I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Scalzi’s listings from the Rough Guides‘ Movie guides. They make me wonder what the canon lists of movies would be for specific topics. I’ve listed a few that I think should be on the list (sticking to movies that I’ve seen, of which there are far too few). What else belongs there?

Growing up, every kid on the block had a plan for what they would do if they learned that “the bomb” was about to drop. A friend of mine who lived around the corner once declared triumphantly that he would “go outside and play some basketball,” not being fond, I imagine, of a world filled with fallout victims and nuclear mutants. More power to him. It’s good to have a plan.

A world-ending atomic war isn’t so much of a worry for today’s kids. This is definitely a good thing, but the will miss out on some fine cinema. I wonder how the old bomb-scare movies will play with generations who never did the old “duck and cover” drill. When they finally see them, which ones do you think they should watch?

• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• The Iron Giant
• Spies Like Us
• The Mouse That Roared
• Wargames

More Alternate Film Canons.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2005 at 5:59 am and is filed under Alternate Film Canon, Weekly Feature, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.