1950s frame of mind...

Joe Brody

Well-known member
What movies shot in the 1950's and SET in the 1950's best capture the look and feel of the era? (three quesses as to why the 1950's are on my mind). Here's the first films that came to mind -- what are some of the others (preferably American) that I'm missing?

Bad Day at Black Rock -- '55
Giant (portions) -- '56
Kiss Me Deadly -- '55
Man Who Knew Too Much -- '56
On the Waterfront -- '54
Rear Window -- '54
Rebel Without a Cause -- '55
Sayonara -- '57
To Catch a Thief -- '55

I really couldn't come up with any films from the early '50's and I know I got three Hitchcock films but I do feel like they really capture the look and style of the times.

Thanks,
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Rebel without a Cause? *smirks at the onion in this one. ;)

12 Angry Men (the studio exec's that don't wan't ID4)

Sunset Blvd.? (this is set in the 50's, right?)

Street Car Named Desire
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
My favorite film decade!

Ok, ok...

The Band Wagon (1953) - classic film musical

Bad Day At Black Rock - I loved that movie...Spencer Tracy. In a Western! Doing judo flips to Ernest Borgnine with one arm!

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

North by Northwest (1959) The epitome of Hitch in the 50's, in my opinion

You've mentioned a couple of my other favorites (12 Angry Men...one of my top ten films; Giant - the fight in the diner!; Sunset Boulevard, definitely the 50's...the early 50's, but still)

Wonderful films, folks! Only the 60's come close!
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
I thought about 'North By Northwest' but left it off of my list because it came so late in the 1950's that the look and styles do feel more like the early '60's (especially the Mt. Rushmore scenes). I chose the the earlier three Hitchcock movies because they have a pretty good fifties feel -- I especially like the on-location stuff in 'Man Who Knew Too Much' (Morocco and England) and 'To Catch a Thief' (especially, the resort, the market and the stuff shot outside of town). While a set movie, I included 'Rear Window' mostly for the clothes and music.

I have never seen Sunset Blvd. or Band Wagon -- do either have good on-location scenes? . . .or are these all studio films?

I'm interested in these old movies because other recent releases (like 'Seabiscuit', 'Road to Perdition' and 'Catch Me if You Can') have done such a good job at capturing period detail that I'm going to be greedy and assume that we can expect similar period detail for Indy IV. So I want to soak in as much of the early '50's films as possible to be ready. In the first three Indy movies, the creatives always did a good job of keeping Indy out of the hustle and bustle of the modern world -- with the exception of airport scene in Germany in LC, I can't think of a challenging on-location period scene in the films. [I'd argue that LC's Venice and ToD's opening scenes don't count because it's pretty easy to set those locales in period. There's nothing, for example, like the Chicago street scenes in 'Road to Perdition' in the Indy films.]

I know that most of the films I listed have U.S. locations but I think it's still neat to check out the locales and looks.

I like 'Giant' for the Airport and Parade scene (if we see Indy in the states, an airport scene wouldn't be a surprise). "Kiss Me Deadly' has tons of period details and on-location stuff around L.A. (this movies makes me wish that Indy does log some time in L.A. for Indy IV). 'On the Waterfront' has a lot of outdoor footage in New York City (sigh, I miss the Indy Noir thread and I'd love to see a scene set on or around Manhattan's docks).

Even though it was shot in '57, my favorite is Sayonara because it was set during the Korean War and is shot on-location in Japan. There is a lot of good location work and a couple of scenes with U.S. military planes (including transport).


[Edited by Joe Brody on 01-21-2004 at 06:17 am]
 

00Kevin

Indyfan
I love the 80's First Rival:

speaking of the fifties....History Channel has a day series of programs playing today called 'The fifties', I'm recording it, and I'll tell you guys if there is anything about the movies
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
History Channel is even better

Excellent -- I'm assuming a History Channel program about the fifties will have period footage -- and, if so, that's better than movies from the period. I'll have to try to catch that myself.

Great heads up.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
History Channel

I must've missed the '50's show on the History Channel. I didn't get to turn on the TV until after 8:00 pm Eastern and something like 'Evil Dictators' was on. I'll keep on looking but if you have the times, let me know.

