Robin Hood Prince of Thieves - The water rapids battle scene between Robin and Little John. My parents went to a great deal of effort to get us to that specific England park in the 90’s and it was all lovely.
Last of the Mohicans - Much of the mountain scenes were filmed in Appalachian Parks I have chosen to walk though. Worth it.
Picture of last helicopter out of Saigon - I looked for the better part of the day in HCMC to find that exact roof top. I did find it! At least in 2005 it was still there and looks the same.
Other way around. Once I visited Chicago. Then, shortly after getting home from that trip, I went to see When Harry Met Sally, and right at the beginning was an establishing shot of the Chicago Water Tower. I exclaimed, “Hey, I was just there!”
I live in the Washington, DC, area, and for me it’s home, but for moviemakers, familiar scenes in DC are a great favorite for establishing shots in the movies, so I’m constantly saying, “Hey, I was just there!”
Somewhat off topic, but I’ve been the bus driver for a few Road Scholar trips in and around Austin and San Antonio. They’re a fun bunch. I’d recommend them to anyone interested in that sort of trip.
On that note, on my aforementioned trip to SoCal I stayed at the Safari Inn in Burbank, a very fun vintage motel. I knew several movies and TV shows had been filmed there. But it was still a surprise when I decided to watch the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show and saw the Safari Inn featured very prominently in a season 1 episode. I’m pretty sure even the interior shots were actual rooms at the motel.
On a different note, that episode had the fictional reporters traveling to California to cover a fictional wildfire, but one that sounded eerily similar to the actual recent LA fires which were going on when I watched that episode.
For Christmas I was given a ‘London Bond Map’. Fairly self-explanatory, really. Maps out various filming locations from the series, along with a handful of other places like the ‘Lazenby Lamppost’ where George was photographed for a publicity shot. Haven’t gone to check them out yet but it’s on my to-do list.
I had always wanted to visit San Francisco and that has to be due to films like Bullitt, Vertigo and The Rock. Got to do it about ten years ago which was a thrill.
Doune Castle was a must-see stop on Mrs. Martian’s and my ABC tour (Another Bloody Castle tour - we visited 24 castles in two weeks, starting with Tintagel Castle in Cornwall up to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness). Primary filming location for all castle-related scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (except for Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh). Great audio guide narrated by Michael Palin and Terry Jones. The gift shop would lend you a pair of coconut halves upon request.
In 1974, I was in Vallejo, CA for some Navy training, and one night, a classmate and I went into San Francisco when they were filming some exteriors for The Towering Inferno. But there was just a lot of standing around, so I couldn’t even watch the movie and say “I saw them film that part!” Oh well…
There have been many significant fires in the LA Basin over many years, some of them in the area that was just burned this year, including the Woolsey fire as recently as 2018. The episode may or may not have been inspired by the recent fires.
The episode was released years before the recent fires, so clearly it wasn’t. It was just a weird coincidence that that I happened to watch it when the real fires were happening.
Did you see that the famous tree at Sycamore Gap which features in a scene from Robin Hood, was felled a couple of years ago by a pair of vandals, currently on trial for the act in London.
Sex Education on Netflix makes Wales look insanely picturesque and I’ve put it on the ol’ bucket list
Business travel made it easier to visit lots of places I was “kind of” interested in but probably wouldn’t’ve paid to go to…
We went to the Pawn Stars pawnshop and it was… a pawn shop (meaning we didn’t really see anything especially interesting there…)
We went to Waco to check out Magnolia town or whatever it’s called and it seemed pretty much like a tourist trap… a “quaint” tourist trap, but overpriced junk all the same.
Crazy Rich Asians is obviously a very specific aspect of Singapore, but SG is pretty amazing anyway (except for the heat)
In high school, some friends and I traced the route of the car chase in the original Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) - not the geographically incoherent Nicholas Cage version. This was only 6 or 7 years after the film came out, but a lot had changed in the South Bay during that time.
That reminds me, when we moved to Fort Worth I went down to see the Water Gardens so I could see where Logan’s Run ended. It’s a pretty cool place, there wasn’t a ton to do nearby, but worth the visit if you liked/have nostalgia about the movie.
I used to watch the show, Picket Fences, and thought Rome, Wisconsin looked like a nice place to visit. Turns out that fictional town was actually Monrovia, CA, which was only a 40 minute drive away, and still looks pretty much like it did on the show.
