Our quest to explore American history one movie at a time in chronological order. Currently 45 films and counting.
Sergeant York (1941) – Tennessee, etc ~1914-1918
Jim Thorpe — All-American (1951) – Pennsylvania, etc ~1908-1932
Ragtime (1981) – New York ~1906-1913
The Wind and the Lion (1975) – Morocco / Washington D.C. 1904
The Winds of Kitty Hawk (1978) – Ohio / North Carolina / New York 1897-1912
There Will Be Blood (2007) – California 1898-1927
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – Wyoming / Bolivia 1899-1908
The Gold Rush (1925) – Alaska / Yukon late 1890s
The Lighthouse (2019) – New England ~1890s
The Prestige (2006) – London / Colorado 1890s
Edison, the Man (1940) – New Jersey ~1869-1929
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) – South Dakota ~1887-1890
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Missouri 1882
Stagecoach (1939) – New Mexico 1880
The Molly Maguires (1970) – Pennsylvania 1876
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) – The Old West, mid-late 19th century
In Old Chicago (1938) – Chicago 1871
Little Big Man (1970) – Montana / South Dakota 1859-1876
The Searchers (1956) – Texas 1868-1873
Lincoln (2012) – Washington D.C. 1865
Dances with Wolves (1990) – Colorado ~1863
Glory (1989) – Massachusetts / South Carolina 1862-1863
Gettysburg (1993) – Pennsylvania 1863
The General (1926) – Georgia 1862
The Gangs of New York (2002) – New York City 1846-1863
Santa Fe Trail (1940) – Kansas 1854-1859
12 Years a Slave (2013) – Louisiana 1841-1853
The Revenant (2015) – South Dakota 1823
The Mark of Zorro (1940) & The Mask of Zorro (1998) – California 1820-1840
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955) – Tennessee / DC / Texas 1815-1836
First Cow (2020) – Oregon 1820
The Buccaneer (1958) – Louisiana 1815
Hamilton (2020) – New York / DC 1776-1795
The Patriot (2000) & Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) – South Carolina / New York 1776-1781
1776 (1972) – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1776
Northwest Passage (1940) – New York 1759
Chingachgook: The Great Snake (1967) – New York 1740
The Crucible (1996) – Salem, Massachusetts 1692
The Witch (2015) – New England ~1630
Mayflower: The Pilgrims’ Adventure (1979) – Atlantic Ocean / Massachusetts 1620
Pocahontas (1995) & The New World (2005) – Virginia 1606-1609
Valhalla Rising (2009) – North America ~1100