Here you’ll find a list of “Nineties” Films. Most of them were filmed during this decade but some are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO BE TAKEN TO THE LIBRARY’S ONLINE CATALOG. THERE, YOU CAN REQUEST THE ITEM AND SEE MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING RATING INFORMATION.

10 Things I Hate About You – Cameron falls for the most beautiful girl in school. However, she is forbidden to date until the most hated girl in school, her ill-tempered older sister, goes out too.

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective – Ace Ventura, pet detective is on the case to find the Miami Dolphins’ missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino, and whether he’s undercover, under fire or underwater, he always gets his man … or beast!

American Beauty – An emotionally & spiritually comatose suburban man decides “to hell with it all” and reverts to living as he did when he was happiest–as a carefree teenager. His desperately uptight wife and sullen daughter can only look on as he quits his corporate job to become a burger flipper, starts getting high with a strange new neighbor (whose parents are even stranger) and lusts after a pouty blonde teenager–his daughter’s best friend.

American History X – Derek Vinyard, the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realizes he must save his younger brother, Danny, from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family.

American Pie – Follows the hapless adventures of four high school friends as they gear up for the prom.

Analyze This – When mob boss Paul Vitti starts having panic attacks, he seeks out the unwilling help of suburban family therapist Ben Sombel who just wants to get married to his fiancée and get back to his practice.

Any Given Sunday – Tony D’Amato, the embattled Sharks coach, faces a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy Sharks owner who’s sure Tony is way behind times.

Armageddon – The U.S. government calls upon an oil-well driller and his colorful crew to save the world by flying to an asteroid that’s on a collision course for earth and setting off a nuclear bomb to divert it.

As Good As it Gets – Chance encounters with the mother of a sick child and a homosexual artist inspire a cynical, obsessive-compulsive author to try to become a better person.

Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me – Intent on world domination, diabolical genius Dr. Evil travels back to 1969 and steals Austin’s “mojo”. Now Austin must return to the swingin’ sixties, recover his mojo and stop his nemesis from liquidating the world.

Basic Instinct – A tough but vulnerable detective investigates a murder identical to one described in the latest novel of a cold, calculating and beautiful novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite.

Batman Returns – Gotham City faces two monstrous criminal menaces: the bizarre, sinister Penguin and the slinky, mysterious Catwoman. Can Batman battle two formidable foes at once?

Being John Malkovich – A struggling street puppeteer takes a job to make some money. One day he accidentally discovers a door, a portal into the brain of John Malkovich (played by John Malkovich!) For 15 minutes he experiences the ultimate head trip – HE is being John Malkovich.

The Big Lebowski – Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski doesn’t want any drama in his life; he can’t even be bothered with a job. But, in a case of mistaken identity, a couple of thugs break into his place and steal his rug (you gotta understand, that rug really tied the room together). Now, the Dude must embark on a quest with his crazy friends to make things right and get that rug back! Includes an exclusive interview, behind-the-scenes photos, film timeline, and more.

Boondock Saints – FBI agent Paul Smecker is on the trail of two vigilante brothers whose spiritual sense of right and wrong has turned Boston’s streets red with blood. The victims are the villains and mob bosses that the justice system has been powerless to stop. Now, Smecker finds himself torn between whether he should catch the killers…or join them.

Boyz ‘N The Hood – Three friends struggle to survive in South Central Los Angeles where friendship, pain, danger and love form a true picture of life in the ‘hood in this critically acclaimed, action-filled story.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – A popular California high school girl is selected by a mysterious old man to kill the vampires that are terrorizing Los Angeles. Although it could put a serious crimp in her shopping, Buffy takes on the ghouls with the help of a handsome drifter, and incurs the wrath of the chief vampire!

Can’t Hardly Wait – Multicharacter teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agenda of life on graduation night.

Chasing Amy – New Jersey comic-book artist Holden falls in love with fellow artist Alyssa, only to be thwarted by her sexuality, the disdain of his best friend Banky, and his own misgivings about himself.

Circle of Friends – When girlhood friends leave their rural home to attend college in Dublin, they face challenges in themselves and their relationships.

Clerks – It’s one wild day in the life of a pair of overworked counter jockeys who brave a nonstop parade of unpredictable shoppers, while managing to play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and straighten out their offbeat love lives.

The Craft – When a group of high school outsiders discover witchcraft, they intend on using it for their own gain.

Cruel Intentions – After ruining the reputation of an unsuspecting classmate, sparks fly when Kathryn poses the ultimate challenge to her insatiable stepbrother Sebastian–deflower the headmaster’s virgin daughter. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian’s vintage Jaguar; if he wins, he gets Kathryn.

Dead Man Walking – Tells the story of convicted killer Matthew Poncelet and Sister Helen Prejean, his spiritual advisor, and the journey they undertake in search of the truth.

Devil’s Advocate – Hotshot attorney Kevin Lomax’s 64-0 case record has brought him a tempting offer from an elite New York firm. But the job Lomax accepts isn’t what it seems. The Devil is in the details.

Dogma – Two banished angels find a loophole that would get them back into heaven. The only snag? They’ll be destroying existence in the process. In an effort to stop them, the overworked voice of God taps cynical mortal Bethany to save the world by preventing the angels from reaching their unholy destination. Along the way he meets two unlikely prophets named Jay and Silent Bob, and the quick-witted thirteenth apostle.

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead – When their mother takes a trip to Australia, five children are left with an elderly tyrant who keels over dead the first night, opening up the possibility of a carefree summer–as long as they can keep Mom from finding out the babysitter is dead.

Drop Dead Gorgeous – The Sarah Rose Princess America Pageant is a beauty contest to die for. And that’s exactly what the contestants in Mount Rose, Minnesota are doing. Ever since the vivacious but vicious former beauty queen, Gladys, has been pushing her charm-challenged daughter, Rebecca, to win at all costs, the competition has been dropping like flies.

Dumb and Dumber – Comedy about a pair of dim-witted friends on a cross-country trip to return a case full of money.

Empire Records – Centers on a music store in danger of being sold to a chain, its employees and the kids who patronize it.

Erin Brockovich – Based on a true story, Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a momumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin’s determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

Face/Off – FBI agent Sean Archer must go undercover to investigate the location of a lethal biological weapon planted by his arch rival, terrorist-for-hire Castor Troy. After undergoing a radical surgical procedure, Archer literally “borrows” Troy’s face and identity to carry out his mission. But things go awry when Troy, emerging from a coma, is transformed into Archer and wreaks havoc upon his life, both at work and at home.

Fargo – A midwestern policewoman investigates a series of brutal and interconnected crimes. Steadily, she tightens the net on the killers and their accomplices in a kidnapping scheme gone wildly wrong.

A Few Good Men – Story of a brash Navy lawyer who’s teamed with a gung-ho litigator in a politically-explosive murder case. Charged with defending two Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier, they are confronted with complex issues of loyalty and honor – including its most sacred code and its most formidable warrior.

Fight Club – When a ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a soap salesman channel their aggresion into therapeutic “fight clubs”, an eccentric woman gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Fools Rush In – On a whim, Alex proposes to Isabel, who became pregnant as a result of a casual night of passion they shared.

Forrest Gump – Through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides a tide of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love.

Four Weddings and a Funeral – Charlie is always the best man but never the groom. He meets the girl of his dreams at a wedding, but she marries someone else. He thinks that true love may always pass him by, until they meet again at a funeral.

Friday – Craig and Smokey have until the end of the day to pay back Big Worm. They’ve got to dodge Deebo, South Central’s meanest thug, and get the cash any way they can. As time ticks away, the chance this pair will ever see Saturday is fading fast!

The Fugitive – A Chicago surgeon falsely convicted of killing his wife is determined to prove his innocence by leading his pursuers to the one-armed man who actually committed the crime.

The Full Monty – Six unemployed men, inspired by a touring group of male strippers, decide they can make a small fortune by putting on a striptease show of their own with one small difference. They intend to go the “full monty” and strip completely naked. A hilarious, heartfelt comedy in which six friends discover the inner strength to overcome the problems in their personal lives.

General’s Daughter – When the daughter of a well-known and well-respected base commander is raped and murdered, an undercover detective is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point.

Get Shorty – Loanshark Chili Palmer has done his time as a gangster, so when “business” takes him to Los Angeles to collect a debt from down and out filmmaker Harry Zimm, he talks tough and then pitches Harry a script idea. Everything would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren’t for the drug smugglers and gangsters who won’t leave him alone.

Ghost – A man killed during a robbery gone wrong remains on Earth as a ghost because of his love for his girlfriend. He teams up with a psychic to uncover the truth behind his murder, and to rescue his sweetheart from a similar fate.

Goldeneye – When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of a former ally turned enemy, only 007 can save the world from an awesome space weapon.

Good Will Hunting – A young working-class genius is hauled back from the brink of self-destruction by a gifted counselor.

Groundhog Day – Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer and a smart-aleck cameraman, TV weatherman Phil Connors is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. On his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in the small town. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, they do. Phil wakes the next morning to find it’s Groundhog Day all over again– and again– and again.

Happy Gilmore – Although Happy dreams of becoming a professional hockey player, he discovers that his hockey slap shot translates to an astonishing 400-yard tee shot. So when his grandmother loses her home to the IRS, Happy decides to earn the house back by joining the pro golf tour, bringing his ferocious temper and outlandish antics to the well-tended fairways. Before long, Happy is a media sensation, attracting crowds and news cameras wherever he goes. But Happy’s bitter rival has his own plans for the golf superstar.

