Significant progress in understanding the influence of mountains on wind systems has occurred over the last thirty years. Some of this progress has been step-wise, associated with brief periods of focus on particular controversial issues. The clarification of these specific issues allowed the community to move forward to the next set of questions. Examples of such focal issues include: the radiation condition for mountain waves aloft, the mechanism of severe downslope winds, the reason for upstream blocking and deflection, flow through gaps, the generation of potential vorticity, the role of mountain drag and wave momentum flux, mechanisms of gravity wave breaking, the role of moisture in mountain airflow dynamics, dynamical controls on orographic precipitation. In this review lecture, we recall some of these advances, and try to assess how well the accepted wisdom is passing the test of time.