Get your hot patty of 1950s Americana this Friday with The Founder, starring Michael Keaton as the entrepreneur who transformed McDonald’s from a San Bernardino local joint into the global food megalith during the baby boomer decade. Founder inspires this week’s completely cool, multi-purpose gallery: true stories (all Fresh!) enlightening our values, fears, and triumphs of the ’50s.
Raging Bull (1989, 98%)
Jake LaMotta against the ropes in his final bout against Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951.
The Right Stuff (1983, 98%)
The Space Race against Russia gets the bold Hollywood treatment as military pilots test to become the first men in orbit.
La Bamba (1987, 96%)
Ritchie Valens’ 17-year life chronicled, from his rise as rock ‘n’ roll megastar to the 1959 flight tragedy that also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.
Quiz Show (1994, 96%)
The Twenty One scandals chronicled, where contestants were given secret on-air assistance by show producers to rig the game outcomes.
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005, 93%)
CBS’ broadcast journalism bites back to stop McCarthyism from accusing innocents of communism and corporate influence of television news.
Ed Wood (1994, 92%)
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s gently sympathetic look of the years leading into the infamously awful director’s mounting of his masterpiece Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Bridge of Spies (2015, 91%)
Half of the movie takes place in a painstakingly recreated 1957 New York, as lawyer James Donovan is entrusted by the government to negotiate the release of a Soviet-captured American pilot.
The Wrong Man (1956, 91%)
A man accused and put on trial for a crime he didn’t commit may be standard Hitchcock territory — except this is one of the rare moments he directed a film based on true events.
The Wrong Man (1956, 91%)
A man accused and put on trial for a crime he didn’t commit may be standard Hitchcock territory — except this is one of the rare moments he directed a film based on true events.
October Sky (1999, 90%)
Based on the autobiography of Homer Hickham, who dreamed of becoming a NASA engineer despite working in a town deeply identified with coal mining.
Loving (2016, 89%)
Richard and Mildred Loving marry in the ’50s before having to stand before the Supreme Court to defend their marriage.
The Long Walk Home (1990, 86%)
Drama set during the Rosa Parks-inspired Montgomery bus boycott, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek as two women who cross social lines together.
My Week With Marilyn (2011, 83%)
Starring Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe, who is escorted by a young filmmaker (Eddie Redmayne) as she shoots 1957’s The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier.
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999, 80%)
Ayn Rand’s life immediately before the publication of Atlas Shrugged, as seen through her love affair with philosophical disciple Nathaniel Branden.
A Beautiful Mind (2001, 75%)
This biography of John Nash, numbers genius and emerging schizophrenic, won Best Picture in 2002.
This Boy’s Life (1993, 75%)
National Medal of Arts author Tobias Wolff account of growing up with an abusive stepfather, based on his autobiography of the same name.
Hollywoodland (2006, 68%)
A treatment of an an enduring L.A. scandal and mystery: the gun death of Superman actor George Reeves that some contend was murder and not a suicide.
Cadillac Records (2008, 67%)
See Muddy Waters, Etta James, Chuck Berry and more in various stages of their musical careers as a new studio and label opens in 1950.
Guilty By Suspicion (1991, 65%)
Speaking of McCarthyism, Robert De Niro led an ensemble cast as a vulnerable movie director who is forced to testify against his colleagues if he wants to continue working.
Great Balls of Fire! (1989, 63%)
The story of rockabilly king Jerry Lee Lewis, his early incendiary career, and professional downfall after marrying the 13-year-old daughter of cousin and bandmate.
Howl (2010, 62%)
James Franco is outre poet Allen Ginsberg, who puts together his iconic poem and goes on trial for its purported obscenity in 1957.
The Finest Hours (2016, 63%)
The SS Pendleton goes down in 1952, losing nine crew with 32 survivors in the Coast Guard’s most daring rescue.
Hitchcock (2012, 61%)
This light biopic captures big Al after the release of 1959’s North by Northwest as he begins research on what will become his opus: Psycho.
Life (2015, 61%)
Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson (as James Dean and photographer Dennis Stock) hit the road and develop a bond just prior to the release of East of Eden.
