This movie is depressing for people who were born in a much later age

These were not all that small of towns. I mean Turlock is smaller, but the cities referenced Stockton & Modesto aren't that small, smaller in the 60's than now, but not a western dirt town. Now if you live in a big city anywhere in LA area, San Francisco or other bigger cities, it would certainly seem small. That is what made it fun to cruise, you knew most of the kids, then you could always find someone new out on the cruising lanes. Good Times!

Modesto wasn't that small. There were much smaller towns where all the kids did the same thing. I lived 30 miles from Sacramento, and when nothing was doing in my town we went to Sac. to cruise Mels or whatever else was going on. If you grew up in SFO or LA that would have been a lot different. So many suburbs. But, generally they did the same thing. Had their regular hangouts. I'm probably the oldest one posting about this subject. I'm younger than George Lucas, but not by much. I wouldn't have traded my teenage years for anything. After 1965 things changed. Everyone here will have a different opinion, they are entitled to it. All I can say for me, is it was a great time. No high tech stuff, but it was still good. We had more personal contact with friends and others. It was a safer time, for that I'm so thankful.

I was born in 1973 (the year the movie was released) and feel the same odd nostalgia for that period that I shouldn't have. Perhaps I just think of my parents' generation much more than I think of my own. It would be cool to be a rebel kid like Milner with a classic car but that can still be done today in any high school in America. Plenty had those kind of hotrods in the late 80s/early 90s when I was in high school.

Hmm, you are about a high school and college education older than me, but I had a greaser uncle... (my father's youngest brother)

The movie seems to be right in the middle of you and I as far as age and experience goes. I did have a high school teacher that had a student draft deferment and maybe something for teaching, but he talked about Viet Nam and Canada and his 6 month pregnant wife. One week, he didn't come in for class and we had a sub teacher. The "word" was out by lunch break that he took his first kid, pregnant wife, and headed for Canada. We were "treated" to visits from some of our local military folks that came to address the high school students and answer questions as someone who "was there". The military guys also got two extra days of leave for doing the visits, so we had a lot.
The army guy that visited my class was missing some of his left pinky finger, had scars visible on the left side of his face, and said he lost his hearing in the left ear when a VC mortar round landed just away from him on his left. He was recuperating from his wounds... He also talked about some experiences he had as an MP with "the big white target on his head". He was almost six feet tall and said he was shoulders and head above the Vietnamese, so he was QUITE visible. One day he was on duty in Da Nang, wearing a flak jacket, and he said he was hit in the chest by a .45 round, and bodily thrown across the street by the impact. When he got up off the ground, he said there was no one looking around, running away, or anything out of the ordinary...

This movie, AG, seemed to be set **just before** that time. Korea had happened, and the USA had halted the invaders (as it was portrayed), but none of our parents were involved in that, so, our parents were part of the generation that saved the world from faschism, and took back Europe! And north Africa! And lots of islands in the Pacific! We still thought we could do **anything**!!
BTW, one of the other visits our school had (before the military visitors) was from some of the NASA people, and they brought a 4-inch square of the material that made the Echo satellite, and had the two strongest guys try to tear it... Impossible, it was two layers of mylar over an aluminum core. (Think of today's mylar helium balloons, but thicker.)

I also remember some of the nightly weather forecasts tracking the fallout clouds from the above ground nuclear tests in Nevada... The weatherman was warning parents to try to keep the kids in the house for several hours, and if necessary, make sure they/we wore hats if we had to venture outside during those hours... (midwest area, where the prevailing winds (jet stream) blew the fallout across the USA).

**Maybe** one of the reasons the movie has an appeal is because almost everyone could work on a car back then, and actually make some improvements. Now, there isn't much an ordinary person can even touch on a car engine, (just TRY to even find the spark plugs on a ten year old car now...). Back in the day, a person could put their hand directly on almost any part of an engine, but not any more. Stuff is much more crowded and complex, and people are no longer accustomed to the kind of work where your hands actually get dirty and greasy.

Simpler times, a better outlook on life, dreams for their futures, and jobs for almost everyone willing to work. Who wouldn't be nostalgic for those days?

And you need to remember too that there were alcoholics, but few "hard drug" addicts. On the negative side, people wrote songs with lyrics like "will you still need me when I'm 64?". People didn't live as long, and hospitals didn't have the technology and means to prolong life/suffering, and kids got in trouble at school for rolling up their jeans' cuffs or waistbands (girl's skirts made shorter). *smile* And getting in trouble on the school grounds involved smoking cigarettes, kissing under the bleachers, or fistfights...

My wife didn't want to teach high school kids because the kids had real weapons in the schools, and there were known crackhouses across the street from the football practice fields...
(BTW, we were about 5 years apart in age, and my wife was an only child, but she had the entitlement mentality, while I had the "work for what you want" outlook.)

Maddy-17, it must have been different for you in NY. I always associate the movie the "Wanderers" with what I would imagine the 60's would have been like for those of you on the East Coast. We didn't have those great Alan Freed shows here in CA. At least I don't think so, unless it was in the LA area. I live closer to San Francisco, and don't ever remember Alan Freed ever being out here. I liked the 70's movie "American Hot Wax" that showed the great show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, made me wish I could have been there. I would have been way too young. Loved my youth, and wish I could have it back.

Are you kidding? I call the 1990s "The Nuthin' Nineties". Very little will be remembered from then, unlike the Fabulous Fifties and The Sensational Sixties. Sure there are newbies who came of age in 1994 and think there were some good things in it (but don't blink or you'll miss them!)... but in the Big Picture, it had all been done already. Aside from the occasional new exception, the years 1900 - 1980 were simply the best and most innovative, creative, and best period of Entertainment.

loulou1992, Glad you can appreciate the 50's & 60's. I do miss what were to me the GOOD OLD DAYS. I would love to have the DeLorean to go "Back to the Future". It was a safer time. I agree with others here about cell phones and social media, we didn't have it and got by just fine. Of course our phones were connected to a wall, but we weren't deprived. We just called friends to find out what was going on, and proceeded to do our thing. We didn't need to know all the details of everyone's day. Too much info out there now.