spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Mar 19, 2017 18:54:26 GMT
Period or not. I grew up in a small town so I'm always interested in seeing them portrayed in films; it's a bit like going home, as I've lived in a city for a long time now. Among my favorites, out of many:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) The Last Picture Show (1971) East of Eden (1955) The Human Comedy (1943) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) Wild River (1960)
and three films based on two William Inge plays and one screenplay:
Splendor in the Grass (1961) Picnic (1955) The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 19, 2017 19:02:52 GMT
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Post by fangirl1975 on Mar 19, 2017 19:04:12 GMT
Shadow Of A Doubt
It's A Wonderful Life
Jaws
Halloween(John Carpenter)
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Post by mattgarth on Mar 19, 2017 19:06:58 GMT
Peyton Place Kings Row The Remarkable Andrew Out of the Past High Noon Executive Suite To Kill a Mockingbird
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 19, 2017 19:13:41 GMT
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Post by politicidal on Mar 19, 2017 20:23:01 GMT
Bad Day at Black Rock
Jaws
Tremors
The Trouble with Harry - always found this one underrated
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 19, 2017 23:33:11 GMT
One of my all-time favorites, Bad Day At Black Rock, has already been mentioned (and towns don't get much smaller than Black Rock), so I'll throw in with a neglected B-feature from MGM, A Stranger In Town, in which Frank Morgan is a SCOTUS justice incognito on a fishing trip who runs afoul of the corrupt power structure of Crown Port and, with the aid of his dedicated secretary (Jean Rogers) summoned from DC and a local attorney (Richard Carlson) after reform, sets out to take down the judge, mayor, police chief and others in the pocket of equally corrupt local business interests.
With old hands at cinematic skullduggery and abuse of authority Porter Hall, Donald MacBride and Robert Barrat, along with practiced purveyors of movie hick-ery Chill Wills, Irving Bacon and Olin Howland on board (and John Hodiak in his screen debut), Morgan gets a chance to step away from his more familiar flustered and dithering screen image, playing instead a wise, crafty and sure-footed slyboots with nary a confused stammer in evidence. As a wartime entry, A Stranger In Town engages at the climax in its expected share of flag-waving reverence for democracy and rule of law, but it's a brisk and satisfying entry and a welcome change of pace for Morgan.
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Post by OldAussie on Mar 19, 2017 23:45:40 GMT
Some favourite American ones already mentioned - Last Picture Show especially - so a couple from elsewhere - Ryan's Daughter and Wake in Fright.
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Post by london777 on Mar 20, 2017 0:36:08 GMT
I assume you are not looking for any old movie set in a small town, (and how small is "small" by the way?) but those in which the town is almost a character in the movie. It is referred to by the actors and its lifestyle and mores affect the story. (For example, an ambitious younger person might find the town too restricting and wants to flee to the big city). Otherwise you will end up with 10,000 titles.
I only emphasize the "small town" aspects here, which may be sub-plots. Listed in approximate order of my esteem, but all worth seeing:
A Canterbury Tale (1944) Powell & Emeric Pressburger Gently weird and wonderful. A homesick US soldier nervous before D-Day is comforted by the similarities with his own home town.
Ordet (1955) Carl Theodor Dreyer Strict and stricter Protestant congregations in a Danish village slog it out before learning to live in harmony.
Clockwise (1986) screenplay by Michael Frayn. Funniest film ever made. Only the first third counts, then it becomes a Road Movie. Elmer Gantry (1960) Richard Brooks
In the Heat of the Night (1967) Leviathan (2014) Andrey Zvyagintsev. A desolate shithole but a great movie.
Manon of the Spring (1986). We do not see much of the town in the first part of the diptych (Jean de Florette, 1986), but you do need to see both films in order. The Mayor of Casterbridge (2003) The White Ribbon (2009) Michael Haneke. More crazy Protestants warping their children's minds in a remote community.
The Hunt (2012) Another narrow-minded Protestant community. Need to see it again to make my mind up about the unlikely (comparatively) happy ending. Is it ironic? The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) The Coens
American Beauty (1999) Dogville (2003) Lars von Trier. Will probably remind Spiderwort of his home town. Gives a new meaning to "open plan" homes.
