33 Films & TV Shows Set In Ontario During The 20th Century
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Weekends
Ontario The 1980sSet in 1980s Toronto, a young boy shuffles between the homes of his recently divorced parents.
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The Exchange
Ontario The 1980sA socially awkward but highly enterprising teenager decides to acquire a "mail order best friend"; a sophisticated exchange student from France. Instead, he ends up importing his personal nightmare, a cologne-soaked, chain-smoking, sex-obsessed youth who quickly becomes the hero of his new community.
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Percy
District of Columbia Saskatchewan Ontario The 1990s The 2000sPercy Schmeiser, a third-generation farmer, gets sued by a corporate giant for allegedly using their patented seeds. With little resources to fight a legal battle, Percy joins forces with up-and-coming attorney Jackson Weaver and environmental activist Rebecca Salcau for a monumental case that leads all the way to the Supreme Court.
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Little Italy
Ontario England The 1990s The 2010sLove is an acquired taste. — Former childhood pals Leo and Nikki are attracted to each other as adults—but will their feuding parents' rival pizzerias put a chill on their sizzling romance?
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Hogtown
Indiana Illinois Ontario 🇫🇷 France The 1910sA man disappears on the same day he makes his fortune in this re-imagining of a true story, which is still unsolved. In this version of the disappearance of Ambrose Small, the setting has been changed from Toronto, 1919, to Chicago of the same year. Gorgeous cinematography in mostly black and white underscores the racial tensions of the time, while intentional anachronisms and Calgary-raised director Daniel Nearing’s postmodern vision give the film an otherworldly quality. While the investigation of Small’s case is a central device, Nearing’s real objective is to expose the characters of the time and stoke the flames of mystery.
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Funkytown
Quebec Ontario New York The 1970sAnything goes. Anything. — Set in Montreal during the disco phenomenon some 35 years ago, Funkytown follows the life of a group of colorful characters. We follow their lives and tribulations as everyone converges on a regular basis at Montreal's hot disco spot: Starlight. Along the way, several events take place that change these characters' lives. As these characters' lives unfold, the Parti Québécois takes power changing the cultural landscape in Quebec while the disco craze slowly fades. While we keep up with these various characters - it is Bastien who is a central part of this story. His drug addiction, dreams to become an actor and womanizing - make him the "bigger than life" typical 70s character around which the whole story revolves.
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Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster
Ontario The 1950sGangster. Media darling. Model citizen. — Based on a real WWII vet and family man turned bank robber. Disillusioned by his post war circumstances, Eddie Boyd is torn between the need to provide for his young family and an unfulfilled dream to head to Hollywood to become a star. He discovers a way to do both, robbing banks Hollywood style, but his dream leads him down a path of danger and tragedy.
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Victoria Day
Ontario The 1980sLife Changes In A Flash. — Over the course of one week in 1988, the search for a missing teammate, parental expectations, a burgeoning sexual awakening and the rock concert of the century all threaten to jolt a 16-year-old into adulthood. With the long Victoria Day weekend signaling the end of school, and the Stanley Cup playoffs afoot, the summer of 1988 arrives in Toronto. Ben Spector, a smart, sensitive kid from a Russian immigrant family, hits the Bob Dylan show with his buddies and runs into Jordan Chapman, the class jerk and Ben's tormentor on the ice-hockey rink. Jordan is five dollars shy of scoring some drugs, and Ben begrudgingly spots him the dough. But the next day, Jordan fails to show up at school or hockey practice. With days passing and Jordan's whereabouts a mystery, Ben finds himself in an uncomfortable predicament, especially when a romance with Jordan's sister tentatively blooms in the midst of the ordeal.
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Booky & the Secret Santa
Ontario The 1930sBooky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.
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Karla
New York Ontario Saskatchewan The 1980s The 1990s The 2000sEvil has a beautiful face. — Based on real events, Canada's most notorious serial killers, Paul Bernardo and wife Karla Homolka kidnap, sexually abuse, and murder three young girls.
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Saint Ralph
Massachusetts Ontario The 1950sHe's hoping for a miracle. He doesn't have a prayer. — This Canadian made comedy/drama, set in Hamilton, Ontario in 1954, is a sweet and - at times - goofy story that becomes increasingly poignant as the minutes tick by. It's the fictional tale of a wayward 9th grader, Ralph (Adam Butcher), who is secretly living on his own while his widowed, hospitalized mother remains immersed in a coma. Frequently in trouble with Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), the principal of his all-boys, Catholic school, Ralph is considered something of a joke among peers until he decides to pull off a miracle that could save his mother, i.e., winning the Boston Marathon. Coached by a younger priest and former runner, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), whose cynicism has been lifted by the boy's pure hope, Ralph applies himself to his unlikely mission, fending off naysayers and getting help along a very challenging path from sundry allies and friends.
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Hollywood North
Ontario The 1970sThe making of a serious, Canadian art house film descends into Hollywood farce when its producer is forced to compromise his vision to accommodate his drug-addled star, his leading lady and his venal backers.
