|
Title
|
David Halberstam, The Fifties |
Description
|
A panoramic view of the 1950s by a leading journalist, which contains vivid sketches of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, Martin Luther King, Jr., Joseph McCarthy, Ray Krok, U-2 pilot Frances Gary Powers, Charles Van Doren, and many others. |
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|
Title
|
William O'Neill, American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960 |
Description
|
This survey of the social and political history of the postwar period rebuts many common assumptions about the 1950s. |
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|
Title
|
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) |
Description
|
Extraterrestrials demand that Earthlings cease their use of bombs and missiles. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
East of Eden (1955) |
Description
|
This screen adaptation of John Steinbeck's story of two brothers who vie for their father's attention and the woman who comes between them explores the nature of adolescent pain. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) |
Description
|
This science fiction story about seed pods from outer space that replicate and replace humans is often depicted as an allegory about McCarthy era paranoia and 1950s conformity. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Angry Red Planet (1959) |
Description
|
One of the many science fiction films of the 1950s, this movie depicts astronauts on Mars fighting off aliens and giant, spaceship swallowing amoebas. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Asphalt Jungle (1950) |
Description
|
This film about a group of professional criminals blurs the issue of morality, a stance summed up in the lines: "There's nothing so different about them. Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor." |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Oklahoma! (1955) |
Description
|
The film version of the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which was the first to integrate song and storyline, also was a pioneer in the effort to create musicals from distinctly American traditions. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) |
Description
|
One of the first films to deal with anti-Japanese prejudice, this film stars Spencer Tracy as a one-armed returning veteran who arrives in a small town with a medal for the father of a Japanese-American comrade. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
On the Waterfront (1954) |
Description
|
This story of an ex-prize fighter who wrestles with a decision about whether to inform about mob corruption on the New York waterfront can be interpreted as director Elia Kazin’s defense of his decision to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee. |
|
|
Title
|
My Son John (1952) |
Description
|
One of approximately 50 anti-communist B-films, this movie depicts an upstanding family's horror when it discovers that their son is a communist. |
|
|
Title
|
I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951) |
Description
|
Based on the exploits of Matt Cvetic and Herb Philbrick, real-life undercover agents for the FBI, this film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. |
|
|
Title
|
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) |
Description
|
James Dean came to personify the sullen, volatile, misunderstood adolescent in this examination of alienation among middle-class youth. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Blackboard Jungle (1955) |
Description
|
A war veteran in a gritty vocational high school seeks to connect to with his alienated students. Opening with Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," this was the first major film to use rock 'n' roll in its soundtrack. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
West Side Story (1961) |
Description
|
Based loosely on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this film about ethnic tensions and gang rivalry in New York features a score and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
On the Waterfront (1954) |
Description
|
This story of an ex-prize fighter who wrestles with a decision about whether to inform about mob corruption on the New York waterfront can be interpreted as director Elia Kazin’s defense of his decision to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Quiz Show (1994) |
Description
|
Based on the game-show scandals of the 1950s, when TV quiz shows were rigged to attract higher ratings, this film tells the story of Charles Van Doren, who comes from a prominent intellectual family and who receives answers to the questions on the quiz show Twenty-One. |
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|
Title
|
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) |
Description
|
This science fiction films deals metaphorically with issues of infiltration and mind control raised by the Cold War, as well as with issues of conformity in a mass society. |
|
|
Title
|
Bye Bye Birdie (1963) |
Description
|
Screen adaptation of the Broadway musical about a rock 'n' roll idol who comes to town before leaving for the army. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Buddy Holly Story (1978) |
Description
|
Biography of the pioneer rock 'n' roller from Lubbock, Texas. |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Tea and Sympathy (1956) |
Description
|
This film, about a sexually-confused prep school, a housemaster, and his wife, was considered quite daring for its treatment of homosexuality and marital infidelity |
| Source
|
IMDb |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
|
Title
|
Literature and Culture of the American 1950s |
Description
|
Extensive primary and secondary source readings on such aspect of life and culture in Cold War America as art, foreign policy, gender, jazz, the movies, and rock ‘n’ roll, as well as biographical material on major and minor figures of the era. |
| Source
|
U. of Pennsylvania |
| Site:
|
Literature and Culture of the American 1950s |
|
URL
|
link
to site |
|
