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Welcome to our new feature Movies By The Decade, a companion piece to TV By The Decade. Here’s we’ll provide a list of films released during a particular week in the decades from 1920-2010 with cast, director and studio information as well as trivia on some titles. Most films release dates here are US dates but there are international titles as well and we’ll note when dates differ from the US. We hope you enjoy this feature and can find the anniversary dates for your favorite films, and perhaps will discover some new favorites as well. Be sure to check out the linked items (in red). Every purchase you make through our affiliates help keep the lights on up in here, so let’s get started!
1920
August 1 – The Fighting Chance
- Cast: Anna Q. Nilsson, Conrad Nagel, Clarence Burton, Dorothy Davenport, Herbert Prior, Ruth Helms
- Director: Charles Maigne
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The film was previously thought lost; based on the novel of the same name by Robert W. Chambers.
August 1 – Hairpins
- Cast: Enid Bennett, Matt Moore, William Conklin
- Director: Fred Niblo
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: A surviving print of the film is held in a private collection.
August 1 – The Jack-Knife Man
- Cast: F. A. Turner, Harry Todd
- Director: King Vidor
- Studio: First National
- Trivia: This was Vidor’s first film with First National; Prints of the film survive in several film archives; the film was shot at Vidor’s newly constructed studio “Vidor Village” which was paid for with a portion of his $75,000 advance on the film from exhibitors.
August 2 – The Notorious Miss Lisle
- Cast: Katherine MacDonald, Nigel Barrie
- Director: James Young
- Studio: First National
1930
July 31 – Murder!
- Cast: Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Phyllis Konstam, Edward Chapman, Miles Mander
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Studio: British International Pictures
- Trivia: Hitchcock’s third ‘talkie’; originally to be released under the same title as the novel upon which it was based, Enter Sir John, but was changed to Murder! during production; the German language version was shot simultaneously on the same set with German speaking actors although Miles Mander reprised his role of Gordon Druce which was renamed Gordon Moore; Hitchcock makes his cameo as a man walking past the murder victim’s house.
1940
- There were no notable releases this week in 1940.
1950
July 29 – Treasure Island
- Cast: Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton, Basil Sydney, Finlay Currie
- Director: Byron Haskin
- Studio: Walt Disney Productions; Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
- Trivia: Disney’s first completely live-action film; first adaptation of Treasure Island filmed in color; Disney re-released the film in 1975 but had to cut 9 minutes to receive a G rating according to the studio’s policy, the original cut was restored in the 1990s after Disney relaxed its G-only policy; Robert Newton reprised the role of Long John Silver in the non-Disney sequel Long John Silver, and again for the 1954 TV series The Adventures of Long John Silver.
August 2 – Desperados of the West (serial)
- Cast: Richard Powers, Judy Clark, Roy Barcroft, I. Stanford Jolley, Lee Phelps, Lee Roberts, Cliff Clark
- Director: Fred C. Brannon
- Studio: Republic Pictures
- Trivia: The 12-chapter serial was budgeted at $150,246, the cheapest Republic serial of the 1950s.
August 3 – A Lady Without Passport
- Cast: Hedy Lamarr, John Hodiak
- Director: Joseph H. Lewis
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: The film was the debut for actor Steven Hill; the film’s working title was Visa.
August 4 – The Admiral was a Lady
- Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Wanda Hendrix
- Director: Albert S. Rogell
- Studio: Roxbury Productions; Distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: The film’s working title was Once Over Lightly which was the title of one of the film’s songs.
August 4 – Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
- Cast: James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter
- Director: Gordon Douglas
- Studio: William Cagney Productions; Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film was banned in Ohio as “a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission”; this was the first of four films the Cagney brothers made for Warner Bros.; Humphrey Bogart was interested in securing the film rights before the novel’s publication.
1960
- There were no notable releases this week in 1960.
1970
July 29 – Chisum
- Cast: John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Ben Johnson, Geoffrey Deuel
- Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
- Studio: Batjac Productions; Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on Andrew J. Fenady’s novel Chisum and the Lincoln County Cattle War; although historically inaccurate, the story is loosely based on the Lincoln County War of 1878 in the New Mexico Territory and involved historical figures John Chisum, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid; the film was set up at 20th Century Fox but moved to Warner Bros because Wayne wanted to film in 1969 but Fox’s schedule would not allow for that; the movie was shot in Durango, Mexico.
