Movies that capture the spirit of their times...

This thread is about movies that are time-capsules. That perfectly capture the style, fashion, slang, and attitude of the time in which they were made.

For Example:

Swinging London (1960's)
Blowup: I just watched this movie for the first time today and inspired me to start this thread. It is so 60's its unbelievable. The clothes. The vibe. A rare performance of the Yardbirds when they had both Jeff Beck AND Jimmy Page on guitar. Sex, drugs and rock & roll...

Smashing Time: I got this DVD for something like $3 when a local Blockbuster had a going-out-of-business sale. Wow. Mods, mods, mods...

Grunge era:
Singles: I'm not sure if this is the definitive Gen X movie. But it has a virtual Who's Who of grunge bands in the movie and on the soundtrack. Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees...

Reality Bites: I was born in 1976 which is the last year of Gen X. I can attest that this movie very accurately reflected the vibe of my generation.

Hippy Era:

Psych-Out There are better-known hippy movies out there (ex Easy Rider). But this movie I saw by chance on cable one day. Shit. It stars a 31 year old Jack Nicholson. It delves quite deeper into hippy culture in San Fran than any other movie I've seen. A little on the sensational side but not quite exploitative. I give it a thumbs up.

Depression era:

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang: You want gritty? You want pre-code? This is by far the grittiest pre-code movie I've seen. It's about a guy who goes off to WWI, serves his country faithfully only to come home unable to find steady employment. Destitute and starving, by a fluke of circumstance, he winds up in jail. A chain gang, to be specific. Even by todays standards, this movie is pretty disturbing in its portrayal of prison life.

The Public Enemy: IMO, William Wellman was the best depression-era director. Public Enemy is a gangster film. Granted, there were shitloads of gangster films at the tail-end of prohibition but what made Public Enemy unique was that Tom Powers, the main character of The Public Enemy, was never The Boss. He never really rose above the rank of foot soldier. Which made the moral of The Public Enemy that much more poignant; that your kid could be Tom Powers. Hardcore. Ten million thumbs up.

i thought Human Traffic did a pretty spectacular job of that.

dazed and confused, wildstyle, and amarcord come to mind.

Definitely agree with Dazed and Confused, very nostalgic qualities.

In a strange way, even though I dislike the film more and more with each viewing (it's still decent enough to watch multiple times), I think Donnie Darko also has nostalgic qualities.

Also nominate Dog Day Afternoon, 24 Hour Party People.

Once Upon A Time in America comes close. Not sure why I can't nominate it with confidence. Nothing to do with the time gap in the film though. Just can't quite articulate my feelings on it. Very good movie though.

How can Dazed And Confused capture the time in which it was made?. It was a 90's film, set in the 70's. 8)

I'm gonna go with Rebel Without A Cause.

I think the Salton Sea does a pretty good job of catching the energy and attitude of a counter-culture group of relatively young people mixed up in that world.

Also, Van Sant's Elephant does a pretty good job of portraying the American high school scene.

dshock said:

Also, Van Sant's Elephant does a pretty good job of portraying the American high school scene.

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That's a good one. A lot of people hate that movie but I was impressed that the actors talked and behaved like high schoolers actually behave and talk. More realistically than any other movie I can think of.

tribal girl said:

How can Dazed And Confused capture the time in which it was made?. It was a 90's film, set in the 70's. 8)

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I agree. IMO, period movies made after the times in which they are set have a tendency to try a little too hard to capture the spirit of their age.
There's a part in D&C where the guy says something like (I quote from memory) "A drug pledge? Next thing you know they'll be doing urine tests!" I mean, that's a wink and a smile to the modern viewer.
Not saying D&C is a bad movie. Or for example Boogie Nights or Carlitos Way.
But from a purely socioliogical perspective, its more interesting to see a movie that captures the spirit without really trying to. To see how people REALLY looked, dressed and acted, you gotta look at the extras.
While the stars are wearing stuff from the studio costume department, the extra often wore stuff straight out of their own closet and are under instructions to "act natural".

For 70's time capsule, I'd go with Foxes or even Saturday Night Fever.

Easy Rider was one of my favorite movies at the time .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Rider
the soundtrack was just as good .

tribal girl said:

How can Dazed And Confused capture the time in which it was made?. It was a 90's film, set in the 70's. 8)

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ohh, i get it , i was thinkin about the thread title in a different way. mah bad yo =/

EA-1475 said:

For 70's time capsule, I'd go with Foxes

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cool, that flick takes place/filmed in my hometown, sounds good, lookin forward to it.

Oops, yeah. I was going by the title of the thread rather than what was said in the first post. You can rule all my nominations out, except for Dog Day Afternoon then.

That's not nearly as fun.