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Evel Knievel
Montana Ohio Nevada Ontario The 1970s The 1960s The 1950sLive hard. Ride fast. Regret nothing. — Legendary daredevil Robbie "Evel" Knievel (George Eads) is profiled in this action-packed biopic helmed by John Badham. Long before extreme sports became ubiquitous, the hard-living exhibitionist vaulted his motorcycle over steep canyons, crates of venomous snakes and snarling cougars. But as Knievel amassed wealth and world records (along with 35 broken bones), his taste for liquor and ladies equaled his appetite for adventure.
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My Own Private Oshawa
Ontario The 1970sToronto-based gay actor and comedian Jonathan Wilson has written and performs a semi-autobiographical one-man stage show called "My Own Private Oshawa", which tells of his coming out when he was a high school student in Oshawa, Ontario, a bedroom community east of Toronto. Thinking that he was hiding his homosexual orientation - which he really wasn't - Jonathan lived a self-repressed existence in high school until he met transfer student Gordon, who was the first open, stereotypical and defiant gay student at the school. Jonathan tells of Gordon's influence in Jonathan working his own way through gay life as a teenager in the late 1970s. Although Gordon and Jonathan drifted apart as adults, Jonathan needs to head back to Oshawa to visit Gordon one last time.
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The Hurricane
Ontario New Jersey The 1950sHis greatest fight was for justice. — The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
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Grey Owl
Ontario The 1930sHe Fought To Change The World — Archie Grey Owl is a trapper in Canada in the early 1930s when a young Iroquois woman from town asks him to teach her Indian ways. They live in the woods, where she is appalled at how trapped animals die. She adopts two orphaned beaver kits and helps Archie see his way to stop trapping. Instead, he works as a guide, a naturalist writer, and then the Canadian government hires him to save the beaver in a conserve by Lake Ajawaan in Prince Albert National Park. He writes a biography, which brings him attention in Canada and invitations to lecture in England. Before he leaves, he and Anahareo (Pony) marry. In England, his secret is revealed. Will Anahareo continue to love him?
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Jack & Jill
Ontario The 1990sIn this lightweight Canadian romantic comedy, a couple in their thirties discovers that love in the '90s can be a messy and complicated proposition. Jack (John Kalangis, who also directs) and Jill (Shauna MacDonald) are going to get married, until Jack changes his mind and coldly announces his reluctance on a voice-mail message. The two later talk in person and decide that rather than breaking up completely, they just allow themselves to see other people. Jack and Jill find their new flings at the same bookstore. Jack takes up with Laura (Tara Johnson), a beautiful customer, while Jill becomes seriously involved with store-clerk Stephen (Scott Gibson). When Jack and Laura realize that they don't have the right chemistry for a long-term relationship, Laura decides to help him win Jill back.
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Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
Ontario The 1990sShove this up your mind — A pharmaceutical scientist creates a pill that makes people remember their happiest memory, and although it's successful, it has unfortunate side effects.
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Canadian Bacon
Ontario New York District of Columbia The 1990sI'll tell ya another thing, their beer sucks! — The U.S. President, low in the opinion polls, gets talked into raising his popularity by trying to start a cold war with Canada.
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Calendar
Ontario 🇦🇲 Armenia The 1990sA photographer and his wife travel across Armenia photographing churches for a calendar project. Travelling with them is a local man acting as their driver and guide. As the project nears completion, the distance between husband and wife grows.
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Demonia
Ontario The 1980sNo Evil Deed Goes Undone! — Professor Malcolm Evans leads his archaeological expedition into the Valley of Temples in southeast Sicily. His companion and former student, Liza Harris, is looking forward to her very first dig. But Liza feels a strange sympathy with the valley and her recurring nightmares seem strongly tied to the nearby ruins. She is drawn to the remains of a 16th Century convent and its grisly legend of crucifixion. The local villagers rise to protect the entombed secrets of their ancestors, as Liza's obsession with uncovering the truth takes her deeper into the forbidden ruins and further from sanity!
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Concrete Angels
Ontario The 1960s1964. The Beatles are coming to Toronto. To win a music competition, a young man forms a rock group with his friends.
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The Fly
Ontario The 1980sBe afraid. Be very afraid. — When Seth Brundle makes a huge scientific and technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.
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The Boy in Blue
Ontario The 1900s The 1880s The 1890s The 1870sEvery era has it's own kind of hero. — Ned Hanlan was Canada's most successful sculling champion at the turn of the 20th century. This dramatization of his life begins in his youth, when the wild young man is informally adopted by a gambler who promotes Ned on the sculling circuit, betting on the boy's rowing skills solely to make money off him. Later, a ruthless businessman named Knox takes over Ned's career, but when Ned realizes how dishonest Knox is, he finds another manager. Walter is an inventor and the first honest man Ned has dealt with in his career and, under Walter's guidance, Ned rises to great success in the sculling world.
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Strange Brew
Ontario The 1980sSomething funny is brewing at Elsinore Castle... — Something is rotten at the Elsinore Brewery. Bob and Doug McKenzie (as seen on SCTV) help the orphan Pam regain the brewery founded by her recently-deceased father. But to do so, they must confront the suspicious Brewmeister Smith and two teams of vicious hockey players.
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