# What is your quintessential Your Town movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640 "2009-12-09T21:37:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/1 "2009-12-09T21:37:22Z")
For me it’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. The original-- I’ve never seen the remake. It’s held up very well over the years. Oh sure the clothes, hair and trains are different but the people-- those are my people. What movie does that for you. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/2 "2009-12-09T22:00:01Z")
_Vertigo_ - a city full of history, mystery, architecture, sadness, and beauty. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/3 "2009-12-09T22:25:40Z")
_Gone With the Wind_, for when I lived in Atlanta. _The Alamo_ for the current locale. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/4 "2009-12-09T22:28:31Z")
_The Blues Brothers_. It shows the real Chicago. None of that Ferris Beuller crap. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/5 "2009-12-09T22:44:18Z")
Ooh this is a toughie. Kind of an embarrassment of riches to choose from when it comes to NY. Off the top of my head, I’d pick _Moonstruck_, since it offers a variety – both the neighborhoody feel of NYC’s boroughs as well as the sophistication / culture of Lincoln Center. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/6 "2009-12-09T23:08:24Z")
The quintessential New York (City) movie is _Rear Window_. The original _The Taking of Pelham One Two Three_ was another good NYC film, along with _The French Connection_ and _Marathon Man_ (the high school I attended shared a midtown location with many of the scenes in the latter two movies). ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/7 "2009-12-09T23:14:05Z")
Well part of the Pelican Brief was shot in our offices, but other than that… I would have to go for In the Line of Fire for the Lincoln Memorial shots. There are so many other more “D.C.” movies, but that one sticks in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/8 "2009-12-09T23:17:55Z")
The Outsiders and Tex were both written about and filmed around Tulsa, OK. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/9 "2009-12-09T23:30:11Z")
Small town in the Midwest, grew up in the 50’s – _Picnic_. I know those people. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/10 "2009-12-09T23:31:58Z")
_Big Fish_- it was filmed in the small Alabama town where I went to church and to high school (including some of the Texas scenes) and I recognize all of the streets and buildings and a few of the extras. Before that _The Grass Harp_, filmed in the same town and even used the interior of the church I went to as a child and the barber shop where I got my hair cut (though Roddy McDowell wasn’t my barber). The movie _Big Fish_ is much better though. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/11 "2009-12-09T23:38:44Z")
Edward Scissorhands. Except for the whole spooky mansion on a mountain, of which my town has neither. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/12 "2009-12-09T23:40:26Z")
Not quite in town (well Miles’s apartment is actually in Santa Barbara), but _Sideways_ was shot in the wine country around Santa Barbara. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/13 "2009-12-09T23:44:13Z")
St. Elmo’s fire? i can’t think of a movie set in DC that isn’t political or a disaster movie. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/14 "2009-12-09T23:47:09Z")
Most classic westerns show how the San Fernando Valley is. 😉 But approximately four trillion movies have been filmed in L.A. so I guess you can pick any one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/15 "2009-12-09T23:54:16Z")
Wisconsin Death Trip ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/16 "2009-12-10T00:33:51Z")
Rocky. Those are my people…for better or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/17 "2009-12-10T00:51:09Z")
Gotta go with **Dirty Harry** , since you can see my house when the camera pulls backs while Harry is stepping on Scorpio’s leg wound. But I didn’t grow up there, so if we define “your town” that way, I’d go with **Escape From New York** , which made great use of run-down St. Louis landmarks, (Union Station, Chain of Rocks Bridge), which have since been rennovated. Civic pride! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/18 "2009-12-10T00:52:08Z")
I don’t mean a movie that’s set in your town or filmed in your town but a movie that you watch and go ‘yeah, they sure got My Town right’. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/19 "2009-12-10T00:58:19Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I don’t mean a movie that’s set in your town or filmed in your town but a movie that you watch and go ‘yeah, they sure got My Town right’. Then Friday Night Lights. I played football in small town Oklahoma, and that movie NAILS it all. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/20 "2009-12-10T01:02:43Z")
Probably **Welcome to Collinwood**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640.md?page=2)