This documentary focuses on particular genres of movies made in thee 1950s. While most of Hollywood made films promoting the values of the day, many reflected an underlying rebelliousness or the foreboding that came from the fear of communism and the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Films like The Wild Ones and Rebel Without A Cause challenge the conformity of the Eisenhower era and a restlessness of youth that far pre-dated the youth movement of the 1960s. While science fiction films often represented the paranoia of invasion and the unknown, some films challenged traditional American beliefs. In The Thing, for example, the traditional movie response of trying to destroy the alien is challenged by promoting the importance of taking a more scientific approach and trying to learn from the creature. In films like Giant, the traditional role of women is questioned.
—garykmcd