Topic: 1950s

Direction Francis Ford Coppola

Cast Marlon Brando · Al Pacino · James Caan · Robert Duvall

Synopsis The Godfather (1972) follows the powerful Corleone crime family, led by patriarch Vito Corleone. When an assassination attempt leaves Vito gravely wounded, his reluctant youngest son, Michael, is drawn into the family's violent underworld. As Michael takes charge, he transforms...

Direction Francis Ford Coppola

Cast Al Pacino · Robert De Niro · Diane Keaton · Robert Duvall

Synopsis Continuing saga of the Corleone family as they move to Nevada and make the casino business their major income source under the leadership of the increasingly paranoid and malevolent Michael, whose reign as the "Don" is juxtaposed against the parallel...

Direction Frank Darabont

Cast Tim Robbins · Morgan Freeman · Bob Gunton · James Whitmore

Synopsis The Shawshank Redemption (1994) follows Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly convicted of murder, as he adapts to life in Shawshank Prison. Over the years, he forms a deep friendship with fellow inmate Red, while navigating the harsh realities of incarceration....

Direction Gillo Pontecorvo

Cast Jean Martin · Yacef Saadi · Brahim Haggiag · Fusia El Kader

Synopsis The Battle of Algiers (1966) is a gripping historical drama set during the Algerian War of Independence. The film depicts the brutal conflict between the National Liberation Front (FLN) and French colonial forces in the 1950s. Through a realistic, documentary-style...

Direction Zhang Yimou

Cast Gong Li · Ge You · Jiang Wu · Niu Ben

Synopsis Fugui is the father of a once-wealthy family whose addiction to gambling and chronic bad luck causes him to lose his home in a game of dice with Long'er. Fugui's wife abandons him, and he finds himself working as a...

Direction John Frankenheimer

Cast Burt Lancaster · Karl Malden · Neville Brand · Thelma Ritter

Synopsis Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster), a murderer sentenced to Alcatraz, cures a sick bird that flies into his cell and eventually becomes a world-renowned ornithologist -- all while serving a life sentence.

Direction Kim Dong-won

Synopsis Repatriation is a documentary film about a 12 year relationship between the director and North Korean spies in South Korea. This film captures their suffering, their eventual return to North Korea, and the constitution in the politics of division. Of...

Direction Peter Bogdanovich

Cast Timothy Bottoms · Jeff Bridges · Cybill Shepherd · Ben Johnson

Synopsis The Last Picture Show (1971) is a poignant coming-of-age drama set in a dwindling Texas town during the early 1950s. The story follows a group of high school friends navigating love, loneliness, and the harsh realities of adulthood. As their...

Direction Zhang Yimou

Cast Zhang Ziyi · Sun Honglei · Hao Zheng · Yuelin Zhao

Synopsis The Road Home (1999) is a poignant love story set in rural China. When his father dies, a man returns to his village to arrange the funeral. His elderly mother insists on carrying out a traditional burial, despite modern challenges....

Direction Saverio Costanzo

Cast Margherita Mazzucco · Elisa Del Genio · Gaia Girace · Ludovica Nasti

Synopsis TV Series (2018-Present Day). 2 Seasons. 16 Episodes. When the most important friend of her life appears to have vanished without a trace, Elena Greco, an elderly woman who lives in a house filled with books, turns on her computer...

Direction Hayao Miyazaki

Synopsis In My Neighbor Totoro (1988), two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei, move to the countryside with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Exploring their new home, they encounter magical forest spirits, including the gentle giant Totoro, a...

Direction Curtis Hanson

Cast Guy Pearce · Russell Crowe · Kevin Spacey · Kim Basinger

Synopsis L.A. Confidential (1997) is a gripping neo-noir crime drama set in 1950s Los Angeles. The story follows three LAPD officers with contrasting personalities and methods as they investigate a series of interconnected crimes, including a brutal massacre at a coffee...

Direction Amy Sherman-Palladino · Daniel Palladino · Scott Ellis · Jamie Babbit

Cast Rachel Brosnahan · Alex Borstein · Tony Shalhoub · Marin Hinkle

Synopsis The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV Series) (2017) follows Miriam "Midge" Maisel, a sharp-witted 1950s housewife whose seemingly perfect life unravels when her husband leaves her. After an impromptu, drunken stand-up comedy set at a Greenwich Village club, Midge discovers a...

Direction Louis Malle

Cast Lea Massari · Benoît Ferreux · Daniel Gélin · Michael Lonsdale

Synopsis This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France. This is France in the mid-1950s rather than America in the 1990s. Thus, Laurent is unharmed by...

Direction Scott Frank · Allan Scott

Cast Anya Taylor-Joy · Isla Johnston · Annabeth Kelly · Bill Camp

Synopsis The Queen's Gambit (TV Miniseries) (2020) follows Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy in the 1950s-60s, as she rises through the male-dominated world of competitive chess. Struggling with personal demons and addiction, Beth's brilliance on the board captivates the world...

Direction Peter Weir

Cast Robin Williams · Robert Sean Leonard · Ethan Hawke · Josh Charles

Synopsis In Dead Poets Society (1989), a group of students at a conservative boarding school in the 1950s is inspired by their unconventional English teacher, Mr. Keating. He encourages them to seize the day and think independently through poetry and literature....

Direction Marco Tullio Giordana

Cast Luigi Lo Cascio · Tony Sperandeo · Ninni Bruschetta · Lucia Sardo

Synopsis The setting is Sicily in the latter half of the Fifties. Cinisi, a small town in the province of Palermo, is renowned only for its airport, Punta Raisi, used by powerful local Mafia bosses for trafficking. The town is also...

Direction Martin Scorsese

Cast Leonardo DiCaprio · Mark Ruffalo · Ben Kingsley · Emily Mortimer

Synopsis In Shutter Island (2010), U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient from Ashecliffe Hospital, a psychiatric facility on a remote island. As they delve deeper, they encounter unsettling staff, cryptic clues,...

Direction Tim Burton

Cast Johnny Depp · Martin Landau · Patricia Arquette · Sarah Jessica Parker

Synopsis Ed Wood (1994) follows the passionate yet unconventional filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr., often dubbed the "worst director of all time." Set in 1950s Hollywood, the film portrays Wood's relentless optimism and quirky friendships, including his collaboration with faded horror...

Direction James Ivory

Cast Anthony Hopkins · Emma Thompson · James Fox · Christopher Reeve

Synopsis The Remains of the Day (1993) follows Stevens, a dedicated butler, as he embarks on a journey through the English countryside. Reflecting on his years of service at Darlington Hall, he grapples with memories of loyalty, duty, and unspoken emotions....