I was thinking of assigning some films for my summer class - any suggestions? The 3 themes I’m covering are US foreign policy (broadly defined here), social movements, and mass culture. I have a few ideas, but I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts (especially non-USians) on good films set during the 20th century.
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The first one that came to mind for me was Bobby:
The last public speech Bobby Kennedy ever made, earlier that day, was focused on reducing pollution (I can’t remember if that’s in the film or if I just knew that). There’s a woman going to marry a guy she knows from high school to help him, if not dodge the draft, at least get a better position in the army after he’s drafted. And there’s a lot going on about civil rights.
It’s a snapshot of where things were in 1968 – including, I suppose, Kennedy’s assassination itself.
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This list has a lot of the standards, although it covers more than the 20th century.
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/best-us-history-hs.html
Social movements: Grapes of Wrath, Malcolm X, Selma, Hidden Figures, A League of Their Own, Good Night, and Good Luck
Mass culture: Easy Rider, Woodstock, Cadillac Records
Us Foreign Policy: Many good WW2- and Vietnam-era films, but really, Dr. Strangelove and The Men Who Stare at Goats pretty much cover it. 
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I hate to say it, but I kind of want to avoid Dr. Strangelove. It’s a classic, and I bet lots of the kids have not seen it, but pretty much everyone shows it.
I was kind of thinking about Matinee, with John Goodman. The men who stare at goats would be good, too.
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I can understand that, although you might want to mention it in passing.
I was sort of joking about The Men Who Stare at Goats, although it does make a point about CIA Cold War bumbling, which had some serious consequences we are still dealing with.
I just thought of Bridge of Spies, a better Cold War choice.
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I am really surprised how difficult this is.
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This may sound stupid but forest forest gump.
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Are you avoiding documentaries? If not, how about Woodstock, Wattstax, The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, Before Stonewall, Berkeley in the Sixties, The Murder of Fred Hampton, Atomic Cafe?
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How about argo.
Argo is problematic because, while it’s a good film, it’s a lousy documentary. What isn’t distorted is made up whole cloth, although I suppose that could lead to a good discussion about filmmaking’s place in mythmaking. I also noticed cough that when they showed Argo on Netflix, they cut off the card at the end the Canadian diplomats who were involved and who saw the film’s debut at TIFF requested.
If you can lay your hands on a copy of Our Man in Tehran, the two would be a good compare & contrast.
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It’s a problem of too much stuff out there, I think.
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Not at all. The list I’m making has the Black Panther doc, the Marsha P. Johnson doc, Atomic cafe, Wild Style… The Fred Hampton one might be good, also the before Stonewall.
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I was thinking of that one, too.
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That’s a good idea, a compare and contrast.
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Definately King Vidor’s The Crowd
And, of course, Network
Maybe also Videodrome?
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Either Videodrome or UHF?
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You could compare and contrast U-571 with, oh let’s see, facts? 
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I was looking for Bulworth and found this:
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it’s not a great movie except for the fact that it shows the culture from the inside and has many of the real players in it. What you want is Style Wars, which is EXCELLENT, both in terms of the subject and in the execution of the presentation. And, the DVD has really cool extras, the buttons to access the individual writers and b-boys are their tags and includes “where are they now?” segments. Shit, I’ll swing by GSU and lend it to you.
Network sounds good. Malcolm X sounds good. I feel like everything easily thought of is lopsided towards the 2nd half of the century. I know there’s good stuff about the first half, but I’m confounded.
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