# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/41 "2009-12-10T16:19:16Z")
Clerks. It’s half a state away, but that was my life, those were my people. It pretty much ties with The Royal Tennenbaums. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/42 "2009-12-10T16:49:28Z")
**Good Will Hunting** captures it nicely, but the neighborhood where a lot of it takes place is very unlike my own. **21** does a much better job of showing the Boston that I know. If we’re allowed to include TV shows, then the establing shots of **Ally McBeal** totally nailed it. There was one that showed State Street, pretty much at the site of the Boston Massacre. At the time I walked by there almost every day. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/43 "2009-12-10T17:15:28Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > _The Blues Brothers_. It shows the real Chicago. None of that Ferris Beuller crap. FB doesn’t even make my short list. I could name some great Chicago movies, but nothing ever has or ever will come close to The Blues Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/44 "2009-12-10T17:32:04Z")
For any Clevender of a certain age, **A Christmas Story** will always bring back fond memories. and it was shot i_n_ Cleveland! ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/45 "2009-12-10T18:05:08Z")
_Mr. and Mrs. Bridge_ was fairly decent. Much more accurate than _Kansas City_. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/46 "2009-12-10T18:07:22Z")
_Deliverance._ I don’t want to talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/47 "2009-12-10T18:15:25Z")
I grew up just outside Aurora, IL. So I guess that my only choice is _Wayne’s World_. Oh, wait–nothing in that film is anything like the real Aurora. For starters, there are no dance clubs there even .01% that rad. So, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/48 "2009-12-10T18:15:40Z")
_Fargo_ very neatly captures the interstitial areas that were an important part of my youth. I’ve met every character in the movie but one. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/49 "2009-12-10T18:46:16Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Small town in the Midwest, grew up in the 50’s – _Picnic_. I know those people. Where in the midwest did you grow up? That movie – at least some of it – was shot in Salina, KS. My brother, my parents, and almost all of my relatives were born there. Six generations, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/50 "2009-12-10T18:54:32Z")
For the decade I lived in far west Texas, _No Country for Old Men_. For the two decades before that (esp. 15 yrs in DFW), the setting of _Office Space_ rings true. The movie definitely feels like suburban Dallas County. For the near-decade since I left west Texas, I’ve got nothing. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/51 "2009-12-10T18:58:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, wait–nothing in that film is anything like the real Aurora. Same comment for **The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai**. Pepper Mill is actually from Grovers Mill (which is a small section of West Windsor, N.J.), and we laugh every time we see that film. Yoyodyne’s factory looks bigger than the entire town (which has no palm trees) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/52 "2009-12-10T19:04:54Z")
Growing up it was probably _Stand By Me_. In college, _Fandango_. Early oil patch years were tough living in _The Last Picture Show_. Nowadays, it’s _Arlington Road._ I’ll be retiring to _No Country For Old Men_. ETA: Yossarian ol’ buddy, you posted No Country while I was typing. We’re not far apart, you south and me north. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/53 "2009-12-10T19:11:35Z")
The only movie I can think of that is set in/around Charlotte and admits it is _Days of Thunder_. They did some shooting for _Talladega Nights_ here, too. I really don’t care for NASCAR, though. My home town is Columbia, SC, and the only movie I can think of that filmed there is _Renaissance Man_, which I’ve never seen. I guess I don’t really have a My Town movie. ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/54 "2009-12-10T19:25:33Z")
For where I grew up it would be Coal Miner’s Daughter. I can’t really think of anything for where I live now, though. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/55 "2009-12-10T19:45:15Z")
Redwing must have grown up down the street from me, because I get homesick every time I watch _Fargo_. Frances McDormand could’ve been my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/56 "2009-12-11T02:35:43Z")
My high school years would be **Dazed and Confused** Now that I’m up in Seattle - \*\*Singles \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Cullain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cullain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cullain)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/57 "2009-12-11T08:28:28Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > **Good Will Hunting** captures it nicely, but the neighborhood where a lot of it takes place is very unlike my own. **21** does a much better job of showing the Boston that I know. > > If we’re allowed to include TV shows, then the establing shots of **Ally McBeal** totally nailed it. There was one that showed State Street, pretty much at the site of the Boston Massacre. At the time I walked by there almost every day. Between the painfully Irish Southie scenes that reminded me of being a kid, the Harvard scenes that reminded me of living in Cambridge, GWH nailed my Boston experience ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/58 "2009-12-11T15:05:44Z")
_The Legend of Billie Jean_ is practically required viewing for Corpus Christi. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/59 "2009-12-11T15:29:22Z")
This Boy’s Life was shot in and around Concrete and the Skagit Valley in Western Washington, where I grew up. It does a great job showing the area, and even though it was set in the 50s, the area, espescially in the mountain towns looks almost exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640/60 "2009-12-11T18:29:02Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I’ll be retiring to _No Country For Old Men_. > ETA: Yossarian ol’ buddy, you posted No Country while I was typing. We’re not far apart, you south and me north. I think I’ve got you beat on the “North” these days; plus I’m a time zone ahead, so if it’s any consolation, it’s like you beat _me_ by 59 minutes or so! That said, clearly _No Country for Old Men_ is the quintessential “My Town” movie for all of the following towns: Van Horn, Marfa, Alpine, Sanderson, Fort Stockton, Marathon… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-quintessential-your-town-movie/520640.md?page=4)