to reach someone by Western Union. No email!

But mail was delivered twice a day, or maybe even more often if Dickens can be believed. A character would "post" a letter and expect delivery in a couple of hours.

People would come for a party and stay for days, or weeks. The upper class dressed for dinner, and their homes were open for visitors on certain days of the week where you'd sit in the parlor and be served tea and gossip. Sundays meant getting out the horse and buggy, dressing up and riding up and down main street, nodding your head to some, snubbing others.

Milk and eggs were delivered at the servant's entrance, and a tinker would come by to sharpen your knives.

[DonLogan]

Phone booths.

Along those lines, it's interesting to see photos of the late 1800's early 1900's when telephone poles in cities had to have like 5 or 6 or 10 crossbars to handle the limited capacity afforded by the wiring.

And how today we don't really even notice the telephone poles every 100 feet or so along every street, but someday they'll probably mostly be gone, maybe take 90% of them out and put a cell transmitter on every 10th one or something.

[Little Nemo]

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLH_QyPTYM)

[Johnny L.A.]

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLH_QyPTYM)

That reminds me of one of the Dark Tower books. Jake finds some sort of scientific outpost and is surprised when he presses a button and starts hearing a squeal. He's from 1977 and had never heard a modem connecting. When I read that book, the modem gag was horribly out of date.

[Joey P]

Smoking was the norm.

I just watched Mildred Pierce, in one scene, the young daughter (16ish maybe) pulled out a cigarette and asked her mom for a lighter, it went like this (paraphrased)

Daughter: Do you have a light?
Mom: When did you start smoking?
Daughter: Monte (mom's boyfriend) gave me this (a cigarette case) for my birthday and I wouldn't want to insult him by not using it.
Mom: Well, I guess you're right.

Wait what?

[alphaboi867]

Look at any scene where a man takes his clothes (or just his shirt off) made before the 90s. Notice anything different? Male characters (even teenagers) could have age approriate body hair without it being a gag (though this is starting to change). Or look at men's shorts; women can still get away with hotpants, but men are expected to keep their knees covered. Speedos are now considered "gay" and even vintage trunks would raise eyebrows (& lead to request to coverup or leave). Also for the most part Generation Y doesn't take showers after gym class so any movie/TV that shows that is probally a little dated (even if it's supposed to take place in present day).

[Don Draper]

I just watched Mildred Pierce...

What a coincidence! I came in here to mention Mildred Pierce which I also just saw. For those who don't know it, the story of Mildred Pierce is basically that a woman (Joan Crawford in the title role) throws out her shiftless bum of a husband and has to go to work for a living. She works tirelessly to provide a good life for her spoiled, thankless daughter (Ann Blyth.) The daughter, perhaps the worst bad seed in movie history, reviles her mother for the unpardonable sin of working for a living. I mean, can you imagine anything more shameful - having a mother who holds a job?

More specifically is the moment when (SPOILERS!) Mildred's younger tomboy daughter dies. The little girl cries out for "Mommy!" and Mildred, in the doorway, is about to rush to her side. But the doctor holds up one hand in an imperious manner and Mildred freezes, not daring to come near. Then the girl dies. I can't believe a modern day doctor would ever dare to so imperiously dismiss a dying girls' mother from the room like he did.

As for the cigarette scene, there's an even better cigarette moment in Dark Victory. Bette Davis, dying of a brain tumor, is in the hospital waiting to have an operation in the morning. She's terribly nervous, so her doctor lights a cigarette for her to help calm her nerves (in her hospital room!.)


And an early scene in the Shining seems ludicrous by today's standards. Danny Torrance has a seizure and gets examined by a pediatrician. First of all, the doctor comes to the Torrances house - rather than Wendy taking the kid to an E.R. Then, after a cursory examination, the doctor blithely dismisses the episode saying "These episodes are usually never explained, but they're very common and look a lot worse than they actually are!" Nowadays, Danny would be getting a CAT scan and probably a prescription to children's strength lithium.

In fact, can you imagine the Shining set today? Jack might remove the batteries from the CB radio, but Wendy wouldn't even know because she'd text the police via her iphone. Hell, Jack would never even had gotten the job at the Overlook Hotel, since he'd be in jail for abusing his son Danny (breaking his arm in an alcoholic episode.)

