Turn of the Century | Early-Century Figures | Mexican Connection | World War I | Communists/ Socialists | 1920s | 1930s/Depression | 1940s | World War II | 1950s | Korean War | McCarthy Era/Anti-Communism | Beat Generation | Mid-Century Figures | Vietnam/Cambodian War | 1960s | Kennedy | 1960s - 1970s Civil Rights | Sexual Freedom | Space Travel | 1970s | Nixon | 1980s | Involvement in Central America | 1990s | Late-Century Figures

Internet Movie Database

TURN OF THE CENTURY:

America, America (1963):  immigration, dir.
    Elia Kazan's uncle
Daughters of the Dust (1991):  African
    American Gullah community at a
    crossroads
Eight Men Out (1988):  Black Sox scandal
Field of Dreams (1989):  Black Sox scandal
Gentleman Jim (1942):  James J. Corbett,
    boxer
The Great White Hope (1970):  African
    American boxer Jack Johnson
The Great Ziegfeld (1936):  Entertainment
    producer
Hungry Hearts (1922):  Anzie Yesierska,
    immigrant
Jim Thorpe, All American (1951)
Lillian Russell (1940):  musical star
San Francisco (1936):  earthquake
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969):
  Manhunt for Native American
The Winds of Kitty Hawk (1978):  Wright
    Brothers

EARLY-CENTURY FIGURES:

All the King's Men (1949):  Huey Long
Eleanor, First Lady of the World (1982):
  Eleanor Roosevelt
Edison the Man (1940)
Eleanor and Franklin (1976):  the Roosevelts
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House
    Years (1977)
Give 'Em Hell, Harry! (1975):  Harry Truman
Harlow (1964):  actress Jean Harlow
Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995)
The Miracle Worker (1979):  blind, deaf and
    dumb Helen Keller
Sunrise at Campobello (1960):  Franklin
    Roosevelt
Too Much, Too Soon (1958):  actor John
    Barrymore
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988):
  innovative auto designer
Wilson (1944): Woodrow Wilson
Wind and the Lion (1975):  Teddy Roosevelt
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942):  Showman
    George M. Cohan
Young Tom Edison (1940)

MEXICAN CONNECTION:

Ballad of Gregorio Cortes (1982):  outlaw
    hero
Viva Villa (1934):  Pancho Villa, bandit and
    revolutionary hero
Viva Zapata (1952):  Emiliano Zapata,
    revolutionary hero

WORLD WAR I:

The Big Parade (1925): Laurence Stallings,
    wounded at Belleau Wood
Captain Eddie (1945):  pilot Eddie
    Rickenbacker
The Fighting 69th (1940):  Irish infantry
    group
Lafayette Escadrille (1958):  air squadron
Sergeant York (1941):  hero Alvin York
Wings (1927): airbattle of St. Mihiela

COMMUNISTS/SOCIALISTS:

Reds (1981): John Reed/Louise Bryant,
    International Workers of the World
    (IWW)

1920s:

Al Capone (1959)
The Babe (1992):  Babe Ruth, baseball
The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
Capone (1975)
Citizen Kane (1941): William Randolph
    Hearst
Cobb (1994): Ty Cobb, baseball
The Galloping Ghost (1931):  Red Grange,
    football
Inherit the Wind (1960):  Scopes Trial
    (Clarence Darrow/William Jennings
    Bryant)
The Jolson Story (1946):  singer Al Jolson
King of the Roaring 20s: The Story of Arnold
    Rothstein (1961):  gambler
The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976):
  Charles Lindbergh (occurred in 1930s)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1957):  actor Lon
    Chaney
Matewan (1987):  labor trouble at West
    Virginia mine
Rosewood (1997):  race war: African
    Americans in Florida town
Sacco and Venzetti (1970):  trial with
    political overtones
Spirit of St. Louis (1957):  Charles Lindbergh
St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
The Untouchables (1987):  Al Capone/Elliott
    Ness
The Winning Team ((1952):  Grover
    Cleveland Alexander, baseball