The Haunting – A professor lures three subjects to a mysterious mansion for an experiment which turns into a nightmare as the secrets of Hill House are revealed in this supernatural thriller.

Hocus Pocus – When three outlandishly wild witches are accidentally conjured up by pranksters, they return from 17th century Salem and set out to cast a spell on the town, but first they must outwit three kids and a talking cat.

Home Alone – An eight-year-old boy is left home alone on Christmas, and has to defend his home against two bumbling burglars.

Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey – A fun-loving bulldog, a wise old golden retriever, and a hilarious Siamese cat travel through the rugged Sierras in a search of their missing human family.

Hot Shots – A team of crack jet jockeys led by an incompetent commander spend their nights carousing and their days training for secret operation Sleepy Weasel–a lightning strike against a desert kingdom.

Independence Day – Massive spaceships appear in Earth’s skies and wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. The world’s only hope lies with a determined band of survivors.

The Indian in the Cupboard – On his 9th birthday, Omri receives a cupboard that magically brings his toy Indian Little Bear to life. They bond, embarking on an amazing adventure, until Omri’s friend Patrick brings a 6-shooting cowboy to life and the secret of the cupboard is in danger of being revealed.

Jerry Maguire – A sports agent suddenly discovers his scruples and promptly loses his job. But with the help of one loyal colleague and one outrageous client, he learns that loving well is the best revenge.

Jurassic Park – Scientists develop a means of bringing dinosaurs to life using DNA taken from dino’ blood, which has been preserved inside insects encased in amber.

Kids – 24 hours in the life of a group of contemporary teenagers who believe they are invincible.

The Mask – Stanley Ipkiss, a nerdy bank clerk, discovers an ancient mask with supernatural powers. He then woos the woman he loves away from her hoodlum boyfriend.

Mighty Ducks – Slapped with a community service assignment, a tough trial lawyer must coach a ragtag team of pee wee hockey players who can’t skate, can’t score and can’t win.

Mission: Impossible – A secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team, tries to discover the truth.

Multiplicity – A comedy about a man who clones himself to save his marriage and then almost loses his wife to himself.

Never Been Kissed – Josie, a twenty-five-year-old Chicago copy editor, gets her first assignment as a reporter, going undercover at her old high school to learn about today’s teens. While working, she finds that memories of her own high-school years come back to haunt her.

Office Space – When white-collar peon Peter Gibbons decides he’s had enough and neglects his job, he is quickly promoted to upper management.

Philadelphia – Two lawyers join together to sue a prestigious Philadelphia law firm when the firm fires one of them because he has AIDS.

Practical Magic – The wry, comic romantic tale follows the Owens sisters as they struggle to use their hereditary gift for practical magic to overcome the obstacles in discovering true love.

Pretty Woman – A corporate raider pays a gorgeous hooker to be his escort for a business week in Beverly Hills … and then falls for her. Fifteenth anniversary special edition packed with all-new, never-before-seen bonus features.

Pulp Fiction – Clever, dark film that tells 4 separate stories that are gradually brought together. Involved are two low-rent hit men, their boss and his sexy wife, a prizefighter and a pair of desperate robbers.

Reality Bites – The irreverent portrayal of the harsh realities of life after college captures the misadventures of Lelaina, an ambitious TV production assistant, and her relationships with her sarcastic roommate, Vickie, friends Sammy and Troy, and an ambitious video executive, Michael.

Reservoir Dogs – They were strangers, together to pull off the perfect jewel heist. Their simple robbery turns into a bloody ambush when they realize one of them is a police informant.

Scary Movie – A parody of all the scary movies you’ve ever seen. The victims pile up and the laughs pile on as a group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a recognizable masked killer!

Scent of a Woman – Hoping to earn extra money, an innocent and reserved scholarship student at an exclusive prep school agrees to look after a blind, retired Lieutenant Colonel, who takes him off for a wild weekend in New York City.

Scream – A series of mysterious murders committed by a masked killer transforms a seemingly peaceful community into a place where no one is safe and everyone is suspect.

Se7en – A psychological thriller about two detectives on the trail of a serial killer who chooses his victims according to the seven deadly sins.

She’s All That – An irresistible cast of Hollywood’s hottest young faces star in this fun, sexy comedy hit about the power of attraction and the pressures of popularity.

The Silence of the Lambs – When FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned a case involving a monstrous serial killer, she seeks counsel from an imprisoned cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, whose fascination with the young woman is as great as his hunger for murder. As their relationship develops, Starling must confront her own demons, and an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage or strength to stop it.

Sister Act – A lounge singer, forced to hide out from the mob, moves into a quiet religious convent.

The Sixth Sense – A noted child psychologist attempts to help a frightened 8-year-old boy who is experiencing terrifying visions of the dead.

Sleepless in Seattle – After hearing a man confess his love for his dearly-departed wife on a call-in radio show, a woman falls inexplicably in love with him. Deciding that he is her destiny, she treks across the country on a romantic impulse to meet him.

So I Married an Axe Murderer – A wedlock-shy coffee house poet finally meets the perfect woman. There’s one little problem–he’s convinced she’s an axe murderer.

Speed – An L.A.P.D. SWAT team specialist is sent to diffuse a bomb that a revenge-driven extortionist has planted on a bus. Until he does, he and a female passenger must keep the bus speeding through the streets of Los Angeles at more than 50 miles per hour or the bomb will explode.

Stir of Echoes – After Tom is hypnotized at a neighborhood party, he changes. He sees things he can’t explain and hears voices he can’t ignore. As the visions intensify, he realizes they are echoes of a crime calling out to be solved.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – After wading in a puddle of radioactive waste, these radical reptiles are transformed into New York City’s greatest crime-fighting quartet.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day – A lethal cyborg, the T-1000, has been sent back from 2029 A.D. to present day Los Angeles on a mission to kill the boy destined to lead the freedom fighters of the future. The original Terminator cyborg is reprogrammed and sent to save the boy, assisted by the boy’s mother, a woman warrior whose warnings of a world headed toward nuclear disaster go unheeded.

Thelma and Louise – Thelma is an abused and neglected wife, while her friend Louise is a bitter, hard-edged waitress. The two decide to take a brief vacation to escape the drudgery of their everyday lives. Immediately, they run into trouble, as Louise shoots and kills a man who tries to rape Thelma in the parking lot of a country bar.

Three Kings – Absurdly comic tale set after the end of the Gulf War, when three American soldiers looking to plunder stolen gold become involved in an uprising.

Tommy Boy – After seven years, party animal Tommy Callahan has finally earned his diploma — and a cushy job at Callahan Auto Parts. But when the family business starts tanking, Tommy hits the road with his dad’s right-hand man, a smug numbers cruncher.

Toy Story – An astonishing world where toys play while their owners are away. Woody is a pull-string cowboy doll and is the leader of the toys until the latest, greatest action figure, Buzz Lightyear, enters the picture. When the toy rivals are separated from their owner, they learn to put aside their differences and work as a team to get back home to the boy they love.

Tremors – Two country handymen and a seismology student discover a desolate town infested with gigantic man-eating creatures that live underground.

True Lies – Harry Tasker is a top spy for the ultra-secret Omega Sector, but his wife thinks he’s just a boring computer salesman. When his two lives collide, he and his wife find themselves kidnapped by international terrorists.

Twister – Scientist Jo Harding and her crack team of tornado chasers are pursuing the most destructive weatherfront to sweep through mid-America’s Tornado Alley in 50 years. TV weatherman Bill Harding is trying to get his tornado-hunter wife, Jo, to sign divorce papers so he can marry his girlfriend Melissa. But Mother Nature, in the form of a series of intense storms, has other plans.

The Usual Suspects – Police investigating an exploded boat on a San Pedro pier discover 27 bodies and $91 million worth of drug money. The only survivors are a severely burned Hungarian terrorist and Roger Kint, a crippled con-man. Reluctantly, Kint is pressured into explaining what happened on the boat. His story begins six weeks earlier with five criminals being dragged in by New York police desperate for suspects in a truck highjacking, and ends with the possible identification of a criminal mastermind.

Varsity Blues – A backup quarterback for the high school football team must confront the pressures and temptations of being a sports star, including conflicts with his coach and his girlfriend, when the starting quarterback is injured.

Wag the Dog – When the President is caught in a sex scandal less than two weeks before the election, his White House spinmaster decides they need a war to distract the public’s attention and he calls on Hollywood’s top producer to create it.

Wayne’s World – Wayne and Garth have their own public access TV show. A local station decides to hire them to do their show professionally. Wayne meets and falls in love with Cassandra, a bass guitarist, who he helps by getting her career started by using his connections.

The Wedding Singer – Robbie Hart is a master of ceremonies, left at the altar at his own wedding. He becomes someone who can only destroy other people’s weddings until he meets a waitress named Julia. Julia, however, is about to have a wedding of her own and may be lost forever.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape – Gilbert Grape is devoted to taking care of his family, which includes an obese mother and a mentally impaired brother. He feels the hopelessness of his life in a rural community when a young woman breezes into town and changes everything.

Wonder Boys – During a single weekend, college professor Grady Tripp scrambles to gather together a life that has suddenly reeled out of control. An unfinished novel, a stolen car, a murdered pet and a failing marriage are just a few of the crises piling up.

