Highest-Rated Movies about 'Postwar America', Sort by Popularity

The Master (2012), Painters Painting (1972), The Glass Wall (1953), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), The Undefeated (1969), Desert Bloom (1986), Insignificance (1985) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Postwar America movies.

#2. Painters Painting (1972)

Storyline: Emile de Antonio's documentary about postwar American painting combines footage of museum shows with interviews with the artists themselves. Besides covering Abstract Expressionism in depth, the film discusses other significant 20th-century art movements, such as color-field painting and Pop Art. Some of the artists who discuss their work include Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Barnett Newman and Helen Frankenthaler.

Plot Keywords: artist, art dealer, museum curator, art critic, fascinating, passionate, intricate ...

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#3. The Glass Wall (1953)

Storyline: Peter, a WW II 'displaced person' about to be deported jumps ship in New York harbor in an effort to find an ex-G.I named Tom whom he helped during the war and can prove Peter's right to legal entry in the United States. It is a race against time for if he can't Tom within 24 hours and prove his case, he will be branded a fugitive and will be permanently disqualified for U.S. citizenship. His quest leads him to befriending Maggie, a down-on-her-luck factory worker whom he rejuvenates through his good faith; a visit to a jazz club where Shorty Rogers and his band and trombonist Jack Teagarden are playing, and an interlude with a good- hearted burlesque dancer, Tanya Zakoyla, takes him to her mother's home for food and rest. The climax comes at dawn in the United Nations building (the "glass wall" of the title) where he goes to plead his case and that of all displaced persons.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Plot Keywords: illegal alien, veteran, fugitive, factory worker, inspector, jazz musician, melodramatic ...

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#4. Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

Storyline: It's 1950 on San Pedro Island in the American Pacific Northwest. Commercial fisher Carl Heine Jr.'s dead body is pulled out of the water in a fishing net by his crew, he who died of head trauma. Kazuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. Carl and Kazuo were once friends, had known each other since childhood, but WWII has placed a strain on any sort of relationship between the ethic Japanese and Caucasian populations of the area, the Japanese population which was and is still substantial on the island. Carl had motive regarding a land dispute between the two families, land which Carl's mother eventually sold from under the Miyamotos and which Carl had just repurchased. Evidence also points to Kazuo being on the water with Carl probably sometime during his last voyage, evidence which Kazuo knew would put him in a bad light, adding on top of being Japanese, and thus decided not to disclose to the investigating sheriff at the time he was questioned. Kazuo and his wife Hatsue's fear come ...

Plot Keywords: japanese-american, fisherman, newspaper reporter, wife, love interest, judge, somber ...

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#5. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

Storyline: It is 1948 in LA and Ezikeal "Easy" Rawlins, an African-American World War II veteran, is looking for work. At his friend's bar, he is introduced to a white man, DeWitt Albright, who is looking for someone to help him find a missing white woman assumed to be hiding somewhere in LA's Black community. This woman, Daphne Monet, happens to be the fiancée of a wealthy "blue blood," Todd Carter, who is currently the favorite in the city's mayoralty race. Daphne Monet is known to frequent the Black jazz clubs in LA. Easy, innocently, accepts Albright's offer; however, he quickly finds himself amidst murder, crooked cops, ruthless politicians, and brutalizing hoodlums. This is a Chandler-esque "who-done-it" with an African-American theme.

Plot Keywords: veteran, private investigator, girlfriend, woman, friend, politician, tense ...

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#6. The Undefeated (1969)

Storyline: After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.—Alfred Jingle

Plot Keywords: colonel, confederate soldier, native american, mexican, blacksmith, engaging, patriotic ...

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#7. Desert Bloom (1986)

Storyline: The story involves Rose Chismore's youth. She flashes back and remembers her coming-of-age. Her recollections are sometimes less than sweet, particularly those of her troubled and alcoholic stepfather. Her memories of Robin, her first love, are much happier, and she also recalls her colorful Aunt Starr, whose visit is fun, but also detrimental to her family's health. The setting of 1950s Nevada bomb testing is increasingly significant to the development of the story.—Melissa Portell <mportell@s-cwis.unomaha.edu>

Plot Keywords: teen girl, stepfather, mother, aunt, teen boy, friend, moving ...

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#8. Insignificance (1985)

Storyline: Four 1950's cultural icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) who conceivably could have met and probably didn't, fictionally do in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flash-backs and flash-forwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future.—Jeanne Baker <jbaker@erim.org>

Plot Keywords: physicist, starlet, baseball player, senator, native american, witty, creative ...

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#9. Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996)

Storyline: The Yosemite Valley Railroad, which runs through the breathtaking scenery and stunning vistas of the Merced River Canyon to its terminus at El Portal outside Yosemite National Park, is on the brink of failure. The grandson of a Chinese railroad laborer embarks on a romantic, but ultimately doomed, quest to save this railroad from being sold for scrap. His love of trains finds him working as a railroad-man, instead of at his father's profitable business. He manages to locate a wealthy eccentric investor to help him acquire the railroad, but its financial inviability makes this a quixotic reprieve, at best. The film also portrays the anti-Asian racism present in America at the conclusion of World War II.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>

Plot Keywords: son, father, conductor, park ranger, love interest, bleak, creative ...

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