1930s/DEPRESSION:

Amelia Earhart (1976):  aviator
Bloody Mama (1970):  Ma Barker
Bound for Glory (1976):  Woody Guthrie
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Boys Town (1938):  Father Flanigan
Bugsy (1991):  gangster Bugsy Siegel
Dillinger (1945) (1973):  gangster
Flight for Freedom (1943):  Amelia
    Earhart/aviator
Henry and June (1990):  Henry Miller/Anais
    Nin
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
    (1976):  race and rape
King of the Hill (1993):  Depression
Knute Rockne, All American (1940):  Notre
    Dame football
Leadbelly (1976):  blues singer,
    1920s-1940s
Lepke (1975):  mobster, head of Murder Inc.
Machine-Gun Kelly (1958)
Melvin Purvis, G-Man (1974)
Murder, Inc. (1960)
Our Daily Bread (1934):  back to farm
    movement
Pretty Boy Floyd (1960)
Wild River (1960):  Tennessee Valley
    Authority
Young Dillinger (1965):  gangster

1940s:

The Benny Goodman Story (1955)
Bird (1988):  Charlie Parker
The Glenn Miller Story (1953)
Insignificance (1985):  Joe Dimaggio,
    baseball
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950):  first
    African American big league baseball
    player
A League of Their Own (1992):  women's
    baseball league
The Pride of the Yankees (1942):  Lou
    Gehrig, baseball
Salt of the Earth (1954):  striking Chicano
    miners in New Mexico
The Stratton Story (1949):  one-legged
    baseball player
Zoot Suit (1981): Chicano riots in Los
    Angeles

WORLD WAR II:

--Leaders:

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
    (1955)
The Gallant Hours (1960):
    Admiral Halsey
Ike: the War Years (1978):
  Eisenhower love affair
The Last Days of Patton (1986)
MacArthur (1977)
Patton (1970)

--Soldiers:

The Big Red One (1980):  based
    on dir. Samuel Fuller's
    experience
The Execution of Private Slovik
    (1974):  deserter
God is My Co-Pilot (1945):  Flying
    Tigers
Men of Honor (2000):  Post-war,
    Carl Bashear, first African
    American Navy Diver
Merrill's Marauder's (1962):  Burma
Mission of the Shark (1991):
  sinking of the Indianapolis,
    worst naval disaster in U.S.
    history
The Outsider (1961):  Native
    American Ira Hayes, Iwo Jima
    flagraiser
Pride of the Marines (1945):  hero
    Al Schmid
PT 109 (1963):  John Kennedy
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Story of G.I. Joe (1945):
  based on Ernie Pyle dispatches
The Sullivans [The Fighting
    Sullivans] (1944)
To Hell and Back  (1955):  hero
    Audie Murphy
U-571 (2000):  submarine exploits
Windtalkers (2002):  Navajo code
    breakers

--Pearl Harbor:

December 7th (1943)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Remember Pearl Harbor (1942)
Tora, Tora, Tora (1970)

--Battles:

Anzio (1968)
Back to Bataan (1945)
Bataan (1943)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Battleground  (1949):  Battle of the
    Bulge
Corregidor (1943)
Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
The Halls of Montezuma (1950):
  Saipan
Midway (1976)
Objective, Burma! (1945)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
The Thin Red Line (1964) (1998):
  Guadalcanal
Wake Island(1942)
A Walk in the Sun (1945):  Salerno
Wing and a Prayer (1944):  Midway

--Japanese-American Internment

Farewell to Manzanar (1976)
Come See the Paradise (1990)

--Invasion of Normandy:

D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)
The Longest Day (1962)

--A-Bomb/Defeating Japan:

Above and Beyond (1952):  Paul
    Tibbetts, Hiroshima A-Bomb
    pilot
The Beginning or the End (1947):
  developing the A-bomb
Day One (1989)
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989):  J.
    Robert Oppenheimer,
    Manhattan Project
Hiroshima (1995)
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (1990)
Oppenheimer (1982)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
    (1944):  Doolittle's raid

