# The best movie set in every year... but not made in that year **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457 "2013-05-15T22:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/1 "2013-05-15T22:13:45Z")
Can we make a timeline of the best movie for each year – not when the movie was made, but in the year in which is was set? In other words, all movies are period pieces – and not just the Merchant Ivory kind. I’m up for trying. The rules: The majority – either in terms of minutes or theme – of each movie must must occur in the specific year. For example, **Back to the Future** occurs in 1985 and 1955, but we pretty much think of the movie as having occurred in 1955 – and where the majority of the plot develops. So, 1955 for BttF. **A Bronx Tale** , however, is set in both 1960 and… not sure of the other year, but the latter is longer and more emphatic to the story. So A Bronx Tale would have to be entered for the latter year. But I can’t seem to figure out which year that is, so it doesn’t (yet) go into the timeline. By either graphic or event, it must possible to determine the exact year the movie is set in. There is likely some murkiness in many cases, but as Joel’s mom says in Risky Business, Just use your own best judgement. You can trump any already-listed movie, but please provide your reasoning. (And I suppose the overruled could trump you again. :D) And yes, movies set in the future are encouraged! (So long as you can identify the exact year in which the the movie is set.) I’m sure a comprehensive list can be found somewhere on the internet, but: a.) that’s no fun; and b.) our list would be better anyway. Please copy and paste the list from the previous entry and then add your movie. For visual clarity, please leave a row between any left-out year (or years). I’ll get it started with some low-hanging fruit. Thanks for playing. Hopefully I won’t just be playing with myself… which is all too often the case. :eek: 1919 Eight Men Out 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1985 Back to the Future Moonchild’s comments (don’t copy and paste this part): I only included **Son of Sam** to emphasize the formatting; there’s probably a better period piece set in '77. Although the battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan are visual masterpieces I’m betting this flawed film eventually gets trumped. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/2 "2013-05-15T22:23:50Z")
1919 Eight Men Out 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1985 Back to the Future **1986 Hot Tub Time Machine** Just trying to help! (Please un-bold the newly added HTTM when adding your entries.) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/3 "2013-05-15T22:52:31Z")
1919 Eight Men Out 1944 Saving Private Ryan **1965 Moonrise Kingdom** 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1985 Back to the Future 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/4 "2013-05-15T23:15:24Z")
**1912 Titanic** 1919 Eight Men Out 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1985 Back to the Future 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine Question: are we allowed to add just one or multiples? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/5 "2013-05-15T23:15:36Z")
1944 Saving Private Ryan **1955 Back to the Future** 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam [del]1985 Back to the Future[/del] 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine **2001 2001:A Space Odyssey** (OP broke his own rule about BttF 😉 ) ---
**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:** [May 15, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/6 "2013-05-15T23:23:17Z")
1912 Titanic 1919 Eight Men Out 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future **1959 Diner** **1962 National Lampoon’s Animal House** 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam **1980 No Country for Old Men** 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/7 "2013-05-15T23:24:45Z")
1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1985 Back to the Future 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/8 "2013-05-15T23:25:17Z")
1912 Titanic **1916 Paths of Glory** 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/9 "2013-05-15T23:29:07Z")
1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1962 (tie) Animal House and American Graffiti 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey ---
**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:** [May 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/10 "2013-05-15T23:29:18Z")
1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey **2027: Children of Men** ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/11 "2013-05-15T23:29:34Z")
**1865 Lincoln** 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey [/QUOTE] ---
**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:** [May 15, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/12 "2013-05-15T23:30:31Z")
Are we allowed to use movies that are set in the year they’re made? I’m thinking of movies like _The Best Years of Our Lives_ or _The Third Man_. ---
**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:** [May 15, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/13 "2013-05-15T23:32:43Z")
Sampiro missed the one I added due to simul-posts: 1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027: Children of Men ---
**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:** [May 15, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/14 "2013-05-15T23:33:37Z")
1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory \*\*1929 Some Like It Hot 1937 O Brother, Where Art Thou?\*\* 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027: Children of Men ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/15 "2013-05-15T23:34:59Z")
1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1929 Some Like It Hot 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027 Children of Men **2084 Total Recall (original)** ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/16 "2013-05-15T23:38:51Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > 1944 Saving Private Ryan > > **1955 Back to the Future** > > [del]1985 Back to the Future[/del] > (OP broke his own rule about BttF 😉 ) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/17 "2013-05-15T23:43:56Z")
1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1929 Some Like It Hot 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House \*\*1963 Mermaids \*\* 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027 Children of Men 2084 Total Recall (original) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/18 "2013-05-15T23:45:32Z")
1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1929 Some Like It Hot 1937 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1979 **Argo** 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027: Children of Men 2084: Total Recall (the original) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/19 "2013-05-15T23:48:10Z")
1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1929 Some Like It Hot 1937 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1963 Mermaids 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1979 Argo 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey 2027: Children of Men 2084: Total Recall (the original) (Mermaids posted before I submitted my reply.) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/20 "2013-05-15T23:53:14Z")
**33 Life of Brian** 1865 Lincoln 1912 Titanic 1916 Paths of Glory 1929 Some Like It Hot 1937 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 1944 Saving Private Ryan 1955 Back to the Future 1959 Diner 1962 (tie) American Graffiti and Animal House 1963 Mermaids 1965 Moonrise Kingdom 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1979 Argo 1980 No Country for Old Men 1986 Hot Tub Time Machine 2001 2001:A Space Odyssey **2019 Blade Runner** 2027: Children of Men 2084: Total Recall (the original) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457.md?page=2)