The very opening shot, where the Paramount logo blends (as it does in all Indiana Jones films) into a mountain. Except it blends into a weathered point of sandstone cliff, then tracks down to Indiana and the scouts riding on burros through the desert.
As soon as I saw the rocks I thought to myself: “I know those rocks!” It’s Courthouse Towers at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. The shots of the scouts then go through several non-contiguous areas – Balanced Rock, Skull Arch, the Three Gossips – before they stop. What’s funny is that the nice, paved road is just barely out of shot in all cases, and in the opening shot actually loops around behind the rocks that you see. I’d jusy spent the two previous summers hiking through those rocks, so they were fresh in my memory. In real life, that opening shot should have show a small valley filled with strings directing the hikers to keep off the endangered cryptogamic soil.
A lot of flicks were filmed in Arches (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Thelma and Louise, and a lot of car commercials. The scebes with the train were shot in Arizona, though – it doesn’t look at all like the area around Arches.
In Hawaii the opening scenes were shot at Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass. I still find it hard to watch that film, with Torin Thatcher not playing an Evil Magician for once, and picture them in a real village, rather than a “living museum”.
On Carson street in the LA Harbour Strip, they are decorating a little strip mall for a Christmas themed ghetto comedy. They have Christmas decorations all over – even across the street – and what appears to be a “Swap meet” type table filled with junk. What really caught my eye was that they renamed the stores, too. There is a clothes store called “Pimps and Hos,” and a “Holy Moly Donut Shop.”
The Brinks Job, while set in Pennsylvania, has a couple of scenes filmed in my hometown of Stoneham, Massachusetts, including one of our town square back when it had a quaint little police box in the center. It’s kind of sad watching the movie now, as none of local places filmed exist anymore.
A lot of movies were filmed at my college, but only With Honors was done while I was a student. The filmmakers acted like such absolute jerks (they had that Robert Altman “we’re from Hollywood! Don’t you love us for barricading the front of your house and dumping our crap everywhere?” attitude) that I’ve resolved never to watch the movie.
As I’ve mentioned in another thread, the opening scenes of The Hunter (Steve McQueen’s final movie) were filmed in and around the town I pretty much grew up in.
[ul]
[li]Papa Thorson captured Tommy Price in Herscher, IL. My guess would be Park Road in the vicinity of Chicago Ave., which is just north of the railroad crossing. Got my haircuts in Herscher after ours closed up shop.[/li][li]The in-car conversation between Papa and Tommy takes place near the intersection of Illinois Route 17 and Kankakee County 12.[/li][li]The payphone scenes took place in Bonfield, corner of Chester Ave. and Smith Street.[/li][li]Papa, Tommy, and Billie Joe are shown driving east down Smith Street toward Bonfield Road.[/li][/ul]
I’ve heard that one movie, dunno which, showed a Metro stop in the Old Post Office Building. Nearest one is actually across the street.
Zesty’s is in a small strip of stores in downtown Chelmsford…right near the CVS and Marshalls. I would suggest it…then again…I got some free food there so i’m a bit biased.
GilaB and Musicat’s posts reminded me of another one:
EdTV takes place in San Francisco but nothing and nobody in the film resemble the city I know so well. However, when Matthew McConaughey chases Jenna Elfman into a movie theater, it turned out to be my beloved Castro Theatre, one of the best Art Deco movie houses on the west coast.
Outdoor scenes from The Day After, parts of which were supposed to take place in Lawrence, Kansas, actually were filmed there, and a lot of that countryside you see in the flyover scenes was from around there. A made for TV movie The Stalking of Laura Black, starring Brookes Shields and Richard"John Boy"Thomas, had a number of scenes filmed here in Topeka. In some scenes outside the office building where the shootings take place I can see the roof of the big HyperMart store across the way. The TV film Cross of Fire, about the trial for murder of a powerful Klansman, had chunks shot here in Topeka as well. Our streets and Capitol Building stood in for those of Indiana, where the action was supposed to take place. And the home of the chief bad guy was the Kansas governor’s mansion, Cedar Crest.
Dirty Harry is a good one for SF. I live across the street from Kezar stadium, which is featured prominently in one scene.
Of course, my favorite scene in any SF movie is in The Graduate, when Ben drives to Berkeley across the Bay Bridge, and he’s driving East on the upper span, which happens to be the wrong direction. I can’t believe they shut down the Bay Bridge for that one scene - the traffic must have been brutal that day.
Ok, but I’m pretty sure there was a brief scene that took place in Pennsylvania. If the rest of the movie was set in Boston, at least that would explain why they filmed that scene out in the suburbs. Sorry, It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.
Anatomy of a Murder was filmed about half an hour away from where I grew up, in Marquette, MI. Very good movie, btw. Lee Remick was quite the babe and it had a very cool soundtrack by Duke Ellington.