### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/21 "2014-07-05T01:09:26Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#):
>
> Giant isn’t a bad choice for Texas, but is it really more Texan than **The Alamo**?
I think that John Sayles’ _ **Lone Star** _ would have been far better than either.
I’m happy to have the Coen brothers’ _ **Fargo** _ on the list, but i’d put it in for Minnesota, considering that the vast majority of the story takes place there, and most of the movie was also filmed there. I’ve never seen _ **Purple Rain** _, so i don’t know if _ **Fargo** _ would be a better choice for Minnesota or not.
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Fight Club, I thought it was in New York, no reason it couldn’t have been.
Actually, the novel on which the film was based is set in Delaware, there are clues in the film that support this, and it’s actually relevant to the story. Delaware, with its corporate-friendly laws, is home to a disproportionate number of financial institutions, especially credit card providers. This makes it an ideal location for a movie (or book) with _ **Fight Club** _’s nominally anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist message, and especially the destructive finale.
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Anyways, they used Lars and The Real Girl for Wisconsin. Never seen it, apparently it’s about a sex doll.
> I’d nominate A League Of Their Own. It’s a Fourth Of July list and the movie is about baseball (a pretty American sport if you ask me). It’s also based on a true story that actually did take place in Racine, WI.
Most of the movie, though, follows the Rockford Peaches, based in Illinois.
Still, some of it’s in Wisconsin, and i think it’s at least as good a choice for that state as _ **Lars and the Real Girl** _. I might nominate _ **Wisconsin Death Trip** _, a low-budget indie film from 1999, based on the cult classic book from the 1970s.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/22 "2014-07-05T01:14:05Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#):
>
> What iconic upstate movie would you have chosen?
And therein lies a key question about the list itself: should the movie be iconic, or is it preferable that it’s truly representative?
I’ve nominated _ **Lone Star** _ for Texas. It’s hardly an iconic film in the manner of _ **Giant** _ or _ **The Alamo** _, but i think it does at least as good a job of representing important aspects of Texas history and culture.
For upstate New York, i like _ **You Can Count on Me** _ as a fairly unvarnished look at small-town life. If you want to emphasize the post-industrial decline of Great Lakes cities, maybe something like _ **Buffalo '66** _.
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### Author:  [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/23 "2014-07-05T01:19:13Z")
Boys Don’t Cry was probably a better movie than Election for Nebraska.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/24 "2014-07-05T01:32:46Z")
Paper Moon would have been a good one for Kansas. If not for the misleading title, so could Birdman of Alcatraz, since Stroud did all, ALL of his birding stuff while he spent 30 years in the Federal Penitentary in Leavenworth, KS. He wasn’t allowed to keep birds after he was transferred to Alcatraz. \
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/25 "2014-07-05T01:33:00Z")
A movie about a thief, set somewhere near Boston, Ben Affleck. Yep - that just screams Massachusetts to me. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/26 "2014-07-05T01:35:26Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> Most of the movie, though, follows the Rockford Peaches, based in Illinois.
I’ll take your word on that. I haven’t seen that movie since nearly when it came out. Then, went to school in the Racine/Kenosha area and used to drive past where the Belles played on a regular basis. That always made the movie stick in my head as a Wisconsin movie.
Looking at wiki for movies that take place in WI, how about The Great Outdoors.
And if you’re sick of hearing about The Blues Brothers for Illinois (chicago), you could nominate Wayne’s World, though, again, that really could take place in any small town, but it’s such an iconic movie and it’s not The Blues Brothers…again.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/27 "2014-07-05T01:41:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I’ll take your word on that. I haven’t seen that movie since nearly when it came out.
I watched it yesterday. 🙂
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### Author:  [@chicagowhitesox1173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicagowhitesox1173)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/28 "2014-07-05T01:41:43Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I’ll take your word on that. I haven’t seen that movie since nearly when it came out. Then, went to school in the Racine/Kenosha area and used to drive past where the Belles played on a regular basis. That always made the movie stick in my head as a Wisconsin movie.
>
> Looking at wiki for movies that take place in WI, how about The Great Outdoors.
>
> And if you’re sick of hearing about The Blues Brothers for Illinois (chicago), you could nominate Wayne’s World, though, again, that really could take place in any small town, but it’s such an iconic movie and it’s not The Blues Brothers…again.
Waynes World was based in Aurora Illinois which is not a small town. It’s the second largest city in Illinois.
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### Author:  [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/29 "2014-07-05T02:11:20Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> And therein lies a key question about the list itself: should the movie be iconic, or is it preferable that it’s truly representative?