You’ve Got Mail – A romance in which superstore book chain magnate Hanks and cozy children’s bookshop owner Ryan are anonymous e-mail cyberpals who fall head-over-laptops in love, unaware that they are combative business rivals.

Here you’ll find a list of “Eighties” Films. Most of them were filmed during this decade but some are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO BE TAKEN TO THE LIBRARY’S ONLINE CATALOG. THERE, YOU CAN REQUEST THE ITEM AND SEE MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING RATING INFORMATION.

 

3 Men and a Baby – Three handsome Manhattan bachelors find their dating and mating rituals irreparably damaged when an unexpected roommate–complete with crib, pacifier, and dirty diaper–shows up on their doorstep

Adventures in Babysitting – A babysitter and three kids leave the safe suburbs and head for the heart of the big city to rescue a frantic friend.

Airplane! – The passengers and crew of an airplane suffer every catastrophe in the book in this spoof of disaster movies.

Alf – In September 1986, a loveable alien named Alf crashed his spaceship into the home of the unsuspecting Tanner family. For the next four years, Alf elusively avoided houseguests, chased the cat, ate everything in sight, but the Tanners always loved Alf.

Back to the Future Parts I, II, III – In Back to the future (part 1), it’s the mid-80’s, and Marty McFly is your average 17-year-old slacker who happens to be friends with an inventor, Doc Brown. Doc’s latest invention is a time machine, that ends up transporting Marty back to 1955 where he must bring get his parents together so that he will exist when he gets back to his own time. In Back to the future II, Marty visits 2015 to straighten out the future of the McFly family, but Biff Tannen steals the time machine, and with it a book that allows his young self to amass a gambling fortune, which has significant consequences to the present. To correct the problems, Marty and Doc must return to 1955 to retrieve the book. In Back to the future III Marty must travel back to 1885 to rescue Doc so that the rest of the adventures can happen.

Batman – A young boy who witnesses his parents’ murder grows up to become Batman, a masked and emotionally disturbed vigilante who battles against an arch-criminal known as The Joker.

Beetlejuice – After Barbara and Adam Maitland are killed in a car crash, they find themselves trapped as ghosts in their beautiful New England farmhouse. Their peaceful ‘existence’ is disrupted when a yuppie family, the Deetz’s, buy their house. The Maitlands are too nice and harmless as ghosts and all their efforts to scare the Deetz’s away are unsuccessful. They decide to call to Beetlejuice, a people-exorcizing ghost, for help.

Better Off Dead – After his girlfriend ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane decides that suicide is the only answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts only bring him more agony and embarrassment.

Beverly Hills Cop – Axel Foley is a brash, street smart Detroit detective who follows the trail of a friend’s murderer to the posh surroundings of Beverly Hills. And before Axel gets his man, he gets up to his neck in an international network of smugglers and drug peddlers.

BIG – A 12-year-old boy’s wish comes true when he asks a mechanical carnival genie to make him ‘big’. He manages to land a job at a toy company where he experiences the complications of being an adult.

Big Trouble in Little China – Jack Burton is a big-talking, wisecracking trucker who goes beneath the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown to battle an army of spirits when his friend’s fiancee is kidnapped.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure – Screwball comedy about two high school students who face a difficult history exam. With the help of a time-traveling messenger they round up some historical heavyweights for their class project!

The Blues Brothers – Jake and Elwood Blues, two hoodlum brothers searching for redemption, set out to locate and reenlist the members of their defunct rhythm and blues band in order to raise some honest money.

Breakfast Club – Five teens from drastically different cliques spend a day in detention with each other, delving into each others’ true personalities.

Brewster’s Millions – Montgomery Brewster is a down-and-out baseball player who discovers that he is the only living relative of an eccentric multimillionaire. Monty stands to inherit $300 million, but only if he can spend $30 million in a single month without acquiring any assets. If he fails, it’s back to zero again.

The Burbs – A suspense-comedy in which Tom Hanks portrays a suburbanite whose plans for a peaceful vacation are disturbed by a creepy new family on the block.

Caddyshack – The greenskeeper is about to start World War III– against a gopher. Pompous Judge Smails plays to win but his nubile nieceLacey Underall wants to score her own way. Playboy Ty Webb shoots perfect golf by becoming the ball. And country club loudmouth Al Czervik just doubled a $20,000 bet on a 10-foot putt. Insanity. No. Caddyshack.

The Care Bears Movie – Way up high where the clouds and rainbows live, the Care Bears watch over the Earth and make sure everyone is kind and friendly to each other. So when they see an evil spirit trick a lonely young boy into helping make people mean, the huggable heroes jump into action! Together with the animals from the Forest of Feelings, the Care Bears come to the rescue!

Coming to America – Comedy about a wealthy, pampered African prince who comes to America in search of a bride. Accompanied by his closest companion, the prince quickly finds a new job, new friends and lots of trouble.

Die Hard – A team of terrorists has seized a building in L.A. and taken hostages. A New York cop, in town to spend Christmas with his estranged wife, is the only hope for the people held by the savage criminals.

E. T., The Extra-terrestrial – A ten-year-old boy befriends a creature from another planet that has been stranded on earth.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – A high school student is determined to get a day off with his friends in Chicago by outwitting his principal.

Flashdance – Alex Owens, a fiercely determined and beautiful 18 year old woman who works as a welder by day and as a dancer at a local bar at night. Alex struggles to gain independence, finds love, and realize her dream–to dance at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance.

Follow That Bird – Oscar, Bert, Ernie and Cookie Monster join Big Bird in a bighearted, cross-country adventure. A meddling social worker sends poor Big Bird off to live with a feathered foster family in Illinois. But try as he might, he doesn’t fit in and runs away to return to Sesame Street. Now his old friends need to find him before he runs ‘afowl’ of trouble en route.

Footloose – City-boy Ren McCormick revolts with his best friend and the minister’s daughter when he finds himself in an uptight Midwestern town where dancing has been banned.

Friday the 13th – Camp Crystal Lake has been closed for over twenty years due to several vicious and unsolved murders. New owners reopen the camp, only to have each counselor stalked by a violent killer. This 24-hour nightmare of blood unfolds into a film which is widely acclaimed for its horrifying and creative murder sequences.

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie – A teenage boy accidentally releases a gang of dirty and disgusting children from a magical trashcan and enlists their help in fighting off the school bullies.

Ghostbusters – Suit up for classic comedy! When kooky, spooky college profs Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler lose their University jobs, they decide to go freelance, de-haunting houses in a new ghost removal service.

The Golden Child – Murphy goes to the rescue of a child with mystical powers who has been abducted by an evil cult.

The Goonies – The film follows a group of misfit kids as they search for buried treasure in a subterranean cavern. Here they cross the path of lady criminal Mama Fratelli and her outlaw brood. Fortunately, the kids manage to befriend Fratelli’s hideously deformed (but soft-hearted) son, who comes to their rescue.

Gremlins – When a young bank teller inadvertently breaks the rules of Mogwai care, his new pet Gizmo multiplies into a bevy of mischievous brothers, who soon morph into malevolent scaly creatures.

Hot Tub Time Machine – When a group of middle-aged men travel to a ski resort seeking a temporary escape from their failed, miserable lives, a drunken accident in a hot tub sends them back to 1986, where they get a chance to relive a night from the past and possibly change their futures forever.

Ice Castles – Alex Winston is young, beautiful and talented. She comes from nowhere to become a figure skating superstar. She has to push herself, reinvent herself, and most painfully of all, leave her boyfriend behind. When a tragic fall leaves her blind, she needs someone to believe in her, to love her and convince her she has the strength to skate and dream again.

The Karate Kid – Daniel, a 17-year-old, fatherless teenager, arrives in Los Angeles from the East and faces the difficult task of making friends. He becomes the object of bullying by a gang of karate students when he strikes up a relationship with Ali, the gang leader’s ex-girlfriend. Daniel asks Miyagi, a master of martial arts, to help him learn karate. He soon faces his greatest enemy in a karate tournament where more than honor is at stake.

License to Drive – All the comic stops are pulled out in this high-octane comedy about a boy, his car and his date with disaster!

Little Monsters – A kid meets the monster under his bed and follows him to his world.

The Lost Boys – A young teen thinks his town of Santa Cruz is infested with vampires, and becomes convinced of it when his own brother starts turning into one.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – When the affable host of an elegant Christmas party shoots a man to death, his friends discover secrets that make them less eager to help with his courtroom defense.

The Money Pit – Evicted from their Manhattan apartment, Walter and Anna buy what looks like the home of their dreams, only to find themselves with a bank-account-draining nightmare.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Christmas is the perfect season for Clark Griswold and his family. Clark’s a disaster waiting to happen. You have to see it to believe it. There are 25,000 lights on the Griswold rooftop. An exploding turkey. And a house full of relatives.

National Lampoon’s Vacation – The Griswolds are going on vacation, trekking cross country in search of fun and recreation at Wally World.

The Neverending Story – The Nothing threatens to destroy Fantasia and its Child-Empress and a young warrior sets out to save them.

Nightmare on Elm Street – When her best friend Tina is brutally murdered, teenager Nancy suspects the killer isn’t Tina’s boyfriend but rather a much more horrifying figure from her dreams. Convinced that this vicious murderer is stalking her friends and killing them as they sleep, Nancy enters a desperate race against time to bring him out of her dream world and stop the bloodbath…before she falls asleep and becomes his next victim.

