# Movies Filmed Elsewhere Than Where They're Supposed to Be and Gone Comically Wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278 "2008-04-07T04:03:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/81 "2008-04-08T12:53:41Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_. One moment, they’re driving through green, rolling hills in the English countryside - the next, they’re driving past sun-scorched vineyards… [/QUOTE] My husband and I thought it was hilarious that they went to Bulgaria where the Baron lived in Neuschwannstein Castle and spoke with a German accent. Of course it was a fantasy where no children were allowed in Bulgaria either, but we laughed! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/82 "2008-04-08T13:02:01Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] _Rumble In The Bronx_ has already been mentioned, or as I like to call it, _Rumble In Vancouver_. [/QUOTE] Note to filmmakers: If you’re going to keep using Stanley Park for Central Park, at least mess it up a little. Strew a little trash, spray soot on trees, give benches 19 coats of gloppy green paint. Make it look taken-for-granted. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/83 "2008-04-08T13:06:00Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] It’s not really hilarious, but nobody ever gets Salem, MA right. It’s incredibly tight and packed, and everything looks cramped. I understand they shot two episodes of the old “Bewitched” there, but I don’t remember them. They shot a couple of establishing shots for **Hocus Pocus** there, but the rest of the film was shot elsewhere. You couldn’t get lost in a graveyard in Salem – or even hide from witches there – you could easily toss a stone across one. Aside from the main drags, most of the streets are claustrophobically narrow. [/QUOTE] Similarly, any movie, or show, that purports to involve automobile travel in, or around, Boston MA fails. Hilariously. You’ve got NYC style streets, or worse, the sort of thoroughfares common to southern California. Not the one way carriage ways that are common off the major arteries. And no one ever hits a pothole! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/84 "2008-04-08T13:37:58Z")
[QUOTE=Omniscient] No, they make it clear that it’s Chicago. They don’t specifically call it by name, but they use all the famous street names in the loop and the Subway train is labeled with “Loop”. The trace in one of scenes is to a 312 area code and they show maps that are obviously of Chicago. Additionally the Wachowski’s are from Chicago, which is probably notable. [/QUOTE] Well, the “Heart ‘O’ Chicago” hotel that Trinity fights her way out of in the opening scene is a pretty good marker, I’d say. Although, in reality, the Heart ‘O’ Chicago **m** otel (which is about 6 blocks away from my home) is an ugly 2 story L shaped strip mall style motel like any you’d find on the side of a state highway, not a sleek black high rise in the middle of the Loop. And while the street names are indeed Chicago street names, at least one intersection mentioned (as a location of a call box) doesn’t exist - they give the names of two parallel streets. I don’t remember what - State and something, I think. Although there _is_ a nightclub called Neo here with a bartender (who’s been there forever) named Trinity. I suspect that’s not entirely a coincidence. (It also happens to be where I met my husband, but that’s another story.) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/85 "2008-04-08T14:27:24Z")
Living in LA you get very used to an actor turning a corner and being 25 miles away. Ain’t no big thing. One of my biggest WTF moments was in the movie Independence Day. Will Smith was flying fighter out of MCAS El Toro. Fine, good. Fighters flew out of MCAS El Toro. El Toro is in the middle of Invine California, and is surrounded by houses. It is not located on a freaking dry lake like shown in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/86 "2008-04-08T14:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] Part of the whacky charm of _Army of Darkness_ is that apparently 14th century England looks _a lot_ like the Mojave. [/QUOTE] There’s an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man called “Outrage in Balinderry”, set in the “Dominion of Balinderry”. The most thinly veiled story about Northern Ireland (it featured a paramilitary group known as the IBA and stock footage of British soldiers was heavily used), it would have been alright if they hadn’t set it in the desert, with the (southern) Irish accented characters dressed like Frenchmen. BTW, there is an actual place in Northern Ireland called Balinderry, every bit as green as the episode wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/87 "2008-04-08T14:36:47Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Well, the “Heart ‘O’ Chicago” hotel that Trinity fights her way out of in the opening scene is a pretty good marker, I’d say. [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s the “Heart O’ the city” hotel. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMyAUWVVLBQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMyAUWVVLBQ) (seen at 00:43 seconds.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/88 "2008-04-08T14:49:04Z")