--War Crimes Trial:

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Nuremberg (2000)

1950s:

The Atomic Cafe (1982):  U. S. government
    attempts to ease fears about the bomb
Badlands (1973):  serial killer Charles
    Starkweather
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962):  prisoner
    becomes bird expert
Buddy Holly Story (1978)
Cell 2455 (1955):  sex offender Carryl
    Chessman
Goodbye, Norma Jean (1976):  Marilyn
    Monroe
Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989):  Marilyn
    Monroe
Insignificance (1985):  Albert Einstein,
    Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and
    Senator Joseph McCarthy
La Bamba (1987):  Ritchie Valens
Lenny (1974):  "political" comedian Lenny
    Bruce
Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980):  Marilyn
    Monroe
Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996): Marilyn
    Monroe
Quiz Show  (1994):  scandal of rigged
    television show
Raging Bull (1980):  Jake Lamotta, boxer
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956):
  Rocky Graziano, boxer
Strategic Air Command (1955):  Cold War
    defense
This Year's Blonde (1980):  Marilyn Monroe
Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998):  Frankie
    Lymon

KOREAN WAR:

The Bridges of Toko-Ri (1954):  air force
Inchon (1982)
Manchurian Candidate (1962):
    brainwashing
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
Retreat, Hell! (1952):  Chosin Reservoir
Sergeant Ryker (1968):  collaborator

McCARTHY ERA/ANTI-COMMUNISM:

The Atomic Cafe (1982):  U. S. government
    attempts to ease fears about the bomb
Citizen Cohn (1992):  Roy Cohn, a McCarthy
    aide
Concealed Enemies (1984):  Alger Hiss and
    Whitaker Chambers
The Front (1976):  blacklisting
Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
Insignificance (1985):  McCarthy
The Majestic (2001):  blacklisting
Missiles of October (1974):  Cuban missile
    crisis
Strategic Air Command (1955):  Cold War
    defense
Tail Gunner Joe (1977):  McCarthy
Walk East on Beacon (1952):  espionage

BEAT GENERATION:

Heart Beat (1980):  Kerouac and the
    Cassadys
Kerouac, The Movie (1985)
Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997): Neal
    Cassady
Pull My Daisy (1958):  includes many beats

MID-CENTURY FIGURES:

Blaze (1990):  Louisiana governor Earl Long
    and stripper Blaze Starr
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980):  singer
    Loretta Lynn
Elvis (1979):  Elvis Presley
Elvis and Me (1988):  Elvis Presley
George Wallace (1997):  segregationist
    governor
Melvin and Howard (1980):  tycoon Howard
    Hughes
Men of Honor (2000):  Carl Bashear, first
    African American Navy Diver
Mommie Dearest (1981):  movie star Joan
    Crawford
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977):
   head of the FBI

VIETNAM/CAMBODIAN WAR:

Bat 21 (1988):  rescue mission
Born on the Fourth of July (1989):  Ron
    Kovic
Full Metal Jacket (1987):  Tet Offensive
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987):  rebellious
   DJ
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Heaven and Earth (1993):  vietnamese Le Ly
    Hayslip
The Killing Fields (1984):  Sydney
    Schamberg and Dith Pran
Platoon (1986):  Oliver Stone's experience
A Rumor of War (1980):  based on Philip
    Caputo's experiences
We Were Soldiers (2002):  first battle of the
    war

1960s:

Ali (2002):  boxer Muhammad Ali
Alice's Restaurant (1969):  Arlo Guthrie
The Boston Strangler (1968):  serial killer
    Albert Disalvo
The Doors (1991):  Jim Morrison
Executive Action (1973):  assassination of
    Kennedy
The Greatest (1977):  boxer Muhammad Ali
Helter Skelter (1976):  Charles Manson
The Hurricane (1999):  boxer Reuben Carter
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978):  Beatles
In Cold Blood (1967):  young killers
JFK (1991):  assassination of Kennedy
Medium Cool (1969):  1968 Democratic
    convention riots
Missiles of October (1974):  Cuban missile
    crisis
The Rose (1979):  Janis Joplin
Ruby (1992):  Jack Ruby/Kennedy
    assassination
Thirteen Days (2000):  Cuban Missile Crisis
Tie-Dyed (??): Grateful Dead
Woodstock (1970):  rock concert

