Some of the best movies of all time all take place within the same 24 hours. Sometimes it’s about the final day of school, like Dazed and Confused, or sometimes it’s about one man’s mental breakdown, like Falling Down. These movies have a diverse range of topics, tons, and genres, but they all have one thing in common: they all happen on the same day (or night).
Dazed & Confused
Dr. Strangelove
Just how much can change in a day? Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove leaves you with 100s of questions, but few satisfying answers, except that humankind is a disaster. One of Kubrick’s most approachable movies, it leaves us all wondering just what kind of people (all men in this case) are really holding humanity’s fate in the palm of their hand (or the end of their finger).
Falling Down
1993’s Falling Down is a movie that not only holds up more than 30 years later, but it feels like something that is even more likely to happen these days. Michael Douglas plays a man who has reached his breaking point with life and society, and he turns to violence and nihilism to get back at the world. It starts on his daily commute to work and ends hours later on a pier over the Pacific Ocean after his crime spree… without giving away the ending…
Escape From New York
When done right, adding a countdown as a plot device raises the stakes of a movie like few others can. Escape From New York definitely does it right. Snake (Kurt Russell) has 22 hours to locate and save the president in a post-apocalyptic New York City that has been turned into a prison. If he doesn’t get it done in less than a day, he faces the ultimate consequences.
Do The Right Thing
Even in just one neighborhood in New York City, a lot can happen in a day. In Spike Lee’s masterpiece Do the Right Thing, it happens on the hottest day of the year. Things start as a simmer, but soon become a pot boiling over in anger from almost everyone involved. It starts like such a normal day, too.
1917
Some people don’t like the “one-shot” style of Sam Mendes’ World War I epic 1917, but you can’t deny just how frenetic it makes the one day that two soldiers face as they attempt to connect with another company by crossing enemy lines. It’s an amazing story, and with some creative editing, the movie shows both day and night, despite happening (mostly) in real time.
Dog Day Afternoon
One of the most famous movies of the 1970s and one of the best of Al Pacino’s career, Dog Day Afternoon, as the title implies, takes place (mostly) over one afternoon. The movie is based on a true story of a bank robbery and hostage situation that took 22 hours to come to a violent and tragic end.
The Longest Day
Well, it says it right there in the title. Not only does all of the action in The Longest Day happen in one day, but it all happens on one of the most famous dates in history, June 6th, 1944. D-Day. This blockbuster with a completely stacked cast that includes John Wayne, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, Sean Connery, and many more, is one of the best war movies of all time.
Magnolia
Friday
Friday is a classic example of a comedy that all takes place in one day. It starts when Craig (Ice Cube) wakes up, and ends when he goes to bed at the end of the day. In between, an incredible number of things happen. Smokey (Michael Tucker) spends most of the morning sitting on Craig’s porch, introducing all the characters, and by evening, things get scary. It’s one of the best movies of the ’90s and an all-time cult classic.
The Breakfast Club
Anybody who had to spend a Saturday in detention knows what the crew in The Breakfast Club is dealing with. It’s one of the best movies of the ’80s, and one of the best teen movies of all time. Of all the John Hughes movies of the 1980s that Gen X loves, this one, which all takes place over about 8 hours, is possibly the most beloved.
Training Day
Director Antoine Fuqua broke big with his second film, 2001’s Training Day, starring Denzel Washington as the most corrupt cop you could ever imagine, spending his day training a new recruit, played by Ethan Hawke, for his insane rogue police squad of narcotics officers. It’s a crazy day for everyone, to say the least.
Die Hard
Without question, Die Hard is on the Mount Rushmore of ’80s action flicks. It’s certainly a very long day for John McClane (Bruce Willis). What was supposed to be a quick drop in on a Christmas party after a long cross-country flight from New York to L.A. turns into a long night when he has to take out a crew of thieves led by Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman in his first movie role.
2022’s The Menu is one of the best comedy horror movies in recent years. If you’ve never seen it, but you are a fan of shows like Netflix’s Chef’s Table, it’s a must-watch. It all takes place throughout one incredible, crazy, and murderous meal in a pretentious restaurant on a remote island.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
It’s an incredible day off for one of Gen X’s film heroes, Ferris Bueller. Ferris (Matthew Broderick), along with his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), packs in a baseball game, a parade, a fancy lunch, and so much more in this amazing “sick” day in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Clue
Murder mysteries used to be a big deal for parties, and it’s safe to assume that the cult classic Clue played a big part in the genre taking off. One of the most popular movies around the CinemaBlend office, Clue features some amazing performances from everyone in the cast, including and especially Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White and Tim Curry as the butler.