[Joey P]

In fact, can you imagine the Shining set today? Jack might remove the batteries from the CB radio, but Wendy wouldn't even know because she'd text the police via her iphone. Hell, Jack would never even had gotten the job at the Overlook Hotel, since he'd be in jail for abusing his son Danny (breaking his arm in an alcoholic episode.)

There's A LOT of older movies that when I watch I have to think that the entire plot would be flushed down the toilet with modern communication.

[AuntiePam]

There's A LOT of older movies that when I watch I have to think that the entire plot would be flushed down the toilet with modern communication.

Or ruined. Or not so good, anyway. I just watched Niagara. Rose's lover tells her that "their song" will play on the Bell Tower as a signal that he's killed Rose's husband. That was way better than Rose getting a text.

Although it's a bit of a plot hole, since it didn't turn out that way and the song still played. Hmmmm.

[GIGObuster]

Smoking was the norm.

Another example that has turned hilarious when seen on TV nowadays:

From The day the Earth Stood Still - 1951

Two army doctors are in the hospital; the patient, Klaatu the extraterrestrial, is in the next room.

DOCTOR 1: How old do you think he is?
DOCTOR 2: Oh, I'd say 35, 38
DOCTOR 1: [shakes head] He told me this morning, when I was examining him. He's 78.
DOCTOR 2: Well I don't believe it!
DOCTOR 1: Life expectancy's 130!
DOCTOR 2: Well how does he explain that?
DOCTOR 1: Says their medicine is that much more advanced. [Hands cigarette to DOCTOR 2.] He was very nice about it, but he made me feel like a third-class witch doctor.
[DOCTOR 1 and DOCTOR 2 light up and begin smoking inside the hospital] :smack:

Yep, witch doctors.. :D

[RealityChuck]

Hitting your wife and/or children was perfectly acceptable and often encouraged.
Spanking your children, yes, though cruelty to children was specifically banned by the Hayes code.

Hitting your wife, no. A wife beater was considered a lowlife (not to mention a violation of the Hayes Code, too).

[AuntiePam]

Hitting your wife, no. A wife beater was considered a lowlife (not to mention a violation of the Hayes Code, too).

Maybe you couldn't hit your wife, but there are a lot of old movies where women get slapped around. The women were mostly "bad" women -- tramps, golddiggers, drunks -- but there was plenty of slapping.

[Joey P]

I don't know why there's no sound, but here's a scene from one of my favorite movies. Cary Grant knocks Catherine Hepburn flat on her ass. Well, it's more of a push really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpwJrEQY17U

[DonLogan]

Hitting your wife and/or children was perfectly acceptable and often encouraged.


Often encouraged?

C'mon.

[davidm]

Speaking of hitting wives, this isn't a movie, but it was considered hilarious when Ralph Cramden (Jackie Gleason) regularly threatened to punch his wife on The Honeymooners. Everyone knew that he would never actually do it, but still.

[DonLogan]

Speaking of hitting wives, this isn't a movie, but it was considered hilarious when Ralph Cramden (Jackie Gleason) regularly threatened to punch his wife on The Honeymooners. Everyone knew that he would never actually do it, but still.

It's funny because;
1) It's played over the top
2) It's a catch phrase "One of these days, Alice, to the MOON!"
3) When he does it, Alice just stands there and stares him down.

In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis is holding a baby in a front harness and one of his buddies opens the door of the cop car and it smacks the baby with a big thud. Is that somehow condoning child abuse?

No, it's freakin' hilarious.

You can't remove context from everything, or we're all fucked.

[AuntiePam]

Often encouraged?

C'mon.

Apologies to Annie-Xmas for speaking for her, but maybe she means "encouraged" like in scenes where someone tells a brat's father "Spare the rod and spoil the child" or "Someone should take a stick to that child!" I'm pretty sure I heard something like that in The Magnificent Ambersons, referring to George Jr. Spanking was probably encouraged in The Bad Seed too, but I haven't seen that one for a long time.

