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- Back to the Future
- Universal Pictures
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Clint Eastwood played cop "Dirty" Harry Callahan in this hard-boiled action thriller. The film played into the reactionary politics of 1970, a time when a more conservative ideology - led by Richard Nixon, among others - was struggling to quash the more liberal counterculture vibe that sprang up in the late '60s. Dirty Harry rang a bell with audiences of all political viewpoints and went on to spawn four sequels. Harry Callahan remains Eastwood's signature role.
- Actors: Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni, John Larch, Andrew Robinson
- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Don Siegel
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The Conjuring is based on an actual case investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, two noted paranormal experts. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play the Warrens, who attempt to rid a farmhouse from the entity that's terrorizing the family living there. The real family lived in the haunted home from 1971-80, but the movie compresses events to take place entirely in 1971. So popular was The Conjuring that it spun off an entire "cinematic universe" that includes The Conjuring 2, three Annabelle features, and The Nun.
- Actors: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell
- Released: 2013
- Directed by: James Wan
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On June 1, 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, located in the Watergate offices, setting off one of the biggest political scandals in American history. The incident and the investigation that followed are the subject of Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play, respectively, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the journalists who exposed the whole affair, bringing down Richard Nixon in the process. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four, and is widely considered a classic political drama.
- Actors: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Alan J. Pakula
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X-Men: Days of Future Past was inspired by one of the most influential and beloved storylines in the Marvel comics series. In the film, Wolverine is sent back in time to 1973 in order to stop Mystique from carrying out an assassination. Thanks in part to its cool time-travel plot and mixture of both original and new cast members, this installment is currently the third highest-grossing X-Men movie, having earned $233 million domestically.
- Actors: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry
- Released: 2014
- Directed by: Bryan Singer
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Pinpointing the exact year The Rocky Horror Picture Show takes place is difficult because it intentionally pays homage to science-fiction and musicals from various eras, and the production design mixes together elements from multiple periods. We can reasonably deduce that it takes place in 1974, though, because Brad listens to Richard Nixon's resignation speech from that year while in his car. Since the film's release, it has come to define the concept of "midnight movie," with devoted fans gathering together regularly for participation screenings.
- Actors: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Jonathan Adams
- Released: 1975
- Directed by: Jim Sharman
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The Amityville Horror is based on a purported true story, and it stays true to the events claimed in the book upon which it's based. In 1974, a man named Ronald DeFeo Jr. slays his entire family inside their Long Island home. A year later, George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) move in with their children, completely unaware of what took place there. A series of creepy paranormal events begin, including the walls oozing blood. The film scared the daylights out of audiences and, with a total haul of $86 million, was the highest-grossing independent production from its 1979 release until 1990, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles unseated it.
- Actors: James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Natasha Ryan
- Released: 1979
- Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg
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Rocky was the highest-grossing film of 1976, and it won Best Picture at the Oscars. A whopping seven sequels followed. The movie's big fight between Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) famously takes place on New Year's Day in 1976, the beginning of the Bicentennial, hence the famous red, white, and blue shorts the pugilists wear in the ring.
- Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young, Carl Weathers
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: John G. Avildsen
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When Harry Met Sally... spans a dozen years, but it kicks off with a long and important establishing section in 1977. College students Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a ride from the University of Chicago to New York City, setting off what will eventually become one of the screen's best and most observant romances. Written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner, the movie is a quintessential rom-com whose themes continue to resonate today.
- Actors: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Rob Reiner
John Carpenter's Halloween opens with a prologue set in 1963 that shows young Michael Myers taking uot his own sister with a knife. It then jumps ahead 15 years, to October 31, 1978, as the now-grown Michael escapes a mental institution and goes on a spree of bloodshed in Haddonfield, IL. Carpenter turned the movie around on a tight schedule. It was filmed in the spring of 1978 and released in theaters in October of that same year. Halloween sequels and reboots have proliferated ever since, the most recent having arrived in 2018 and more to come.
- Actors: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers
- Released: 1978
- Directed by: John Carpenter
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When people think of Friday the 13th, they think of hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees. What is sometimes forgotten is that Jason wasn't the bad guy in the original. It was his mother, who was exacting revenge against Camp Crystal Lake counselors, whom she blamed for the drowning of her son years prior. You actually have to look several films ahead in the franchise to confirm the time period. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter features an image of Mrs. Voorhees's tombstone, on which it is noted that she passed in 1979. Fans know her head was removed by Alice at the end of the original.
- Actors: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson
- Released: 1980
- Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
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Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning Argo details a harrowing real-life incident. In 1980, CIA agent Tony Mendez went to Iran with a scheme to free six Americans who had escaped during the famed Tehran hostage crisis. The story of how he did it - which involves a fake movie crew mounting a bogus production in the country - was kept secret for many years. Aside from winning awards, Argo was a major box office hit, earning $136 million domestically.
- Actors: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Ben Affleck
1981 - 'Joker'
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When making Joker, director/co-writer Todd Phillips wanted to separate his story from the existing DC cinematic universe. He realized that setting the story in 1981 would accomplish that nicely. In an interview with CinemaBlend, he said he told the studio, "This is like a separate universe. So much so, it takes place in the past, before everything else." Joker was the most-nominated film at the 2020 Oscar ceremony and raked up $335 million in America alone.
