# 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:** 13
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/241 "2013-05-21T00:18:56Z")
I have a better 1985 movie than The Wedding Singer: 1985 [SLC Punk!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133189/?ref_=sr_1) ---
**Author:** ![sideshowkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@sideshowkar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sideshowkar)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/242 "2013-05-21T01:36:32Z")
1940 - A Christmas Story (IMDB trivia says the decoder that Ralphie gets is the 1940 model). ---
**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:** [May 21, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/243 "2013-05-21T03:39:18Z")
> [@sideshowkar](#): > > 1940 - A Christmas Story (IMDB trivia says the decoder that Ralphie gets is the 1940 model). We’ve done a thread on that. A Christmas Story can’t be fixed to any single year. There are elements in it from the late 1930s to the 1950s. According to a quote in Wiki, [Director Bob Clark stated in the film’s DVD commentary that he and author Shepherd wished for the movie to be seen as “amorphously late 30s, early 40s,” but a specific year is never mentioned.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story) ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/244 "2013-05-21T03:39:32Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > I have a better 1985 movie than The Wedding Singer: > > 1985 [SLC Punk!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133189/?ref_=sr_1) I’ll second that. This turned out to be a pretty neat thread. I wasn’t expecting such a comprehensive list. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/245 "2013-05-21T03:50:03Z")
1685 - \*\*Lorna Doone \*\* 1940 - Since **The Spirit of the Beehive** is a little obscure, maybe it could share the year with **The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.** ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/246 "2013-05-21T04:08:43Z")
1215 - Ironclad ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/247 "2013-05-21T04:28:44Z")
BC 261 [Asoka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoka_(2001_film)) 1873 **Cowboys and Aliens** Nobody’s tapped **Star Trek: Into Darkness** for 2259 yet? Also, this theme would make a hell of a film festival. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/248 "2013-05-21T04:43:05Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I’ll second that. And I will veto it! Wedding Singer beats SLC Punk on Rotten Tomatoes 68% to 63%. SLC Punk leads on IMDB, though, 7.2 to 6.8. (Wedding Singer nips SLC Punk at the Box Office $37-mil to $2-mil.) I think it’s reasonable for both to share the slot. Personally, I liked Wedding Singer. It’s Adam Sandler’s best comedy. (I’ve never seen SLC Punk, was at Sundance the year it was there but didn’t see it.) Aaaand, there’s this other thing, which is silly and superstitious, but I really want to leave Wedding Singer on there. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/249 "2013-05-21T05:18:05Z")
1594 [How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Tasty_Was_My_Little_Frenchman) (Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/250 "2013-05-21T06:09:58Z")
Updating here at post #250: BC One Zillion BC, October 9th - Caveman BC 1,000,000 One Million BC BC 1200 Troy BC 480 300 BC 326 Sikandar (1941) \*\*BC 261 Asoka \*\* BC 216 Hannibal BC 72 Spartacus BC 48 Caesar and Cleopatra BC 44 Julius Caesar BC 30 Cleopatra 33 Life of Brian / The Passion of the Christ 40 Caligula 68 Quo Vadis 70 The Last Days of Pompeii 140 The Eagle 180 Gladiator 208 Red Cliff 450 Attila 460 The Last Legion 528 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 709 Outlander 778 Orlando and the Knights of France 859 House of Flying Daggers 922 The Thirteenth Warrior 984 Dragonheart 1000 Valhalla Rising 1099 El Cid 1170 Becket 1183 The Lion in Winter 1187 Kingdom of Heaven 1199 Robin Hood (2010) 1210 Brother Sun Sister Moon **1215 Ironclad** 1242 Alexander Nevsky 1298 Braveheart 1327 The Name of the Rose 1344 Season of the Witch 1348 Black Death 1389 Battle of Kosovo 1415 Henry V 1424 Andrei Rublev 1431 The Passion of Joan of Arc 1482 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1485 Richard III 1492 1492: Conquest of Paradise 1533 The Royal Hunt of the Sun 1535 A Man for All Seasons 1536 Anne of the Thousand Days 1547 Crossed Swords 1553 Lady Jane 1558 Elizabeth (1998) 1560 Aguirre: The Wrath of God 1575 Kagemusha 1588 Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) \*\*1594 How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman \*\* 1597 Shakespeare in Love 1601 The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1607 The New World 1625 The Three Musketeers 1630 Hara-kiri 1634 Black Robe / The Devils 1665 Girl with a Pearl Earring 1667 The Scarlet Letter \*_1685 Lorna Doone \*\* 1692 The Crucible 1712 Rob Roy 1756 The Mission 1757 The Last of the Mohicans 1776 1776 1779 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 1787 Robinson Crusoe 1788 The Madness of King George 1789 Mutiny on the Bounty 1791 That Night in Varennes 1793 Marie Antoinette 1794 Danton 1798 The Wild Child 1799 The Marquise of O / Sleepy