Thanks,
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
<<bump>>

1950?s Update, unfortunately all the films listed below are North American but worth viewing to get in that ?50?s frame of mind:

Good Night & Good Luck (2005) ? Good for two things: pervasive cigarette smoking and TV in its infancy. Notably, some of the newsroom sets looks flimsy ? which is understandable given the film?s hair thin shoestring budget.

The Snow Walker (2003) ? 1950?s Small budget affair in the Canadian Artic with minimal period detail but its got a pontoon plane, remote locales and good acting. Survival pic -- you know I love 'em.

The Defiant Ones (1958) ? Sidney Poitier ? ?nuff said. Good Race tension content.

The Notorious Bettie Page (2005) ? now I have seen this one but it was generally well reviewed and I?m certain that it has all kinds of (ahem) redeeming period attributes.

Brokeback Mountain ? Joke! Thankfully this was set in the 1960?s so there?s no need to make further reference to this film in this thread.
 

Gustav

New member
Sunset Boulevard is a must. And the 50's was when they were starting to get into all those corny, drive-in monster and alien invader movies. Some good examples are The War of the Worlds, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, The Blob and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Those are some of the better ones and they provide a good window into the 50's. I Was a Teenage Werewolf is worth some consideration too. The Killing and North By Northwest are also good 50's films and directed by Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock respectively.

Sunset Boulevard-1950
The War of the Worlds-1953
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers-1956
The Blob-1958
The Day the Earth Stood Still-1951
I Was a Teenage Werewolf-1957
The Killing-1956
North By Northwest-1959
 
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Katarn07

New member
Joe Brody said:
The Snow Walker (2003) ? 1950?s Small budget affair in the Canadian Artic with minimal period detail but its got a pontoon plane, remote locales and good acting. Survival pic -- you know I love 'em.

Awesome, awesome movie.

I didn't like Rear Window and haven't seen any of those others. I am not against older movies, but I generally don't go out of my way to see them. And we don't stock many older titles at my work (Lackluster Video) so I couldn't see them anyways.
 

roundshort

Active member
Katarn07 said:
Awesome, awesome movie.

I didn't like Rear Window and haven't seen any of those others. I am not against older movies, but I generally don't go out of my way to see them. And we don't stock many older titles at my work (Lackluster Video) so I couldn't see them anyways.

there will be a day when all movies are as easy to get as Itunes!
 

Katarn07

New member
I think downloading stuff is stupid too. I want to hold a DVD in my hand for years to come and know I own it and can watch it anytime. I don't want it stored on my HD which can easily be corrupt.

Blockbuster Online is pretty good with selection. I got all kinds of TV shows from them during my free employee trial period. Though I hate Blockbuster and if I ever wanted to actually pay for something like that'd I'd go with Netflix.
 

roundshort

Active member
Katarn07 said:
I think downloading stuff is stupid too. I want to hold a DVD in my hand for years to come and know I own it and can watch it anytime. I don't want it stored on my HD which can easily be corrupt.

Blockbuster Online is pretty good with selection. I got all kinds of TV shows from them during my free employee trial period. Though I hate Blockbuster and if I ever wanted to actually pay for something like that'd I'd go with Netflix.

I mean a service that you can order a movie to a Tivo type system that you can watch once, or store on a disk, for a higher price, But to have a ton of movies at your finger tips . . .
 

Gustav

New member
The Asphalt Jungle was very good and I liked Gus a lot because he was so cool and that's also the name I go by. Though the movie still has nothing on The Roaring Twenties or Murder, My Sweet or This Gun For Hire in my opinion.

Those other films were all made in the 30's and 40's, everybody; I don't want to mislead you. They are a lot like The Asphalt Jungle though, not in the storyline so much as in the mood. So if you like the Asphalt Jungle I strongly recommend those other three, especially The Roaring Twenties.

Another film I want to mention is On The Waterfront (1954). It's another one of those ones you gotta see.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Turner Classic Movies -- is as reliable a source as there is for '50's era cinema.

Saturday night they played a John Wayne film from '54 -- The High And The Mighty. A near-first I assume on commercial-airplane pictures. Wayne plays the over-the-hill salty co-pilot on a plane that drops a prop during a trans-pacific flight. Good period music and good footage of '50's era planes and fashions, plus a few shorter scenes of foriegn locales.
 
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