One Crazy Summer – Young people on Nantucket for the summer struggle with their parents’ expectations and fulfilling their own dreams.

Overboard – A super-rich and pretentious socialite winds up in the world of a struggling carpenter with four kids.

Popeye – Olive Oyl, Wimpy, Bluto and others join Popeye in his adventures in the harbor town of Sweethaven

Pretty in Pink – She’s a high school girl from the wrong side of town. He’s the wealthy heart-throb who asks her to the prom. But as fast as their romance builds, it’s threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure.

The Princess Bride – A kindly grandfather sits down with his grandson and reads him a bedtime story. As the grandfather reads the story, the action comes alive in a classic tale of love and adventure. The beautiful Buttercup is kidnapped and held against her will in order to marry the nasty Prince Humperdinck, while Westley (her childhood beau, now returned as the Dread Pirate Roberts) attempts to save her. Along the way he meets an accomplished swordsman and a giant, both of whom become his companions in his quest.

Private Benjamin – A pampered, spoiled upper-middle class widow joins the Army. The Army will never be the same.

Real Genius – When a group of crazy college geniuses put their heads together, their plan culminates in an incredible scheme that outsmarts the military and convinces the professor that it doesn’t pay to fool with real genius.

Red Dawn – When a town is invaded by foreign nationals and the security of the United States seems threatened, a group of high school students escape and wage warfare in defense of their parents, their friends and their country.

Revenge of the Nerds – Revenge of the nerds: Two freshman join the nerds in their battle against jocks using high-tech weapons only a nerd could dream of. Revenge of the nerds II: The nerds are off to Ft. Lauderdale for a national fraternity conference.

Rocky IV – Rocky faces his greatest challenge as he climbs into the ring against a savage Russian fighter, each determined to destroy the other.

Say Anything – A young man, recently graduated from high school, wants only one thing: a date with a fellow graduate. The catch is she’s beautiful, brilliant and headed to England to study, and all his friends and her father tell him she’s way out of his league. When they fall in love anyway, the result is a funny, poignant and joyous celebration of first love.

The Shining – When Jack Torrance moves into an isolated hotel to serve as the off-season caretaker, he brings along his wife and telepathic son. While Jack plans to write a novel, he soon finds himself distracted by mysterious occurences in the hotel that slowly drive him insane.

Shirley Valentine – An English housewife, bored with her life, goes on a vacation with a friend to Greece and finds that there’s more to life than just dishes and laundry when she has a fling with a handsome man.

Sixteen Candles – It’s Samantha Baker’s sweet sixteen and no one in her family remembers the important occasion. But wait…the day isn’t over yet!

St. Elmo’s Fire – Seven friends, recent college graduates, search for a place in the real world and face the issues of career and commitment. Against the backdrop of St. Elmo’s, their local hang-out, they save, betray and love each one another as only the closest of friends can.

Superman II – This epic takes up where Superman, the movie leaves off. Superman deals with a trio of villians whose powers rival Superman’s own.

Teen Wolf – Teen wolf: Scott Howard is a teenager who yearns to be more than just a nice, average guy and he gets his wish. From deep within his personality, the Teen Wolf emerges.

Tootsie – Michael Dorsey is an out-of-work actor who makes himself up as a woman to get a job. When his girlfriend, Sandy, fails an audition for a soap opera, Michael dresses up as “Dorothy Michaels” and lands the part. All goes well until “Dorothy” falls in love with beautiful co-star, Julie, and Julie’s father, Les, falls for “Dorothy.”

Top Gun – A daredevil Navy pilot striving to be the best at a Top Gun flight school doubts his abilities when his best friend is killed in training.

Trading Places – The lives of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet by two rich brothers.

Turner and Hooch – A compulsively neat detective’s tidy world goes to the dogs when he is forced to team up with a drooling slob of a junkyard dog named Hooch.

Uncle Buck – Uncle Buck, an idle good-natured bachelor, is left in charge of his nephew and nieces during a family crisis. While his carefree ways easily charm the younger relatives, he meets more than a little hostility from Tia, his rebellious teenage niece, and Chanice, his impatient girlfriend.

Valley Girl – Julie is, like, so over her preppy boyfriend, she dumps him on the escalator at the Galleria. And when she meets punker Randy, her eyes practically bug out because she thinks he’s sexy even though he makes her friends gag! But even if Randy’s ready to stop the world and melt with her, can Julie risk losing her friends and her super-popularity at school just to be with him?

Weekend at Bernies – Two employees uncover an embezzlement scheme in their company, and are rewarded with a weekend at their boss’s beach house, however, when they arrive, they find his corpse and then decide to pretend that he’s still alive.

Weird Science – Two nerdy best friends have the power to create the “perfect woman”. Like a computer-generated fairy godmother, the two use their creation to learn about the pleasures and pitfalls of adolescences.

Here you’ll find a list of “Seventies” Films. Some of them were filmed during this decade but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO BE TAKEN TO THE LIBRARY’S ONLINE CATALOG. THERE, YOU CAN REQUEST THE ITEM AND SEE MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING RATING INFORMATION.

Almost Famous – It’s the opportunity of a lifetime when teenage reporter William Miller lands an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine. Despite the objections of his protective mother, William hits the road with an up-and-coming rock band and finds there’s a lot more to write home about than the music.

Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy – It’s the 70’s and Ron Burgundy is the king of San Diego. He’s the most popular news anchor in town. He and his all male news team rule the city with their sauve looks, minimal IQ’s and unbelievably bad hair. In Ron’s world, women don’t belong in the newsroom. So when rising star reporter Veronica Corningstone fills in for Ron one night and the ratings soar, it becomes more than a battle … it becomes war.

Apollo 13 – True story of how three astronauts, stranded 205,000 miles above the earth, fight a battle to survive while Mission Control works against time to bring them home.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: a Tailor Made Romance – Set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China’s Cultural Revolution, two city-bred teenage best friends are sent to a backward mountainous region for Maoist re-education.

Born on the Fourth of July – A young man joins the army and fights in Vietnam, only to become a wheelchair-bound paraplegic resulting from battle. He then becomes a loud voice in the anti-war movement. Based on Ron Kovic’s book.

Casino – Two mobsters head to Las Vegas in the 1970s to manage the Tangiers casino and establish the Mafia’s presence in the city’s gambling industry.

Dazed and Confused – Coming of age story of high school students in the ’70s. Eight seniors facing life after high school have one last party.

Detroit Rock City – Follows three best friends in 1978 as they hit the road to see their favorite band–Kiss.

Dirty Harry – A violently inclined San Francisco police inspector is the only cop who is able to arrest a rooftop sniper. When the man is released through lack of evidence, he takes private revenge.

Dog Day Afternoon – Based on actual events that took place one hot August afternoon in 1972, the movie recreates the incredible circumstances surrounding an ill-fated Brooklyn bank robbery attempt.

Donnie Brasco – This true story follows FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the Mafia of New York.

Edward Scissorhands – Once upon a time in a castle high on a hill lived an inventor whose greatest creation was named Edward. Although Edward had an irresistible charm, he wasn’t quite perfect. The inventor’s sudden death left him unfinished, with sharp shears of metal for hands. Edward lived alone in the darkness until one day a kind Avon Lady took him home to live with her family. And so began Edward’s fantastic adventures in a pastel paradise known as Suburbia.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Fueled by a suitcase full of pharmaceuticals, journalist Raoul Duke and his sidekick Dr. Gonzo set off on a fast and furious ride through nonstop neon, surreal surroundings and a crew of crazy characters.

Field of Dreams – Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can’t ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Annie, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true.

The Greatest – A dramatization of the life of Muhammad Ali, from his Olympic gold medal victories to his battle to regain his heavyweight title.

Harold and Maude – A black comedy about a rich, disturbed, young man, fascinated with death and funerals, who has an affair and a series of adventures with an eccentric and independent 80-year-old woman.

The Hoax – Pathological liar Clifford Irving stages a complex hoax. In the 1970’s Irving managed to fool a major publisher and LIFE magazine into thinking he was writing an authorized biography of Howard Hughes. Irving and his best friend and partner, Dick Susskind, go to extreme lengths to pull off the hair-brained scheme.

Jesus Christ Superstar – Rock opera musical version of the last days of Christ.

Kingpin – Roy Munson is a pro bowler who seems destined for greatness, or as close to greatness as a bowler can get. But after a run-in with angry competitors, Roy finds himself sadder, wiser and minus his bowling hand. Years later, he thinks he’s found his ticket back to the big time when he meets the naive Ishmael, an Amish bowling whiz. Together, they set out for a million-dollar tournament in Reno.

The Kite Runner – As young boys living in Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan were inseparable friends, until one fateful act tore them apart. Years later, Amir will embark on a dangerous quest to right the wrongs of the past.

The Last King of Scotland – Chronicles Idi Amin’s rise and fall. Amin’s despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin’s personal physician. His perspective as an outsider causes him to be initially impressed by Amin’s calculated rise to power and he grows increasingly monstrous. A pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding ground for Amin’s genocidal tyranny. Amin is both seductive and horribly destructive. Garrigan grows increasingly prone to exploitation.

The Longest Yard (1974) – Filmed on location at the Georgia State Prison, semi-pro football is played with the cons as the heroes and the guards as the heavies.