Hollow 1805 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 1808 The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade 1813 Swiss Family Robinson 1815 Waterloo 1816 Gothic 1827 Children of Paradise 1828 The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser 1832 Les Miserables 1836 The Alamo 1841 Amistad 1854 The Charge of the Light Brigade 1857 Mangal Pandey: The Rising 1858 Django Unchained 1860 The Pony Express 1862 The General 1863 Gettysburg / Glory 1864 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Cold Mountain 1865 Lincoln 1867 Juarez 1869 Union Pacific 1871 In Old Chicago 1872 Around the World in 80 Days **1873 Cowboys and Aliens** 1874 Blazing Saddles 1875 The Story of Alexander Graham Bell 1876 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon / The Molly Maguires 1877 The Last Samurai 1878 Cheyenne Autumn 1879 Zulu 1880 Stagecoach / True Grit (2012) 1881 Tombstone 1882 The Man Who Would Be King 1883 Krakatoa, East of Java 1884 3:10 to Yuma 1885 Topsy Turvy / Back to the Future III / The Oxbow Incident 1886 Geronimo: An American Legend 1888 From Hell 1889 Mayerling 1890 Hello, Dolly! 1891 Sherlock Holmes (2009) 1893 Far and Away / Lagaan 1895 The Four Feathers 1896 The Far Country 1897 The Gold Rush 1898 A Message to Garcia 1899 The Prestige / Newsies 1900 Picnic at Hanging Rock 1901 The Shootist 1902 Breaker Morant 1903 Tom Horn 1904 Meet Me in St. Louis 1905 Battleship Potemkin 1906 Ragtime 1907 Viva Maria! 1908 Take Me Out To The Ball Game 1909 Fanny and Alexander 1910 Mary Poppins 1911 1911 1912 Titanic 1913 The Wild Bunch 1914 The African Queen 1915 Gallipoli 1916 Paths of Glory 1917 Lawrence of Arabia 1918 War Horse 1919 Eight Men Out 1920 Matewan 1921 Sunrise at Campobello 1922 The Great Gatsby / Thoroughly Modern Millie 1923: The Hours 1924 Chariots of Fire 1925 Inherit the Wind 1926 The Sand Pebbles 1927 Singin’ in the Rain 1928 The Artist / Bullets Over Broadway 1929 Some Like It Hot 1930 Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 1931 Cabaret 1932 They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? 1933 Sounder 1934 Pennies from Heaven / Bonnie and Clyde / Victor Victoria 1935 The King’s Speech / To Kill a Mockingbird 1936 Raiders of the Lost Ark / The Sting 1937 Chinatown / Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? 1938 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1939 To Be or Not to Be (the original) 1940 The Spirit of the Beehive / **The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe** 1941 Tora! Tora! Tora! 1942 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo / Summer of '42 1943 Come and See / A League of Their Own 1944 Saving Private Ryan / A Bridge Too Far / Pan’s Labyrinth / The Longest Day / Au Revoir Les Enfants / **Inglorious Basterds** 1945 Schindler’s List / Empire of Sun 1946 The Godfather / The Black Stallion (Coppola owns 1946!) 1947 42 / Tucker: A Man and His Dream 1948 Devil in a Blue Dress 1949 The Man Who Wasn’t There 1950 Men in War / Snow Falling on Cedars 1951 The Last Picture Show / Mash 1952 Hoosiers 1953 L.A. Confidential / Heavenly Creatures 1954 My Favorite Year / Heavenly Creatures 1955 Back to the Future 1956 The Polar Express 1957 The Battle of Algiers / Far From Heaven 1958 The Godfather Part II / A League of Their Own 1959 Diner / Stand By Me / Dead Poets Society 1960 Grease 1961 61_ 1962 American Graffiti / Animal House 1963 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1964 Mississippi Burning 1965 Moonrise Kingdom / The Outsiders / **Year of Living Dangerously** 1966 JFK / Casualties of War 1967 Platoon 1968 The Unbearable Lightness of Being / A Bronx Tale 1969 Taking Woodstock / Awakenings 1970 Apollo 13 / Apocalypse Now 1971 Remember the Titans 1972 All the President’s Men 1973 Ratcatcher / Almost Famous 1974 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 1975 The Deer Hunter 1976 Dazed and Confused 1977 Summer of Sam 1978 Lords of Dogtown 1979 Argo / Super 8 1980 No Country for Old Men 1981 Wet Hot American Summer / Let the Right One In 1982 Waltz with Bashir / Son of Rambow 1983 Stand and Deliver / This Is England 1984 1984 / Billy Elliot 1985 The Wedding Singer / **SLC Punk!** 1986 The Squid and the Whale 1987 Fargo 1988 Donnie Darko 1989 Buffalo Soldiers 1990 Rent 1991 The Big Lebowski 1992 Primary Colors 1993 Black Hawk Down 1994 Hotel Rwanda 1995 Invictus / The Insider 1996 12 Monkeys 1997 Amélie 1998 Escape from New York 1999 Strange Days 2000 Escape from Los Angeles 2001 2001: A Space Odyssey / World Trade Center / Flight 93 2002 Moneyball 2003 127 Hours 2004 The Hurt Locker 2005 Transformers: the Movie (1986) 2010 2010: The Year We Make Contact 2011 Zero Dark Thirty 2012 I Am Legend 2013 The Postman 2015 Back to the Future II / Robocop 2018 Rollerball (1975) 2019 Blade Runner 2020 Mission to Mars 2022 Soylent Green 2025 Repo Men 2026 Metropolis 2027 Children of Men 2032 Demolition Man 2035 I, Robot 2044 Looper 2054 Minority Report 2056 Red Planet 2057 Sunshine 2063 Star Trek: First Contact 2074 Looper 2084 Total Recall (the original) 2093 Prometheus 2122 Alien 2139 Judge Dredd 2150 Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. 2151 Vanilla Sky 2160 Avatar 2173 Sleeper 2179 Aliens 2199 The Matrix 2214 The Fifth Element 2220 Forbidden Planet \*\*2259 Star Trek: Into Darkness \*\* 2274 Logan’s Run 2293 Zardoz 2491 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 2500 Waterworld 2505 Idiocracy 2517 Serenity 2592 Riddick 2805 Wall-E 3000 3000 A.D. (aka Captive Women) 3978 Planet of the Apes (1968) 5021 Planet of the Apes (2001) 12090 Vampire Hunter D 40000 Barbarella 802,701 The Time Machine (2002) Adding in **Year of Living Dangerously** ; as good as the other 1965 entries. Leaving **A Christmas Story** out for now; willing to reconsider for a cogent or well crafted campaign. From 1871 - 2005 we are only missing 1887, 1892 & 1894. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/251 "2013-05-21T06:20:42Z")
