# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/21 "2005-01-12T07:31:54Z")
Both the _Rocky_ films and the first two M. Night Shamalamadingdong (\*Sixth Sense \*and _Unbreakeable_) films were set in Philadelphia. Coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/22 "2005-01-12T13:40:59Z")
**Grosse Pointe Blank** is set in Grosse Pointe, though I can’t really vouch for how much time they spent filming there (although I’ve been there a couple of times, and some things certainly _looked familiar_). **The Virgin Suicides** is also set in Grosse Pointe, at least in the book; the movie is a lot more ambiguous about the location. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/23 "2005-01-12T13:55:52Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > _The Crow_ _Innocent Blood_ was set in Pittsburgh, as I remember. > [/SIZE] Striking Distance was also set in Pittsburgh. Harold & Khumar go to White Castle started out in Hoboken, NJ. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/24 "2005-01-12T13:56:31Z")
**My own Private Idaho** - Portland, OR **Northfork** - Montana **King of the Hill** (the Soderbergh film not the cartoon show) - St. Louis, MO Oh, and there’s more but I have to go now. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/25 "2005-01-12T14:03:04Z")
The Score (with Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando) was set somewhere in Canada–Toronto, I think. The movie version of The Punisher, a comic book vigilante who for decades was synonymous with New York City, was inexplicably set in Tampa, Florida. I still think this is because John Travolta, who plays the film’s villain, lives in nearby Clearwater (a major Scientologist stronghold) and didn’t want to leave. I don’t think nearly enough movies are set in New Orleans. It’s a beautiful, exotic, picturesque, and mysterious American city with plenty of European flair, and it is truly like no place else in the country or the world. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/26 "2005-01-12T15:16:38Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > 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? [Hollywood has been part of the City of Los Angeles since 1910](http://www.losangelesalmanac.com/topics/Cities/ci89a.htm) On topic: Sacramento gets used fairly frequently as a film location, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a film that acknowledges that it is Sacramento. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/27 "2005-01-12T15:39:34Z")
Sissy Spacek’s first film, **Prime Cut** (also starred Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin), was set and filmed in Kansas City, Missouri and the Lawrence, Kansas area. It’s an odd movie, but I’ve always liked it. White slavery and mob guys in the heartland; a beautiful and vulnerable Spacek (and for the guys, full frontal nudity); a chance to see the gorgeous Angel Tompkins; a thresher making mincemeat of a mob limo; Hackman making sausage and hot dogs (literally) out of his enemies; Hackman as a wonderfully cheerful and creepy bad mob guy; Marvin as a wonderfully grumpy nice mob guy; and a great cameo by Eddie Egan (the real “Popeye Doyle” from The French Connection)…what’s not to love? _nostalgia about seeing Prime Cut at the Drive-in several times in 1972 in a small town in Kansas and wishing Prime Cut were on DVD_ Oh, sorry, what was the question? **Mr. and Mrs. Bridge** was set and filmed in a posh suburb of Kansas City (Mission Hills, Kansas) and in Kansas City, MO. Of course, **The Day After** was set and filmed in Kansas City and Lawrence too. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/28 "2005-01-12T16:04:44Z")
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was set in Savannah, Georgia, which was a major character in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/29 "2005-01-12T16:05:57Z")
And the movie “Cat People” was set in New Orleans and did a great job of conveying its Gothic beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/30 "2005-01-12T16:38:30Z")
“The Road to Wellville” was set in turn-of-the-century Battle Creek, Michigan, but I think it was filmed near the Catskills. ---
**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, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/31 "2005-01-12T16:53:52Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > The Score (with Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando) was set somewhere in Canada–Toronto, I think. Montreal. I should note that I’m not really counting a) domestic productions (other than the U.S.); naturally, a Canadian filmmaker has a much better chance of setting something in Regina than an American one does; or b) cases where the film is really about the city in question (such as _Paris, Texas_ or the like) rather than having been just dumped there randomly. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/32 "2005-01-12T17:04:56Z")
_ **Fargo** _ ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/33 "2005-01-12T17:09:19Z")
**Field of Dreams** , **Country** (with Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard) and **Sleeping with the Enemy** (Julia Roberts) were all set, at least in part, in Iowa. The last one was filmed in part in my old college town of Cedar Falls. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/34 "2005-01-12T19:43:47Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > You know what would be really novel? Actaully setting a movie in Toronto I think the film was _French Kiss_, with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. Toronto played a small role. Ryan plays a woman from Toronto who flies to France for some reason. The film begins in her family’s Toronto home, with Dad watching the Maple Leafs playing hockey (hey, in Canada, hockey is on TV 24/7/365, dont’cha know :rolleyes: ). Naturally, Ryan flies Air Canada to France, where most of the film takes place. But why Toronto? Except for the Air Canada product placement, there is really no reason for Ryan to be Canadian, or from Toronto. She might as well have been from Pittsburgh, Denver, or Boston, for all her Canadian-ness had to do with the plot. > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Oh, yeah, and all the Québécois have French-from-France accents… it’s really quite hilarious. Ever seen _The Whole Nine Yards_? It is set in Montreal, and Montreal does indeed play itself, but one character’s Quebecoise wife sounds like she’d be more at home walking down the Champs Elysees rather than Rene Levesque Boulevard. (Apologies for the lack of necessary accents on the French names, but I’m unsure how to do them on this machine.) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/35 "2005-01-12T20:16:03Z")
> [@edwino](#): > > 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. _Terms of Endearment_ was set in Houston because it’s based on a Larry McMurtrey novel that was set in Houston. Larry spent some time at Rice University & used the city for several of his novels. The movie made some adjustments. The garage apartment on West Main was moved to The Heights & the house in River Oaks was actually a house near River Oaks. And the shortest route from Brennan’s to River Oaks does not go by any beach. Artistic license–the area has few scenic wonders. _Urban Cowboy_ was mostly shot at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena, just outside of Houston. _Brewster McCloud_ was another film set here. And parts of _Local Hero_; Houston worked quite well as the diametrical opposite of that beautiful bit of the Scottish coast. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/36 "2005-01-12T20:32:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Striking Distance was also set in Pittsburgh. As was _Flashdance_, much of _The Deer Hunter_ (well, in the general area, at least) and that epic Van Damme actioner _Sudden Death_. Hell, the place is practically Hollywood on the Monongehela. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/37 "2005-01-12T20:33:01Z")
**Mystic Pizza** with Julia Roberts was filmed in my home town of Stonington CT. We also happen to be the home of Peter Benchley, we all know what _ **He** _ wrote. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/38 "2005-01-12T23:04:25Z")
> [@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. And the smog. Don’t forget the smog, palm trees and women walking thier dogs while wearing bikinis. Nobody mentions Sacramento because it’s one of the most boring cities on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/39 "2005-01-13T00:02:42Z")
There’s been a few movies set in Detroit (Robocop, the openings of all the Beverly Hills Cop movies) however, it’s very rare to actually have one film here. The exception was 8 Mile, which while not a very interesting film, it was fun to look for buildings I recognize. (I actually live about a mile from the trailer park depicted in the film) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285/40 "2005-01-13T00:11:11Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > 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. Ah, you’ve forgotten about the classic [Sleepaway Camp](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086320/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9c2xlZXBhd2F5IGNhbXB8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=5;fm=1) . Filmed in Argyle, Fort Edward, (not Fort Edwards as the IMDB claims), and Glens Falls in upstate New York. Some paramedics from Lake Luzurne were in the movie wearing their uniforms as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atypical-settings-for-movies/284285.md?page=3)