50s

  • "The Notorious Bettie Page"

    This tender look at the life of Bettie Page -- played by a fearless, gorgeous Gretchen Mol -- gets intimate without demystifying the pinup icon.
    By Stephanie Zacharek April 13, 2006

  • "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio"

    Julianne Moore's '50s-era housewife digs beneath the stereotypes and reminds us that before feminism was a movement, it was a vibe of self-determination.
    By Stephanie Zacharek September 28, 2005

  • The haunted 50s

    In his new book about being middle-aged, James Atlas explores subjects writers rarely tackle: Limitation and loss.
    By David Bowman April 17, 2005

  • Burying the '50s

    Conservatives want America to return to the Doris Day era. But as the films "Far From Heaven" and "Down With Love" prove, those days are so gone, the only thing left to do is make costume dramas about them.
    By Laura Miller May 28, 2003

  • "The Quiet American"

    A rich adaptation featuring Michael Caine honors Graham Greene's prescient story about a love triangle in '50s Vietnam.
    By Stephanie Zacharek January 29, 2003

  • "The Iron Giant"

    Even against the warmer, rounder tones of traditional animation, Brad Bird's computer-
    generated metal man practically breathes.
    By Stephanie Zacharek October 17, 2000

  • Dinner at 8

    Where, oh where, are the children who can mix a decent vodka gimlet?
    By Jodi Greenbaum July 11, 2000

  • Back to the '50s

    Five favorite novels from a decade that was wilder than you think.
    By E.L. Doctorow July 26, 1999

  • Fujiyama Mama

    Wanda Jackson, the queen of rockabilly, erupted last weekend before a small crowd of reverent Denver fans.
    By David Hill July 20, 1999

  • 50,000,000 Backstreet Boys' fans can be wrong

    The sweat-drenched rock 'n' rollers of the '50s knew all about good and evil. Forty years later, the Backstreet Boys are singing love songs to their moms. How did pop music get this insipid?
    By Ira Robbins June 8, 1999

  • Exile in "Pleasantville"

    Director Gary Ross fetishizes the '50s in this high-concept parable about the dangers of conformity.
    By Charles Taylor October 23, 1998

  • The Ways We Were

    "Our Secret Century" unearths American social history from forgotten films.
    By Scott Rosenberg September 9, 1996
Salon Directory › 123 › 50s (12 stories)

From Salon's blogs