Question....
What time period was the setting for this film? It seems like maybe the 1940's?
shareI spoted a 1954 Ford truck. I would place this to be in the fiftys.
shareGranpa visits the graveyard in the beginning where he sees a tombstone with a deceased date of 1956. At the graduation ceremony a fifty-star flag is flying, so it must be after July 4, 1960. Since Clayboy is graduating from High School, it must be June 1961, or just before the movie was released. Therefore it looks as is the movie is [was] set in the present.
shareSince this is essentially Earl Hamner's "first draft" for the Waltons, I had assumed that it was also set during the depression.
I don't put too much credence on a 1954 Ford car or a 50 star flag, lots of movies aren't fussy about such details. I don't remember the graveyard scene with the 1956 tombstone marking -- are you sure it was not 1936?
It's on right now. The graveyard scene was in the first few minutes and it was definitely 1956 on the tombstone. I've seen plenty of movies with flags with the wrong number of stars, but its pretty unusual to see 1950s cars in a depression era movie. All of the cars were modern (for the 50s) so I agree that it was set in the late 50s.
shareSince they changed the location of Earl Hamner Jr.'s book's location from The Blue Ridge of Virginia to Wyoming, I think they did not care if they changed the time to the present. It was also probably cheaper to film with current vehicles, clothes styles, etc. than to get period pieces from the 20's and 30's. (I would personally think that it was set in the present, 50's or more likely early 60's - not everybody in that culture would have a brand new car... so if they were from the 50's, a few years old is believable.)
sharecada123 made the right point that cars shown in the movie would not all necessarily be new for the time that the movie was taking place. Toward the end when Claris's father picks her up, he's driving a 1962 Mercury. That car may also appear earlier in the movie, though I can't remember. There was also an early 60s-era Cadillac ambulance somewhere, so clearly the movie was intended to take place at the then-current time. Seeing older vehicles would be expected and appropriate for the for the time, especially in rural areas. Farm vehicles typically had a long useful life.
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