443 Films & TV Shows Set In North America During The 1950s
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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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Going All the Way
Indiana π°π· South Korea The 1950sIn love and life there's only one way to go. β Korean War--era veterans and ex-classmates "Gunner" Casselman and "Sonny" Burns reunite upon their return home. Gunner, who spent the war years abroad, is trying to convince his mother that his gal Marty is good enough for him, while Sonny, who was stationed stateside, is torn between loyal Buddy and tempting Gale Ann. As they commiserate, the men realize that they're outgrowing the lives they lived before the war.
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Cafe Society
New York The 1950sThe Shocking True Story Of The Fall Of High Society. β New York 1952. Mickey Jelke inherits a big sum of money and spends his nights in Manhattan, painting the city red. Night after night, he can be found in one Broadway bar or the other, in the company of disreputable persons like pimps and prostitutes. One day,a shady cop, aided by Mickey's own girlfriend, Patricia, decides to accuse him of running a prostitution network. A scandal breaks out.
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The People vs. Larry Flynt
California Georgia Ohio Kentucky The 1970s The 1980s The 1950sYou may not like what he does, but are you prepared to give up his right to do it? β Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his girlie magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.
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James and the Giant Peach
New York England The 1950sAdventures this big don't grow on trees. β When the young orphan boy James spills a magic bag of crocodile tongues, he finds himself in possession of a giant peach that flies him away to strange lands.
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Mulholland Falls
California The 1950sThis isn't America, this is Los Angeles. β In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.
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Big Night
New Jersey The 1950sIn love and life, one big night can change everything. β Primo & Secondo, two immigrant brothers, pin their hopes on a banquet honoring Louis Prima to save their struggling restaurant.
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The Celluloid Closet
California The 1950s The 1960s The 1970s The 1980s The 1990s The 1940sThis documentary highlights the historical contexts that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals have occupied in cinema history, and shows the evolution of the entertainment industry's role in shaping perceptions of LGBT figures. The issues addressed include secrecy β which initially defined homosexuality β as well as the demonization of the homosexual community with the advent of AIDS, and finally the shift toward acceptance and positivity in the modern era.
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If These Walls Could Talk
Illinois The 1970s The 1990s The 1950sChanging times, intimate decisions, and the four walls that hold their secrets. β Three stories portray women coping with unplanned pregnancies in various social climates, the 1950s, 1970s and 1990s. In 1952 the newly widowed nurse Clare goes and sees a back-street abortionist in order to put an end to her pregnancy. After giving birth to three children, Barbara at last has the realistic hope of finding a job again, but then a new pregnancy thwarts her plans. In 1974 abortion is already legal; however, this fact does not make it any easier for Barbara to take the right decision. In 1996 Christine, a student, consults an abortion clinic to get information on abortion. While doing this, she is being harassed by militant anti-abortionists.
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Bastard Out of Carolina
South Carolina The 1950s The 1940sA poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
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Susie Q
Washington The 1990s The 1950sDeath is just the beginning. β Susie Q was going to a dance one night when she and her boyfriend got into a car crash and fell off a bridge. Years later, a teenager named Zach Sands moves into Susie's old house. Zach's father died in a car accident so his family is his mother and his sister, Penny Sands. One night, Zach sees Susie, and she discovers that he can see her. Then Susie explains to Zach, there is a Heaven. But after death people are sent back to Earth to help their families. And sometimes when they can't help by themselves, they get special help. And that is why Zach can see her. So that he could help her family. In fact, Zach is the only one who can see Susie. And on the way, Zach falls in love with Susie. Is their love divine?
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Grace of My Heart
New York California The 1970s The 1960s The 1950sFor years her songs brought fame to other people. Then she found her own voice. β An aspiring singer, Denise Waverly/Edna Buxton, sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. The film follows her life from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
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Moonshine Highway
Tennessee The 1950sThe plans of a moonshine runner trying to make a better life by becoming a stock car racer go awry when the local sheriff is determined to kill the driver over an affair with his wife.
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Bye Bye Birdie
Ohio The 1950sRock-and-roll icon Conrad Birdie is about to go into the Army, and plans are being made to arrange his final going-away concert. β In 1995, ABC presented a telemovie version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie produced by RHI Entertainment. It starred Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams of Desperate Housewives. While this version remained mostly faithful to the original musical (Michael Stewart remains the only credited author of this version), several songs were added and re-arranged, and dialogue was slightly rewritten to smoothly facilitate the musical changes. The musical revolves around an Elvis Presley-type rocker who's about to join the Army. To mark the occasion, his manager's secretary arranges for him to kiss a random fan goodbye on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie earned four Tony awards in 1961, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for its original star, Dick Van Dyke. In addition to Alexander and Williams, ABC's production starred Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Chynna Phillips and Mark Kudisch.
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My Family
California The 1970s The 1950sThree generations of dreams. β Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930's. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the 50's. As the second generation become adults in the 60's, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.
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Rough Magic
π²π½ Mexico The 1950sIn the world of magic, the hand is quicker than the eye and love is the wild card. β A sleazy politician sends an agent after his ex-fiancee, who fled to Mexico with incriminating film of him.
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The Confessional
Quebec The 1950sThe year is 1952, in Quebec City. Rachel (16), unmarried and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young priest, under the confidentiality of the confessional. In the present year of 1989, Pierre Lamontagne has returned to Quebec to attend his father's funeral. He meets up with his adopted brother, Marc, who has begun questioning his identity and has embarked on a quest for his roots that would lead them to the Quebec of the 1950s. Past and present converge in a complex web of intrigue where the answer to the mystery lies.
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Forrest Gump
Alabama Arizona California Georgia Louisiana New York Virginia District of Columbia π¨π³ China π»π³ Vietnam The 1950s The 1960s The 1970s The 1980sLife is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get. β A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic eventsβin each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
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The Shawshank Redemption
Maine π²π½ Mexico The 1940s The 1950s The 1960sFear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. β 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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Ed Wood
California The 1950sWhen it came to making bad movies, Ed Wood was the best. β The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.
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Corrina, Corrina
California The 1950sWhen Manny Singer's wife dies, his young daughter Molly becomes mute and withdrawn. To help cope with looking after Molly, he hires sassy housekeeper Corrina Washington, who coaxes Molly out of her shell and shows father and daughter a whole new way of life. Manny and Corrina's friendship delights Molly and enrages the other townspeople.
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Quiz Show
New York Connecticut District of Columbia The 1950sFifty million people watched but no one saw a thing. β 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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I.Q.
New Jersey The 1950sThink Love. β Albert Einstein helps a young man who's in love with Einstein's niece to catch her attention by pretending temporarily to be a great physicist.
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The Hudsucker Proxy
New York Illinois The 1950sThey took him for a fall guy... but he threw them for a hoop. β A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.
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