Books in the Screen Decades series

During the 1980s, American cinema underwent various transformations. Filmmakers responded to the social, political, and cultural conditions of the time. Hollywood also launched a long-awaited cycle of films about the Vietnam war, but science fiction remained the era's most popular genre. This book examines the films that marked the decade of 1980.

The 1940s was a watershed decade for American cinema and the nation. At the start of the decade, Hollywood - shaking off the Depression - launched an unprecedented wave of production, generating some of its most memorable classics, including "Citizen Kane", "Rebecca", "The Lady Eve", "Sergeant York", and "How Green Was My Valley".

The 1940s was a watershed decade for American cinema and the nation. At the start of the decade, Hollywood, shaking off the Depression launched an wave of production, generating some of its most memorable classics, including "Citizen Kane", "Rebecca", "The Lady Eve", "Sergeant York", and "How Green Was My Valley".

America in the 1950s was a place of sensational commercial possibility coupled with dark nuclear fears and conformist politics. Cold war hysteria and anti-communist witch hunts influenced a culture already falling under the spell of suburbia, television and a world of luxury goods.