# Challenge: name a movie that captures the spirit of each decade. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232 "2019-03-16T18:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/1 "2019-03-16T18:40:44Z")
In terms of what is meant by the spirit of a given decade, I leave that up to you. The only rule is that the movie should be made relatively contemporary to the decade the it captures. So You can’t use Grease to embody the 50’s. I’ve attached my picks put since I’m not a movie or historical culture buff I’m sure you all can do better 1910’s The Immigrant with Charlely Chaplin 1920’s Harold Lloyd ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/2 "2019-03-16T18:43:55Z")
1930s: [The Grapes of Wrath](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032551/) 1940s: [The Best Years of Our Lives](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/3 "2019-03-16T18:53:23Z")
In the 1930s the economy was very bad, but people didn’t want to see movies about a bad economy–they wanted escapism–and that is characteristic of most of the movies I think of as great movies from that era. > **[How Movies Got Us Through the Great Depression](https://www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com/articles/movies-from-the-great-depression/2015/06)** > > How Movies Got Us Through the Great Depression So I am curious as to the answers to the OP questions. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/4 "2019-03-16T19:12:47Z")
2000s: Avatar - for being completely unrealistic yet an effective illusion. 1980s: Any Arnie flick - the macho decade (after 1982) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/5 "2019-03-16T19:43:09Z")
1960s I’ll go for the most obvious one: _Easy Rider_ 1970s _Saturday Night Fever_ for the upbeat aspect _Taxi Driver_ for the paranoia and disillusionment ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/6 "2019-03-16T19:52:36Z")
1980s: _WarGames_ or _Red Dawn_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/7 "2019-03-16T19:59:01Z")
I feel like BACK TO THE FUTURE is there to make a case for the ‘80s: it’s about a guy _from_ the ‘80s, such that when he’s not in the ‘80s he’s trying his best to get back to the ‘80s; and the moral of the story is that _yes_ it makes sense that Ronald Reagan would be the president, and _yes_ we can see that our hero has succeeded by whether a guy now wears a suit to the office and _yes_ it’s great to get yourself a big fine gas guzzler and _yes_ solving problems with violence can work out just fine and _yes_ Libyan terrorists exist to get conned and be a punchline and _yes_ that DeLorean sure does look sharp even if it never actually works the way you’d expect. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/8 "2019-03-16T20:12:39Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 1980s: _WarGames_ or _Red Dawn_. Nice. Or Predator or The Thing 70s is hard cause theres so many ‘eras’. MASH Soylent Green Jaws All The Presidents Men Star Wars Kramer vs Kramer That should cover it Same with 60’s. You go from Mod to the end of the Beatles in only 10 short years. Meanwhile the 2010’s are almost over and I don’t even know how to distinguish them, nevermind the naughties. edit: re; Red Dawn and Wargames…so the theme of 80s movies are “Heavy-handed but mannnn with some really cool and memorable scenes?” (Especially Wargames. Very taught. Very well done.) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/9 "2019-03-16T20:20:05Z")
60’s _Blow-Up_ _Midnight Cowboy_ _Woodstock_ ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/10 "2019-03-16T21:48:06Z")
Reality bites - 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/11 "2019-03-16T22:06:11Z")
Somehow I had a premature posting. Here is what I meant for the OP: In terms of what is meant by the spirit of a given decade, I leave that up to you. I’m also thinking generally about American movies representing American decades but feel free to pick different experiences. The only rule is that the movie should be made relatively contemporary to the decade the it captures (but you can cheat a bit like I did with the Grapes of Wrath) . So You can’t use the Great Gatsby to embody the 20’s. I’ve attached my picks but since I’m not a movie or historical culture buff I’m sure you all can do better 1910’s The Immigrant (1917) 1920’s Lights of New York (1928) 1930’s Grapes of Wrath (1940) 1940’s The Best Years of our lives (1946) 1950’s The Blackboard Jungle (1955) 1960’s Easy Rider (1969) 1970’s Saturday night fever (1977) 1980’s Wargames (1983) 1990’s Clerks (1994) 2000’s Rendition (2007) 2010s (too soon) A few comments. I went with Best Years of our lives for 1940’s because although it was about the war it it wasn’t a war movie and concentrated on the experience back home. I chose Black Board fever rather than Rebel w/o a cause because IMHO you can’t have a 50’s movie without rock and roll, and also the racial elements the was underlying society at the time. There are lots of options for the 80’s I chose War Games because it both captured the Cold war as well as video games and the advent of the PC. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/12 "2019-03-16T22:21:47Z")
_Casablanca_ (1942) _Pickup on South Street_ (1953)/_The Girl Can’t Help It_ (1956) _Dr. Strangelove_ (1962) – Early ‘60s _Battle of Algiers_ (1966) _I Love You, Alice B. Toklas_ (1968)/\*Gimme Shelter \*(1970) – Late ‘60s _Shampoo_ (1975) – Early-mid-‘70s _Dawn of the Dead_ (1978) – Late ‘70s _The Decline of Western Civilization_ (1981)/_Repo Man_ (1984) – Early ‘80s _Top Gun_ (1986)/_Wall Street_ (1987) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/13 "2019-03-16T22:28:20Z")