[Chronos]

Quoth GIGObuster:Another example that has turned hilarious when seen on TV nowadays:

From The day the Earth Stood Still - 1951As soon as I saw smoking mentioned, I was going to bring up that one, too. The comedic timing on it is just perfect, even if it wasn't intended as comedy.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Not a movie but it does remind me of something:

When Frank Sinatra died, CBS re-broadcast a 1965 doc on Sinatra, narrated by Walter Cronkite. There's a scene where Sinatra is puffing away, and in Cronkite's narration he says something about how Sinatra "keeps his lungs in and voice in good shape."

[davidm]

It's funny because;
1) It's played over the top
2) It's a catch phrase "One of these days, Alice, to the MOON!"
3) When he does it, Alice just stands there and stares him down.

In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis is holding a baby in a front harness and one of his buddies opens the door of the cop car and it smacks the baby with a big thud. Is that somehow condoning child abuse?

No, it's freakin' hilarious.

You can't remove context from everything, or we're all fucked.True, and Alice would probably kick the crap out of him if he ever tried it, but I wonder how accepted it would be today.

[BrainGlutton]

The way women were treated decades ago is appalling. That just wouldn't fly today. The same goes for non-Whites.

Values Dissonance. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValuesDissonance) See also Culture Clash. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CultureClash)

[digs]

Must...re...sist...click..ing...tropes...

[EvilTOJ]

The entire premise of wargames is hilariously antiquated. There's no cold war, no Soviet Union, (and the paranoia surrounding them) and no internet as we know it. There's probably more processing power in my iPhone than in WOPR.

Matthew Broderick's computer is absolutely ancient compared to today's PCs. It even has an acoustic coupler for the modem! Then there was a climatic scene where he has to make a phone call he stops at the nearest payphone. Remember payphones?

[cochrane]

I mentioned this in the Greatest American Hero thread. If the show were made today, Bill, Ralph, Pam, and practically every kid in the high school class would have a cell phone. In the show, everyone was always looking for a pay phone. A great deal of plots centered around the Cold War and Russian spies. Instead of Bill being a computer-phobe, his job would be almost impossible without a computer with a network connection to all kinds of law enforcement databases. And this was less than 30 years ago.

[RikWriter]

Kids playing. When I was a kid we road bikes and skateboards. We built models. We built forts and played various active games. There are a few kids in my neighbourhood, mostly adolescents, and I never see them 'playing'. I see them walking to someplace. Now that it's Summer, I see them on skimmers when the tide is out, or I'll see some families flying kites. And when I was a kid, kids went out and played. 'Come home when the street lights come on.' ISTM that nowadays letting kids roam on their own is practically a crime.

People were always running into hunters or others in the woods who were carrying a firearm. It was normal. Today I think a lot of people would be frightened.


Both of those are very regional. Neither kids playing on their own nor hunters with guns would frighten anyone nor raise an eyebrow around here.

[An Gadaí]

"Operator..."

[AClockworkMelon]

"Operator..."
"Get me outta here!"

[RealityChuck]

Maybe you couldn't hit your wife, but there are a lot of old movies where women get slapped around. The women were mostly "bad" women -- tramps, golddiggers, drunks -- but there was plenty of slapping.Sure. By the bad guys. That's how you knew they were bad.

The practice wasn't condoned or accepted. Indeed, there was the old "I can't hit a women" trope -- the assumption being that only a creep would to it.

Spanking kids was standard childrearing in the past and was portrayed as such in older films.

[Hypno-Toad]

Another example that has turned hilarious when seen on TV nowadays:

From The day the Earth Stood Still - 1951

That's the example I always use whenever this thread reappears. It really is hilarious, more so for the unintentional nature of the humor.

The aliens medicine really is advanced. For instance, THEY DON'T SMOKE.

[ZipperJJ]

Another thing about phones....in cop shows, especially Columbo, cops get calls from the department wherever they are. So Columbo would be at the victim's house inspecting the body and the phone would ring, it'd be for him. That always tickles me. I do believe he used a cell phone in the episode they did in 2003 (?).

I've also seen a lot of 90s cop shows where they transition into using cell phones over a season or two. Usually the younger cop has one and the older cop poo-poos it, but by the next season the older cop is using his own like it's old hat to do so.

[LionelHutz405]

True, and Alice would probably kick the crap out of him if he ever tried it, but I wonder how accepted it would be today.

