Fifty Before '50: NICKELODEON

F This Movie! · Aug 4, 2026

by JBGee, you would think that something like this would be right up my alley. Peter Bogdanovich’s Nickelodeon hit American theater screens at a crazy time. The “Auteurist Seventies” were drawing to a close, about to be eclipsed by the “Blockbuster Eighties.” We can see this schism quite clearly in 1976’s Best Picture Oscar nominees: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All terrific films: four personal director’s visions and one blockbuster. Nickelodeon is neither of these; it’s an inert object, not entertaining enough to be a roaring…