# Atypical settings for movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285 "2005-01-11T22:29:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/1 "2005-01-11T22:29:37Z")
The film _The Jackal_ was pretty terrible, but hey, I have a taste for ludicrous action movies. One thing that struck me, though, was the settings, which included Helsinki, Montreal, and rural Ontario. It occurred to me that your average screenwriter would have made them, oh, London, Paris, and maybe upstate New York. I don’t really know what I’m trying to express – just that it’s an agreeable little startlement when a movie is set in a major city that you don’t see movies set in too often. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/2 "2005-01-11T22:36:37Z")
Speaking of ludicrous action movies, our beloved _Starship Troopers_ started out in Buenos Aries. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/3 "2005-01-11T22:39:57Z")
Think it’s a bad action movie thing? _Taking Lives_ was set in Montreal (which we could tell, because the establishing shots all showed Quebec City… _rolleyes_) and Moncton, New Brunswick (again, which we could tell from the Sûreté du Québec helicopter setting down in front of the Quebec City train station, which turned into Windsor Station in Montreal when they ran into it…) Then again, you have those buttloads of disaster movies set in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, for no apparent reason. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/4 "2005-01-11T22:42:27Z")
Oh, yeah, and all the Québécois have French-from-France accents… it’s really quite hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/5 "2005-01-11T22:50:16Z")
The Boondock Saints was set in Boston (but filmed in Toronto)… I haven’t seen many movies set in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/6 "2005-01-11T23:05:33Z")
The movie Twentynine Palms was actually filmed in Twentynine Palms, CA. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/7 "2005-01-11T23:08:43Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Then again, you have those buttloads of disaster movies set in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, for no apparent reason. Besides the Pyramids, the Kremlin, Big Ben, the Colloseum, and the Eiffel Tower, those cities are pretty much the only ones with monuments that the average Bruckheimer fan is going to recognize and watching the White House and the Statue of Liberty blow up is k3wl. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/8 "2005-01-11T23:50:37Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Besides the Pyramids, the Kremlin, Big Ben, the Colloseum, and the Eiffel Tower, those cities are pretty much the only ones with monuments that the average Bruckheimer fan is going to recognize and watching the White House and the Statue of Liberty blow up is k3wl. Los Angeles? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/9 "2005-01-11T23:52:08Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The Boondock Saints was set in Boston (but filmed in Toronto)… I haven’t seen many movies set in Boston. You know what would be really novel? Actaully _setting_ a movie in Toronto :D. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/10 "2005-01-11T23:57:36Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > You know what would be really novel? Actaully _setting_ a movie in Toronto :D. but filming it in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/11 "2005-01-12T00:03:34Z")
Heh. Odd thing about the Jackal was that it had several scenes set in Montreal, but the climactic final chase sequence, set in the Washington metro, was filmed in the Montreal metro. Oh, here’s a non-cheesy, non-action movie that had a sequence set in Montreal for no apparent reason: _The Red Violin_. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/12 "2005-01-12T00:34:35Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Los Angeles? The Hollywood sign. Or a vast urban sprawl in general and one of the two cultural centers of America (don’t laugh) in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/13 "2005-01-12T02:21:32Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > The Boondock Saints was set in Boston (but filmed in Toronto)… I haven’t seen many movies set in Boston. _Blown Away_, with Tommy Lee Jones and Jeff Bridges was set and filmed in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/14 "2005-01-12T02:27:23Z")
The crappy _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_ was filmed and took place in my home town of Savannah, Georgia. Very few movies are set here. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/15 "2005-01-12T04:20:56Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > The Hollywood sign. Or a vast urban sprawl in general and one of the two cultural centers of America (don’t laugh) in particular. Isn’t it disturbing that the two biggest landmarks of Los Angeles (the Hollywood sign and Disneyland) are both in the suburbs, and one of them _specifically_ refers to the suburb it’s in? (Now that I think of it, there’s also the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but you can’t really blow that up…) As someone said once, Los Angeles: 19 suburbs in search of a metropolis. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/16 "2005-01-12T06:07:03Z")
Upstate NY? The only ones I can think of are Road Trip and one scene in Mars Attacks! Both of which were played mainly for the rural/college town humor value. Now, if you had to pick a state to film a modern epic in, NY would be a decent place to _film_ in, since per square mile it’s about the most geographically diverse state. But you have those pesky areas of population in the way of historical epics. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/17 "2005-01-12T06:18:46Z")
I suppose because Jack Nicholson was an astronaut, _Terms of Endearment_ was set in Houston. Movies filmed/set here are cherished – _Reality Bites_, _The Chase_ (with Charlie Sheen – my wife was an extra), _Tin Cup_ and of course _Urban Cowboy_ (except with some googling shows that it in fact wasn’t filmed in Houston), _Paris, Texas_, and a few others. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/18 "2005-01-12T07:06:03Z")
_The Crow_ was set in Detroit. _Innocent Blood_ was set in Pittsburgh, as I remember. A couple of Hitchcock movies are set in Santa Rosa, and surrounding areas, in Northern California. Not far from where I live. And it’s not really explict onscreen, but the last two episodes of _Bubblegum Crisis_ are actually set in suburban Topeka, Kansas. Ok, I might have made one of those up. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/19 "2005-01-12T07:09:22Z")
_Bubba Ho Tep_ was set in [Nacogdoches](http://www.ci.nacogdoches.tx.us/). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/20 "2005-01-12T07:21:47Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Now, if you had to pick a state to film a modern epic in, NY would be a decent place to _film_ in, since per square mile it’s about the most geographically diverse state. But you have those pesky areas of population in the way of historical epics. Hmmm, care to elaborate? I can’t imagine NY State even coming close to CA in diversity. California has ocean (subdivided into islands, different kinds of beaches; rocky, sandy, etc.), mountains, urban areas, sweepings plains/grasslands, rolling hills, almost tropical looking areas, deserts, and huge forests. The parts of NY I’ve been to have, well, lots of trees . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285.md?page=2)