Comments on: Which movies depict the USA with an alternate history?

Question: Which movies depict the USA with an alternate history?

bryanboyer — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:23:56 -0800

Which movies portray an alternate history of the USA?

There are some threads on mefi already dealing with alternate histories in novel form, but I am specifically looking for movies that deal with the US as if its history were fundamentally altered in some way (e.g. the south won the civil war, Kennedy wasn't assasinated, etc).

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:26:29 -0800

C.S.A.

By: box

box — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:26:55 -0800

Obvious, but CSA.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:30:07 -0800

Fatherland.

By: bove

bove — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:33:01 -0800

More of an alternate present (at the time it was released), but Red Dawn now presents an alternate history.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:34:01 -0800

Alternate History Films on Wikipedia.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:34:50 -0800

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)

Planet of the apes 2: Electric Boogaloo

By: bove

bove — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:36:14 -0800

A number of the movies on the Wikipedia link are like Red Dawn in that now, the appear as alternate histories, but at the time they were not.

By: ND¢

ND¢ — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:37:57 -0800

This one sounds pretty weird:

Nothing So Strange is a film shot in the style of an "independent documentary" directed by Brian Flemming. It centers on the fictional assassination of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on December 2, 1999.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:39:27 -0800

Yeah I dont think movies like Escape from New York which was set in 1997 but released in 1981 count as alternate histories since they were released as alternate futures, but perhaps the OP can elaborate....

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:42:37 -0800

Back to the Future

By: chicofly

chicofly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:45:55 -0800

Death of a President : A pseudo-documentary focused on the assassination of our sitting president during a fund raiser in Chicago, and its aftermath. Not a good film by any means, but its right up your alley.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:55:24 -0800

Sliders focused on such Americas each week for its first and second season. It began "sliding" into crapville towards the end of the second season, and third season and beyond are nigh-unwatchable. But the first season was quite interesting.

If they are anything like their respective novels, the movies based off of Stephen King's Long Walk and Running Man take place in alternate Americas, although I'm not sure they are branched off from a decision point.

By: uaudio

uaudio — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:01:58 -0800

White Man's Burden (1995).

Interesting concept, poor execution.

By: Rash

Rash — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:17:03 -0800

Red Dawn? C'mon -- check the original, if you can find it: Red Nightmare.

By: Rash

Rash — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:19:37 -0800

Yes, jpdoane, that book might make an interesting film, as would PKDick's Man in the High Castle, but this question's specifically about movies.

By: Max Power

Max Power — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:59:49 -0800

How about Forrest Gump? I mean he wasn't in ANY of those scenes, yada yada. Taken to the extreme, any hollywood fiction movie dealing with the U.S. is an alternate history.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:06:27 -0800

The Handmaid's Tale if not exactly alternate history (ie., US never joined WWII or sided with the Germans) but it depicts what the US could end up resembling...

By: churl

churl — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:16:52 -0800

Six-String Samurai. [imdb] [wiki]

By: doctor_negative

doctor_negative — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:37:52 -0800

Wild in the Streets?

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:51:45 -0800

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

By: poppo

poppo — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:17:53 -0800

RIDE POSTMAN RIDE

By: The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:12:01 -0800

Independance Day.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:58:46 -0800

Fido - what if comet radiation turned the dead into zombies during the '50s. It's like Leave it to Beaver with zombies.

By: mrbill

mrbill — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:00:01 -0800

Escape from New York and Escape From LA

(both of which I watched last night).

By: bryanboyer

bryanboyer — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:17:52 -0800

thanks for all of the suggestions so far. to clarify, I am looking more for films where the alternate is not catastrophically different in terms of nuclear attack or the like... though "catastrophic" is up for debate. am also looking more for films that rewrote history rather than propose what was at the time of filming a new possible future.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:30:32 -0800

Although not premised on an altered history, Back to the Future explores what happens if history is altered...

If you've never watched it Sliders even though it's a TV show and not a movie, as recommended by WCityMike, it sounds like it fits your requirements very very well.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:31:39 -0800

I can't believe I didn't think of this right off the bat: IMDB's "alternative history" and "alternative timeline" keywords.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:43:33 -0800

I second porpoise on Fido, although it's more Lassie than Leave it to Beaver.

mrbill, EFNY and EFLA were not alternate history when they came out. EFNY came out in 1981 and was set in 1997. EFLA was 2012 or something, I think.