It would be accepted.

A woman beating the crap out of men twice her size seems pretty common in movies today.

[RealityChuck]

"Get me outta here!"That line is still used in films today. One estimate was that 80% of all Hollywood films used it. I don't think it's really that high, but it (and variations on it) is very common.

[AClockworkMelon]

That line is still used in films today. One estimate was that 80% of all Hollywood films used it. I don't think it's really that high, but it (and variations on it) is very common.I was quoting The Matrix. What are you talking about?

[Justin_Bailey]

Also for the most part Generation Y doesn't take showers after gym class so any movie/TV that shows that is probally a little dated (even if it's supposed to take place in present day).

A lot of schools in my neck of the woods did away with showering after gym class back in the 80s. The idea that it was one day required doesn't just feel dated, but like ancient history.

[Death of Rats]

The entire premise of wargames is hilariously antiquated. There's no cold war, no Soviet Union, (and the paranoia surrounding them) and no internet as we know it. There's probably more processing power in my iPhone than in WOPR.

Matthew Broderick's computer is absolutely ancient compared to today's PCs. It even has an acoustic coupler for the modem! Then there was a climatic scene where he has to make a phone call he stops at the nearest payphone. Remember payphones?

To really date that scene, he hacks the payphone by shorting it with a pulltab. Does anyone under 40 even know what a pulltab is?

[Sigmagirl]

Or ruined. Or not so good, anyway. I just watched Niagara. Rose's lover tells her that "their song" will play on the Bell Tower as a signal that he's killed Rose's husband. That was way better than Rose getting a text.

Although it's a bit of a plot hole, since it didn't turn out that way and the song still played. Hmmmm.

In Don't Bother to Knock, a movie I sometimes mix up with Niagara, insane babysitter Marilyn is in the hotel room and turns on the wall radio (high tech!) to hear the house band* in the hotel lounge. Where can you do that now?

Featuring vocalist Anne Bancroft in her movie debut!

[Rocketeer]

I'm just checking in to say the "deriving numbers anally" has just entered my vocabulary. Here at work I expect to use it frequently. ;)

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I was quoting The Matrix. What are you talking about?Bugs Bunny said it as he was holding on to what was left of the Moon in "Haredevil Hare."

[cochrane]

A lot of schools in my neck of the woods did away with showering after gym class back in the 80s. The idea that it was one day required doesn't just feel dated, but like ancient history.

Heh. The first thing I thought of was that Beavis and Butt-Head episode where the boys are trying to avoid showering after gym class but are foiled by Mr. Buzzcut.

[mlees]

Spanking your children, yes, though cruelty to children was specifically banned by the Hayes code.

Hitting your wife, no. A wife beater was considered a lowlife (not to mention a violation of the Hayes Code, too).

I watched the John Wayne movie McLintock last weekend (the 4th). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057298/

Both Wayne and his protege (played by his RL son) eventually solve their uppity wife problems by spanking them with (fireplace) ash shovels. I realise that this movie was supposed to be light hearted. This gag, though, isn't going to hold up well.

[Elendil's Heir]

In the Hitchcock movie The 39 Steps, the hero is at one point chased across the Scottish heather by a (very fake-looking) autogyro. At the time, I'm sure it looked really cool.

There was an early Woody Allen movie in which Tony Roberts, playing a very Type-A egomaniac doctor, called his message service every five minutes to let them know where he was. Get a cellphone, buddy!

As to cigarettes, Allen spoofs them in Sleeper by having a doctor in the distant future encourage him to light up, saying something to the effect of, "The latest research has shown that there's nothing better for you!"

Fred MacMurray leaves his dying statement in Double Indemnity on a desktop wax-cylinder recorder, which for its day would've been cutting-edge office technology.

Mulder and Scully were always yakking on their cellphones, of course, but a flashback X-Files episode, for laffs, showed Mulder toting around one of those giant early Motorola cellphones the size of a carton of milk.

IIRC, there were eight postal deliveries in Victorian central London; you could get a dinner invitation in the first delivery of the day and immediately respond, showing up that night to break bread. No one thought anything of it.