Con Air
Technically, not all of the action in Con Air takes place in one day, as there is a scene at the beginning explaining how Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) ended up in jail. But the rest of the movie is all set on Poe’s last day of incarceration. It starts in the morning as Poe boards the flight full of dangerous convicts and ends when the plane crashes into the Las Vegas strip that night. It’s hardly a normal flight.
High Noon
One of the greatest examples of a movie that takes place in real time is the classic western High Noon, starring Gary Cooper as Marshal Will Kane. It’s one of the best Westerns of all time, and it all takes place over the course of its 85-minute runtime. Marshall Kane has a showdown with his nemesis, Frank Miller, played by Ian MacDonald, and in the process becomes one of the most famous film LEOs of all time.
Groundhog Day
If you want a movie on this list to argue about, here you go. Does Groundhog Day all take place in one day? It all happens on February 2nd… There are just an endless number of February 2nds. So it’s both over hundreds of days and on the same day. It’s quite the conundrum, am I right or am I right? Right. Right, Right.
Clerks
Poor Dante, he wasn’t even supposed to be at the convenience store that day! Kevin Smith’s breakout film, the low-budget but brilliant Clerks, all takes place on one day, pretty much all in one place (save for one field trip to a funeral). It’s a day that includes romance, death, anger, and a glorious group of weirdos and outcasts.
Glengarry Glenn Ross
Anyone who has ever worked in sales gets something from Glengarry Glenn Ross. It’s not always what writer David Mamet was trying to convey. As it started as play, the events in the movie are limited to one day and only a couple of location and as a result, it is completely riveting from start to finish, The excellent cast that includes Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Jack Lemon, Kevin Spacey, and Alex Baldwin brings a ton of energy to such limited confines.
The Warriors
From Coney Island to the Bronx and back is all that happens to the Warriors in the movie of the same name. Sure, it sounds like an annoying subway ride for anyone, but when the gang is blamed for the murder of Cyrus, things go sideways quickly, and it takes them the rest of the night to get home, bopping their way through every neighborhood along the way in this cult classic.
Adventures In Babysitting
If you grew up in the ’80s with parents who went out a lot, you can relate to Adventures in Babysitting. If you were a babysitter in the ’80s, this movie is your worst nightmare, rare for a comedy, right? This classic starring Elisabeth Shue as the titular babysitter shows just how bad things can get over the course of only one night.
12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men is often considered one of the best films of all time, and the whole thing takes place in real time. So much happens in just one room over the course of the movie’s 96-minute runtime that it’s almost astounding. The acting performances and the script keep the movie sizzling, despite the confined time and space.
American Graffiti
George Lucas’ American Graffiti is to the 1950s what Dazed and Confused is to the 1970s. Rather than the last day of school, American Graffiti happens on the last day of summer. The movies are like the perfect bookends in that regard. Plus, both movies have a slew of awesome cars.
After Hours
One of Martin Scorsese’s most underrated movies, After Hours follows an office worker played by Griffin Dunne trying to simply get home at the end of his work day, and things get wild, and the longer the night gets, the worse things get.
Judgement Night
1993’s Judgement Night from director Stephen Hopkins is better remembered (with good reason) for its incredible soundtrack, mashing up hip hop and rock and roll. The movie takes place all in one night, which goes off the rails when the main characters take a wrong turn on the way to a boxing match.
Rope
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 masterpiece Rope is a dark movie with some groundbreaking cinematography. In the long list of great Hitchcock movies, this one always ranks near the top. It portrays a murder and the attempt to cover it up and create “the perfect murder.” The aftermath plays out during the evening after the murder.
Before Sunrise
Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise is one of the great romance movies of the 1990s, and it all takes place in one day, June 16, 1994, on a train, and one night in Vienna shared by the couple who meet on the train and spend one night together in the Austrian capital.
The Purge
If you’ve never seen The Purge, first, you should, it’s so ridiculous that it’s awesome and second, the plot can be summed up by one quote from the movie, which come in the form of a public service announcement that explains all crime, up to and including murder, is legal on day of the year for 12 hours.
Three O’Clock High
The underrated Three O’Clock High, starring Casey Siemaszko and Richard Tyson, is the ’80s high school comedy equivalent of the great Western High Noon. The movie follows Jerry (Siemaszko) as he tries to avoid a scheduled fight at the end of the school day with the new bully, played by Tyson.
Phone Booth
Another movie on this list that takes place in real-time is the thriller Phone Booth, starring Colin Farrell as a man caught in the middle of a madman’s crime. Pretty much the whole movie features Farrell’s character in, you guessed it, a phone booth.