Uh-oh! Looper represented in both 2044 and 2074. I will remove the 2074 entry in the next update. Pretty sure it belongs in the 2044 slot. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/252 "2013-05-21T06:57:29Z")
Does it count if you haven’t actually seen it? Because a search gives me [Wabash Avenue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_Avenue_%28film%29) for 1892. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/253 "2013-05-21T07:47:33Z")
Under Capricorn 1831 Screamers 2078 OK-so maybe not good movies-but you are free to find better ones for those years. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/254 "2013-05-21T12:27:19Z")
So, **Twelve Monkeys** is currently entered in 1996, which, per the OP (most minutes of the movie and most plot-turning moments), would seem to be its correct slot. But I feel this movie could warrant an exception. The dystopian, post-apocalyptic portion happens in 2035, which to me feels like the “home base.” After all, the film was made in 1995, so hardly a “period piece” in that regard to a 1996 entry. Whaddy’all think? What does it _feel like_ to you? (I am the OP’er.) Others to possibly add: **2000 Death Race 2000 2010 District 13 2019 Akira 2020 V for Vendetta** ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/255 "2013-05-21T12:35:12Z")
I’ve seen **Twelve Monkeys** a number of times. Yeah, 2035 is the home base year. ---
**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 21, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/256 "2013-05-21T16:30:31Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > So, **Twelve Monkeys** is currently entered in 1996, which, per the OP (most minutes of the movie and most plot-turning moments), would seem to be its correct slot. But I feel this movie could warrant an exception. The dystopian, post-apocalyptic portion happens in 2035, which to me feels like the “home base.” After all, the film was made in 1995, so hardly a “period piece” in that regard to a 1996 entry. > > Whaddy’all think? What does it _feel like_ to you? (I am the OP’er.) It’s one of my favorites. I feel if you have to limit it to a single year, it’s set in 1996. That’s when the major events of the movie occur. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/257 "2013-05-21T17:38:35Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > After all, the film was made in 1995, so hardly a “period piece” in that regard to a 1996 entry. While I think that the “best year” for the setting of the film is 1996, I think the period piece argument would rule it out for that year. OK to use it for 2035, since I think in terms of theme it belongs in that year. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of movies to replace it that were made in a different year. The best one set in the real world (or at least the one with the best cast) is probably [Spinning Boris.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_Boris) ---
**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:** [May 21, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/258 "2013-05-21T18:26:20Z")
BC 10,000 10,000 BC 467 King Arthur 1057 Macbeth 1349 The Seventh Seal 1699 Captain Kidd 1792 A Tale of Two Cities 1892 (alternate) Heaven’s Gate ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/259 "2013-05-21T19:11:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > While I think that the “best year” for the setting of the film is 1996, I think the period piece argument would rule it out for that year. OK to use it for 2035, since I think in terms of theme it belongs in that year. > > Unfortunately there’s not a lot of movies to replace it that were made in a different year. The best one set in the real world (or at least the one with the best cast) is probably [Spinning Boris.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_Boris) Any vehement arguments notwithstanding, I’m moving **Twelve Monkeys** to 2035. Hurray for **Boris**! Just curious, how are you guys orchestrating your searches? For me, I just sorta think of a movie (or performer and think of their period movies) and then search in Wiki for the year if I don’t already know it. But I’m betting you, **Colibri** , and some others have a different process. Care to share? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457/260 "2013-05-21T19:19:34Z")
For some of them I searched Wiki’s pages on “films set in [date]”, but that’s just about exhausted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-movie-set-in-every-year-but-not-made-in-that-year/658457.md?page=14)