This year I have tried to do a few theme within a theme posts and this week I’m doing the same, I’m picking movies with small towns during, surprise surprise, winter! It’s that time of the year, and it’s snowing all around the world – I’ve seen various instagram photos of this wonderful white fuzz. So it seemed only fitting that I’d share my three wonderful snow-filled picks.
1. GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
The film takes place in a small town, where an arrogant reporter is sent to cover an event but he unfortunately gets stuck in a day. That’s right, he has to live the same day over and over again, and I bet you all knew that. I feel like there’s a lot to love about Groundhog Day, and the small town element to it is definitely one of those aspects.
2. FARGO (1996)
This is one of those movies I watched later in life and I’m so glad I did. I probably wouldn’t have gotten the humour back when I was a teenager, but I did when I watched it. There is just something special about it and the series, where the first season is based on the movie, feels just as good. And I feel like whatever I say about, I would give away the surprises the movie provides from start to finish.
3. WIND RIVER (2017)
Not necessarily a town, more like a community, Wind River is a movie I saw just last Sunday and loved it. It portrays a very strong story through very simple scenes, and stories. It has emotion, heart and most importantly, a strong message that I wasn’t even aware of. And the snow, well, out of all my three picks, the snow plays the most important part in this movie.
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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I like your theme! So fitting for this time of year. I like Fargo (aka Brainerd) and Wind River. Groundhog Day I never cared for.
Thank you! I totally was in a snowy mood when I typed this one, it was snowing, I just had watched Wind River, the perfect mood. Minus the awful scene the movie.
I love all of your picks. Nice theme within a theme by the way 🙂
Wind River *sigh* He looked so beautiful…
Nice another theme within a theme, love those…and it’s snowing outside right this minute-how fitting!
Fargo is a terrific film full of frozen tundra, a wicked sense of humor and wonderful performances. I put off Groundhog Day for years (maybe even a decade) because it sounded so silly and I’m not a big Bill Murray fan but when I finally broke down and watched it I found it great fun and Murray perfectly cast which was a nice surprise. Haven’t seen Wind River but it sounds decent.
No theme within a theme for me but there are so many films set in small towns I just picked three I have an affection for and called it a day.
Doc Hollywood (1991)-Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) is a hotshot young doctor as well as pompous jackass who has been offered a big opportunity with a plastic surgeon in L.A. Driving across country in his sports car he tries to avoid highway traffic but causes a minor accident on a back road in the small town of Grady. Sentenced to community service assisting the town’s long time cantankerous physician Dr. Hogue (Barnard Hughes) he struggles with the slower pace of the village. At first snappish and anxious to get out of there ASAP he gradually falls for both the colorful townspeople including the mayor (David Ogden Stiers) his randy but sweet daughter Nancy Lee (a scene stealing Bridget Fonda) and pretty ambulance driver Lou (Julie Warner) whose affections he has to compete for with the cocksure insurance man Hank (Woody Harrelson). Good natured comedy is a great showcase for Fox’s boyish charm.
All That Heaven Allows (1955)-Douglas Sirk’s masterpiece of color and skewering of class structure looks at the May/December romance of wealthy widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), lonely but hidebound by small town mores to a country club life full of wolfish men, disapproving children and stifling conventions, and her younger gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) a successful nurseryman with a rustic, down to earth attitude who doesn’t give a damn what others think. They are happy for a brief period but Cary, saddled with two of the most odious children (both of college age) in filmdom is pressured by them to break off the affair at which point having ruined her life they promptly forget about her. There’s plenty more drama ahead for the pair though. This heavily influenced Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven.
Our Town (1940)-The everyday life of small town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire from the turn of the last century until about the time the film was made is recalled by the residents young and old. Idyllic version of life in the early 20th century where no one locks their doors and all is mostly harmonious focuses on young lovers George Gibbs (William Holden) and Emily Webb (Martha Scott) through their trials and triumphs. Thornton Wilder’s play on which this is based won the Pulitzer Prize.
Great theme within the theme. I love Groundhog Day and Fargo. Amazing movies, both. Still need to see Wind River.
Do it as soon as you can, it’s a good movie!
Wind River is one film I’ve been meaning to check out before the end of the year !
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Definitely do it, it’s worth it!
Great list. Love that you included Wind River here. Tough film, but, like you said, one with a great message.
Thank you!