Add your email and we'll match picks to the services you stream at home.

Poster for The 50 Year Argument

The 50 Year Argument

Seen it?

2014 | 95 min | Documentary

Sunday Safe Betearly rating

Why it’s a Sunday Safe Bet

It earned strong reviews (78% on Rotten Tomatoes), though it had a box office flop and almost no lasting buzz. A safe bet when you want something reliable.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for the curious.
The mood
Eye-opening.
The pace
Moves along nicely, at 1 hr 35 min.
What might put you off
Nothing much for most grown-ups.

Follows the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by the The New York Review of Books, America’s leading journal of ideas for over 50 years. Provocative, idiosyncratic and incendiary, the film weaves rarely seen archival material, contributor interviews, excerpts from writings by such icons as James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, and Joan Didion along with original verité footage filmed in the Review’s West Village offices.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsStrong

    78% on Rotten Tomatoes

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    No major awards or nominations

  • Reach & staying powerWeak

    Streaming release that reached a small audience so far

  • Buzz & cultural impactWeak

    About 7K people sought it out in the past year

Trailer

More like this

Want more like this, picked just for you? Get my picks

Cast & crew

Directed by Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi

  • Michael ChabonHimself
  • Norman MailerHimself
  • Joan DidionHerself
  • Barbara EpsteinHerself
  • Elizabeth HardwickHerself
  • Michael StuhlbargNarration