Highest-Rated Movies about 'New England'

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Glory (1989), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Salesman (1969), All That Heaven Allows (1955), White Christmas (1954), The Haunting (1963), In the Bedroom (2001) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best New England movies.

#1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Storyline: George and Martha are a middle aged married couple, whose charged relationship is defined by vitriolic verbal battles, which underlies what seems like an emotional dependence upon each other. This verbal abuse is fueled by an excessive consumption of alcohol. George being an associate History professor in a New Carthage university where Martha's father is the President adds an extra dimension to their relationship. Late one Saturday evening after a faculty mixer, Martha invites Nick and Honey, an ambitious young Biology professor new to the university and his mousy wife, over for a nightcap. As the evening progresses, Nick and Honey, plied with more alcohol, get caught up in George and Martha's games of needing to hurt each other and everyone around them. The ultimate abuse comes in the form of talk of George and Martha's unseen sixteen year old son, whose birthday is the following day.

Plot Keywords: alcohol, drinking, dialogue driven, husband wife relationship, drunkenness, one night, humiliation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Glory (1989)

Storyline: Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers.

Plot Keywords: 19th century, american civil war, military uniform, war hero, slavery, whipping, whip ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Storyline: Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, as a young boy and girl fall in love they are moved to run away together. Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down - which might not be such a bad thing.

Plot Keywords: young love, coming of age, storm, search party, 1960s, boy scout, sheriff ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. Salesman (1969)

Storyline: Filmmakers (and brothers) Albert and David Maysles follow four employees of a company that makes expensive, ornate, illustrated bibles as they attempt to sell the items door-to-door to less-than-interested customers, who are mainly poor or lower-middle-class Catholics with little money to spend on pretty Bibles.—Gary Dickerson <slug@mail.utexas.edu>

Plot Keywords: trip, housewife, winter, clapping, applause, award, motivational speaker ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Storyline: Cary Scott is a widow with two grown children. She's been leading a quiet life since her husband died, socializing with a small circle of friends. Her children no longer live with her full-time but come home every weekend. She's not unhappy but also doesn't realize how bored she is. Her friend Sara Warren encourages her to get a television set to keep her company but she doesn't want that either. She develops a friendship with Ron Kirby who owns his own nursery and comes every spring and fall to trim her trees. Ron is much younger than Cary and their friendship soon turns to love. Her circle of friends are surprised that she is seeing such a younger man and she might be prepared to overlook that - Ron certainly doesn't care about the differences in their ages - but when her son and daughter vehemently object, she decides to sacrifice her own feelings for their happiness. Over time however, she realizes that her children will be spending less and less time with her as they pursue their...

Plot Keywords: widow, gossip, older woman younger man relationship, star crossed lovers, melodrama, age difference, class differences ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. White Christmas (1954)

Storyline: Having left the Army following W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, as the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General.

Plot Keywords: christmas, sheriff, business partner, bachelor, jeep, horseshoe, ballerina ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. The Haunting (1963)

Storyline: Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways.

Plot Keywords: haunted house, gothic horror, supernatural horror, based on novel, lesbian, library, gothic ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. In the Bedroom (2001)

Storyline: In idyllic Mid-Coast Maine, the Fowler family's only son Frank comes home from his freshman year at college for summer vacation. His mother Ruth, the school choir director, is unhappy with Frank dating soon-to-be divorced mother Natalie who is several years his senior, but Frank's father Matt, the town doctor, doesn't see a problem. While Frank considers holding off his future for Natalie, her jilted husband causes them all problems until an unthinkable tragedy shakes the community to its very core.

Plot Keywords: dysfunctional family, marriage, psychopath, single mother, violence, murder, kidnapping ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Moby Dick (1956)

Storyline: This classic story by Herman Melville revolves around Captain Ahab and his obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. The whale caused the loss of Ahab's leg years before, leaving Ahab to stomp the boards of his ship on a peg leg. Ahab is so crazed by his desire to kill the whale, that he is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find and destroy his nemesis, Moby Dick.

