# What's going to date current and recent movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342 "2003-01-03T02:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/21 "2003-01-03T10:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michael Ellis \* > \*\*_cough cough_ Pan Am logo _cough cough_ \*\* _cough cough_ Atari logo _cough cough_ ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/22 "2003-01-03T12:03:44Z")
Atari probably isn’t a valid comparison. [Atari](http://www.atari.com) appears to be back from the dead, whereas [Pan Am](http://www.panam.org) is still dead. Perhaps this is counted in **dwc1970** ’s post, but product packagings can also date films. Soda cans, candy bar wrappers, potato chip bags, pizza boxes, fast food wrappers, and cigarette cartons come to mind here. Also, gas prices. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/23 "2003-01-03T14:37:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Inevitably, women’s hairstyles and makeup date a movie. Even if it’s a period movie, elements of contemporary fashions make their way into the movie. \*\* I agree, but I think it is even moreso in regard to men’s hairstyles. Look at the hair of secondary or bit player’s hair and it will usually give away what decade the movie was shot (i.e. crew cuts on cowboys in Westerns, long hair and side burns on supposed 20s or 30s gangsters, etc.). That being said, I think the acceptability of the male shaved head will ID many films as turn-of-the-century films to our children. Think about it. It is a recent innovation that it is as acceptable as it is. Yes, yes, I know there were Yul Brenner and Telly Savales, but they were the exceptions not the rule. TV ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/24 "2003-01-03T16:42:07Z")
I tried dating a movie once. The movie kept me waiting at the restaurant for nearly an hour before showing up, and then just would _not_ shut up about nit-picky family problems. I didn’t wait around to see if the movie would be a good kisser or not. ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/25 "2003-01-03T17:17:50Z")
I think the only things that make a movie seem dated are the used of “Present day” or any other date, unless the movie is obviously supposed to take place in the past. For example, “All the President’s Men” is obviously an historical movie, so it’s okay that they are using past dates. However, if someone were to create a movie today that took place in 2011… once 2011 rolls around, it will seem kinda hokey that they used that date. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/26 "2003-01-03T17:31:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fatdave \* > However, if someone were to create a movie today that took place in 2011… once 2011 rolls around, it will seem kinda hokey that they used that date. You mean like [this flick](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0086837), complete with Soviets and cheesy pocket calculators? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/27 "2003-01-03T19:10:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yosemitebabe \* > \*\*I noticed a weird gaffe in a 1999 (I think) Showtime movie, “In the Company of Spies”. The topic (political situation N. Korea) will probably date it anyway, but there was a conversation between two characters where one asks the other how Mrs. Smith (or whoever) is doing. Apparently, the other says, Mrs. Smith isn’t doing too well. Still thinks that President Bush is in office. Poor deluded soul. > > That gave me a start for a moment. Kinda trippy. \*\* I throw out another movie that this has happened to: _My Fellow Americans_ Jack Lemmon’s marking his bottle of booze and his wife says to him, “That’s so George Bush.” (And considering how his daughters have made the news, kinda prophetic! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/28 "2003-01-03T19:47:21Z")
What about acting methods? Look back at the older B&W films of yesteryear. The actors (especially the starletts) seemed to deliver all of their lines in machine gun fashion (similar to the Library Cop, Bookman, on Sienfeld). Will modern acting styles elicit giggles from future audiences the same way these old movies make me laugh? I just couldn’t see someone thinking Tom Hanks was corny, but I’ll bet they thought that back in the day about their matinee idols. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/29 "2003-01-03T19:53:01Z")
–Excessive use of obviously hand-held cameras. –Excessive use of digital grading to tint movies. –Saving Private Ryan-style combat scenes. Goth and punk clothes, on the other hand, have been around for more than 20 years now. They’re practically a permanent part of the cultural landscape. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/30 "2003-01-03T19:56:48Z")
Human actors. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/31 "2003-01-03T20:05:59Z")
