movies of a decade

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was thinking about movies that capture the spirit of a particular decade.

Some obvious ones are Oliver Stone’s Wall Street for the 80’s and The Graduate for the 1960’s. For the early part of the 70’s I would go with Jack Nicholson’s Five Easy Pieces.

For the life of me though, I can’t think of any particular movie for the 90’s.

Now for the ground rules which I am making up as I type.

*  The movie has to have been made during that decade. None of this nostalgic looking-back type of movie. The film has to be of the moment and it should "know" this.
*  We're not talking about great movies that were simply produced during that decade. In other words, let's take Jaws from the 1970's or E.T. from the 80's.

Both of these movies are strongly identified with that decade but aren’t really ABOUT that decade. This makes sense right?
* The film should capture a moment in time, so to speak and should engulf and embody aspects -like music and dress- that are associated with that particular period. Hmm… I’m not sure if that one makes any sense at all. Maybe I should stop here.

Any thoughts?

2

I like this question!

'70s: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Last House on the Left
'80s: Rocky IV or Top Gun
'90s: Reservoir Dogs or Trainspotting

3

1970’s…Saturday Night Fever
1980’s…
1990’s…American Beauty or Fight Club
All I can think of when I think of the 80’s are Brat Pack movies.
1960’s…Alfie, The Italian Job

4

For the '90s, Pulp Fiction or Fight Club

5

I was thinking of either Philidelphia or American Beauty

6

Clueless and Clerks are also good for the nineties; very much of their time. Do the Right Thing has a certain nostalgia quality (imagine associating the term “nostalgia” with that film at the time it was released!). The title song begins with a shout of “Nineteen eighty nine!”; compared to the racial conflicts that took place in the '90s, it’s almost an optimistic view.

7

I recently saw an acclaimed Australian movie called “Looking for Alabrandi”, which dealt with the trials and tribulations of a teenage girlin her final year of high school, in the middle of Sydney in 1999. It was an up-to-the-minute view of the world from her perspective. Good stuff.