The Lords of Dogtown – Based on the true story of the legendary Z-Boys, this film is a fictionalized take on a brilliant group of young skateboarders who perfect their craft in the empty swimming pools of unsuspecting suburban homeowners, pioneering a thrilling new sport.

Milk – His life changed history. His courage changed lives. Harvey Milk is a middle-aged New Yorker who, after moving to San Francisco, became a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1977. His election makes him the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States. The following year, both he and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, were shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blamed his former colleagues for denying White’s attempt to rescind his resignation from the board. Based on the inspiring true story of Harvey Milk.

Nixon – A riveting look at a complex man, Richard Nixon, whose chance at greatness was ultimately destroyed by his passion for power–when his involvement in conspiracy jeopardized the nation’s security and the presidency of the United States.

Now and Then – A heartwarming comedy about the childhood mischief of four best friends who reunite after twenty years.

Remember the Titans – A drama of forced high school integration in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. After leading his team to fifteen winning seasons, white football coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by African-American Herman Boone, tough, opinionated and as different from Yoast as could be. The two men overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions. A rousing celebration of how a town torn apart by resentment, friction and mistrust comes together in triumphant harmony.

Rocky – Rocky Balboa, the underdog, gets his million-to-one shot at love, self-respect and the world heavyweight boxing crown and comes out a winner.

Roll Bounce – X and his friends rule their local 1970s roller-rink, that is until they are shocked to discover that their home base is going out of business. Heading over to the Sweetwater Roller Rink, they find their modest talents are, at first, no competition for their trick skaters and pretty girls who follow their every move. Now Xavier and his crew must pull together as a team to try and win big money at a rival rink’s Roller Jam skate-off.

Rudy – Although people have told Rudy all his life he’s not good enough, smart enough or big enough, nothing can stop his impossible dream of playing football for Notre Dame.

Secretariat – The spectacular journey of an incredible horse named Secretariat and the moving story of his unlikely owner, a housewife who risked everything to make him a champion.

Taxi Driver – A psychotic taxi driver tries to save a child prostitute and becomes infatuated with a political campaigner. He goes on a violent rampage when his dreams don’t work out.

The Virgin Suicides – When school hunk Trip Fontain convinces the beautiful but sheltered Lisbon sisters to go to the prom, the romantic fantasies of a group of neighborhood boys threaten to come true– until all are engulfed in a stunning chain of events that will change their lives forever.

The War – It’s Mississippi, the summer of 1970, and two children are determined to build the ultimate treehouse with their friends, while their father, a newly returned Vietnam vet, has equally high hopes to rebuild his life.

Here you’ll find a list of “Sixties” Films. Some of them were filmed during the Sixties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO BE TAKEN TO THE LIBRARY’S ONLINE CATALOG. There, you can request the item and see more information including rating information.

 

61* – Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, one was the Yankees’ best loved players and the other was their most valuable. 1961 was about to be the summer that no one who loves baseball will ever forget. Both men find that they are approaching Babe Ruth’s 1927 single-season 60 home-run record. Facing pressure from the media and the stands, both men know that there is only room for one winner. The fans make their choice, but the people’s favorite isn’t the favorite to win.

Across the Universe – Jude is a dock worker from Liverpool who travels to the United States in the 1960s to find his estranged father. There, he falls in love with sheltered American teenager Lucy. When her brother, Max, is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, they become involved in peace activism.

Ali – An amazing epic drama of the biography of boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early days to his days in the ring.

American Gangster – Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in Harlem. He does so by buying heroin directly from a source in South East Asia, and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. Richie Roberts is a dedicated and honest policeman who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government and is determined to bring down Lucas’ drug empire. Based on a true story.

American Graffiti – Four teenagers come of age in 1962 on the last summer night before they go off to college, jobs, or the army.

Annie Hall – Woody Allen’s semiautobiographical portrait of his amorous, but ultimately mismatched, relationship with co-star Diane Keaton. Allen uses satire and comedy to portray this “nervous romance” for modern times.

Apocalypse Now – A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War.

Blast from the Past – Adam Webber was born and raised in a bomb shelter by his sherry-swilling mother and his mad scientist father. His simple childhood was filled with Perry Como records, The Honeymooners reruns and good old-fashioned family values. Now, 35 years later, Adam is about to emerge into a bewildering modern world in search of supplies and a simple girl from Pasadena. Instead, he meets Eve, a modern LA woman jaded about life and burned by love.

A Bronx Tale – A hard-working bus driver must stand up to the local mob boss if he is to keep his son from falling into a life of crime.

Catch Me if You Can – Based on the autobiography of a brilliant young master of deception and the FBI agent hot on his trail. Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. passed himself off as a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor all before his 21st birthday.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind – Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. The story of a legendary showman’s double life–television producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative, or so he said.

Crazy in Alabama – It’s the summer of 1965, and everyone in Alabama has gone completely crazy, especially 12-year-old Peejoe’s glamorous Aunt Lucille. Deciding not to let her abusive husband stand in the way of her dreams of television stardom, she gets rid of him in a most unusual way and leaves Peejoe with lots of questions and one explosive secret.

Dead Presidents – “On the streets, they call cash dead presidents. And that’s just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war, only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist–a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!”

Down with Love – A feminist writer in the early 1960’s who is promoting her book ‘Down With Love’ has sworn off love. A New York City journalist thinks he doesn’t need love. See what happens when they fall for each other in this old-fashioned romantic comedy.

Dreamgirls – The story of the rise and fall of three young women who make-up an African-American girl group in the racially turbulent 60s. Deena Jones, Effie White, and Lorrell Robinson desire to become pop stars and eventually get their wish when they are asked to be backup singers for the legendary James “Thunder” Early.

An Education – In the early 1960’s, 16-year-old Jenny Mellor lives with her parents in a London suburb. She is smart, pretty, and working toward her goal of being accepted into Oxford. Her life will take a big turn when she meets David, a man twice her age. Now she must decide if she will pursue an education at Oxford, or if she will choose to learn all that a charismatic older man can teach her.

Factory Girl – Edie Sedgwick, a beautiful, wealthy young party girl, drops out of Radcliffe in 1965 and heads to New York to become Holly Golightly. When she meets a hungry young artist named Andy Warhol, he promises to make her the star she always wanted to be. But after she explodes on the New York scene, she slowly finds herself losing her grip on reality.

Fly Me to the Moon – Young housefly Nat is looking for adventure and hatches a plan to jet into outer space with his two best friends, I.Q. and Scooter. In their homemade space suits, they take a wild ride aboard Apollo 11 all the way to the moon. After a potentially disastrous mechanic problem, these daredevil flies must save the day.

Full Metal Jacket – Vietnam war drama which begins with a depiction of the brutality of Marine Corps training and then shifts to Vietnam, focusing mainly on a group of Marines responding to the Tet Offensive of 1968.

Girl, Interrupted – Based on a true story of a young woman’s life-altering stay at a famous psychiatric hospital in the late 1960’s.

Glory Road – Don Haskins, a future Hall-of-Fame coach of tiny Texas Western University, bucks convention by simply starting the best players he can find: history’s first all-African American lineup.

Hair – Fresh from the farm, Claude Bukowski arrives in New York City for a date with the Army Induction Board, only to walk into a hippie “happening” in Central Park and fall in love with the beautiful Sheila. Befriended by the hippies’ pacifist leader, Berger, and urged to crash a formal party in order to declare his love for Sheila, Claude begins an adventure that lands him in jail, Central Park Lake and finally, in the army. But Berger’s final effort to save Claude from Vietnam sets in motion a bizarre twist of fate– with shocking consequences.

The Help – Mississippi during the 1960s: Skeeter, a southern society girl, returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives, and a small Mississippi town, upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, is the first to open up, to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community.

Little Shop of Horrors – In this musical, business blooms at Mushnik’s Flower Shop when an exotic potted plant called Audrey II arrives. The plant turns out to be carnivorous and has people rushing in to see it–and disappearing.

M. Butterfly – A French civil service officer risks and then abandons everything in his life in his obsessive pursuit of a enigmatic Chinese opera diva.

Magdalene Sisters – In Ireland in the 1960s, four women were sent to the Magdalene Laundries, an institution for “fallen” women, where they will atone for their sins through a regimented life of work and prayer. They all had to work in the laundry, where the strict nuns would break everyone’s wills through sadistic punishment. Based on a true story.

The Man without a Face – A man with a badly scarred face is hired to help a boy pass his military school entrance exam.

Mississippi  Burning – Set in Mississippi in 1964, this is a fictionalized version of the case of the murder of three young civil rights workers, the FBI’s attempts to find the missing boys and the clash between the authorities and the locals in a Klan-dominated town.

Mr. Holland’s Opus – A frustrated composer comes to realize that his real passion is teaching and that his legacy is not a truly memorable piece of music, but the generations of young people whose lives he affects.

National Lampoon’s Animal House – In 1962, Larry Kroger and Kent Dorfman are freshman in college. They want to join a fraternity. After visiting several, including the snobby Omega house, they come to a Delta house pledge party. Here they meet the handsome, but compulsive womanizer Otter, his best friend Boone, Boone’s girlfriend Katy, the daring thrill-seeker D-Day, the ever responsible Hoover, and slacker Bluto. They are accepted into the fraternity and join in on the wild toga parties, road trips, and pratical jokes. But Dean Wormer is determined to have Delta kicked off campus and its members expelled. He enlists the help of Omega house and its leaders Doug Neidermyer and Greg Marmalard and new pledge Chip Diller. Delta is not willing to go away quietly.

