On May 15, my friend writer/producer Eric Bauer placed a challenge on a Straight Dope board asking for people to list the best movie set in every year…not in the year it was made, but in the year it was set. Below, see how far they’ve gotten in just over a week. What fun. Makes me wonder what the novel list would look like.
BC One Zillion BC, October 9th – Caveman
BC 66 million Dinosaur
BC 1,000,000 One Million BC
BC 10,000 10,000 BC
BC 4000 The Lord of the Rings
BC 1200 Troy
BC 480 300
BC 326 Sikandar (1941)
BC 261 Asoka
BC 227 The Emperor and the Assassin
BC 216 Hannibal
BC 72 Spartacus
BC 48 Caesar and Cleopatra
BC 44 Julius Caesar
BC 30 Cleopatra
33 Life of Brian / The Passion of the Christ
40 Caligula
68 Quo Vadis
70 The Last Days of Pompeii
140 The Eagle
180 Gladiator
208 Red Cliff
450 Attila
460 The Last Legion
467 King Arthur
528 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
709 Outlander
778 Orlando and the Knights of France
859 House of Flying Daggers
922 The Thirteenth Warrior
932 Monty Python and the Holy Grail
984 Dragonheart
1000 Valhalla Rising
1057 Macbeth
1099 El Cid
1170 Becket
1183 The Lion in Winter
1187 Kingdom of Heaven
1194 Ivanhoe
1199 Robin Hood (2010)
1210 Brother Sun Sister Moon
1215 Ironclad
1242 Alexander Nevsky
1298 Braveheart
1327 The Name of the Rose
1344 Season of the Witch
1348 Black Death
1349 The Seventh Seal
1389 Battle of Kosovo
1415 Henry V
1424 Andrei Rublev
1431 The Passion of Joan of Arc
1448 The Divine Weapon
1482 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1485 Richard III
1492 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1517 Apocalypto
1533 The Royal Hunt of the Sun
1535 A Man for All Seasons
1536 Anne of the Thousand Days
1547 Crossed Swords
1553 Lady Jane
1558 Elizabeth (1998)
1560 Aguirre: The Wrath of God
1575 Kagemusha
1588 Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
1594 How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman
1597 Shakespeare in Love
1601 The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1607 The New World
1616 Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
1625 The Three Musketeers
1630 Hara-kiri
1634 Black Robe / The Devils
1665 Girl with a Pearl Earring
1667 The Scarlet Letter
1685 Lorna Doone / Captain Blood
1692 The Crucible
1699 Captain Kidd
1712 Rob Roy
1718 Swashbuckler
1756 The Mission
1757 The Last of the Mohicans
1776 1776
1779 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
1787 Robinson Crusoe
1788 The Madness of King George
1789 Mutiny on the Bounty
1791 That Night in Varennes
1792 A Tale of Two Cities
1793 Marie Antoinette
1794 Danton
1798 The Wild Child
1799 The Marquise of O / Sleepy Hollow
1805 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
1808 The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
1813 Swiss Family Robinson
1815 Waterloo
1816 Gothic
1827 Children of Paradise
1828 The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
1829 The Count of Monte Cristo
1831 Under Capricorn
1832 Les Miserables
1836 The Alamo
1841 Amistad
1854 The Charge of the Light Brigade
1856 The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari)
1857 Mangal Pandey: The Rising
1858 Django Unchained
1860 The Pony Express
1862 The General
1863 Gettysburg / Glory / Her MajestyMrs. Brown
1864 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Cold Mountain
1865 Lincoln
1866 Red River
1867 Juarez
1868 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1869 Union Pacific
1871 In Old Chicago / La commune
1872 Around the World in 80 Days
1873 Cowboys and Aliens
1874 Blazing Saddles
1875 The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1876 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon / The Molly Maguires