Far from Heaven (2002) Todd Haynes
Heartlands (2002). Another one which is one third small town and two thirds Road Movie. Michel Sheen before he found fame drinking tea with the Queen and drinking blood with vampires. Lolita (1962) Stanley Kubrick Another which is partly a Road Movie. Not so much the local town as the local college campus
Lone Star (1996) John Sayles. A rare case of an auteur's most commercial movie also being one of his best. Incest in Texas. What's new?
Middlemarch (1994) Excellent UK TV mini-series. Was Middlemarch the first soap? Miller's Crossing (1990) The Coens
Separate Lies (2005) More stockbroker-belt picture village really. Silas Marner (1985). Another UK TV movie. Starring Ben Kingsley. The Return of the Native (1994). Fails to achieve excellence somehow despite super cast, but Hardy's wonderful story sees it over the line. The story of an un-empowered woman. Winter's Bone (2010) More a hamlet really. In the Ozarks? My US geography is not great. JLaw is wonderful here. Pity about her later career.
Blue Velvet (1986) David Lynch Among other things, a deconstruction of bogus "white picket fence" American Dreams which give certain members here warm and fuzzy feelings.
Frozen River (2008) Fine and little-known movie set in a trailer-trash community on the Canadian border. Similar feeling to Winter's Bone.
Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) Some Came Running (1958) Vincente Minnelli Two more subversions of the American Dream
Take Shelter (2011). Good movie with the excellent Michael Shannon, until the ending which left me baffled. Need to see it again. The Inheritors (1998) Stefan Ruzowitzky Austrian farming community in the 1920's.
Baby Doll (1956) Elia Kazan Can I include this as a black comedy?
Black Rainbow (1989) The only other film by Mike Hodges, who directed Get Carter (1971), that I like. Another movie spoiled for me by the very last minutes, when it shifted genre for no apparent reason.
Empire Falls (2005) US TV mini-series. Too tasteful and bland for me but a good picture of a dying small town.
Honeydripper (2007) John Sayles Very small Louisiana (?) town
Hot Fuzz (2003) Heavy-handed subversion of the English literary tradition of murders in affluent picture villages and market towns. There is well-made UK TV series of murder mysteries called "The Midsomer Murders" set in tiny adjoining villages. By the Nth series, the number of corpses probably exceeds their total population.
Manchester by the Sea (2016) Kenneth Lonergan
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Nicholas Ray
Silver City (2004) John Sayles Again, hardly a city.
Sling Blade (1996)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) Jack Clayton The town features heavily in this one.
Sunshine State (2002) John Sayles
Terribly Happy (2008) More bleak/black comedy from Denmark.
The Ice Harvest (2005)
The Killer Inside Me (2010) Michael Winterbottom Another good movie spoiled when the director suddenly decides to go all David Lynch at the very end.
The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Atom Egoyan
The World's End (2013) A pub crawl through one of England's post-WWII "New Towns" for the first half, then switches to comic sci-fi.
Troubled Water (2008) Norwegian flick similar in feel to The Hunt.
Waking Ned Devine (1998) Irish small town conspires to defraud the Lottery. Very old-fashioned like a minor Ealing Studios movie. Well, it is from Ireland, so we can expect them to be seventy years behind.
11:14 (2003)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Brick (2005)
The Hot Spot (1990)
U Turn (1997) Oliver Stone
Dead Man's Shoes (2004) Shane Meadows
The Intruder (1962) Roger Corman The town is definitely a protagonist in this one. Interesting and well-meant but naive propaganda. Employs the myth that all bullies are cowards and that if you stand up to them your troubles will vanish. I wish!
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 20, 2017 0:54:16 GMT
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) William Wyler They call it a city, but the US calls anything a city, especially out west.This is not a small town. It's based on Cincinnati, and neither March nor Andrews have even heard of Hoagy's saloon. They'd know that sort of thing in a small town.
