Chapter 18

Ten Movies to Take You Back in Time

In This Chapter

bullet Fighting for their rights

bullet Viewing Vietnam

bullet Dancing to the music

If you’re nostalgic for the ’60s, or you wanna know what it was like to live during those ten terrific and terrible years, you don’t have to look any further than your video-rental store. A number of great movies made during the 1960s, as well as those produced in later years that feature a look back, give a glimpse of what life was like back then. We cover a little bit of everything with the selections in this chapter, including civil rights, the cold war, Vietnam, adolescence, and the counterculture, along with the hope, dismay, alienation, controversy, and good-old sense of fun in the ’60s.

So go grab some popcorn and a soda, find a comfy couch, and take a trip back in time with one of these films.

Malcolm X

This 1992 film, produced by Spike Lee, of Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever fame, traces the life of the Black Muslim leader, based on the biography by Alex Haley. It follows Malcolm’s path from an impoverished childhood and a life of petty crime to his eventual prison conversion and subsequent work within the Nation of Islam. Naturally charismatic, Malcolm X (played by Denzel Washington) attracted many followers who believed his message of black self-reliance and pride but also alienated many whites who supported the civil rights movement. He disagreed with integration and the passive resistance of Martin Luther King Jr., but as he became disillusioned with his former mentor, Elijah Muhammad, and more enmeshed in the principles of Islam, he softened his position on black separatism before his eventual assassination. Check out Chapter 7 for more on Malcolm X.

Ali

This 2001 film depicts the life of Olympic gold medalist and heavyweight champion of the world Muhammad Ali (played by Will Smith). Through his friendship with Malcolm X, Ali became a Black Muslim, but during the split in the Nation of Islam, he shifted his alliance to Elijah Muhammad. The film portrays Ali as brash and loud but principled as he refuses induction into the army on religious grounds, refusing to fight in Vietnam. We cover Ali in detail in Chapter 16.

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

During the early years of the ’60s, the cold war with the Soviet Union and the threat of nuclear annihilation was a huge concern. American movies mirrored those concerns, often in a dramatic fashion. But one film from the era falls squarely in the satire column.

Dr. Strangelove (1964) was meant as a satire of nuclear war and the men who promoted it as a solution to the world’s problems. The film was embraced by antinuclear activists, who used it to point to the inherent madness of those with the power to destroy the world. The movie stars Peter Sellers in three roles: as the American president, a British diplomat, and Dr. Strangelove. However, the most chilling portrayals are the men who make the decisions, with their fingers on the button. The film lambastes those who believe that building more missiles will maintain a balance of power in order to avoid war, and it features an unforgettable image of the bomber pilot straddling the bomb as it falls to earth, cheering as he rides all the way to his doom.

Thirteen Days

Unlike Dr. Strangelove, Thirteen Days (2000) is a dramatization of the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Shown through the eyes of Kenny O’Donnell, special assistant to President John F. Kennedy, and played by Kevin Costner, the film shows the nerve-racking, nail-biting tension of those days when the president had to decide how to meet the Soviet threat and prevent a nuclear war. At times, the conflict was as much between Kennedy and his aides as between Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev, as the president tried to balance the need to face down the Soviets with the need to save the future of the world.

The Green Berets

In 1968, John Wayne, the Hollywood he-man dedicated to fighting Communism, directed and starred in his hawkish action flick. In The Green Berets, the special elite force is shown as patriotic, clean living, upstanding, and compassionate defenders of democracy, and the only horrors of war that are shown are committed by the Viet Cong. The movie, the only film that was released during the war, was loved by the hawks and condemned by the doves, who contended that it was mere propaganda. We cover the Vietnam War and the related protests in Part III.

Hamburger Hill

This film, released in 1987, depicts a fictitious army squad in one of the worst battles of the war in Vietnam, which was called Hamburger Hill because of the physical condition of the killed and wounded after the battle. It depicts not only the filth, the fear, and the friendship but also the racism and cynicism that the soldiers faced. The movie doesn’t glorify the war — in fact, it hints that the effort was futile — but it does glorify the loyalty and strength of the men who fought it.

Platoon

Like Hamburger Hill, Platoon (1986) shows the effects of the Vietnam War on an individual soldier, an idealistic, educated college student (played by Charlie Sheen) who could’ve easily gotten a deferment but instead chooses to fight for his country. However, he soon loses his idealism as he sees the horrors of war, including friendly fire and the killing of innocent civilians. He also faces two very different sergeants (Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger), one who’s gung-ho and enjoys killing and one who tries to support his men as much as possible, gradually embracing the counterculture. Ultimately, Platoon is about how war changed one man, and by implication, how the Vietnam War changed the nation.

Good Morning, Vietnam

Although this 1987 film introduced humor into the story of the Vietnam War (and how could it not, starring Robin Williams), it also depicted its absurdity. It’s the story of Adrian Cronauer, a real-life disc jockey deployed to Vietnam. His broadcasts were irreverent and controversial, and his superiors defi- nitely weren’t amused. But the takeaway from the film is the humanity of all involved — from the American grunt on the frontlines to the Vietnamese villagers.

American Graffiti

The sixties weren’t all hippies and drugs, but there was sex and rock ’n’ roll, even in the early years. American Graffiti (1973) takes a look at the great American car culture in the years before the Vietnam War changed everything. This film is all about cruising, making out, and picking up chicks before four pals head off to college. The movie also features a soundtrack that made many people of the ’60s remember (or wish they did) a more innocent time, when teens and young adults weren’t trying to find themselves — they were trying to find a girl in a white T-bird.

The Graduate

The Graduate (1967), often compared to the coming-of-age novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is about a young college graduate, Benjamin Braddock (portrayed by a young Dustin Hoffman), who questions his parent’s middle-class values and is trying to find himself, a search that many young people undertook during the ’60s. Although he wants to reject the middle-class lifestyle, he literally embraces it when Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his dad’s business partner, seduces him into a physically passionate but emotionally sterile affair. Eventually, he meets the love of his life, Elaine, the only person that understands him, but the problem is that she’s Mrs. Robinson’s daughter. How Benjamin resolves his dilemmas (at least for the moment) is what The Graduate is all about.

Easy Rider

If anything epitomizes the “up the establishment” attitude of the ’60s, it’s Easy Rider (1969), the story of a road trip across America. After making some major bucks on a drug sale, two free-spirited bikers, Wyatt and Billy, played by Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, head from Los Angeles to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, throwing away their watches as a symbol of their newfound freedom. On the way, they meet rednecks, hippies, prostitutes, and hitchhikers — in other words, a cross-section of American society. The film reflects both the hope of change as well as the evidence of a society that’s bent on resisting change. This film was a breakthrough performance for Jack Nicholson, who was also a writer for it. In it, he plays an alcoholic southern ACLU lawyer whom Wyatt and Billy convert from alcohol to pot and who joins them on their wild ride. And if you’re looking for a great movie soundtrack that screams late-sixties rock, you can’t get much better than this one.

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music

If anything represented the hope of the ’60s, it was Woodstock — the music festival that embodied the peace and love that were the highest ideals of America’s youth. The crowds were huge, the weather was dismal, food was scarce, and bad drugs were prevalent. But during those three days, life happened — skinny-dipping, lovemaking, childbirth, and loved ones lost and found. And don’t forget the great music, from the Grateful Dead to Sha-Na-Na, and Arlo Guthrie to Jimi Hendrix. The film, released in 1970, is the next best thing to being there. Check out Chapter 15 for more on Woodstock and the music of the ’60s.