1938 - Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh in Gone With the Wind
"I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong."
Comment: Charleston, at the time of this scene, was a devastated city. Its once wealthy residents were reduced to selling the family silver to put food on the table. If only the Moonlight and Magnolias myth were true!
1942 - Casablanca
Shocked!
1948 - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
We don't need no stinkin' badges.
1962 - Woody Allen in Take the Money and Run
Bank robbery scene
1964 - Dr. Strangelove
"We must not allow a mineshaft gap."
Comment #1: In the 1960 US presidential campaign John F. Kennedy accused outgoing president Eisenhower of allowing the Soviets to build more nuclear missiles than the US. This nuclear deficit became known as the "missile gap." After Kennedy won the election it became known that there never was a missile gap and the US had always had more nukes than the Soviets.
Comment #2: Many viewers of this film have commented on the striking similarity between Dr. Strangelove and Henry Kissinger, the adviser to Richard Nixon. (Of course Kissinger did not come to prominence until several years after this film was made.)
Comment #3: Peter Sellers plays both the President and Dr. Strangelove in this clip.
1968 - Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
One word.
1970 - Five Easy Pieces
Jack orders toast.
1971 - Dirty Harry
Do I feel lucky?
1971 - Dirty Harry
Do I feel lucky (again)?
1972 - Cabaret Tomorrow Belongs to Me
Comment: Watch this clip to get a sense of what it's like to be in a gathering of South Carolina Republicans circa 2009.
1976 - The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Inspector Clouseau investigates a crime.
Comment: This clip gives a good representation of an Inspector Clouseau crime investigation. About a half dozen Pink Panther movies were made in the 1960's and 70's.
1977 - Star Wars
Bar scene. (music recreated)
1979 - Apocalypse Now
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
Comment: Napalm, or jellied gasoline, is the incendiary ingredient of anti-personnel bombs used extensively in the Vietnam War. Not surprisingly, victims of a napalm attack die an agonizing death. The US military says it no longer uses napalm. However, when confronted with evidence that the US was using napalm in Iraq in 2003, the US admitted it was now using a different incendiary, one based on kerosene, not gasoline.