>
> I’ve nominated _ **Lone Star** _ for Texas. It’s hardly an iconic film in the manner of _ **Giant** _ or _ **The Alamo** _, but i think it does at least as good a job of representing important aspects of Texas history and culture.
>
> For upstate New York, i like _ **You Can Count on Me** _ as a fairly unvarnished look at small-town life. If you want to emphasize the post-industrial decline of Great Lakes cities, maybe something like _ **Buffalo '66** _.
I went back and looked at the original link. The list does not mention “iconic” as a criteria. So as long as it’s (subjectively) great it would qualify.
> [@](#):
>
> To mark America’s 238th birthday, Yahoo Movies is re-publishing a gallery which originally ran last summer. It’s a patriotic display of 50 great films — each set in a different state of the Union. Together they form an epic saga of triumph, tragedy, and comedy.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/30 "2014-07-05T02:15:40Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#):
>
> Waynes World was based in Aurora Illinois which is not a small town. It’s the second largest city in Illinois.
Ya know, I was gonna fact check that before I posted it, but I figured if it was sizeable, it would be better known…that’s what I get I guess.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/31 "2014-07-05T02:17:29Z")
> [@mhendo](#):
>
> For upstate New York, i like _ **You Can Count on Me** _ as a fairly unvarnished look at small-town life. If you want to emphasize the post-industrial decline of Great Lakes cities, maybe something like _ **Buffalo '66** _.
I was thinking _Nobody’s Fool_, which also portrays life in a small town upstate. (Well, relatively upstate.)
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/32 "2014-07-05T02:42:18Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#):
>
> What iconic upstate movie would you have chosen?
Several have been mentioned: _Bruce Almighty, Buffalo 66, Canadian Bacon, Nobody’s Fool_, and _You Can Count on Me_. I’d add _Dirty Dancing, Down to the Bone, Freak Talks About Sex, Ironweed, Julian Po, Kicking and Screaming_ (the 1995 one not the 2005 one), _The Place Beyond the Pines, A Walk on the Moon_, and _You Kill Me_. But my pick would be _It’s a Wonderful Life_.
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/33 "2014-07-05T02:44:48Z")
Nebraska, the location for Election is described as a town just large enough to have two sides of the tracks. While we are not New York or Los Angeles, the local metro area population (2013) is 895,151.
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### Author:  [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/34 "2014-07-05T02:50:48Z")
Illinois: Blues Brothers
So typical. Easy to guess. But _Ordinary People_ was so much better.
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### Author:  [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/35 "2014-07-05T02:52:06Z")
I just sorta give up on movies/shows/anything about Connecticut. Everyone thinks that all there is to Connecticut is the “old money suburbs” and Fairfield County. But, there aren’t a lot of movies set in Connecticut that I know of, anyway. At least they didn’t pick Revolutionary Road (which I HATED) or the Stepford Wives. 😛
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/36 "2014-07-05T02:52:36Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#):
>
> Boys Don’t Cry was probably a better movie than Election for Nebraska.
Good point
I would also mention Boys Town, 1938. Spencer Tracy won best actor, and Eleanore Griffin & Dore Schary won for best original story
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### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/37 "2014-07-05T03:03:45Z")
_The Last Picture Show_ for Texas.
_Picnic_ for Kansas.
_State Fair_ for Iowa.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/38 "2014-07-05T03:08:13Z")
_Urban Cowboy_ or _Friday Night Lights_ feel more like my experience of living in Texas. Mostly Houston area for me. Yeah, even tho FNL was set in West Texas, it pretty describes all of Texas High School. Even _Dazed and Confused_ works for my experience of my Texas youth.
For West Texas, _The Last Picture Show_ feels like being there. If I were being mean, I would nominates _Manos: Hands of Fate_ for West Texas. 😉
_The Apostle_ also seems to fit, somewhat…
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### Author:  [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/39 "2014-07-05T03:33:25Z")
Louisiana: _Interview with the Vampire_? No way.
_Angel Heart_ or _Love Song for Bobby Long_
Florida: _Magic Mike_?
Maybe better: _The Right Stuff_ or _Scarface_
Nevada: The Clooney remake of _Ocean’s Eleven_?
Better: The original _Ocean’s Eleven_, or _Rain Man_, or _The Godfather part II_, or _Leaving Las Vegas_.
Maryland: _Diner_ is great. _Avalon_ is a better Maryland movie.
All just humble opinions.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nitpick-the-50-states-movies-especially-your-own/692366/40 "2014-07-05T04:02:39Z")
Isn’t _It’s a Wonderful Life_ set in upstate New York?
And I’m fine with _A River Runs Through It_ for Montana, but what the heck is _Heathers_, for Ohio? OK, so I can’t think of too many Ohio movies… _Major League_, maybe?
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