Walloon, I can manage to overlook the “big hair” in _Doctor Zhivago_, but the ponytails in _Beh-Hur_ were a little much. A couple of years ago I watched an episode of _The Avengers_, (1960’s) in which Mrs. Peel stunned everyone by using an answering machine. It was almost the size of a car engine! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/32 "2003-01-03T20:13:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, gas prices. Watch _Die Hard_, particularly the scene where Sgt. Powell is coming out of the convenience store to check on the goings-on at Nakatomi Plaza. IIRC, there is a sign with gas prices in the 70-cent range, which I found quite odd for the late 1980s. But then, for a movie that accomplishes most of its wireless communication via CB radio, it’s oddly appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/33 "2003-01-03T21:11:26Z")
2 dimensions. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/34 "2003-01-03T21:15:59Z")
Certain illnesses and disabilities, hopefully. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/35 "2003-01-03T21:51:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* > \*\*Watch _Die Hard_…there is a sign with gas prices in the 70-cent range \*\* You should remember gas prices in the 70 cent range around here just a little more than a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/36 "2003-01-03T22:02:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > \*\*You should remember gas prices in the 70 cent range around here just a little more than a year ago. \*\* On the other hand, they’ll still be able to use those same Twinkies for Die Hard 48: Will You Just Die, Already? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/37 "2003-01-03T22:31:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keith Berry \* > \*\*Refer to the first **Lethal Weapon** , where Danny Glover totes around a hilariously large and cumbersome mobile cell phone in several scenes. 1987, I believe. \*\* I like the scene in **Wall Street** , also 1987: Gordon Gekko, one of the richest men ino the world, is watching the sun come up and talking on what is obviously meant to be an incredibly cool sleek cell phone that is about the size of his head. For the OP, any sort of cultural reference is a dead give-away. Example: I was watching an old movie over the holidays with my parents called **How to Marry a Millionaire**. There’s all these strange lines in the movie clearly designed to draw big laughs, (cue the wah-wah horns, etc), but I had no idea what was funny and had to have everything explained to me. Apparently half of the cast was married to each other, or other famous actors / bandleaders / whatever, and there were tons of inside jokes about their celebrity marriages and / or other famous film roles. I think I figured only one out, and that was a Lauren Bacall line referring to Humphrey Bogart. ---
**Author:** ![Dryga\_Yes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Dryga\_Yes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dryga_Yes)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/38 "2003-01-04T00:13:51Z")
Movie company logos made in 3d studio max. With lasers shooting at a block of marble so chunks of rock are thrown at the monitor making it shake a bit, then the remaining pieces form the name of the company. And then the chunks turn liquid and form a puddle on the floor. And then the puddle starts to take on human form a la Terminator 2, and then the liquid human-guy runs away from the screen. And then there’s a big explosion. Accompanied by flashy sound effects. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/39 "2003-01-04T03:57:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > Oh, I forgot a recent one that’s been talked about alot lately. Some people think Legolas’s skateboarding stunt in The Two Towers will date that movie. Still not quite sure whether I agree with that or not. > > All the ‘boarding’ in recent Disney movies (Tarzan, Treasure Planet off the top of my head) will probably date them. Maybe not. After all, they’ve been using “boarding” in movies since at least 1985 (in _Back the the Future_) so if that’s the only thing “dating” the movie, it might not have as much of an impact as you’re expecting, depending on how much longer that use continues. Although, I haven’t seen TTT yet, nor have I seen Tarzan or Treasure Planet, so I don’t know how much the boarding style has changed. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342/40 "2003-01-04T04:56:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > \*\*Music and credits sequences will date a movie. Any movie that used the _Seven_-style credits sequence will be instantly pegged as a mid-90’s production. In fact, I predict that in about 5 or 10 years, _every_ David Fincher movie will look as dated as _Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo_. \*\* Just to satisfy my curiosity, what are “Seven-style credits”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-to-date-current-and-recent-movies/146342.md?page=3)