Movies can cram thousands of years or a few hours into the storyline. You can live a lifetime in a movie or you can just get a snapshot of time. I’ve made a list of movies where all the action takes place in 24 hours or less.
Snapshot Survey
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Please subscribe for your personalized newsletter:
1. Adventures in Babysitting
This 80s classic shows you just how much trouble you can get in to in a single night when you are stuck babysitting instead of going out on a date!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
2. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
A really tense and thrilling one day tale about a group of criminals that hi-jack a train and demand a ransom.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
Frequently asked questions
3. Dredd
In this modern remake of the classic Judge Dredd series, the famous character fights his way up a 200-story building to defeat the bad guys!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
4. Rope
An underrated Hitchcock movie about two friends who murder another friend and hold a dinner party with his body still in the apartment to prove if they can handle it!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
5. A Single Man
Still grieving for his dead lover, a man decides to kill himself but not before he spends the day with an old friend and a student of his.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
Related Videos about
6. Rebel without a Cause
The defining performance of James Dean’s short career, his teenage character arrives at a new school, falls in love with a girl and takes on the bullies!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
7. High Noon
A classic Western about a town sheriff who has to wait all day to confront the released convict that he sent to jail.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
8. The Breakfast Club
One of the best teen movies of the 80s, telling the story of a single day in Saturday detention for five completely different high school students.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
9. Cloverfield
A group of friends attend a going away party, but it just so happens that the part falls on the same night as a crazy monster attack on the city!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
10. The Goonies
After discovering an old Spanish map, a group of young friends go on a crazy adventure in search of hidden treasure.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
11. Groundhog Day
Perhaps the quintessential one day movie, as Bill Murray is forced to relive Groundhog Day over and over again!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
12. From Dusk Till Dawn
The film’s title kind of gives the one day nature of this movie away, but it’s a fun crime romp starring George Clooney so you can’t go wrong!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
13. 12 Angry Men
Considered to be one of the best films ever made, 12 Angry Men details the tense deliberations of a jury deciding a verdict on a murder case.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
14. American Graffiti
A great movie about a bunch of high school students who have a night filled with fun, romance and of course a whole lot of trouble!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
15. Dog Day Afternoon
A classic Al Pacino movie about a bank hostage situation that gets completely out of control.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
16. Dazed and Confused
A fun movie about the crazy antics that a bunch of students get up to on their very last day of school.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
17. Magnolia
A fast paced and quirky movie that tells you the stories of a bunch of different characters over the course of a single day.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
18. Training Day
An incredibly tense movie that depicts an LAPD policeman going on a daylong ride along with a notorious gangster.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
19. Airplane!
This classic comedy is about a plane ride on which the pilot is taken ill and the only qualified person left is an ex pilot who is afraid of flying!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
20. Do the Right Thing
A great movie about a crazy fight that breaks out between a group of friends and a pizzeria on the hottest day of the year!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
21. Before Sunrise
The first of a great trilogy, Before Sunrise details the whirlwind romance of a couple who meet on a train and spend the day in Vienna.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
22. Ferris Bueller’s Day off
The movie that inspired every single high school student in America to skip school for the day and go on an adventure!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
23. Die Hard
The sort of action that Bruce Willis gets in to on this Christmas Eve would kill any normal person, but not the human superhero that is John McLane!
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
24. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
An absolute cult classic that takes place when a young innocent couple go in search for some help with their broken down car, only to find so much more in an old castle.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
25. Date Night
A crazy comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell who go out in a date night and end up going on a crazy adventure through New York City.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
26. Night of the Living Dead
A zombie apocalypse, a single farmhouse of survivors. Probably still one of the best horror movies out there.
Buy at: itunes.apple.com
27. The out of Towners
Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin are a very good comedy couple. In this movie from 1999 the pair experience a series of disasters in the Big Apple.
Buy at itunes.apple.com
What other movies do you know of that take place in 24 hours or less?
Feedback Junction
Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge