46 Films & TV Shows Set In New England During The 1950s
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The Iron Giant
Maine The 1950sIt came from outer space! — In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
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Lolita
New Hampshire The 1940s The 1950s The 1930s The 1920sA forbidden love. An unthinkable attraction. The ultimate price. — Urbane professor Humbert Humbert marries a New England widow to be near her nymphet daughter.
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George Wallace
Massachusetts Alabama The 1970s The 1960s The 1950sGeorge Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances. The film was based on the 1996 biography Wallace : The Classic Portrait of Alabama Governor George Wallace by Marshall Frady, who also co-wrote the teleplay. Frankenheimer's film was highly praised by critics: in addition to the Emmy awards, it received the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries/Motion Picture made for TV. Angelina Jolie also received a Golden Globe for her performance as Wallace's second wife, Cornelia.
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The Shawshank Redemption
Maine 🇲🇽 Mexico The 1940s The 1950s The 1960sFear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. — Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
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Quiz Show
New York Connecticut District of Columbia The 1950sFifty million people watched but no one saw a thing. — Lawyer Richard Goodwin discovers that 'Twenty-One', a successful TV quiz show, is rigged and decides to expose the team behind the show.
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Malcolm X
Illinois Massachusetts Michigan New York 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia The 1920s The 1930s The 1940s The 1950s The 1960sA tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
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School Ties
Massachusetts Pennsylvania The 1950sJust because you’re accepted doesn’t mean you belong. — When David Greene receives a football scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the 1950s, he feels pressure to hide the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates and teachers, fearing that they may be anti-Semitic. He quickly becomes the big man on campus thanks to his football skills, but when his Jewish background is discovered, his worst fears are realized and his friends turn on him with violent threats and public ridicule.
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Kaleidoscope
New York Connecticut California South Carolina 🇫🇷 France The 1990s The 1950s The 1940sYou might find out, or reunite. — A family friend hires gumshoe John Chapman to find and reunite three sisters estranged by fate for 30 years. The circuitous trail leads Chapman from the Big Apple to Beantown to the City of Light. His investigation, however, opens the door to disturbing revelations about a forgotten past.
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Dead Poets Society
Vermont The 1950sHe was their inspiration. He made their lives extraordinary. — At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
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The Whales of August
Maine The 1950sThe Screen's Immortals... A movie you'll never forget. — Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
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Clue
New England The 1950sSeven Suspects, Six Weapons, Five Bodies and Three Endings. — Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler must suss out the culprit before the body count rises.
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The Hotel New Hampshire
New Hampshire 🇦🇹 Austria The 1950sIf you experienced "The World According To Garp" and found it witty, delightful and totally unpredictable, then be happily surprised all over again when you join the fun and games that go on at the...Hotel New Hampshire. — The film talks about a family that weathers all sorts of disasters and keeps going in spite of it all. It is noted for its wonderful assortment of oddball characters.
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The Brink's Job
Massachusetts The 1950sThe robbery nobody thought could happen by the guys nobody thought could pull it off. — In 1950, a group of unlikely criminal masterminds commits the robbery of the century. Led by Tony Pino (Peter Falk), a petty thief fresh out of prison, and Joe McGinnis (Peter Boyle), who specializes in planning lucrative capers, the gang robs Brink's main office in Boston of more than $2 million. However, things begin to go awry when the FBI gets involved, the cops start cracking down on the gang and McGinnis refuses to hand over the loot...
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Our Time
Massachusetts The 1950sDrama about students at a girls' school, their boyfriends, and an unexpected pregnancy.
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Silent Night, Bloody Night
Massachusetts The 1970s The 1950sThe mansion… the madness… the maniac… no escape. — On Christmas Eve 1950, Wilfred Butler dies in a burning accident outside his mansion in East Willard, Massachusetts. The residence is bequeathed to his grandson, Jeffrey. Twenty years later, lawyer John Carter arrives in East Willard on Christmas Eve with his assistant and mistress Ingrid, having been charged by Jeffrey (now registered as a patient in a mental asylum) to sell the house. The house, the town, even Jeffrey himself-- all hold dark secrets that will be brought to light.
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Carnal Knowledge
New York Massachusetts The 1970s The 1960s The 1950s The 1940sIts time has come. — The concurrent sexual lives of best friends Jonathan and Sandy are presented, those lives which are affected by the sexual mores of the time and their own temperament, especially in relation to the respective women who end up in their lives.
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Lolita
New Hampshire Ohio The 1950sHow did they ever make a movie of ... — Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.
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Jazz on a Summer's Day
Rhode Island The 1950s...love on a summer's night! — Set at the Newport jazz festival in 1958, this documentary mixes images of water and the town with performers and audience. The film progresses from day to night and from improvisational music to Gospel. It's a concert film that suggests peace and leisure, jazz at a particular time and place.
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The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Connecticut The 1950sHis loves...his world---both past and present---and the crisis they caused! — Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) is a suburban father and husband haunted by his memories of World War II, including a wartime romance with Italian village girl Maria (Marisa Pavan), which resulted in an illegitimate son he's never seen. Pressed by his unhappy wife (Jennifer Jones) to get a higher-paying job, Rath goes to work as a public relations man for television network president Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March). Drawn into poisonous office politics, Tom finds he must choose his career or his family.
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The Seven Year Itch
New York Maine The 1950sIt TICKLES and TANTALIZES! - The funniest comedy since laughter began! — With his family away for their annual summer holiday, Richard Sherman decides he has the opportunity to live a bachelor's life. The beautiful but ditzy blonde from the apartment above catches his eye and they soon start spending time together—maybe a little too much time!
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White Christmas
New York Vermont The 1950s The 1940sJoyous entertainment for every season, any year!!!! — Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. In time they befriend and become romantically involved with the beautiful Haynes sisters who comprise a sister act.