ReZoom

The movies that most made us laugh and cry and cringe and, er, cavort? In short, the films that influenced us then and still do today ...

Few ReZoomer experiences are shared as thoroughly as movies. Especially movies of the 1960s and '70s. And more especially those that defined us individually and as a generation.

And what a great time it was. We were coming into our own, society was reeling from cultural and political changes, and Hollywood was straining to shatter taboos and push the edge of the envelope.

It was a perfect storm for those of us who were aiming to be easy riders, graduates, midnight cowboys or psychos. We were nurtured on these eye-openers and mind-blowers and today, for good or ill, we're reaping the cultural fallout.

Fallout?
Let's start with "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." After all, some of our finest memories of elementary school involved "duck and cover" drills for that inevitable moment the Ruskies would nuke our neighboring suburbs. Stanley Kubrick's savage 1964 send-up of the Cold War was a perfect post-Kennedy comedy.

Comedy?
The funny stuff was overwhelmed by the deep and profound – what does that tell you about ‘60s cinema? Although Blake Edwards saved the decade with The Pink Panther franchise, launching a million bad imitators of Peter Sellers' bad imitation of a French accent, we weren't completely without yuks. We just seemed to prefer watching "Laugh-In" on TV.

TV?
Thanks to "Network," we're still "mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!" We laughed and squirmed at our media complacency.

Complacency?
Oh, how we loved "Easy Rider" for the two anti-establishment anti-heroes whose drug entrepreneurship renders the perfect retirement nest egg, and with it freedom. They had the best bikes in all creation and a pickup philosopher in George Hansen, while they hurtled to their destiny where they'd never have to grow up.

Grow up?"The Graduate" was a very nearly perfect ode to that widespread condition we used to call "identity crisis." Now it's called depression and medicated away with a myriad of multicolored pills. But back then we were right there with Benjamin Braddock as he wallowed in his angst over love, life, the future, the pressure from all sides and – are you listening? Plastics. It fired our imaginations as he blew it all off to find his own space.

Space?
That "2001: A Space Odyssey" was one glorious, Blue Danube-tinged journey directly into the cerebrum. The bonus was a light show that guided us to the next step of humanity.

Humanity?
We weren't too sure about it after "Rosemary's Baby." A portrait of dread.

Dread?
How about "Night of the Living Dead"? Much like the time, a seemingly never-ending battle.

Battle?
You have to say "The Longest Day" was as epic a war flick as was ever made, but for our generation, "M*A*S*H" dispensed with the glory and went for the gory, as well as honoring the absurdity of it all. Robert Altman's overlapping action and dialogue set the Korean War smack in the middle of our Vietnam consciousness.

Consciousness?
In the midst of the Nixon era we had "The Candidate," where idealism and good and right triumphed over the other guy. But stark was the realization in Robert Redford's newly elected Senator's last words: "What do we do now?"

What do we do now?
Let "The Godfather" make you an offer you cannot refuse. Just always remember: "It's not personal ... it's strictly business."

Want more? Get a woman's point of view on the top films that shaped our generation.