MovieChat Forums > The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) Discussion > What decade is this supposed to be set i...

What decade is this supposed to be set in?

posted 10 years ago by avortac
7 replies | jump to latest

I mean, everything looks very old-fashioned, even the american president. So it looks like this movie is supposed to be happening in a certain, very specific era in history.

However, the psychiatrists mention "electro-convulsive therapy" instead of "electro-shock therapy", and that immediately destroys any credibility of this being set somewhere far in the past (except maybe 1994, that is already twenty years ago, so it's pretty far in the past).

It's odd to see this kind of detail put to convince the audience about something, and then the movie itself destroying its own credibility.

Btw, I was watching another Steve Buscemi movie (didn't even know he was going to be in this one), "Mystery Train", where his character works as a barber, and it amazed me to see that he is actually using the scissors exactly correctly, as if he was tutored by an actual barber (you can't just hand someone barber scissors and expect them to be able to use them correctly without at least some explanation) or something. This kind of detail impresses me, especially because LCD (the group that will not get what this acronym stands for besides 'liquid crystal display') would never notice/figure out/realize it.

It's a bit like 'Back to the Future', and the newspaper car-joke that's onscreen a fraction of a second - but it's done with detail and looks authentic nevertheless.

Anyways, I was correct in my assessment in another thread - this movie is certainly not about a structure/device/group created to suck HUDs from Hornets (or any other jet airplanes).

[–] franzkabuki 10 years ago

It is plainly stated in the film when it's taking place.

'facts are stupid things' - Ronald Reagan

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

Yes. I wonder if the OP even watched the movie.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] CharlesP2009 9 years ago

Yep, the narrator literally tells you the year in the first 12 seconds of the film.

[–] jpowell180 9 years ago

Yes, and the "old fashioned" President was, in fact, a very real President Eisenhower, who was indisputably President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

Just watching it today and was surprised it was set in the late 50s, I always assumed it was set in the 30s due to JJL's way of speaking.

[–] leecd 9 years ago

Yes. The Amy Archer character, and particularly her speech pattern, is molded after the Hildy Johnson character (beautifully played by Rosalind Russell) in His Girl Friday (1940).

But to the OP, it's stated in the narration in the first minute of the movie. 1958.

[–] NewtonFigg 9 years ago

It's supposed to be 1958, but it doesn't look at all like 1958. The men's clothes, jackets with wide lapels, wide, garish neck ties, vests, all look more like 1951. That stock ticker looks like a prop from a Charlie Chaplin movie. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment about the women's clothing.