80s: Wall Street 90s: Bad Boys (not a great movie, but perfectly represents the bombastic-ness of the decade) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/14 "2019-03-16T22:58:58Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Somehow I had a premature posting. Here is what I meant for the OP: > In terms of what is meant by the spirit of a given decade, I leave that up to you. I’m also thinking generally about American movies representing American decades but feel free to pick different experiences. The only rule is that the movie should be made relatively contemporary to the decade the it captures (but you can cheat a bit like I did with the Grapes of Wrath) . So You can’t use the Great Gatsby to embody the 20’s. I’ve attached my picks but since I’m not a movie or historical culture buff I’m sure you all can do better > > 1910’s The Immigrant (1917) > 1920’s Lights of New York (1928) > 1930’s Grapes of Wrath (1940) > 1940’s The Best Years of our lives (1946) > 1950’s The Blackboard Jungle (1955) > 1960’s Easy Rider (1969) > 1970’s Saturday night fever (1977) > 1980’s Wargames (1983) > 1990’s Clerks (1994) > 2000’s Rendition (2007) > 2010s (too soon) > A few comments. I went with Best Years of our lives for 1940’s because although it was about the war it it wasn’t a war movie and concentrated on the experience back home. I chose Black Board fever rather than Rebel w/o a cause because IMHO you can’t have a 50’s movie without rock and roll, and also the racial elements the was underlying society at the time. There are lots of options for the 80’s I chose War Games because it both captured the Cold war as well as video games and the advent of the PC. Best of Years of Our Lives is perfect for the 40s. It takes place right in the middle of the 40s with soldiers returning from the war and introduced the issues being faced in the post war 40s. The 50s is very hard, it’s a transition period. Korea was some leftover from the 40s, the 50s is really the Eisenhower decade, full of optimism, yet growing fear and discontent. I would say [The Apartment](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053604/) with Jack Lemmon is a pretty good look at one facet of the 50s, the growing white collar middle class, along with changes in morality and social structure. [Rebel Without a Cause](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/) looks at the life of young people in the suburban environment in the way [Blackboard Jungle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Jungle) does in the inner city. And sometimes you get that one movie like Easy Rider that can sum up a decade, even the turbulent 60s. I’m not finding something like that to wrap up the 50s so far but there are a lot more movies to consider. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/15 "2019-03-16T23:41:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The 50s is very hard, it’s a transition period. Korea was some leftover from the 40s, the 50s is really the Eisenhower decade, full of optimism, yet growing fear and discontent. I would say [The Apartment](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053604/) with Jack Lemmon is a pretty good look at one facet of the 50s, the growing white collar middle class, along with changes in morality and social structure. [Rebel Without a Cause](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/) looks at the life of young people in the suburban environment in the way [Blackboard Jungle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Jungle) does in the inner city. You could do worse than _12 Angry Men_. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/16 "2019-03-16T23:44:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > 1970s > _Saturday Night Fever_ for the upbeat aspect > _Taxi Driver_ for the paranoia and disillusionment Id add _grease and shampoo_ just because of the "50s nostalgia in the late 70s for the 80s I’d say 3 movies \* wargames, risky business, wall street\* and _desperately seeking Susan_ for the rom-com bunch… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/17 "2019-03-16T23:47:38Z")
American Pop managed to capture the spirit of every decade of the 20th century up to the one in which it was made. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/18 "2019-03-17T00:15:32Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You could do worse than _12 Angry Men_. That’s pretty good. The jury shows a variety of people from different walks of life. Better than anything I’ve thought of so far. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/19 "2019-03-17T01:03:50Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Somehow I had a premature posting. Here is what I meant for the OP: > In terms of what is meant by the spirit of a given decade, I leave that up to you. I’m also thinking generally about American movies representing American decades but feel free to pick different experiences. The only rule is that the movie should be made relatively contemporary to the decade the it captures (but you can cheat a bit like I did with the Grapes of Wrath) . So You can’t use the Great Gatsby to embody the 20’s. I’ve attached my picks but since I’m not a movie or historical culture buff I’m sure you all can do better > > 1910’s The Immigrant (1917) > 1920’s Lights of New York (1928) > 1930’s Grapes of Wrath (1940) > 1940’s The Best Years of our lives (1946) > 1950’s The Blackboard Jungle (1955) > 1960’s Easy Rider (1969) > 1970’s Saturday night fever (1977) > 1980’s Wargames (1983) > 1990’s Clerks (1994) > 2000’s Rendition (2007) > 2010s (too soon) > A few comments. I went with Best Years of our lives for 1940’s because although it was about the war it it wasn’t a war movie and concentrated on the experience back home. I chose Black Board fever rather than Rebel w/o a cause because IMHO you can’t have a 50’s movie without rock and roll, and also the racial elements the was underlying society at the time. There are lots of options for the 80’s I chose War Games because it both captured the Cold war as well as video games and the advent of the PC. That’s a damn good list. Very accurate and as what the OP wanted. I vote The Social Network (2010) to represent the 2010 decade. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232/20 "2019-03-17T01:03:57Z")
_The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit_ is what I immediately thought of for the '50s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/challenge-name-a-movie-that-captures-the-spirit-of-each-decade/831232.md?page=2)