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Other movies or TV shows with similar settings

posted 6 years ago by [deleted]
9 replies | jump to latest

What are some of your favorite movies or TV shows that remind you of the mid-twentieth century setting of Mad Men setting in some way, whether actually produced in that time period or more recently as period pieces? It could be the aspects of high-profile business dealings in the big city, suburban ennui and social scandal in the northeastern states, etc.

Here are a few feature films that come to mind for me:
The Best of Everything
A Summer Place
The Swimmer
Peyton Place

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Another one I thought of:

From the Terrace

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6911) 6 years ago

Kind of reminds me of Far From Heaven 2002.

[–] [email protected] (690) 6 years ago

And the Jane Wyman / Rock Hudson / Doug Sirk film that inspired both that movie and a pretty good Bruce Springsteen song, All That Heaven Allows. If you allow it to have it's way with you, it's a great movie. Or at least a Fun movie.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (6911) 6 years ago

Sounds good, I'll give it a go.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

I agree about All That Heaven Allows.

[–] FilmBuff (6677) 6 years ago

It's a comedy, so it has nothing in common with Mad Men in terms of mood, but Good Neighbor Sam with Jack Lemmon and Edward G. Robinson was filmed in that era, and depicts the inner workings of an ad agency. It's a hilarious movie and worth watching in its own right, but also one that fits the Mad Men aesthetic.

To a lesser extent, Hitchcock's North by Northwest has Cary Grant as a Don Draper Mad Man type caught up in espionage, and has some of the aesthetic of the show.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Good points.

[–] snepts (11123) 6 years ago

As you likely know, the classic Wilder film The Apartment is set in an ad agency, if I'm not mistaken.
(And I might be, it might as well have been an insurance company, as far as the importance of the business.)
The tone is nothing like Mad Men, but I can imagine a similar story line coming up in MM, just played differently so as not to be a bald and blatant recreation.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Indeed.