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From 1982 until Jurassic Park came out in 1993, Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was the highest-grossing film of all time. It's chock full of primo early-'80s pop culture references, from the presence of a Speak & Spell toy, to Michael's Space Invaders T-shirt, to the Reese's Pieces candy that saw real-life sales skyrocket after being featured in the film. There's also a Halloween sequence in which the title character comes face-to-face with a kid in a Yoda costume; that character, introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, was all the rage in '82. Almost four decades after first hitting cinemas, E.T. remains a beloved movie.
- Actors: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, C. Thomas Howell
- Released: 1982
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights is about change in the adult film industry, and 1983 is pinpointed as a pivotal, if unpleasant, moment in that change. On December 11 of that year, director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) is shown struggling to keep his career going, former star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) getting beaten up while trying to earn a quick buck, and financially destitute actor Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) making the atypical decision to nab a bag of money after stumbling into a stick-up gone wrong. Anderson's look at the ups and downs of a disreputable industry wasn't a huge hit initially, but took on modern classic status after its home video release.
- Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
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The Breakfast Club isn't just set in 1984, it's set on a very specific day in 1984. Voiceover narration from Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) at the beginning informs us the story takes place on March 24, 1984. Five very different high school students arrive to attend Saturday detention together, only to find themselves significantly changed by the time they leave. Writer/director John Hughes delivered a game-changer with the movie, as it proved sensitive, realistic stories about teens could be just as popular - if not more popular - than the wacky teen comedies that littered the landscape at that time.
- Actors: Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall
- Released: 1985
- Directed by: John Hughes
Who Would Star In 'The Breakfast Club' If It Were Made Today?See all
- 1Tom Holland2,193 Votes
- 2Gary Cole2,032 Votes
- 3Bryan Cranston2,091 Votes
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No one who's ever seen Back to the Future could forget the image of the console inside Doc Brown's DeLorean. It reveals that Marty McFly is about to go from October 26, 1985 all the way back to November 5, 1955. And, of course, the movie is all about how he struggles to get back to 1985 intact after inadvertently preventing his parents from getting together. This smart, complex sci-fi/comedy has been called "the most perfect blockbuster ever made."
- Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, Wendie Jo Sperber
- Released: 1985
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
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Hot Tub Time Machine is about a group of buddies who yearn for the more carefree days of their youth. As such, they hop in a hot tub that doubles as a time machine and go back to the year 1986. The film earns a lot of laughs from mocking the era. The clothing styles, the music, and the fads all provide fodder for jokes. Added bonus: a small supporting role from Chevy Chase, who of course was a major movie star in 1986.
- Actors: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Crispin Glover
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Steve Pink
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Fatal Attraction rocked the world in 1987, reportedly scaring some men into fidelity and raising a lot of controversy along the way. The story, about a man stalked by his mistress after ending their affair, was an intense ride, thanks to the passion with which star Glenn Close played the role of the scorned woman. Aside from being a blockbuster, the movie has entered the permanent pop culture lexicon. Even people who have never seen Fatal Attraction know what happens in it.
- Actors: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer, Ellen Hamilton Latzen, Stuart Pankin
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Adrian Lyne
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Die Hard thrilled audiences with its Christmas Eve-set story of a cop (Bruce Willis) trying to rescue his wife, who is among the people being held hostage inside a Los Angeles office building. It also sparked a never-ending debate as to whether it can be considered a Christmas movie. The film will soon have spawned five sequels and is the progenitor for a certain type of action picture ("Die Hard on a boat," "Die Hard on a train," etc.).
- Actors: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Alexander Godunov
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: John McTiernan
1989 - 'IT Chapter One'
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Andy Muschietti adapted Stephen King's 1,000+-page novel IT into two installments, dubbed Chapter One and Chapter Two. The former is set in 1989 and follows the "Losers' Club" as adolescents who discover that the evil clown Pennywise is loose in their town. Lots of visual cues help indicate the year, including a movie theater marquee listing two of summer 1989's biggest hits, Batman and Lethal Weapon 2. Due to Bill Skarsgard's immensely terrifying performance as the character, IT Chapter One scared the pants off moviegoers, to the tune of $327 million domestically.
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Based on Jon Krakauer's non-fiction book, Into the Wild takes place over the course of two years, but a lengthy section set in 1990 is crucial. That's the year Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) sets his course, donating most of his money to Oxfam, giving himself the new name, "Alexander Supertramp," and beginning the trek that will take him to his sad fate in the Alaskan wilderness. Directed by Sean Penn, the film, which examines how dangerous going off the grid can be, was cheered by critics, who led it to an 83% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
- Actors: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Sean Penn
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The Harry Potter movies take place over a long period of time, so of course they had to start somewhat far back in the past. In the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, young wizard Harry enters Hogwarts on September 1, 1991, marking the official kickoff of what will become a grand cinematic adventure that spans seven additional films. For Christmas that same year, he is given his father's invisibility cloak. These two events ensure that 1991 is a big year for the boy wizard.
- Actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Chris Columbus
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Mark Whitacre was a real whistleblower, and Matt Damon plays him in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! The year is 1992 and Whitacre ends up ratting out his corporate employer, Archer Daniels Midland, for price fixing. To say that his communications with the FBI don't go smoothly would be an understatement; Whitacre has a tendency to change his story, tell people what they want to hear, and outright lie. Damon earned praise for his portrayal of the untrustworthy protagonist, and the offbeat style Soderbergh brings to this true story - including casting comedians like Joel McHale and Patton Oswalt in non-comedic roles - has helped it build an appreciative audience since its 2009 debut.
- Actors: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey, Rick Overton
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
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Black Hawk Down is a harrowing depiction of the Battle of Mogadishu that took place on October 3-4, 1993. During the skirmish, two American helicopters were brought down by insurgents, leaving surviving and rescuing soldiers trapped in a hail of gunfire. By the time it was over, 18 Americans and 350 to 1,000 Somalis had perished. Director Ridley Scott brings a nail-biting, you-are-there feeling to the film, which pays tribute to the fallen while simultaneously portraying a significant moment in military history with authenticity.
- Actors: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
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The Blair Witch Project opens with an ominous title card: "In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkitsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary." That sets up the terrifying low-budget shocker that had moviegoers shrieking in fear back in 1999. In fact, many people believed the film was real, not fictional, thanks to an ingenious marketing campaign designed to create that specific illusion. The impact of Blair Witch was so strong that it launched a series of other "found footage" horror flicks, few of which had even a fragment of its skill.
- Actors: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffith, Jim King
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
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A specific year is never mentioned in Toy Story, but some clever sleuthing by Screen Rant indicates that 1995, the year the film was released, is the correct time period. Andy listens to "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King in the car, so we know the story takes place after that picture's debut in June of 1994. And in Toy Story 2, Tour Guide Barbie talks about stores not having enough Buzz Lightyear dolls to meet consumer demand "back in 1995." Andy, of course, was surprised his mother was able to get him a Buzz toy in the original. Between those two details, it therefore stands that 1995 is the year in which it's set.
- Actors: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: John Lasseter
The Best 'Toy Story' Characters In The Whole Series, RankedSee all- 1Buzz Lightyear749 Votes
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Independence Day imagines an alien invasion taking place over the Fourth of July holiday in 1996. The studio and producers had the brilliant idea to actually release it at the exact same time the story occurs. That proved to be a masterstroke. The film became the top-grossing picture that year, making $306 million in America. Although a piece of escapist entertainment by every measure, critics have noted that it kicked off a wave of disaster movies. With an ethnically diverse cast and scenes of various nations fighting the aliens together, it was also the first modern blockbuster to deliver what Vanity Fair dubbed the "specific brand of multicultural savviness we tend to credit movies like the Fast & Furious franchise with nowadays."
- Actors: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Roland Emmerich
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The action comedy Rush Hour is set amid the "Handover of Hong Kong," in which a century-and-a-half of British rule ended and Hong Kong returned to China's rule on midnight of July 1, 1997. Although it revolves around an important event, that's just a backdrop for the awesome odd couple chemistry between stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The two spar and bicker during one high-octane action sequence after another. The setting grounds the movie a little bit, so that it's not entirely frivolous. Rush Hour delivered so many laughs and thrills that two sequels followed.
- Actors: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson, Elizabeth Peña, Philip Baker Hall
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Brett Ratner
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If you weren't around when There's Something About Mary opened, it would be hard to understand just what an impact the comedy made. After a so-so opening weekend, the film continued to play for weeks without a significant drop in business. Then, the box office numbers actually went up, becoming a true "sleeper hit." That's how phenomenal the word-of-mouth was. The story opens with the famous "frank and beans" prologue set in the 1980s, then jumps ahead 13 years to the present year of 1998, following Ben Stiller's character Ted as he romances his longtime crush Mary (Cameron Diaz). Several of the film's biggest jokes have become iconic since its release.
- Actors: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans, Chris Elliott
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Robert Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
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Cast Away gave Tom Hanks one of his best screen roles. He plays Chuck Noland, a systems analyst for FedEx whose plane crashes during a severe storm. He's left stranded on an island with no one to talk to except a volleyball. Although the movie starts in 1995, it takes Chuck four years to be rescued, meaning that it ends in 1999. That's also the section of the film in which he returns home to find that everyone in his life has presumed him gone and therefore carried on without him. Hanks received an Oscar nomination for his work in this $233 million domestic earner.
- Actors: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy, Lari White, Michael Forest
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
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Clint Eastwood's Mystic River was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Two of its stars, Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, took home Oscars for their work. A prologue set in 1975 introduces us to the main characters as children, and it sets the stage for things to come when one of them is repeatedly accosted by two men pretending to be cops. The plot then moves forward 25 years to 2000, when the pals are reunited after one of their daughters is slain in a horrific crime. Despite dealing with tough subject matter, Mystic River was a hit with both critics and audiences and earned a respectable $90 million at the domestic box office.
- Actors: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Clint Eastwood