Plot Keywords: whale, revenge, sea captain, based on novel, lost at sea, mutiny, one armed man ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Clue (1985)

Storyline: Clue is a movie about seven guests, a butler, and a maid, who are all involved in a series of murders. The guests all meet at Hill House, where you learn that Professor Plum works in D.C., where everyone else lives. Colonel Mustard is a client of Miss Scarlet, who is the ex-employer of Yvette, the maid, who had an affair with the husband of Mrs. White, etc. Blackmailer Mr. Boddy gives each guest a weapon and tells them to kill butler Wadsworth to avoid being exposed. Add in Mrs. Peacock's craziness and Mr. Green's clumsiness, and meet a whole group tangled in a web of murder, lies, and hilarity.

Plot Keywords: whodunit, mystery killer, murder investigation, night, reenactment, power outage, letter ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. Peyton Place (1957)

Storyline: It's the pre-WWII era. Peyton Place is a small town in New England, whose leading adult citizens rule the town with their high moral standards, which they try to pass on to their offspring. The adults, especially those that wield power largely through their positions and/or through their wealth, will not tolerate anything they believe morally improper, even if there is a hint of impropriety without comprehensive evidence to back up the hints. As their offspring grow from teenagers to adults, the offspring learn that there is much hypocrisy by the adults lying underneath that façade of proper Christian morals. The offspring begin to rebel in different ways, which is brought to public scrutiny with the arrival into town of an "outsider", the new young high school principal Michael Rossi, and through a murder trial.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: mother son relationship, pregnancy, sexual repression, suicide by hanging, world war two, school dance, deception ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. How the West Was Won (1962)

Storyline: Setting off on a journey to the west in the 1830s, the Prescott family run into a man named Linus, who helps them fight off a pack of thieves. Linus then marries daughter Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker), and 30 years later goes off to fight in the Civil War with their son, with bloody results. Eve's sister, Lily, heads farther west and has adventures with a professional gambler, stretching all the way to San Francisco and into the 1880s.

Plot Keywords: imperialism, saloon, san francisco california, singing, small town, spinster, st. louis missouri ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966)

Storyline: In the Cold War, when the captain of a Russian submarine comes too close to the Gloucester Island in Massachusetts to give a look at America, the submarine gets stranded. A nine-man team commanded by Lieutenant Rozanov goes onshore to search a motor boat to release the submarine and arrives at the summer house of the New Yorker writer Walt Whittaker that is spending the weekend with his family in Gloucester. When he realizes that they are Russians, he believes that it is an invasion. Soon the information leaks, leading hysteria and paranoia along the inhabitants of the small village.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: stranded, language barrier, based on novel, culture clash, black comedy, naval uniform, new england ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. Infinitely Polar Bear (2014)

Storyline: In the late 1970s, in Boston, the bipolar Cameron "Cam" Stuart lives with his wife Maggie and their daughters Amelia and Faith in an isolated house in the countryside. When Cam is fired from his job, he has a mental breakdown and Maggie is forced to institutionalize him. When he is released, he moves to a small apartment while Maggie works to support the children. She decides to apply to an MBA program to improve her income and she is accepted by Columbia University in New York. She asks Cam to take care of the girls for eighteen months and he agrees despite his fears. Maggie moves to New York and Cam is responsible for Amelia and Faith's education. Will the scheme work?

Plot Keywords: mental illness, father daughter relationship, bipolar disorder, semi autobiographical, absent mother, cigarette smoking, reference to harvard university ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. The Late George Apley (1947)

Storyline: George and Catherine Apley of Boston lead a proper life in the proper social circle, as did the Apleys before them. When grown daughter Eleanor falls in love with Howard (from New York!), and son John with Myrtle (from Worcester!), the ordered life of the Apley home on Beacon Street is threatened, as is the hoped-for union of John and Apley-cousin Agnes.—Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

Plot Keywords: boston massachusetts, new york city, upper class, new england, massachusetts, edwardian era, 1910s ...

Movie Details Click Here!