This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on April 19, 2006). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
This is fun: THE movie timeline.
So here’s the pitch: The Movie Timeline is the history of everything, taken from one simple premise: that everything you see in the movies is true – the real mixes with the fictitious, so long as it’s reported in a movie somewhere…
In 1973, the year I was born:
- January 1: 12:01am – The Poseidon, a luxury liner on its last voyage from Athens to New York, is struck by a 90ft tidal wave and capsizes (The Poseidon Adventure, 1972)
- Bobby Darin dies (Beyond The Sea)
- New York – William Miller and Penny Lane go on tour with Stillwater (Almost Famous)
- Las Vegas – Sam “Ace” Rothstein begins running a casino (Casino)
- The Ice Storm
- The Long Goodbye
- Astronauts travel 3000 years into the future and bring back talking apes, who are killed by the police and the investigation files sealed (Planet of the Apes)
- March 15: George McFly wins a writing award, or is killed, depending on the timeline (Back To The Future Part II)
- June: Mossad debriefs a killer it may or may not have hired (Munich)
And in 1976, the year both Prairie and my brother Kevin were born:
- January 4: Rocky Balboa shocks the boxing world by lasting 15 rounds with heavyweight champ Apollo Creed – though Creed wins (Rocky)
- King Kong is again discovered on Skull Island and let loose – again – on New York City (King Kong, 1976)
- Atlanta, Georgia – Bo “Bandit” Darvill and Cledus “Snowman” Snow bring 400 cases of Coors beer 1800 miles from Texarkana to Atlanta in less than 28 hours, winning $80,000 (Smokey and the Bandit)
- Israeli officer Avner is debriefed by Mossad (Munich)
- Rocky Balboa marries Adrian and they have s son, Robert “Rocky” Jr (Rocky II)
- Summer – Dazed and Confused
- July 4: Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, Idaho – Arnold Joseph saves infant Thomas Builds-The-Fire from a burning house (Smoke Signals)
- July 8: Hannibal Lecter savages a nurse during a medical examination (Red Dragon)
- September 8: Howard The Duck arrives on Earth (Howard The Duck)
- November 25: Philadelphia – Rocky Balboa knocks out Apollo Creed in the 15th round in their rematch (Rocky II)
- November 26: The Band perform their last concert together (The Last Waltz)
Who knew things were so eventful back then?
“Stay” by Shakespear’s Sister from the album Hormonally Yours (1991, 3:48).