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Post by london777 on Mar 20, 2017 1:05:18 GMT
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) William Wyler They call it a city, but the US calls anything a city, especially out west.This is not a small town. It's based on Cincinnati, and neither March nor Andrews have even heard of Hoagy's saloon. They'd know that sort of thing in a small town. Thanks Doc. I stand corrected and will delete it.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 20, 2017 1:36:40 GMT
Okay, I'll bite. What film is this? James Daly did mostly television, so I'm having a hard time finding it. It's a classic Twilight Zone episode called "A Stop At Willoughby"
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
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Likes: 9,340
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Post by spiderwort on Mar 20, 2017 1:41:12 GMT
Peyton Place Kings Row The Remarkable Andrew Out of the Past High Noon Executive Suite To Kill a Mockingbird Great titles, matt. To Kill a Mockingbird, Kings Row, and High Noon are particular favorites of mine. But I have a question: I haven't seen Executive Suite in a very long time, but for some reason I think of it as taking place more in a city. Can you explain your feelings about that (bearing in mind that I just made the argument to Richard that The Best Years of Our Lives feels like a small town to me, though one could definitely make the argument that it could be set in a city )? Just curious to get your thoughts. It's also possible that I'm completely mis-remembering the film.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 20, 2017 1:46:33 GMT
This is not a small town. It's based on Cincinnati, and neither March nor Andrews have even heard of Hoagy's saloon. They'd know that sort of thing in a small town. I've had this discussion before, Richard, and I know what you mean. But it still plays like a small town, in my view. Not like The Last Picture Show, for sure. But still, it feels more like the Warners back lot Midwest street than it does Cincinnati. To me anyway. But I guess we could argue about this until the cows come home. Maybe I just want it to be a small town. Its neighborhood certainly feels like the small town I grew up in, so I'm sure I don't have a clear opinion of it in the end. I always had the impression they were going for an average "Anytown, USA" feeling. The flyover footage as Al, Fred and Homer approach "Boone City" was indeed Cincinnati, but the urban and residential exteriors - Homer's and Wilma's homes and the Stephenson's apartment building, for instance - were all shot in and around L.A. (the apartment building still exists on Beverly Blvd, looking unchanged from its 1946 appearance, and the large oil storage tank looming in the background as Fred and Peggy have their first kiss was right across the street from the Goldwyn lot). The fact that the three men all live in the same town but were strangers to one another before their flight home suggests a place of fair size and, I think, is intended to reinforce some of the thematic ground the film covers, that being the emotional gulf between those left behind on the homefront and the once-hometown-strangers who are now united by their combat experiences.
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,544
Likes: 9,340
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Post by spiderwort on Mar 20, 2017 1:54:36 GMT
I've had this discussion before, Richard, and I know what you mean. But it still plays like a small town, in my view. Not like The Last Picture Show, for sure. But still, it feels more like the Warners back lot Midwest street than it does Cincinnati. To me anyway. But I guess we could argue about this until the cows come home. Maybe I just want it to be a small town. Its neighborhood certainly feels like the small town I grew up in, so I'm sure I don't have a clear opinion of it in the end. I always had the impression they were going for an average "Anytown, USA" feeling. The flyover footage as Al, Fred and Homer approach "Boone City" was indeed Cincinnati, but the urban and residential exteriors - Homer's and Wilma's homes and the Stephenson's apartment building, for instance - were all shot in and around L.A. (the apartment building still exists on Beverly Blvd, looking unchanged from its 1946 appearance, and the large oil storage tank looming in the background as Fred and Peggy have their first kiss was right across the street from the Goldwyn lot). The fact that the three men all live in the same town but were strangers to one another before their flight home suggests a place of fair size and, I think, is intended to reinforce some of the thematic ground the film covers, that being the emotional gulf between those left behind on the homefront and the once-hometown-strangers who are now united by their combat experiences. Well said, Doghouse, and the best argument I've heard yet for it not being a small town. So I will now respectfully defer to you and Richard and hereafter leave it off any lists of small towns I make. Thank you for this explanation. I think if it weren't for my wishful thinking, projecting my lost hometown onto the film, I probably would have reached the same conclusion. Interesting how we can blind ourselves to the obvious sometimes. Still one of the all-time great American films, whatever the size of its town.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Mar 20, 2017 2:16:50 GMT
LONESOME JIM THE DEER HUNTER FAT CITY WAKE IN FRIGHT IN COLD BLOOD LILITH GAL YOUNG UN 92 IN THE SHADE TWIN PEAKS (not a film) BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION HEAVEN'S PRISONERS CARNIVAL OF SOULS
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Post by manfromplanetx on Mar 20, 2017 2:30:02 GMT
No surprises that my first pick would be...