KENNEDY:

Executive Action (1973):  assassination
Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
    (1993)
JFK (1991):  assassination
Missiles of October (1974):  Cuban missile
    crisis
PT 109 (1963):  war hero
Ruby (1992):  Jack Ruby/assassination
Thirteen Days (2000):  Cuban Missile Crisis

1960s - 1970s CIVIL RIGHTS:

Blaze (1990):  Louisiana governor Earl Long
Freedom Song (2000)
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996):  killing of
    Medgar Evers
Incident at Oglala (1992):  Native American
    Leonard Peltier/Pine Wood reservation
King (1978): Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Long Walk Home (1991):  Montgomery
    bus boycott
Malcolm X (1992)
Mississippi Burning (1988):  killing of civil
    rights workers; Freedom Summer, 1964
Panther (1995):  radical Black Panthers
Return of the Secaucus 7:  radical group

SEXUAL FREEDOM:

People vs Larry Flynt  (1996):
  Pornographer: Hustler magazine

SPACE TRAVEL:

Apollo 13 (1995):  1970 flight
Return to Earth (1976):  Buzz Aldrin
The Right Stuff (1983):  Mercury 7
    astronauts, Chuck Yeager, etc.

1970s:

Brian's Song (1971):  Gale Sayers, football
Cider House Rules (1999):  Abortion, Roe v.
    Wade
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985):
  national security
54 (1998):  Studio 54 night club
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986):
  Henry Lee Lucas
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2
    (1998)
Hoffa (1992):  teamster corruption
Norma Rae (1979):  forming union for textile
    workers
The Ordeal of Patty Hearst (1979):  heiress
    turned terrorist
Prefontaine (1997):  track star Steve
    Prefontaine
Sid and Nancy (1986):  Sex Pistols
Signs (2002):  crop circles of unexplained
    origin
Silkwood (1983):  nuclear contamination of
    workers
Summer of Sam (1999):  Son of Sam
    murders
Velvet Goldmine (1998):  David Bowie, Iggy
    Pop

NIXON:

All the President's Men (1976):  Watergate
Dick (1999)
Elvis Meets Nixon (1997)
Final Days (1989)
Kissinger and Nixon (1995)
Nixon (1995)
Secret Honor [Lords of Treason] (1984)

1980s:

And the Band Played on (1993):  AIDS
Barbarians at the Gate (1993):  big
    business/Nabisco take-over
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986):
  Henry Lee Lucas
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2
    (1998)
Ryan White Story (1989):  AIDS
Stand and Deliver (1987):  barrio high school
Talk Radio (1988):  radio host Alan Berg
Thunderheart (1992):  trouble on Native
    American reservation
What's Love Got to Do With It (1993):  Tina
    Turner

INVOLVEMENT IN CENTRAL AMERICA:

Missing (1982):  political prisoner
Romero (1989):  murdered Archbishop of El
    Salvador
Salvador (1986)
Walker (1987):  through lens of a 19th
    century "invasion"

1990s:

Arlington Road (1999):  Ruby Ridge,
    Oklahoma City bombing?
Black Hawk Down (2001):  terrorism
The Heroes of Desert Storm (1992)
The Insider (1999):  "60 Minutes" expose of
    tobacco industry
Live from Baghdad (2002): Gulf War
The Long Island Incident (1998):  mass
    murder on commuter train

LATE-CENTURY FIGURES:

A Beautiful Mind (2001):  John Nash, Nobel
    Prize winner 1994
America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy, Jr.,
    Story  (2003)
Don King -- Only in America (1997):  boxing
    promoter
Erin Brockovich (2001):  whistleblower
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998):
  Journalist Hunter Thompson
Where the Buffalo Roam (1980):  Journalist
    Hunter Thompson