July 31 – Move
- Cast: Elliott Gould, Paula Prentiss, Geneviève Waïte
- Director: Stuart Rosenberg
- Studio: Berman-Century Productions; Distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Based on the novel Move by Joel Lieber; Dustin Hoffman was originally set to star: Gould was set to start filming after MASH, but Columbia Pictures wanted him for Getting Straight and said they’d drop the film if he didn’t star so he delayed production on Move.
August 1 – The Rebel Rousers
- Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Jack Nicholson, Diane Ladd, Harry Dean Stanton
- Director: Martin B. Cohen
- Studio: Paragon International Pictures; Distributed by Four Star Excelsior
- Trivia: The outlaw biker film was shot in 1967 but was not released until 1970 following the success of Easy Rider; this was Cohen’s only directorial effort.
August 3 – Ann and Eve
- Cast: Gio Petré, Marie Liljedahl, Francisco Rabal
- Director: Arne Mattsson
- Studio: Jadran Film, Omega Film. Distributed in the US by Chevron Pictures.
- Trivia: The film was a commercial success in the US, earning $18 million, making it the 17th highest grossing film of 1970.
August 3 – Performance
- Cast: James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Michèle Breton
- Director: Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg
- Studio: Goodtimes Enterprises. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Filmed in 1968, Warner Bros. was reluctant to release the film due to its sexual content and graphic violence; the film was released in 1970 after a major re-edit; several of the actors’ voices were dubbed for the US because the studio feared audiences would not understand their Cockney accents; it’s now regarded as one of the most influential and innovative films of the 1970s and British cinema.
1980
August 1 – The Final Countdown
- Cast: Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O’Neal, Charles Durning
- Director: Don Taylor
- Studio: Bryna Productions, Distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Don Taylor’s final film; produced with the full cooperation of the US Navy’s naval aviation branch and the US Department of Defense, filmed aboard the USS Nimitz and capturing the actual operations of the ship; during production an emergency landing was allowed to be filmed and is included in the film; 48 Nimitz crew members appear in the film, some with speaking parts.
August 1 – The Hunter
- Cast: Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold, LeVar Burton, Ben Johnson
- Director: Buzz Kulik
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: McQueen’s final role before his death in November 1980; the last theatrical film made by Kulik; Peter Hyams was originally hired to write and direct but was fired after doing a draft with McQueen wanting to take over the director’s duties; the DGA would not allow McQueen to direct because he had been attached to the film before Hyams, although it’s rumored he did a lot of the direction on set.
August 1 – Loose Shoes
- Cast: Royce D. Applegate, Bill Murray, Lewis Arquette, Howard Hesseman
- Director: Ira Miller
- Studio: Brooksfilms. Distributed by National American Films.
- Trivia: The film, presented as a series of movie trailers, is also known under the titles Coming Attractions and Quackers; the film was shot in 1977 but not released until 1980, probably to capitalize on Bill Murray’s success at the box office.
August 1 – Raise the Titanic
- Cast: Jason Robards, Richard Jordan, David Selby, Anne Archer, Dirk Blocker, Sir Alec Guinness
- Director: Jerry Jameson
- Studio: ITC Entertainment. Distributed by Associated Film Distribution
- Trivia: Based on the novel of the same name by Clive Cussler; the film earned about $7 million against a $40 million budget; Elliott Gould was offered the lead but turned it down saying, “Let the Titanic stay where it is”; Jason Robards said he did the film for “money, m’dear, money… We’re all incidental to the hardware and the special effects on this one”; the film, which depicted the Titanic intact, became historically inaccurate in 1985 when the wreck was located and found to have broken apart.
1990
August 1 – Young Guns II
- Cast: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Alan Ruck, Balthazar Getty
- Director: Geoff Murphy
- Studio: Morgan Creek Productions. Distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Much of Billy the Kid’s dialog is taken from actual newspaper interviews and reports between 1879 and 1881; Estevez asked Jon Bon Jovi for permission to include the song ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ in the film but Bon Jovi didn’t feel the lyrics fit the film so he quickly wrote ‘Blaze of Glory’ for the film, which went to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; Bon Jovi makes a cameo appearance in the film as one of the prisoners in the pit with Doc and Chavez.
August 3 – Duck Tales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
- Cast: Alan Young, Terrence McGovern, Russi Taylor, Richard Libertini, Christopher Lloyd, June Foray, Chuck McCann, Joan Gerber, Rip Taylor
- Director: Bob Hathcock
- Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
- Trivia: The events of the film take place between the third and fourth seasons of the Duck Tales TV series; the film began as a five-part episode for the TV series; voice-overs took a year, with another six months of retakes; Rip Taylor had to phone in some of his retakes as he was in Atlantic City at the time, saying he had to do it seven times because they kept changing the dialog.