Grantville, Franklin County, New England. a closely knit all American small town full of seemingly nice people, but on closer examination we find an element which is artificially decent on the surface but simmering under that façade, bigotry, hypocrisy and internal corruption. The Naked Kiss (1964)
Niaqornat, Greenland, Shot over the course of a year in Northern Greenland, the insightful documentary film introduces audiences to a remote village that has more dogs than people. The film focuses on four townsfolk from the tiny population of 59. It is a real-life drama, we see how the economic and ecological future of the community is much more fragile than its frost hardy inhabitants. Village at the End of the World (2012)
In 1906 in a small outlying unnamed town in Connecticut, Elisha Hunt, (Claude Rains) is the 55-year-old curator of a small government museum he has married Abigail, (Wanda Hendrix) who is the 19-year-old daughter of a poor local farmer. In addition to the differences in their ages Elizha is a god fearing man of culture while Abigail is innocent and uneducated. Bruce Edridge, (Macdonald Carey) young handsome worldly and wealthy arrives on the scene... Song Of Surrender (1949) Directed by Mitchell Leisen
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Post by pippinmaniac on Mar 20, 2017 2:39:43 GMT
The Quiet Man Shadow of a Doubt
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 20, 2017 2:50:47 GMT
I always had the impression they were going for an average "Anytown, USA" feeling. The flyover footage as Al, Fred and Homer approach "Boone City" was indeed Cincinnati, but the urban and residential exteriors - Homer's and Wilma's homes and the Stephenson's apartment building, for instance - were all shot in and around L.A. (the apartment building still exists on Beverly Blvd, looking unchanged from its 1946 appearance, and the large oil storage tank looming in the background as Fred and Peggy have their first kiss was right across the street from the Goldwyn lot). The fact that the three men all live in the same town but were strangers to one another before their flight home suggests a place of fair size and, I think, is intended to reinforce some of the thematic ground the film covers, that being the emotional gulf between those left behind on the homefront and the once-hometown-strangers who are now united by their combat experiences. Well said, Doghouse, and the best argument I've heard yet for it not being a small town. So I will now respectfully defer to you and Richard and hereafter leave it off any lists of small towns I make. Thank you for this explanation. I think if it weren't for my wishful thinking, projecting my lost hometown onto the film, I probably would have reached the same conclusion. Interesting how we can blind ourselves to the obvious sometimes. Still one of the all-time great American films, whatever the size of its town. Well, the beauty of it is that it's indeterminate enough that most viewers, particularly those of the day, would have wide latitude for such projection, making the setting readily relatable to audiences from Los Angeles to Council Bluffs to Schenectady. And we're certainly in agreement on the quality of this still-resonant film. Perhaps more noteworthy now than ever are the elegantly simple ways in which that emotional gulf is portrayed, free of any heavy-handed, "nobody who hasn't been through it could understand" speeches about the toll of combat in many latter-day examinations of the topic, opting instead for subtle contrasts between tentative reconnections with loved ones and the natural gravitation of the vets to one another in their newfound camaraderie, leaving what those contrasts represent unspoken and enabling viewers to feel them more deeply through their witnessing than they could by being explicitly told. A funny story about that oil storage tank: after becoming the major tenant of the United Artists lot, Sam Goldwyn began buying up interest in the real estate with the goal of full ownership. Mary Pickford, who still maintained an office on the lot's east end (closest to that tank) was for years the sole holdout, and Goldwyn would periodically call her to engage in some "concern trolling," expressing his fear for her safety with the tank's proximity and suggesting she remove herself from harm's way by accepting his latest magnanimous offer to relieve her of the burden.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Mar 20, 2017 3:39:06 GMT
Dancer, Texas Population 81"Four guys, best friends, have grown up together in DANCER, TEXAS POP. 81, a tiny town in West Texas. Years ago, they made a solemn vow to leave town together as soon as they graduate. Now, it's that weekend and the time has come to "put up or shut up." The clock is ticking and as all 81 people in the town watch, comment, offer advice and place bets, these four very different boys with unique backgrounds struggle with the biggest decision of their lives... whether to stay or leave home." Filmed in the small town of Fort Davis, Texas, population a little over 1000. It is the county seat of a large county that has only two towns in it. The other town, Valentine, has a population less than 200. Dancer is quite a bit smaller than Fort Davis but it's fun to watch as am familiar with the "real" town. Another Texas small town film that is worth finding is Happy Texaswhich also fits into the "silly pictures I enjoyed" thread.
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