The first trial of Alfred Dreyfus took place in 1894, and is depicted in The Life of Emile Zola. However, the climax is probably in 1898 during Zola’s own libel trial (which was followed by Dreyfus’s pardon). There are a couple of movies called The Dreyfus Case but again I expect the climax is in 1898 instead of 1894.
As the Prof. says, Wiki has categories on “film set in (date),” but these are not exhaustive and are also sometimes inaccurate. Wiki also has lists of historical movies in various categories. I’ve rejected some movies that Wiki indicates for a particular year because the movie is too diffuse and includes scenes from too many other years.
I’ll often think of a historical movie and then check to see if a date can be fixed for it (sometimes from the date of an event depicted in the movie). But I’ve also been working in reverse, thinking of a historical event or character and seeing if there are any movies on it.
Can you verify the 1892 date for Heaven’s Gate as being valid? Wiki is showing 1890. It appears the movie (which I haven’t seen) spans a number of years, but concentrated in this range… though it’s not indicated if it’s more 1890, 1892 or what.
Even though it’s considered a bad film, Heaven’s Gate is a famously bad and probably more worthy than Wabash Avenue, which I’m guessing is pretty arcane.
The movie is at least loosely based on the Johnson County Cattle War (and the original title was even The Johnson County War), which took place in 1892. While it’s an extremely inaccurate version of the actual events, if you accept that tie-in that can fix the date.
Although it was a legendary disaster when first released, in recent years some critics have reassessed the movie and some now call it a masterpiece.
Fascinating thread! May I add:
6,000,000 BC 2001: A Space Odyssey (Dawn of Man sequence)
932 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1517 Apocalypto
1776 The Patriot
1849 Cloud Atlas
1936 Cloud Atlas
1941 Casablanca / Pearl Harbor / 1941
1973 Cloud Atlas
1974 Dick
1986 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
1989 The Abyss
2012 Cloud Atlas / 2012
2063 Star Trek: First Contact
2144 Cloud Atlas
2279 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2285 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan / Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
2286 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
2287 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2293 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country / Star Trek Generations
2321 Cloud Atlas
2371 Star Trek Generations
2373 Star Trek: First Contact
2375 Star Trek: Insurrection
2379 Star Trek: Nemesis
4000 A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Cloud Atlas, Star Trek IV and Star Trek: First Contact take place in several different years.
I think you kindof missed the point of the thread for most of those.
Limit one year per customer. I don’t know about Cloud Atlas, but the majority of the action in the two Star Trek films took place in the earlier year for both of them.
Is there a reference to an actual date in Monty Python & the Holy Grail?
The Patriot covers the entire American Revolution. Not possible to pin it down to one year.
Getting back to 1945, somebody suggested Downfall earlier. How did that get omitted?
It’s a better choice (temporally) than Schindler’s List or Empire of the Sun, since (unlike those films, which cover the whole war) it takes place entirely in 1945.
I found this site to be helpful.
Wow, that’s quite a reference. Takes some of the fun out of it!
Latest update:
BC One Zillion BC, October 9th - Caveman
BC 1,000,000 One Million BC
BC 10,000 10,000 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
932 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
984 Dragonheart
1000 Valhalla Rising
1057 Macbeth
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
1349 The Seventh Seal
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
1517 Apocalypto
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
1699 Captain Kidd
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
1792 A Tale of Two Cities
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
1831 Under Capricorn
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)
1892 Heaven’s Gate
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 / Downfall
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 / Dick
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 Spinning Boris
1997 Amélie
1998 Escape from New York
1999 Strange Days
2000 Death Race 2000
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 V for Vendetta
2022 Soylent Green
2025 Repo Men
2026 Metropolis
2027 Children of Men
2032 Demolition Man
2035 I, Robot / Twelve Monkeys
2044 Looper
2054 Minority Report
2056 Red Planet
2057 Sunshine
2063 Star Trek: First Contact
2078 Screamers
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)
Explanations (open to reconsideration):
Heaven’s Gate to be the only 1892 entry (good explanation, Colibri) and excluding Wabash Avenue (1892), which is a bit arcane by comparison. (Wabash Avenue fans, allow yourself to retort!)
It’s very debatable where 12 Monkeys should go, but because it came out in 1995, I think it better in 2035 than 1996 (among other reasons).
Mission to Mars (25% on RT) scrapped for V for Vendetta (73% on RT).
Cloud Atlas is too “Gumpian” for the timeline. Star Trek IV (“the one with the whale”) is present day, per the film’s release and the future date was only on screen for a short while.
I’m not sure about exact dates for Apocalypto and Dick (I had previously looked on the internet for specific and valid dates), but I can’t prove those aren’t correct, so, worthwhile. A.I., on the other hand does not provide a specific date, either, and the 4000 was a very short part of the movie.
We discussed Casablanca earlier in the thread. 1941 & Pearl Harbor not on par with current 1941 entries. Previously discussed, also.
Downfall re-entered for 1945. Not sure if it was removed because of better entries (don’t think so as Empire of the Sun and Schindlers both comprise a longer period of time than a single year) or by accident.
Re: Monty Python… umm, okay.
I think the next evolution of this list – especially in light of discovery of available websites to make this list fairly easy – is to determine the best (most appropriate) movie for each year. Of course, determining best/most appropriate is its own debate.
Sorry, the OP doesn’t say that. Is that for the entire duration of the thread, or at a time?
If the latter, I’ll resubmit:
2279 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Some major upgrades:
1918: All Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
Winner of two Academy Awards, including Best Director, and considered one of the 100 best American movies.
1941: From Here to Eternity
Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Considered one of the 100 best American movies.
1943: The Guns of Navarone
Starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn. Won Golden Globe for Best Picture. Won one Academy Award, and nominated for six others, including Best Picture and Best Director.
1947: Judgement at Nuremburg
Starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Marlene Dietrich, and Montgomery Clift. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and won two.
1948: Exodus
Starring Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, and Sal Mineo.
Movie begins in 1947, but most of the action and the climax are in 1948.
New entry:
1866 Red River
Fictionalized account of first cattle drive on the Chisolm Trail, which took place in 1866.
PS: The last update missed:
467 King Arthur
What he means is, a film can only be entered for one year. If a film covers multiple years, in your nomination you have to specify which year you think is most important in that film (whether in time, or in plot/theme). You can’t nominate the same film for multiple years.
You can submit as many nominations as you want in a post.
BC 227 The Emperor and the Assassin
1856 The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari)
Mostly thinking of a movie and tracking down when it was actually set. But I’ve also been trawling a bit for foreign cinema, especially Indian movies; I think if it’s something reasonably widely known and available to Western audiences and with English subtitles it qualifies for the List. It’s kind of cool to see where other filmmaking traditions cluster their periods of historical interest.
The Lord of the Rings?
So, removing about 2000 years after BC, we arrive to 4000 BC.
Therefore:
BC 4000 The Lord of the Rings (The fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.)
For the really obsessed: I did check, most of the action does take place in one year.
If it hasn’t been submitted, for 1941, Casablanca.
Oh, I think I can date a very ancient one:
Disney’s Dinosaur (2000) deals with the impact and does play with the idea that not all dinosaurs died just there.
66 million BC Dinosaur