The Outsiders – Coming of age movie set in Tulsa Oklahoma in the mid sixties.

Peggy Sue Got Married – Peggy Sue, a mother of two who runs her own business & is coping with an impending divorce, attends her 25th high school reunion, where a freak mishap sends her decades back in time, giving her the power to create an entirely different future for herself.

Riding in Cars with Boys – Based on a true story. A single mother, with dreams of going to college and becoming a writer, has a son at the age of 15 and goes through a failed marriage with her son’s drug-addicted father.

Secondhand Lions – To the rest of the world, Garth and Hub are mysterious old men hiding millions. But to Walter, they are family – and now they’re about to lead him on an adventure he’ll never forget.

Simon Birch – Ever since doctors proclaimed Simon Birch’s birth as a miracle, Simon’s sure he’s going to be a hero, he’s just not sure how.

That Thing You Do! – The overnight triumph of an American rock band in the glory days of rock & roll.

A Walk on the Moon – It’s the summer of 1969 and realizing she missing the sexual revolution Pearl has a passionate affair with a free-spirited young man, but then she has to make a choice between her husband and family or her newfound desires.

Zodiac – A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. The four men most affected by the killer are San Francisco PD Homicide detectives David Toschi and William Armstrong, and the San Francisco Chronicle reporters Paul Avery and Robert Graysmith.

Yellow Submarine – Once upon a time–or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, a place where happiness and music reigned supreme. But all that was threatened when the terrible Blue Meanies declared war and sent in their army led by a menacing Flying Glove to destroy all that was good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with little more than their humour, songs, and of course, their yellow submarine, The Beatles tackle the rough seas ahead in an effort to bring down the evil forces of bluedom.

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Fifties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

All the King’s Men – Willie Stark is an uncorrupted small-town mayor in 1950s Louisiana. He gets picked by the political machine to run as a wild card candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial race. When Willie realizes that he is being manipulated, he veers off on his own to become the darling of the electorate’s downtrodden and forgotten hicks.

An American Rhapsody – In order to escape Communist Hungary, a family must leave behind their infant daughter. She is then temporarily raised by a peasant Hungarian couple. When the daughter is finally brought to America to be with her family, her relationship with her real family becomes strained. The girl is torn between two mothers and two homelands. Based on a true story. The girl returns to Hungary and takes an unforgettable journey of self-discovery.

La Bamba – Biographical story of the rise from nowhere of singer Ritchie Valens whose life was cut short by a plane crash.

Before Night Falls – A look at the life of Reinaldo Arenas, from childhood in Cuba to his death in New York City. His writings and homosexuality get him in trouble with Castro’s Cuba and he spends two years in prison before leaving for the United States.

Beyond the Sea – One of America’s greatest performers, Bobby Darin lived a rags-to-riches life. He worked his way from shady nightclubs to his dream destination, the Copacabana, where he wowed the crowds with his songs. He was a marvel at singing, songwriting and performing – stealing the hearts of fans everywhere despite the suffering in his own heart.

The Blue Kite – Told from the perspective of a young boy, Tietou, this film traces the fate of a Beijing family and their neighbors through the political and social upheavals in China in 1950’s and 60’s.

Bye Bye Birdie – When rock star Conrad Birdie gets drafted, his manager organizes a nationwide contest in which one lucky girl wins a farewell kiss on The Ed Sullivan show.

Capote – In 1959, Truman Capote was a popular writer for The New Yorker. He learns about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Halcomb, Kansas. Inspired by the story, Capote and his partner, Harper Lee, travel to the town to do research for an article. However, as Capote digs deeper into the story, he is inspired to expand the project into what would be his greatest work, “In Cold Blood.”

Che – A biopic of Cuban revolutionary ‘Che’ Guevara.

Cry Baby – A spoof and homage to 1950’s teen rock melodramas. Cry Baby is a rebel with a gang of rough friends. Allison is the straight-laced girl who falls for him.

Diner – Set in 1959, a band of long-time buddies since high school gather at a local diner to share their escapades and make sense of their lives. As one by one they drift off to join the mainstream of life they still cling to their shared boyhood dreams.

Ed Wood – A stranger-than-fiction true story of the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., the undisputed worst movie director of all time. Wood was the auteur behind Glen or Glenda? and Plan 9 from outer space, and it is during the making of these two no-budget flicks that Wood is profiled.

Evita – True-life story of Eva Peron, who rose above childhood poverty and a scandalous past to achieve fortune and fame.

Forrest Gump – Through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides a tide of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love.

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life – Follows the life of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.

Goodfellas – Three decades in the life of a group of men involved with organized crime.

Grease – It’s love when a greaser falls for a good girl in this classic musical depicting young life in the fifties.

Hollywoodland – Made famous as Superman on television, George Reeves finds it hard to not be typecast because of it. When he is found dead of a gunshot wound, rumors begin to run rampant. Based on Hollywood’s most notorious unsolved mystery.

Hoosiers – A man is given a last chance to redeem himself when he takes a coaching position for a high school basketball team in a small town in Indiana in the early 1950s. He is challenged with the task of bringing the unknown team to a championship.

I.Q. – All the world knows about Einstein the scientific genius. But what about Einstein the matchmaker? I.Q. puts this fanciful notion to the test and comes up with winning results in this fun, warm-hearted romantic comedy.

James Dean – A made-for-cable biography that looks at the star’s short but troubled life, his years of struggle before his sudden rise to fame, and the car crash that took his life at the age of 24.

The Killer Inside Me – A sheriff is on the case to solve a string of murders in his small town, knowing that he is the killer.

L.A. Confidential – The lives of three cops, a call girl, a millionaire, a tabloid journalist, and the chief of detectives become intertwined in a tale of police corruption in 1950s Los Angeles.

The Last Picture Show – A group of 50’s high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied West Texas town that is slowly dying, both economically and culturally.

Lolita – Humbert, a divorced British professor, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte, whom he marries in order that he might pursue her 14-year-old daughter, Lolita.

M*A*S*H – The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.

Mommie Dearest – The story of legendary movie star Joan Crawford as she struggles for her career and battles the inner demons of her private life. This torment manifests itself into her relationships with her adopted children, Christina and Christopher.

My Favorite Year – Alan Swann is a legendary movie idol forced by the IRS to face the music–deportation or a TV appearance to pay up. Benjy is in charge of making sure Swann shows up sober. You are taken behind the scenes during the early days of live variety shows.

Nowhere Boy – Set in Liverpool in 1955, the adolescent years of John Lennon are chronicled. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John — his Aunt Mimi who raised him and the prodigal mother. Yearning for a normal family, he escapes into the new and exiciting world of rock ‘n’ roll where he meets a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney. Just as John begins his new life, tragedy strikes. But a resilient young man finds his voice and an icon explodes into the world.

October Sky – True story of a young boy growing up in Coalwood, West Virginia during the 1950’s who dreams of building rockets.

Pleasantville – A brother and sister are magically transported through their television set and into the black-and-white world of a 1950s sitcom called Pleasantville.

Quiz Show – Fame and fortune become a hotbed of scandal when a Washington investigator uncovers corruption beneath the TV’s hottest quiz show’s glittering facade. The scandal implicates both the wildly popular champion and the disgruntled ex-champ.

The Reader – Post-WWII, Germany. Michael Berg is a teenager who becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair. Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens.

The Right Stuff – The true story of Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton– the seven men chosen for the Mercury Project manned space flight program in the U.S.

Superman – As an infant, Superman is sent to earth from the doomed planet Krypton. As he grows up, he learns he has super powers which he must hide from the ordinary mortals around him.

Sylvia – Born in Boston, MA, in 1932, Plath developed a talent as a writer and published her first poem when she was eight years old. That same year, Plath was forced to confront the unexpected death of her father. In 1950, she began studying at Smith College on a literary scholarship. In 1955, she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study in England at Cambridge. There, Plath met Ted Hughes, a respected author. The two fell in love, and married in 1958. However, marriage, family, and a growing reputation as an important poet failed to bring Plath happiness.

This Boy’s Life – Caroline just wants to settle down in one place, find a decent guy and provide a better home for her handful of a son, Toby. When she moves to Seattle and meets Dwight, she thinks she’s got it made. Toby, however, feels differently after spending time with Dwight while away from Caroline. Dwight seems to want to mold Toby into a better person, but to do so, he emotionally, verbally and physically abuses the kid. The marriage proceeds, and soon Caroline, too, recognizes Dwight’s need to dominate everyone around him.

The Tree of Life – The impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950s that follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

Walk the Line – Traces Johnny Cash’s childhood, including his distant father to his early attempts at a music career. At this point in his life he marries his girlfriend Vivian. During a tour with singer/musicians Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, he encounters singer June Carter, and his love for her, and her rejection of him through the years, spurs him into drugs, drinking, and depression. June is both a sassy spitfire singer whose charm breaks hearts and eventually becomes a sympathetic friend who tries to help Johnny get over her. A true love story of two country music stars.

West Side Story – This musical sets the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of the rivalry of two street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, in New York of the 1950s. A young woman who is sister to the Sharks leader has her first taste of love with the former head of the Jets.

When Did You Last See Your Father? – When a 40-year-old writer visits his dying father, he begins to relive the memories of his past and is forced to realize that his once “immortal, invincible and infallible” father is human after all.