[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom] Actually, it’s the “Heart O’ the city” hotel. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMyAUWVVLBQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMyAUWVVLBQ) (seen at 00:43 seconds.) [/QUOTE] :eek: _rewind_ :eek: [Emily Litella] Nevermind! [/EL] ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/89 "2008-04-08T14:53:00Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] The Ardennes looks a mite arid in _Battle Of The Bulge_ too. [/QUOTE] Being a birdwatcher I remember hearing various American songbirds in that film, shot IIRC in sandy North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/90 "2008-04-08T15:22:41Z")
In _The X-Files_ movie, one of the first scenes is set in Dallas and shows a subdivision of cookie cutter houses surrounded by arid desert, and far in the distance are some pretty, pretty mountains. Um. Dallas gets 35" of rain a year, or thereabouts. Desert we ain’t. Neither are there any mountains within most of a day’s drive. Nice try, though. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/91 "2008-04-08T16:56:31Z")
There is a scene in \*The Philadelphia Experiment \* where they are at Scotty’s Junction in Nevada. I’ve been through Scotty’s Junction, and, well, no way. ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/92 "2008-04-08T17:02:46Z")
And look at all of the mistakes in the Wizard of Oz… ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/93 "2008-04-08T17:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Having often driven through Grover’s Mill on the way from Princeton to the Cranbury Book Worm, there is hardly a Grover’s Mill in Grover’s Mill anymore. There are lots of little towns in NJ, still on the signs, that don’t really exist anymore. [/QUOTE] [minor hijack] One of the very, very few things I actually miss about NJ is going to the Book Worm. What a great store, and how I envy you! [/mh] ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/94 "2008-04-08T18:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=RachelChristine] My husband and I thought it was hilarious that they went to Bulgaria where the Baron lived in Neuschwannstein Castle and spoke with a German accent. Of course it was a fantasy where no children were allowed in Bulgaria either, but we laughed! [/QUOTE] [Nitpick]It was **V** ulgaria.[/Nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/95 "2008-04-08T18:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Correct me if I’m wrong on this since it has been a while, but in _Citizen Kane_ isn’t his San Simeon substitute _Xanadu_ supposed to be on the Gulf Coast in Florida? It wouldn’t have taken a lot of work to learn that there are no mountains on any coast in Florida. The high point of the state is 345 feet. [/QUOTE] This come up in _Some Like it Hot_, too. The hotel in Florida is actually the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and there are a number of shots with Point Loma looming in the background. My favorite Star Trek one is from TNG. At some point they are treking through the alien hills and in the sky above them what is clearly a turkey vulture wheels into view. At that moment you hear an eerie cry on the soundtrack as if it were some kind of alien bird of prey. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/96 "2008-04-08T19:19:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] Is that the same urban street with the gentle curve (a lot of those in Manhattan?), so that the camera can’t actually see the end of the block? I think I saw that one in _Cloverfield_, too, though they actually blocked it pretty well. [/QUOTE] You got it. That’s the set I’m thinking of. As for “Cloverfield”, a surprising amount of it was filmed on location (except for the subway station interior, which was obviously not a NYC station). In fact, I think I did see the set for one scene - when Rob & co. are leaving “Bloomingdale’s.” (After the brunette chick exploded.) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/97 "2008-04-08T20:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=Obsidian] what I got stuck on was. . . why doesn’t anyone they stop on the street know where Alameda is? Not even a general “Somewhere in the East Bay”? [/QUOTE] They get lots of tourists in San Francisco from all over the world, so it shouldn’t be at all surprising to anyone in San Francisco if they see someone who has no idea where Alameda is. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/98 "2008-04-08T20:15:20Z")
Not exactly a _filming_ issue - none of us know what the Pacific looked like 100 years ago - but [Krakatoa is _ **west** _ of Java.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064555/goofs) There was the time on X-files when Mulder was giving someone directions on the phone and said the person should meet him at such-and-such exit on “the ninety-five”. People in the DC area **never** use that phraseology. We’d say “Exit such and such off of Ninety-five” (or “eye-ninety-five”). Prefixing an interstate with “the” is very much a west-coast turn phrase. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/99 "2008-04-08T22:00:53Z")
I recently reviewed “Pony Soldier” which is a movie about a Royal Canadian Mountie negotiating with a renegade tribe of Canadian Cree Indians who’d taken some hostages. It was filmed in Sedona, Arizona. I was wondering where in Canada they had all those red cliffs and mesas and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278/100 "2008-04-09T01:09:32Z")
I hear every other planet in our galaxy looks a bit like Vancouver… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-filmed-elsewhere-than-where-theyre-supposed-to-be-and-gone-comically-wrong/444278.md?page=6)