# movies containing maps **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107 "2012-02-17T05:34:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/1 "2012-02-17T05:34:17Z")
I do an annual Jeopardy!-style game at the big mapmakers conference, and this year I want to have a category about maps shown in movies. These can be scene-setters, such as at the beginning of Casablanca, explainers like the air journeys shown in The Descendants, incidental scenes like the tricycles on the playground map in That Thing You Do, or integral to the plot like the globe in Tintin. Well-known American movies, please. Bring 'em on! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/2 "2012-02-17T05:43:25Z")
There’s the famous Traveling Red Line maps from the Indiana Jones movies. There’s also the map room scene, where he finds the location of the ark on a scale model of the old city. And, of course, _Time Bandits_ story revolves around a map showing the location of all the holes left in the universe after God made it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/3 "2012-02-17T05:46:15Z")
The latest Muppet Movie did the map thing (they said they would “travel by map” because it would be quicker that way and then did the Indiana Jones red-line bit). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/4 "2012-02-17T05:51:24Z")
A more obscure one, but the pirate comedy _Yellowbeard_ featured a young man whose pirate father tattooed a map to a buried treasure on his head when he was an infant. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/5 "2012-02-17T06:06:24Z")
National Treasure has that map hidden in the Declaration of Independence… ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/6 "2012-02-17T06:14:17Z")
There’s a map in A Goofy Movie that Max changes so he can trick Goofy into driving to LA ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/7 "2012-02-17T06:16:02Z")
_Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ had the Marauder’s Map, which I thought was quite well executed. _Waterworld_ had a map to Dryland on the back of the kid. _Dr. Strangelove_ had the big map on the wall in the War Room. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/8 "2012-02-17T06:40:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > A more obscure one, but the pirate comedy _Yellowbeard_ featured a young man whose pirate father tattooed a map to a buried treasure on his head when he was an infant. Maybe obscure, but the best movie mentioned in this thread so far. Ok, that’s debatable, but definitely the best pirate comedy movie mentioned in this thread so far. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/9 "2012-02-17T06:47:31Z")
The Goonies comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/10 "2012-02-17T07:31:31Z")
All the best examples I can think of come from TV shows. Should you also want to include such a category in your game, I can give you some pretty good ones! ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/11 "2012-02-17T09:16:11Z")
If interactive maps count, I always liked the send-up of the “traveling dot” (with noises for the cars once it gets into a street-map; then it morphs into a Pac-Man eating the dots!) from _Top Secret!_ ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/12 "2012-02-17T11:14:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Maybe obscure, but the best movie mentioned in this thread so far. Ok, that’s debatable, but definitely the best pirate comedy movie mentioned in this thread so far. Not any more: _The Princess and the Pirate_ also features a map tattooed on Bob Hope’s chest ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/13 "2012-02-17T12:30:00Z")
**Top Secret** and **The Emperor’s New Groove** have maps illustrating the character’s movements that are themselves part of the joke. **The Guns of Navarone** has maps throughout, showing where the action is supposed to be taking place, although, unlike most of the others mentioned, there are are no animated lines showing the paths people are taking. **The Rescuers** has a _very_ animated map (actualy a globe) showing how the message for help gets transmitted. I think there may be a map in the sequel, **The Rescuers Down Under** , but I’m not sure. **From Russia With Love** has (non-animated) maps showing the progress of the Orient Express. **The Deadly Mantis** opens with one of the most pointless maps in any movie, showing locations on the earth’s surface. I think they needed to pad out the film’s running time. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/14 "2012-02-17T12:43:33Z")
At the end of _Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid_, poor Terre Haute gets melted off the map. And on the map. A pity, as they were just about to get a public library. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/15 "2012-02-17T12:55:23Z")
It’s not a projected or animated map, but in the 1985 cowboy parody **Lust in the Dust** , a treasure map is tattooed across two rear ends, one of them Divine’s. I haven’t seen the film, but I’d love to know the rationale behind that plot point. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/16 "2012-02-17T13:02:30Z")
Let us not forget maps of fictional places such as Middle Earth in LOTR. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/17 "2012-02-17T13:13:14Z")
The kids in The Blair Witch Project had a f_ckin map. Until they f_ckin didn’t. Then f_ckin they were f_ckin screwed. But f_ckin they were f_ckin f_ckin screwed anyway. F_uckin. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/18 "2012-02-17T13:13:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ had the Marauder’s Map, which I thought was quite well executed. [Screenshot showing said map. Note the lower left.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0sBcSciuxTA/TOSNjbzFQCI/AAAAAAAAAGo/PdtouKonX_g/s1600/HP3.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/19 "2012-02-17T13:15:49Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > If interactive maps count, I always liked the send-up of the “traveling dot” (with noises for the cars once it gets into a street-map; then it morphs into a Pac-Man eating the dots!) from _Top Secret!_ Is this indeed in _Top Secret!_? 'Cause it sounds a lot like the interactive map Clark shows his family in _National Lampoon’s Vacation_, which is what I’d come in to mention… ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107/20 "2012-02-17T13:23:28Z")
_Romancing the Stone_ has Kathleen Turner getting a treasure map in the mail, which she must take to Colombia to ransom for her kidnapped sister, but ends up using the map with Michael Douglas to find a priceless emerald. I think the director in _King Kong_ finds Skull Island with a map. ISTR Charlie showing Rose a map of the river in _The African Queen_. In _Sleepless in Seattle_, Tom Hanks shows his son how unsuitable all the women who are writing to him are by pointing out their locations on a map. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-containing-maps/613107.md?page=2)