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Forties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

Adam’s Rib – Domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband. (1949, 101min, NR)

Angela’s Ashes – Life in impoverished Depression-era Ireland holds little promise for young Frank McCourt, the oldest son in a tightly-knit family. Living by his wits, cheered by his irrepressible spirit, and sustained by his mother’s fierce love, Frank embarks on an inspiring journey to overcome the poverty of his childhood and reach the land of his dreams: America. (2000, 145min, R)

A Beautiful Mind – Tells the tale of the brilliant Mathematician John Nash, on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. (2001, 136min, PG-13)

Big Fish – William Bloom, is a young man who never really knew his now dying father, Edward – outside of the tall tales his dad told him about growing up. During Edward’s last days William and his wife Josephine hold a bedside vigil next to the old man as he recollects elaborate memories of his youth. Still doubting the legends and folklore, William makes a journey to meet a mysterious woman from whom Edward had bought property. (2003, 125min, PG-13)

Casablanca – Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (1942, 102min, PG)

Easter Parade – Astaire is trying to forget ex-dance partner Miller while rising to stardom with Garland. (1948, 103min, NR)

The Edge of Love – The unconventional love story of poet Dylan Thomas and the two women who inspire him. (2008, 111min, R)

The End of the Affair – In England during World War II, an American writer and the bored wife of a British civil servant fall in love. Then she mysteriously ends the affair. (1999, 101min, R)

The Eye of the Needle – A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband. (1981, 112min)

Flags of Our Fathers – The epic story of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman that were forever immortalized as a symbol of WWII by raising the American flag at the battle of Iwo Jima. When Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the event becomes a symbol of hope for the families at home, the three surviving men are pulled from combat and sent on a tour across America to raise desperately-needed bond money. It is a trip that brings out the truths of both that symbolic act, and of their lives during war. (2006, 132min, R)

Fountainhead – When an uncompromising architect who refuses to change his designs discovers the plans for one of his buildings has been changed, he decides to take matters into his own hands by blowing up the structure. (1949, 112, NR)

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life – Follows the life of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. (2010, 122min, NR)

Gaslight – A susceptible young woman marries a suave, romantic man never suspecting that he is a murderous scoundrel, obsessed with finding the jewels hidden in their London home. She becomes the helpless victim as slowly, insidiously, he drives her to the brink of insanity. (1940&1944, 113min, NR)

The Good German – While in post-war Berlin covering the Potsdam Conference, American military journalist, Jake Geismar, is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver. (2006, 108min, R)

The Great Raid – Based on the true story of American Rangers who rescue the survivors of the Bataan Death March from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp during WWII. (2005, 133min, R)

In Darkness – Leopold Socha is a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland. One day he encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town’s sewers beneath the bustling activity of the city above. (2012, 145min, R)

IP Man – Set in Fo Shan, China, during the second Sino-Japanese War, this film brings to life the brutality of a Japanese occupation in which once-proud men were reduced to fighting to the death over bags of rice. Under these dire circumstances, Ip Man, a courageous and humble fighter who is revered all over China, refuses to teach martial arts skills to the invading Japanese soldiers and is forced to fight for the honor of his country in a series of battles that culminate in a kill-or-be-killed showdown with Japan’s greatest fighter. (2008, 107min, R)

It’s a Wonderful Life – An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. (1946, 130min, NR)

Julie and Julia – Julie Powell is a frustrated insurance worker who wants to be a writer. Trying to find a challenge in her life, she decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ in one year, and to blog about it. As Julie begins to find her groove as a cook, and her voice as a writer, the project takes on a life of its own. (2009, 123min, PG-13)

A League of Their Own – When the male professional baseball players are called away to war in 1943, Jimmy Dugan takes on the task of coaching a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. (1992, 127min, PG)

Letters from Iwo Jima – Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island’s soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. (2007, 140min, R)

Mister Roberts – As the USS Reluctant carries cargo across the Pacific during World War II, Lieutenant Doug Roberts dreams of joining in the war effort but must contend instead with the ship’s unsympathetic captain. (1955, 122min, NR)

Mrs. Miniver – The story of a middle-class British family and their struggle to survive during WWII. (1942, 133min, NR)

The Others – A devoutly religious mother of two ailing children has moved with her family to a mansion on the English coast. Her two children both suffer from a rare photosensitivity disease that renders them extremely vulnerable to sunlight, prompting the rule of having only one door open in the house at a time. When one of the children claims to see ghosts, Grace at first believes her newly arrived family of eccentric servants to be responsible, but chilling events and visions soon lead her to believe that something supernatural is indeed going on. (2001, 104min, PG-13)

Pan’s Labyrinth – When young Ofelia and her mother go to live with her new stepfather on a rural military outpost, she finds herself in a world of unimaginable cruelty. Soon Ofelia finds the creatures of her imagination in which she used to escape have become a reality and she must battle them to save both her mother and herself. In the terrifying battle that ensues, Ofelia soon learns that innocence has a power that evil cannot imagine. (2007, 119min, R)

Patton – A dramatization of the experiences of General George S. Patton during World War II. (1970, 171min, PG)

The Philadelphia Story – A sophisticated romantic comedy about a rich, spoiled socialite who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage. (1940, 112min, NR)

Racing with the Moon – Sweet, nostalgic film about two buddies awaiting induction into the Marines in 1942. (1984, 108min, PG)

Raging Bull – A biographical film about psychologically destructive, violent middleweight champion Jake La Motta. (1980, 129min, R)

The Remains of the Day – The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe. (1993, 134min, PG)

Revolutionary Road – Frank and April Wheeler live a life that appears to be perfect. They live in the Connecticut suburbs with two young children. Frank commutes to New York City where he works in an office job that he hates. One he places little effort at, but he has yet to figure out what his passion in life is. April is a housewife who forgoes her dream of being an actress. They are not happy. (2008, 118min, R)

Schindler’s List – The story of a Catholic war profiteer, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life and went bankrupt in order to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps. He employed Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army. At the same time he tries to stay solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant and negotiates business with a vicious Nazi commandant who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa that overlooks the prison camp he commands. (1993, 196min, R)

The Shawshank Redemption – City banker Andy Dufresne arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947. Convicted of two brutal murders, he received a double life sentence. Within the confines of the prison, Andy forms an unlikely friendship with the prison “fixer” Red. He also becomes popular with the warden and the prison’s guards, as Andy is able to use his banking experience to help the corrupt officials amass personal fortunes. (1994, 142min, R)

The Trip to Bountiful – In an attempt to recapture the happiness she knew in the past, an elderly woman journeys back to the small town where she raised her children. (1985, 108min, PG)

Twelve o’Clock High – The commander of the Eighth Air Force bomber unit in England during World War II begins to crack under the strain. (1949, 132min, NR)

Valkyrie – Based on the true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his assassination plot targeting Adolf Hitler. (2008, 120min, PG-13)

A Walk in the Clouds – After returning from World War II, a young G.I. finds he has little in common with the wife he left behind. Disillusioned, he heads north to work as a travelling salesman where he meets the daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner. (1995, 102min, PG-13)

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Thirties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

Amélie – Amélie is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amélie didn’t attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Despite all this, Amélie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. She decides to step into the lives of others around her to help them out. (2002, 122min, R)

Angela’s Ashes – Life in impoverished Depression-era Ireland holds little promise for young Frank McCourt, the oldest son in a tightly-knit family. Living by his wits, cheered by his irrepressible spirit, and sustained by his mother’s fierce love, Frank embarks on an inspiring journey to overcome the poverty of his childhood and reach the land of his dreams: America. (2000, 145min, R)

Annie – The story of the comic strip character Little Orphan Annie, who is adopted by billionaire “Daddy” Warbucks. (1981, 127min, PG)

Brideshead Revisited – A Londoner of lower class befriends and begins a romantic relationship with an aristocrat that becomes complicated when the aristocrat introduces his new friend to his sister. (2009, 133min, PG-13)

Bright Young Things – During the 1930’s, the world of the British uppercrust society is one of nightclubs, dancing, jazz and speed. Their lives revolve around an endless series of parties and pleasure seeking – including motorcars, jazz bands, gossip journalism, drugs, gramophones … Inevitably, however, the frantic pace of living begins to take its toll and one by one they begin to crash and burn in the search for newer and faster sensations. (2005, 105min, R)

Brighton Beach Memoirs – Fifteen-year-old Eugene Jerome is trying to uncover life’s mysteries in this adaptation of a Broadway hit about growing up in Brooklyn during the late 1930’s. (1986, 110min, PG-13)

City Lights – A tramp wins the love of a blind flower girl and attempts to obtain money from a millionaire to help her regain her sight. (1931, 186min, G)

Citizen Kane – Story of the rise and fall of a great man as the result of his accumulation of wealth and subsequent isolation from the world. Loosely based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. (1941, 232min, PG)

Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Benjamin Button is a not-so-ordinary man who began his life under unusual circumstances. Born in his eighties at the end of World War I, Benjamin ages backwards. (2009, 165min, PG-13)

The Devil’s Backbone – During the Spanish Civil War, young Carlos is abandoned at a completely isolated orphanage. The tensions therein have been building for years, exacerbated by the unexploded bomb resting menacingly in the courtyard. Bullies scheme, tempers flare, and a ghost that visits Carlos’s bed seems to be the key to it all. (2002, 103min, R)