1877 The Last Samurai
1878 Cheyenne Autumn
1879 Zulu
1880 Stagecoach / True Grit (2012)
1881 Tombstone
1882 The Man Who Would Be King
1883 Krakatoa, East of Java
1884 3:10 to Yuma
1885 Topsy Turvy / Back to the Future III / The Oxbow Incident
1886 Geronimo: An American Legend
1888 From Hell
1889 Mayerling
1890 Hello, Dolly!
1891 Sherlock Holmes (2009)
1892 Heaven’s Gate
1893 Far and Away / Lagaan
1895 The Four Feathers
1896 The Far Country
1897 The Gold Rush
1898 A Message to Garcia
1899 The Prestige / Newsies
1900 Picnic at Hanging Rock
1901 The Shootist
1902 Breaker Morant
1903 Tom Horn
1904 Meet Me in St. Louis
1905 Battleship Potemkin
1906 Ragtime
1907 Viva Maria!
1908 Take Me Out To The Ball Game / The Great Race
1909 Fanny and Alexander
1910 Mary Poppins
1911 1911
1912 Titanic
1913 The Wild Bunch
1914 The African Queen
1915 Gallipoli
1916 Paths of Glory
1917 Lawrence of Arabia
1918 War Horse / 1918: All Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
1919 Eight Men Out
1920 Matewan
1921 Sunrise at Campobello
1922 The Great Gatsby / Thoroughly Modern Millie
1923: The Hours
1924 Chariots of Fire
1925 Inherit the Wind
1926 The Sand Pebbles
1927 Singin’ in the Rain
1928 The Artist / Bullets Over Broadway
1929 Some Like It Hot
1930 Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale
1931 Cabaret
1932 They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
1933 Sounder
1934 Pennies from Heaven / Bonnie and Clyde / Victor Victoria
1935 The King’s Speech / To Kill a Mockingbird
1936 Raiders of the Lost Ark / The Sting
1937 Chinatown / Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?
1938 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade / Seabiscuit
1939 To Be or Not to Be (the original) / The Natural / Hyde Park on Hudson
1940 The Spirit of the Beehive / The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe / Atonement
1941 Tora! Tora! Tora! / From Here toEternity
1942 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo / Summer of ’42
1943 Come and See / A League of Their Own / The Guns of Navarone
1944 Saving Private Ryan / A Bridge Too Far / Pan’s Labyrinth / The Longest Day / Au Revoir Les Enfants /
Inglorious Basterds
1945 Schindler’s List / Empire of Sun / Downfall
1946 The Godfather / The Black Stallion
1947 42 / Tucker: A Man and His Dream / Judgement at Nuremburg
1948 Devil in a Blue Dress / Exodus
1949 The Man Who Wasn’t There
1950 Men in War / Snow Falling on Cedars
1951 The Last Picture Show / Mash
1952 Hoosiers
1953 L.A. Confidential / Heavenly Creatures
1954 My Favorite Year / Heavenly Creatures
1955 Back to the Future
1956 The Polar Express
1957 The Battle of Algiers / Far From Heaven
1958 The Godfather Part II / Lords of Flatbush
1959 Diner / Stand By Me / Dead Poets Society
1960 Grease
1961 61*
1962 American Graffiti / Animal House / Thirteen Days
1963 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1964 Mississippi Burning
1965 Moonrise Kingdom / The Outsiders / Year of Living Dangerously
1966 JFK / Casualties of War / The Hurricane
1967 Platoon
1968 The Unbearable Lightness of Being / A Bronx Tale
1969 Taking Woodstock / Awakenings
1970 Apollo 13 / Apocalypse Now
1971 Remember the Titans
1972 All the President’s Men / Dog Day Afternoon
1973 Ratcatcher / Almost Famous / The Lovely Bones / Secretariat / The Ice Storm
1974 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy / Dick
1975 The Deer Hunter
1976 Dazed and Confused
1977 Summer of Sam
1978 Lords of Dogtown
1979 Argo / Super 8
1980 No Country for Old Men
1981 Wet Hot American Summer / Let the Right One In
1982 Waltz with Bashir / Son of Rambow
1983 Stand and Deliver / This Is England
1984 1984 / Billy Elliot
1985 The Wedding Singer / SLC Punk!
1986 The Squid and the Whale
1987 Fargo
1988 Donnie Darko / For Queen and Country
1989 Buffalo Soldiers
1990 Rent
1991 The Big Lebowski / Courage Under Fire / Three Kings
1992 Primary Colors
1993 Black Hawk Down
1994 Hotel Rwanda
1995 Invictus / The Insider
1996 Spinning Boris
1997 Amélie
1998 Escape from New York
1999 Strange Days
2000 Death Race 2000
2001 2001: A Space Odyssey / World Trade Center / Flight 93
2002 Moneyball
2003 127 Hours
2004 The Hurt Locker
2005 Transformers: the Movie (1986)
2006 Slumdog Millionaire
2007 Double Dragon
2008 Game Change
2009 Freejack
2010 2010: The Year We Make Contact
2011 Zero Dark Thirty
2012 I Am Legend
2013 The Postman
2015 Back to the Future
II / Robocop
2018 Rollerball (1975)
2019 Blade Runner
2020 V for Vendetta
2022 Soylent Green
2025 Repo Men
2026 Metropolis
2027 Children of Men
2032 Demolition Man
2035 I, Robot / Twelve Monkeys
2044 Looper
2054 Minority Report
2056 Red Planet
2057 Sunshine
2063 Star Trek: First Contact
2078 Screamers
2084 Total Recall (the original)
2093 Prometheus
2122 Alien
2139 Judge Dredd
2150 Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.
2151 Vanilla Sky
2160 Avatar
2173 Sleeper
2179 Aliens
2199 The Matrix
2214 The Fifth Element
2220 Forbidden Planet
2259 Star Trek: Into Darkness
2274 Logan’s Run
2279 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2285 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan / Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
2287 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
2293 Zardoz / Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
2371 Star Trek Generations
2373 Star Trek: First Contact
2375 Star Trek: Insurrection
2379 Star Trek: Nemesis
2491 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
2500 Waterworld
2505 Idiocracy
2517 Serenity
2592 Riddick
2805 Wall-E
3000 3000 A.D. (aka Captive Women)
3978 Planet of the Apes (1968)
5021 Planet of the Apes (2001)
12090 Vampire Hunter D
40000 Barbarella
802,701 The Time Machine (2002)
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