Movies and television for the decades:
Before watching, check out reviews for families at Screenit (http://www.screenit.com/index.html - click on “go to free reviews” button on bottom), CommonSense Media (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/) and The All Movie Guide (http://www.allmovie.com/) to get more information about themes, types of negatives that might be in the movie, and whether or not you think it will be okay for your kids.
By the 1950s, we’d switched over to watching episodes from old tv series, following the general media trend of the century. Obviously, I had to go with what I was able to tape on cable, but I found quite a few of the old series and so I tried to pick a wide variety of types of series that reflected the tastes of the decade. With each episode used, I tried to either pick an episode that reflected issues from that time period or that was typical for that series. For most of these we just watched a few minutes to get a taste of what the series was like, but I did pick out a few with a good storyline that we fun to watch all the way through.
As we got into the 70s, 80s and 90s, it was difficult to find both movies about contemporary times that were actually okay to watch by younger kids. By the 90s, it was very hard to find tv shows that were reasonably okay to watch! To combat this, I increasingly used small clips rather than whole episodes.
1900s
*Meet Me In St. Louis, 1944: This is a delightful, classic, nostalgic, poignant, and romanticized musical film - and one of the greatest musicals ever made. It tells the story of a turn-of-the-century family in suburban, midwestern St. Louis of 1903, who live in a stylish Edwardian. The city, and the well-to-do Smith family, is on the verge of hosting (and celebrating) the arrival of the spectacular 1904 World's Fair. However, the family's head of the house is beckoned to New York due to a job promotion - a move that threatens to indelibly change the lives of the family members forever.
*Oklahoma, 1955: This is a favorite Rogers and Hammerstein musical about courting in the Oklahoma Territory just before it became a state in 1907. The choreography is by Agnes DeMille. A couple of young cowboys win the hearts of their sweethearts in the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the century, despite the interference of an evil ranch hand and a roaming peddler.
Other Movies:
Life With Father
*The Music Man
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Yankee Doodle Dandy
*Take Me Out to the Ballgame
1910s
*Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1964: Molly is an uneducated, poor, mountain girl who leaves her mountain cabin in search of a wealthy husband, respect and a better life. She ends up on the Titanic in 1912.
Other Movies:
Boys Town
Inherit the Wind
*On Moonlight Bay
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Sergeant York (1941)
1920s
*Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967: Millie comes to town and changes her appearance to look more modern. She becomes friends with Miss Dorothy, an aspiring actress. Millie's plan is to become a secretary and marry her boss. But her friendship with paper clip salesman Jimmie keeps getting in the way.
*Singing in the Rain, 1952: In 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a famous on-screen romantic pair. Don has worked hard to get where he is today, with his former partner Cosmo. When Don and Lina's latest film is transformed into a musical, Don has the perfect voice for the songs. But Lina - well, even with the best efforts of a diction coach, they still decide to dub over her voice. Kathy Selden is brought in, an aspiring actress, and while she is working on the movie, Don falls in love with her.
Other Movies:
The Spirit of St. Louis
Gangster movies
Inherit the Wind
Chaplin movies
Early Mickey Mouse
*Some Like it Hot (1959)
1930s
*Journey of Natty Gann, 1985: Natty Gann is a twelve year old Depression era girl whose single-parent father leaves her behind in Chicago while he goes to Washington State to look for work in the timber industry. Natty runs away from the guardian she was left with to follow Dad. She befriends and is befriended by a wolf that has been abused in dog fights, hops a freight train west, and is presumed dead when her wallet is found after the train crashes. Dad gets bitter and endangers himself in his new job. Meanwhile Natty has a series of adventures and misadventures in various farmhouses, police stations, hobo camps, reform schools, and boxcars.
Other Movies:
*Bringing Up Baby
*Holiday
The Grapes of Wrath
Shirley Temple movies
Three Stogies Movies
*Guys and Dolls
Auntie Mame
*Raiders of the Lost Ark
*My Sister Eileen
*To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
1940s
*White Christmas: A couple of ex-GIs who are now nightclub entertainers figure out a way to bail out their old commanding general when they find out his New England inn is failing because of a lack of snow. Bing Crosby sings his signature Christmas song in this musical.
*On The Town, 1949: Three sailors - Gabey, Chip and Ozzie - let loose on a 24-hour pass in New York and the Big Apple will never be the same! Gabey falls head over heels for "Miss Turnstiles of the Month" (he thinks she's a high society deb when she's really a 'cooch dancer at Coney Island); innocent Chip gets highjacked (literally) by a lady cab driver; and Ozzie becomes the object of interest of a gorgeous anthropologist who thinks he's the perfect example of a "prehistoric man". Wonderful music and terrific shots of New York at its best.
Other movies:
*The Glenn Miller Story
*The Black Stallion
*South Pacific
*Anchors Aweigh
Amazing Mrs. Holliday
*Casablanca
Tora! Tora! Tora!
African Queen
*It’s a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
Jackie Robinson Story
*A Philadelphia Story
*Royal Wedding
State Fair
*Father Goose (1964)
1950s:
Movies:
*West Side Story, 1961
*Grease
Desk Set
*High Society
*Silk Stockings
La Bamba
*October Sky (1999)
A Raisin in the Sun
Television:
Perry Mason
Superman
Rifleman
Bonanza (an early black and white)
Burns and Allen
Father Knows Best
Donna Reed
Leave It to Beaver
I Love Lucy
1960s
Beach Blanket Bingo, 1965: Between surfing, partying and miming to cheesy songs, Frankie and the gang find time to enter a parachuting competition, meet a mermaid and rescue a girl singer from the clutches of the evil bikers.
Other movies:
Love Bug movies
Yellow Submarine
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
A Hard Day’s Night
*What’s Up Doc?
Television:
Bewitched
Batman
Gilligan’s Island
I Dream of Jeannie
Get Smart
Andy Griffith (a later one in color)
My Three Sons
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Monkees
Julia
Big Valley
Gunsmoke
Star Trek
Mod Squad
1970s
Movies:
Apollo 13
All the President’s Men
Breaking Away
Jaws
Rocky
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(Not about the 1970s, but from then):
Star Wars
Superman
Television:
Marcus Welby
Hawaii Five-O
CHiPs
Little House on the Prairie
The Waltons
The Carol Burnett Show
All in the Family
MASH
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Partridge Family
The Brady Bunch
Happy Days
Barney Miller
Welcome Back, Kotter
1980s
Movies:
*Tootsie
Stand and Deliver
*Back to the Future
Crocodile Dundee
Ghostbusters
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
*War Games
Karate Kid
The Last Starfighter
E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home
(Not about the 1980s, but from then):
Indiana Jones movies
Star Wars sequels
The Princess Bride
Television:
Alf
The Cosby Show
Who’s the Boss?
Family Ties
Cheers
Roseanne
The Love Boat
MacGyver
Moonlighting
Dallas
Dynasty
1990s
Movies:
Free Willy
Home Alone
Jurassic Park
Groundhog Day
The Parent Trap
(Not about the 1990s, but from then):
Beauty and the Beast and several other Disney neo-classics
Television:
(There just weren’t enough shows the kids could actually watch from prime time that were about the 90s, so we went with Saturday morning cartoon and kid shows from PBS that they would remember watching themselves, which provided a very fun nostalgia trip! Some of these are actually from earlier decades but were re-run during the 90s.)
Scooby Doo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Muppet Babies
Johnny Quest
Little Mermaid
The Smurfs
Power Rangers
Arthur
Sesame Street
Zoom!
Barney