Experience 24 Hours of Movie Magic – Check Out These Great Films Set in a Single Day
There are movies that take a lot of time and patience to get through because they span days, months, or even years. Then, there are the films in which the plot takes place in 24 hours or less. In fact, there's a lot of films that take place over one day that turned into timeless classics.
You probably recall the group of kids who spent their Saturday in detention or a group of career criminals who plan a jewel heist that goes horribly wrong. All these films took place over the course of 24 hours, and are jam packed with storytelling.
Alien, It's Like Jaws In Space
Ridley Scott blended science fiction with horror with Alien. A spaceship lands after receiving a distress call. One of the crew members is attacked but brings an alien life form back on the ship with him.
Scott's film also had its shocking and iconic chest-buster scene which was enough to earn him an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
American Graffiti Came Before Star Wars
Before Star Wars, George Lucas dove into the sixties. The movie revolves around a group of friends on their last night home before heading out for college.
In their final night, they hang out at the diner, listen to music, tell stories, and cruise the strip. Audiences felt reminiscent for the good old days, and nobody can blame them.
All Right, All Right, All Right
The thrilling excitement of the last day of school comes to life with Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused.
With the film set in 1976, the incoming freshmen are already being hazed by seniors, mostly by a very mean upperclassman played by Ben Affleck. The rest of the film is basically kids grooving out, smoking and drinking keg beer. Fun fact: John Hughes' classic eighties film made skipping school the best time ever.
Kevin Smith's Directorial Debut Was Clerks
Another movie where nothing really happens, Kevin Smith's 1994 black and white directorial debut features Quick Stop clerk Dante.
His friends pop in throughout the day as debates about Star Wars and games of hockey are played on the store's roof. The dialogue and the casualness of the conversations in the film made it a cult classic.
Groundhog Day... Living The Same Day On Repeat
Bitter weatherman Phil finds that Groundhog Dog seems to last forever. Little does Phil know that he's reliving the same day over and over again. He'll keep living on the same day until he gets it right.
Harold Rami's comedy pushes all the right emotional buttons, and technically, the film takes place over the course of the same 24-hour period.
It's Christmas, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Die Hard takes place in Los Angeles around Christmas time in 1988. Bruce Willis plays an off-duty New York cop, John McClane, who receives a note from his estranged wife.
However, the office party they attend gets busted by Hans Gruber and his group of German terrorists. McClane must outsmart the terrorists in order to save lives of everyone at the Nakatomi Plaza.
The Brain, An Athlete, A Basketcase, A Princess And A Criminal
John Hughes' coming-of-age-comedy tells the tale of five high school students from different cliques. Together, they spend their Saturday in detention, but it takes awhile for the characters to warm up to each other.
The teenagers wind up sharing their most painful secrets, but the letter submitted by the group at the end of the day summarizes the themes of the movie. What movie did Al Pacino star in that was named of the greatest screen performances of all time? The answer to that is still on the way.
Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino's debut follows a group of career criminals and one undercover cop. Together, the men are given pseudonyms to protect their identity for a jewel heist.
Tarantino immediately established what would become his trademark film style. In the first scene of the movie, the characters having a lengthy, pointless discussion on what Madonna's "Like A Virgin" really means.
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
12 Angry Men was Sidmey Lumet's directorial debut in 1957. 12 jurors must decide on the guilt or innocence of a man on trial for his life. At first, every juror votes guilty, except for juror 8, played by Henry Fonda, who needs more information.
Over the next several hours, personalities clash, and juror 8 insists on going over every detail. But in the end, the audience never finds out if the man was guilty or not.
Dog Day Afternoon Sparked Al Pacino's Career
A young Al Pacino starred in this seventies classic. The plot focuses on a bank robbery gone wrong as well as a hostage situation. The movie tackles numerous social and political issues of the seventies.
Most importantly, the film won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and Pacino ranked at number four on Premier Magainze's list of the greatest screen performances of all time.
What If A Lunatic Pushes A Button That Starts a Nuclear War?
Dr. Strangelove was Stanley Kubrick's satire on a nuclear threat during the Cold War. The Academy-nominated black comedy examined the reality if an idiot pushed a button that could start a war.
The real test of any great black comedy is getting people to laugh at things they usually wouldn't find funny.
Themes In Do The Right Thing Are Relevant Today
Spike Lee's Oscar-nominated film examines race relations in a small neighborhood in Brooklyn. Characters simmer over the course of 24 hours, until, at the end of the film, there's a violent eruption.
A black man dies at the hands of a cop, and Sal's Pizza Parlor is destroyed. The movie was released in 1989, but the story is relevant to what's going on today.
Bueller...? Bueller...? Bueller...?
The loveable and clever Ferris Bueller made skipping school like the best time ever. Along with his girlfriend and best friend, the trio has an overwhelming amount of fun in one day.
They hit up a Cubbies game, drive around Chicago in a Ferrari and participate in a parade. With a principal who's cracking down on Ferris, this was one of John Hughes' classic eighties films. Saturday's mean you can do whatever you want, but for five students, they have to be in the worst place imaginable. The coming-of-age comedy is still on the way.
Goonies Never Say Die!
Mikey Walsh, his brother Brandon, and their goofball friends must find a way to raise money to save the Walsh house from foreclosure. All of their problems could be solved after Mikey finds One-Eyed Willie's treasure map.
The Goonies made both kids and adults happy and managed to hit all the right comedic, dramatic, and eighties nostalgia notes.
Arsenic And Old Lace Was A Demented Black Comedy
It takes place not just a day, but in one room. The lunacy of the film, which was based on a play, involves a character who believes he's Teddy Roosevelt while trying to build the Panama Canal in his basement.
The film revolves around a notorious criminal who had plastic surgery to hide from the cops, two sweet old ladies who poison people to save them from their frustrations, with a hapless Everyman caught in all of it.
Rope Was One Of Alfred Hitchcock's Less-Known Films
Despite Rope being one of Hitchcock's lesser-known films, the plot surrounds two smart people who kill someone to prove they can get away with it.
Hitchcock came up with a way of blocking the entire movie as though it were one shot. Then, filming for 10 minutes until a reel ran out, he would stop everything, replace the reel in the camera, and pick up where the shot left off.
Glengarry Glen Ross Was Based On A Pulitzer Prize Winning Play
"Always be closing" is the message in David Mamet's screen adaption of the critically acclaimed play. It's a brutal, yet realistic depiction of what it's like to work in a real estate office. If you don't sell enough, bad leads or not, you're fired.
However, what would an ordinarily honest man do to save his job security? The film is very often profane thanks to Alec Baldwin.
Nothing Actually Happened In Before Sunrise
A young Ethan Hawke meets a French student named Celine on a train in Austrailia. There is a definite mutual attraction, as the pair walks around Vienna, getting to know each other.
There is no central conflict, and nothing happens in the film. However, there is a spark between the young couple who are full of life and hope, and that's about it.
Magnolia Has A Running Time Longer Than Three Hours
Paul Thomas Anderson's epic ensemble drama unfolds in less than 24 hours. In Los Angeles, Magnolia is a story about fathers, sons, quiz kids, forgiveness, and the meaning of life.
Also, it has one of the most unexpected endings in film history, but we won't ruin that for anyone who hasn't seen it.
High Noon Started Out With A Marriage In The Early Part Of The Morning
The characters Will Kane and Amy get married at 10:00 am. Kane is ready to leave his job as town marshal and open shop in another town, but finds out that a criminal is out of jail and is coming to kill him.
All Kane can do is wait, but the film plays out in real time, winning four Academy Awards and broke the norm of the traditional violent western cinema.