August 3 – Metropolitan
- Cast: Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Taylor Nichols, Christopher Eigeman, Allison Rutledge-Parisi, Dylan Hundley. Isabel Gillies, Bryan Leder, Will Kempe, Elisabeth Thompson
- Director: Whit Stillman
- Studio: Westerly Films, Allagash Films. Distributed by New Line Cinema
- Trivia: The film is considered the first of a trilogy of Stillman films followed by Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco; Stillman wanted to set the films in a pre-Woodstock 1960s but the budget would not allow for that so he included some period details like vintage Checker Cabs to give the film an ‘aura of the past’.
August 3 – Mo’ Better Blues
- Cast: Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Joie Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Dick Anthony Williams, Cynda Williams
- Director: Spike Lee
- Studio: 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Distributed by Universal Pictures.
- Trivia: The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris and is dedicated to his memory; Lee faced charges of anti-Semitism for his portrayal of Jewish nightclub owners Moe and Josh Flatbush, but Lee refused to apologize.
2000
August 3 – Chopper
- Cast: Eric Bana, Vince Colosimo, Simon Lyndon, Kate Beahan, David Field
- Director: Andrew Dominik
- Studio: Australian Film Finance Corporation, Mushroom Pictures, Pariah Entertainment Group. Distributed by First Look Pictures
- Trivia: Mark ‘Chopper’ Read suggested Bana play him, and Bana lived with Read for two days to help him practice for the role.
August 4 – Coyote Ugly
- Cast: Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello, Melanie Lynskey, Bridget Moynahan, John Goodman, Tyra Banks
- Director: David McNally
- Studio: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.
- Trivia: Kevin Smith did an uncredited rewrite of the film, stating eight writers worked on the script that the WGA only credited to Gina Wendkos, whose script barely resembles the finished film; Jessica Simpson turned down the role of Violet Sanford.
August 4 – Hollow Man
- Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick, Mary Randle, William Devane
- Director: Paul Verhoeven
- Studio: Columbia Pictures, Red Wagon Productions, Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Company Medien KG. Distributed by Sony Pictures.
- Trivia: The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects but lost to Gladiator; $50 million of the film’s $95 million budget went to the 560 visual effects shots; filming was done in chronological order to accommodate the destruction of the laboratory set later in the film; filming shut down for seven weeks after Shue tore her Achilles tendon and was nearly replaced; the film was allowed to shoot in front of The Pentagon; Guy Pearce and Edward Norton were considered for the lead but Bacon was cast for his ability to be charming and diabolical.
August 4 – Space Cowboys
- Cast: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner, Marcia Gay Harden, William Devane, Loren Dean, Courtney B. Vance, James Cromwell
- Director: Clint Eastwood
- Studio: Village Roadshow Pictures, Clipsal Films, Malpaso Productions, Mad Chance Productions. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Trivia: The portrayals of the characters in 1958 were filmed with younger actors and voiced by their older counterparts.
2010
July 30 – Charlie St. Cloud
- Cast: Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, Donal Logue, Charlie Tahan, Ray Liotta, Kim Basinger
- Director: Burr Steers
- Studio: Relativity Media, Marc Platt Productions, Charlie Film Productions. Distributed by Universal Pictures.
- Trivia: Efron turned down the lead in the Footloose remake for this film.
July 30 – Dinner for Schmucks
- Cast: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Jemaine Clement, Jeff Dunham, Bruce Greenwood, Ron Livingston
- Director: Jay Roach
- Studio: DreamWorks Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Parkes + MacDonald Productions, Everyman Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, BIG Pictures. Distributed by Paramount Pictures.
- Trivia: The film is an American version of the French film Le Dîner de Cons (‘The Dinner of Idiots’); the film’s release was pushed back a week to July 30 to avoid competition with Salt and Inception.
July 30 – The Extra Man
- Cast: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly
- Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
- Studio: Wild Bunch, 3 Arts Entertainment, Likely Story, Tax Credit Finance. Distributed by Magnolia Pictures.
July 30 – Get Low
- Cast: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Bill Cobbs
- Director: Aaron Schneider
- Studio: K5 International, Zanuck Independent, David Gundlach Productions, Lara Enterprises, TVN, Butcher’s Run Films. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.
- Trivia: The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 12, 2009; Duvall won the Hollywood Films Festival Award for Best Actor in October 2010; Schneider won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature in September 2010; the film is loosely based on a real incident from Roane County, Tennessee in 1938, and Duvall’s character Felix Bush was based on real person Felix Bushaloo ‘Uncle Bush’ Breazeale.
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