Seminal Films for Baby Boomers
If you happen to have been born between 1946 and 1964 or thereabouts (and if not, you'll just have to pretend :-) ), then you should recall many if not all of these films.
Which title do you recall most fondly? Which film perhaps even influenced you in some way in a time when social values, political views, music taste, sexual prejudices, drug use, race relations, respect for state authority, women's rights and so many other entrenched views were being questioned without quite knowing what this would lead to.
Limiting the list: To keep this list faintly manageable, it ranges from the early sixties which saw the first boomers in their teens (so no Rebel Without a Cause (1955) or West Side Story (1961)), to the mid seventies before subject matter turned to mid-life crisis (Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The Big Chill (1983), Field of Dreams (1989)) and post Vietnam coping (Apocalypse Now (1979), Coming Home (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978)).
(based loosely on Oliver Stone's list "Iconic Films for the Boomer Generation" http://goo.gl/G8OqjS)
Discuss here
Which title do you recall most fondly? Which film perhaps even influenced you in some way in a time when social values, political views, music taste, sexual prejudices, drug use, race relations, respect for state authority, women's rights and so many other entrenched views were being questioned without quite knowing what this would lead to.
Limiting the list: To keep this list faintly manageable, it ranges from the early sixties which saw the first boomers in their teens (so no Rebel Without a Cause (1955) or West Side Story (1961)), to the mid seventies before subject matter turned to mid-life crisis (Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), The Big Chill (1983), Field of Dreams (1989)) and post Vietnam coping (Apocalypse Now (1979), Coming Home (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978)).
(based loosely on Oliver Stone's list "Iconic Films for the Boomer Generation" http://goo.gl/G8OqjS)
Discuss here
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- 27 titles
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsDustin HoffmanAnne BancroftKatharine RossA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsAli MacGrawRyan O'NealJohn MarleyA boy and a girl from different backgrounds fall in love regardless of their upbringing - and then tragedy strikes.
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsJohn BelushiKaren AllenTom HulceAt a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsRichard DreyfussRon HowardPaul Le MatA group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.
- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
- DirectorDennis HopperStarsPeter FondaDennis HopperJack NicholsonTwo bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesAlex DeLarge and his droogs barbarize a decaying near-future.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenDiane KeatonTony RobertsAlvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsDonald SutherlandElliott GouldTom SkerrittThe staff of a Korean War field hospital uses humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsGene HackmanRoy ScheiderFernando ReyA pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsSteve McQueenJacqueline BissetRobert VaughnA nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterWhen a mysterious artifact is uncovered on the Moon, a spacecraft manned by two humans and one supercomputer is sent to Jupiter to find its origins.
- DirectorLarry PeerceStarsRichard BenjaminAli MacGrawJack KlugmanAn intelligent graduate and working-class Army veteran has an affair and clashes with a 'nouveau riche' young woman who cares not for birth control or the use of any other precautions to avoid pregnancy.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsArlo GuthriePatricia QuinnJames BroderickA cinematic adaption of Arlo Guthrie's classic story-song.
- DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMark FrechetteDaria HalprinPaul FixAt a time of chronic civil unrest in late 1960s America, a young revolutionary suspected of murder steals a plane and meets a girl.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordKatharine RossIn 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels..
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsMarlon BrandoMaria SchneiderMaria MichiA young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracySidney PoitierKatharine HepburnA White couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her Black fiancé.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJack NicholsonLouise FletcherMichael BerrymanA newly admitted mental patient helps his docile companions defy the tyrannical head nurse.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about mass media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsAl PacinoJohn RandolphJack KehoeAn honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsWarren BeattyJulie ChristieRene AuberjonoisA gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsKeith CarradineKaren BlackRonee BlakleyOver the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.