[Cumberdale]

I watched the John Wayne movie McLintock last weekend (the 4th). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057298/

Both Wayne and his protege (played by his RL son) eventually solve their uppity wife problems by spanking them with (fireplace) ash shovels. I realise that this movie was supposed to be light hearted. This gag, though, isn't going to hold up well.

I was going to mention spanking. Women who didn't "know their place" were often spanked or threatened with a good spanking. I think a few episodes of I Love Lucy even had some spanking scenes.

[puddleglum]

In Miracle on 34th street, lttle Suzy is in a bachelor's apartment for several hours. When her mother comes home and finds her daughter in the home of a man she has never met, she thanks him for looking after her daughter.

[JohnT]

In Miracle on 34th street, lttle Suzy is in a bachelor's apartment for several hours. When her mother comes home and finds her daughter in the home of a man she has never met, she thanks him for looking after her daughter.

Compared to today, when I went for a dip in the hotel pool. There was a mother and two young boys (under the age of 10 I think): Mom was in the hot tub, talking on her cell phone, the two kids were in the swimming pool.

One of the kids actually dared to talk to me, a strange man! His mom was so upset about it (and the fact that I had the temerity to respond) that she got out of the hot tub and pulled her kids from the pool, them yelling "But mom! We just got here!", her glaring at me the whole time.

I would've been more miffed about it, but I wanted the hot tub and a neglible blow to my reputation from people who will never see me again was a small price to pay for immediate access. ;)

[RealityChuck]

I was going to mention spanking. Women who didn't "know their place" were often spanked or threatened with a good spanking. I think a few episodes of I Love Lucy even had some spanking scenes.Spanking an adult woman was always played for laughs -- it was treating them like a child.

I'm sure there are many movies today where women are spanked. You just don't see them in the multiplex. ;)

[jackdavinci]

To really date that scene, he hacks the payphone by shorting it with a pulltab. Does anyone under 40 even know what a pulltab is?

They still exist.

[alphaboi867]

A lot of schools in my neck of the woods did away with showering after gym class back in the 80s. The idea that it was one day required doesn't just feel dated, but like ancient history.

Ancient history would be references on old sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver or The Lucy Show about the boys not needing a suit at the Y. Green Acres did an episode where a group of city children (3 boys & a girl) stayed with Oliver & Lisa on the farm. Oliver took the kids swimming, but the girl had to go back to house to Lisa. Why? Because the boys (& Oliver) were skinnydipping. A middle-aged childless man alone & with 3 unrelated pre-teen naked boys sounded alot less sinsister in the '60s* than it does now. The only joke (other than the girl not being able to join in) was that Oliver caught a cold from not wearing this bathing suit.


Yes it may have been the Sixties, but Green Acres was the safe family "establishmen" show that old people liked.

[Lust4Life]

Many Who dunnits would last only a few minutes with todays forensics, Gps, and mobile phones.

Married couples sleeping in seperate beds on T.V.

Families sitting down together for breakfast, aswell alone the evening meal.

The wife always a homemaker.

The soon to be groom being asked about his prospects over Port and cigars by his future father in law.

Couples getting married impatient to get into the sack for their first sexual experience.

[AuntiePam]

Couples getting married impatient to get into the sack for their first sexual experience.

And just holding hands or kissing meant commitment. That kind of stuff happened well into the 1950's, in contemporary movies.

[Justin_Bailey]

Ancient history would be references on old sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver or The Lucy Show about the boys not needing a suit at the Y.

That's what I mean. Ancient history to your generation is 50s references to skinny dipping as acceptable attire for swimming. By the 60s/70s, that kind of thing had went by the wayside. So today it seems odd.

Ancient history to my generation is 70s references to showering after gym class. By the 80s/90s, that requirement went by the wayside. So today it seems odd.

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

To really date that scene, he hacks the payphone by shorting it with a pulltab. Does anyone under 40 even know what a pulltab is?

Isn't that what's on every soda can? :confused:

[mlees]

Isn't that what's on every soda can? :confused:

No: http://www.cottontimer.com/2005/05/04/soda-cans/

I haven't seen the old style pull tabs in quite some time.

[Colibri]

They still exist.

Isn't that what's on every soda can? :confused:

I assume it was the original kind, that detaches completely from the can rather than remaining attached. These became obsolete decades ago.