Using films to teach historical time periods, people, or events is not a new idea. In this article, the author contends that teachers who use film solely to teach historical facts or to test students' ability to stay awake miss an important opportunity to aid in the development of students' real historical understanding. Instead, teachers should use films as primary sources to enable students to understand an historical era, event, or person, and thereby develop the skill of historical literacy. In the example presented in this article, the author uses film to address a question inspired by Sam Wineburg (2001): Has the historical progress of the U.S. from the 1950s to the 1990s been in a linear and positively progressive direction? To answer this question, students must first have sufficient background content knowledge of each of the decades before they can begin to think critically about the entire period. A review of significant people, places, and events of the decade should precede the showing of a film. The emphasis of the review should be on the content that would help students address the guiding question and analyze the film's historical period. Films produced during each of the decades can give students another text and context in which to examine the people, places, and events of the period and to give them an idea of a particular era.