# Can you think of any movie that is set... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254 "2015-09-23T01:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/21 "2015-09-23T06:30:36Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I got you all beat, but I have to reveal my age. > > Dazed and Confused is about people exactly my age, going into senior year in August 76, and of course every person in it was on display at my high school too, at the time. It’s cool to have a movie like that, and have it be so good. I could’ve been one of the incoming freshmen. Not my place (I was in California), but I knew all those people. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/22 "2015-09-23T06:52:12Z")
The murder in Errol Morris’ _The Thin Blue Line_ happened in my hometown when I was in grade school. Since my mother owned a blue 4-door Ford Maverick, and its twin, a Mercury Comet, figures into the story, it kind of does take me back. Not to mention, they got all of the accents right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/23 "2015-09-23T06:56:29Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I got you all beat, but I have to reveal my age. > > Dazed and Confused is about people exactly my age, going into senior year in August 76, and of course every person in it was on display at my high school too, at the time. It’s cool to have a movie like that, and have it be so good. You beat me to it. That movie was pitch perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/24 "2015-09-23T06:58:59Z")
I grew up in DC in the 70s, and most of the movies depicting this time and place are set inside the White House (never been there) or the Washington Post (which I visited once in the 80s and it hadn’t changed much). **The Exorcist** nailed it best, I guess. Washington movies seldom try to get the vibe of the actual city. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/25 "2015-09-23T07:21:00Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Early '60s Cleveland? No. Cleveland itself rarely makes it into the movies. > > **Major League** could have been set in any American League baseball city. Cleveland is one of the triumvirate of shit-holes occupied by the leads in **Stranger than Paradise**. **American Splendor** certainly doesn’t portray the town as a garden spot, either. _The Fortune Cookie_ was filmed in Cleveland in 1966. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/26 "2015-09-23T08:52:18Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’ve not seen any movies set in 1960s and 70s rural Western Pennsylvania. What few movies set in PA duriring that time period that I have seen generally have an urban setting. So, no. Try **Super-8**. Early '80s, close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/27 "2015-09-23T12:24:48Z")
LA in the 1970s. A million of them. Adam-12 on TV did a great job of capturing the non-Hollywood life. And I didn’t grow up in Shermer but I was in high school from 1981-1985. The Breakfast Club resonated pretty strongly. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/28 "2015-09-23T12:55:21Z")
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio From ages 4 to 7 in the mid 1950s, I lived about twenty miles from Defiance. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/29 "2015-09-23T12:56:13Z")
Only one. A kid’s TV series called [The Mad Dog Gang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIts-KRrNY0). The whole thing is on YouTube if you want to watch it. It was literally filmed up the hill from where I lived, so close that some kids we knew were cast as extras (in fact I remember we had gymnastics class together the day after it screened on TV). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/30 "2015-09-23T13:00:09Z")
I don’t know of any flicks set in the New Jersey of my childhood, but there are plenty of films set in New York City at that time (most of them actually filmed there). NYC was only an hour’s bus or train ride away. And, yes, the films did capture the way it looked and felt. It’s a bygone era now – the social makeup has changed dramatically. The automats are gone. On the plus side, 42nd street is no longer as depressingly exploitation-filled as it once was. (On the minus side, we didn’t have character-dressed people looking for money to have your picture taken with them, or “painted ladies”) The Tom Cruise movie _Born on the Fourth of July_, I have to admit, did a great job of recreating the “feel” of a 1950s-1960s local supermarket. And their 1960s New York felt spot-on. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/31 "2015-09-23T13:13:09Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Night of the Living Dead Right place and time, but falls apart on the realistic part. That wasn’t how the zombie incident played out at all. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/32 "2015-09-23T13:46:03Z")
The Sandlot came pretty close to some of my childhood experiences and, while the location was different it had enough similarity to my locale. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/33 "2015-09-23T13:58:54Z")
New England in the 70s…Jaws is the only one that’s coming to mind. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/34 "2015-09-23T14:09:46Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Dazed and Confused. > > Perfectly nailed the time and place. Add me to the list. Felt like I was back in high school in Northern California. I would also say ET: those housing developments with unfinished houses and kids messing around on their bikes were everywhere when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/35 "2015-09-23T14:13:20Z")
Breakfast Club. I grew up in a different suburban locale, but so much if it rang true. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/36 "2015-09-23T14:35:35Z")
As noted by several people, _Dazed and Confused_. While I grew up in Wisconsin, not Austin, but the feel was spot on. I watched it with a friend that also went there, and we were recognizing classmates in the characters. We would both, independently, “name” one of the characters and we both agreed. Two big differences: in the film, _everybody_ smoked pot. It was no where near that pervasive in my school. I chalk that up to faulty memories - stoners think everyone is like them. Also, the whole paddlin’ thing. WTF was that? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/37 "2015-09-23T15:09:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Also, the whole paddlin’ thing. WTF was that? In a word, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/38 "2015-09-23T15:10:27Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > and we both agreed. > > Two big differences: in the film, _everybody_ smoked pot. It was no where near that pervasive in my school. I chalk that up to faulty memories - stoners think everyone is like them. I was a high schooler in New York at the time _ **D & C** _ took place, and it sure felt as if I was the only person I knew who DIDN’T smoke weed openly. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/39 "2015-09-23T15:58:48Z")
I don’t recall seeing any movies that gave off anything close to a 1980s North Texas vibe. And no, the TV Show _Dallas_ does not take me back. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254/40 "2015-09-23T16:02:02Z")
Speaking of Wisconsin, I never thought _That 70’s Show_ even came close to being representative of Wisconsin in the 70s. I admit I didn’t watch it very long, but it didn’t seem to get any details or attitudes correct. And _Happy Days_ seemed more like So-Cal than Milwaukee, but that was typical for any actually-filmed-in-the-70s sitcom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-think-of-any-movie-that-is-set/732254.md?page=3)