The English Patient – Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, a complicated WWII saga told in flashback sequences. Best Picture, Best Director-Anthony Minghella, and Best Supporting Actress-Juliette Binoche. Includes exclusive bonus material and special packaging. (1996, 162min, R)

Frida – The life of artist Frida Kahlo, from her humble upbringing to her worldwide fame and controversy that surrounded both her and her husband, Diego Rivera. (2002, 122min, R)

Gandhi – Tells the story of Gandhi’s adult life, when he led an entire country to freedom, using non-violent methods. (1982, 190min, PG)

Good – When John Halder’s latest novel is enlisted by the Nazi party to push their agenda, his career and social standing instantly advance. But after learning of the Reich’s horrific plans for the future, John must decide whether to do nothing and keep his fame or risk losing everything. (2009, 96min, R)

A Good Woman – A notorious seductress enters a gossipy society and entices the husband of a faithful young woman, delighting the gossips and prompting a series of unexpected consequences. (2006, 93min, PG)

Harlem Nights – A night club owner and his son fight to keep the mob and corrupt police from putting them out of business. (1989, 115min, R)

The Hindenburg – A dramatization of the journey and crash of the German dirigible, the Hindenburg. (1975, 155min)

I Capture the Castle – In a classic English story, Cassandra Mortmain chronicles in her diary what happens to her eccentric family when a young American man inherits the local estate. The bittersweet love story that ensues is far more complicated than she ever imagines. (2003, 113min, R)

Indochine – Set in French Indochina in the 1930s as the Vietnamese begin to rebel against French colonialism. Dramatizes the last years of French rule through the relationship between plantation owner Éliane, French by birth but born and raised in Indochina, and her adopted daughter Camille, an orphaned Annamese princess who becomes a Vietnamese revolutionary and representative at the Geneva Conference after having a child by French officer Jean-Baptiste, Éliane’s past lover. (1992, 156min, NR)

J. Edgar – J. Edgar Hoover was head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years. Hoover was feared, admired, reviled and revered, a man who could distort the truth as easily as he upheld it. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted prize. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life. (2011, 137min, R)

King Kong – Young and beautiful actress Ann Darrow is from the world of 1930s vaudeville, who is down on her luck. She meets Carl Denham, an over-ambitious filmmaker, who brings her on an exploratory expedition to a remote island where she finds compassion and the true meaning of humanity with an ape Kong. (2005, 188min, PG-13)

Ladies in Lavender – The peaceful life of two aging sisters is shattered when they take in a young Polish violinist who they find injured after having been washed ashore near their coastal English home. Their town is suspicious of any visitors and things get worse when he befriends a Russian woman who is visiting the town. (2004, 104min, PG-13)

Lawrence of Arabia – The story of T.E. Lawrence, the heroic and troubled man who organized the Arab nations to fight the Turks in World War I and then, having reached a pinnacle of power in Mideast politics, retired to postwar military obscurity. (1962, 227min, PG)

The Legend of Bagger Vance – The protagonist of this metaphysical fable is Rannulph Junah, Southern aristocrat and World War I hero. In a tournament in Savannah, he defeats two golf pros by following the teachings of his guru, Bagger Vance, a black mystic serving as his caddie. (2000, 127min, PG-13)

Malcolm X – Screen version of the life of Malcolm X, who through his religious conversion to Islam, found the strength to rise up from a criminal past to become an influential civil rights leader. (1992, 201min, PG-13)

Memoirs of a Geisha – In 1929, an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy in Hatsumomo and she is rescued by Hatsumomo’s bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha’s mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha, she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. (2006, 145min, PG-13)

Murder Inc. – In the violent burroughs of 1930s New york, gangs spawned by Prohibition have found new work … as racketeers and contract killers. The most vicious of these is Murder, Inc., the merciless Brownsville, Brooklyn syndicate. As their reign of terror spreads, only one cop has the nerve to methodically track them down, determined to destroy them by any means necessary! (1960, 103min, NR)

The Natural – An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman. (1984, 138min, PG)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Convict Ulysses Everett McGill and two others escape the chain gang to find a stolen treasure, but end up having a odyssey of strange adventures. (2000, 103min, PG-13)

Papillon – Thrilling adventure of an escape from a French Guiana prison. (1973, 150min, PG)

Pride of the Yankees – Tells the tale of Lou Gehrig, a Hall-of-Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees whose life was cut short by ALS. (1942, 128min, NR)

Public Enemies – Focuses on the true story of FBI agent Melvin Purvis and his pursuit of criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during the Great Depression. (2009, 140min, R)

Rabbit Proof Fence – In 1931, Molly and her younger cousins, Gracie and Daisy, were three half-caste children from Western Australia who were taken from their parents under government edict and sent to an institution, were taught to forget their families, their culture, and re-invent themselves as members of “white” Australian society. The three girls begin an epic journey back to Western Australia, travelling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water, and navigating by following the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. (2002, 93min, PG)

Road to Perdition – Chicago hitman Michael Sullivan and his young son become targets of another hitman from the same mob. Sullivan and his son embark on a journey of

survival and revenge. (2002, 117min, R)

The Sound of Music – As Nazism takes over Austria, Maria, a spirited young postulant, leaves the convent to act as a governess for the seven musically-talented children of widower Captain von Trapp. (1965, 175min, G)

Tea with Mussolini – Tells the tale of British women living in Florence prior to World War II. (1999, 117min, PG)

To Kill a Mockingbird – The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him–except the town’s most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children. (1962, 130min, NR)

The Untouchables – A fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down. (1987, 119min, R)

Victor/Victoria – A poverty-stricken singer in Depression-era Paris becomes convinced that the only way she can earn a living on the nightclub circuit is to masquerade as a man who impersonates women. Then she meets the man of her dreams. (1982, 133min,  PG)

The Way We Were – The romance and marriage of opposites– the love that binds them together and the differences that tear them apart. A love story from college to Hollywood in the thirties, forties, and fifties. (1973, 118min, PG)

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Roaring Twenties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

The Artist – In late-1920s Hollywood, as Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he makes an intense connection with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break. As one career declines, another flourishes, and by channeling elements of A Star Is Born and Singing in the Rain, The Artist tells the engaging story with humor, melodrama, romance, and–most importantly–silence. (2012, 101min, PG-13)

Enchanted April – London, the 1920s. Lottie and Rose are two married women who share the misery of empty marriages and decide to rent an Italian castle for the spring to get away. In order to save money, they advertise for two other women to join them. (1992, 93min, PG)

The Emergence of Modern America. Roaring Twenties – Explores the enormous social and cultural changes of the 1920s, an era of prosperity, rapid industrialization, social experimentation, and artistic renaissance. (2003, 30min, NR)

The Godfather Part 2 – In the early 1900s, the young Vito flees Sicily for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy. There he kills the local Black Hand Fanucci after he demands his customary cut of the tyro’s business. With Fanucci gone, Vito’s stature grows. (1974, 200min, R)

The Grand – Set in Manchester during the 1920’s, John and Sarah Bannerman have labored at great expense to re-open this magnificent hotel. But their excitement is short-lived. While the Grand has no trouble attracting guests, it also seems to have vacancy for trouble. Now the hotel and its staff face homicide, financial ruin, infidelity and foreclosure. And that’s before the doors open. (2000, 401min, NR)

The Great Gatsby – Returning from the battlefields of World War I, an impoverished young soldier learns the love of his life has married into a wealthy family and moved to Long Island’s Gold Coast. Obsessed with rekindling their romance, he reinvents himself as the mysteriously prosperous Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties at his mansion– and waits for his chance. But when that chance comes, it comes at a price as terrible as it is inevitable. (2000, 100min, NR)

The Informer – The scene is Dublin, 1922. Gypo Nolan stumbles through a foggy Irish night, his brain pickled in whiskey and his soul tormented by shame and fear. Gypo is an informer, a turncoat who betrayed his friend to the British police for 20 pounds. Now he can’t spend the money fast enough, nor can he run from his treachery fast enough as he brawls, brags, swaggers and lies his way toward his fate. (1935, 92min, NR)

The Jazz Singer – The melodramatic story of a Jewish cantor’s son who aspires to be a jazz singer, despite his father’s strenuous objections. (1927, 96min, NR)

Let the Bullets Fly – Set in China during the warring 1920s, notorious bandit chief Zhang descends upon a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, an identity that he had hijacked from Old Tang, who was a small-time imposter. Bent on making a fast buck, Zhang soon meets his match in the tyrannical local gentry Huang as a deadly battle of wit and brutality ensues. (2012, 132min, NR)

The Painted Veil – Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth. (2007, 125min, PG-13)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – A teacher in a 1920’s Scottish girls’ school captivates her students with her fascist ideals and free-thinking attitude. (2004, 115min, PG)

Singin’ in the Rain – An affectionate spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the motion picture industry in the late 1920s during the change over from silent films to sound. This title has been repackaged. (1951, 120min, NR)

Swingin’ Uptown – In the 1920s, African-American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary flourished in Harlem, in uptown New York City. This cultural movement, which redefined African-American expression, became known as the Harlem Renaissance. (2003, 41min, NR)

Their Eyes Were Watching God – A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford’s search for happiness leads her through several different marriages, challenging the mores of her small town. (2005, 113min, TV14)

Wodehouse Playhouse – A collection of the short stories of P.G. Wodehouse, dramatized by David Climie. Many of the stories, set in the 1920s and 1930s. (2010, 210min, NR)