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Topic: Films featuring the WTC

William T. Parr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 823
From: Cedar Park, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-23-2001 03:48 PM

The new Michael Douglas movie "Don't Say a Word" shows the twin towers way in the background in the scene when he is going across the bay to Hart Island with his patient.

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Andy Muirhead
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Galashiels, Scotland
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-23-2001 07:20 PM

This post may be better placed in Films that DONT feature the WTC!

On flicking through an old Empire magazine, i came across an interview with Luc Besson, around the time The Fifth Element was released in the UK. There was some talk of critics slating his view of the future (or something like that). He said, and i paraphrase, "What do they know? i've been living in the 23rd century for ..years. they haven't even set foot in it"

Funnily enough the article is proceeded by a two-page image of Besson's image of NY in the 23rd century, and i can't spot the WTC anywhere. Granted i live in Scotland and i am not au-fait with the NY skyline, if it's there i'm sure you'll all spot it.

Here's a link to that pic
http://www.ozcraft.com/cgibin/picview.cgi?fifth_el/city.jpg

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Anthony Reid
Film Handler

Posts: 7
From: Milton Keynes, Bucks, United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 11-08-2001 04:19 PM

American Pie 2, Nadia is speaking on the phone to Jim from a payphone in New York and the WTC can be seen in the background....

....and here's a long shot, The French Connection, I'm not sure but in a scene where the Frenchman is being interviewed on the dock, can you not see the WTC towers being constructed on Manhatten Island across the river.

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Sean Weitzel
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 619
From: Vacaville, CA (1790 miles west of Rockwall)
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 11-09-2001 01:47 AM

The Cruise - 1998
Documentary of a Manhattan tourbus guide - Timothy 'Speed' Levitch. There are two predominant scenes where he talks about the trade center.

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 11-09-2001 04:27 PM

Rented "Family Man" with Nicolas Cage and Tai Leoni last weekend. There was a good shot of the twin towers in that one. Cage was looking across the water toward the towers from Jersey. Don't know which body of water.... never been to NYC.

------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

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Aaron Haney
Master Film Handler

Posts: 265
From: Cupertino, CA, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 11-09-2001 05:23 PM

There is a very prominent shot of the WTC in Die Hard with a Vengeance. Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis are jogging down the street, and it pretty much is the whole background. It's about 70 minutes into the film. You just can't miss it.

I wonder: if that movie were released on DVD just after 9/11, rather than a couple of months prior, would they have taken it out? It sounds absurd, but you never know what people will do in a misguided attempt at sensitivity.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 11-09-2001 09:16 PM

I was in a store today and saw a "budget" DVD ($4.95) for the 1974 made-for-TV movie "Terror on the 40th Floor". The DVD cover art of the burning skyscaper (different than the VHS tape pictured on the IMDB) looked disturbingly similar to the burning WTC :

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072268

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 11-09-2001 10:03 PM

Anyone know if the Towering Inferno was inspired by the building of WTC?

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Aaron Haney
Master Film Handler

Posts: 265
From: Cupertino, CA, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 11-09-2001 11:38 PM

According to this, The Towering Inferno ... "is based on on two novels: The Tower by Stern, Richard Martin, and The Glass Inferno by Scortia, Thomas N. and Robinson, Frank M." The former sounds like a thinly veiled take on the WTC, but the latter is set in San Francisco. So I guess the answer is yes and no.

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John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 11-10-2001 01:47 PM

Barry, the body of water between the WTC and New Jersey would be the Hudson River.

Several local TV stations were broadcasting from the WTC, plus many radio stations and other communications services (pagers, two-way radio, etc.) Many are still off-the-air. You can get the TV stations if you have cable, but not with a regular TV antenna (apparently, 25% of NYC does not have cable.) Most TV stations had moved their transmitting facilities from the Empire State Building to the WTC shortly after it was built. They did this not only because the WTC was higher, but the WTC building was actually partially blocking the signal, causing ghosting on TV sets in parts of New Jersey.

When the TV stations left the Empire State Building, radio and other communications services filled up the avaiable bandwidth there, so they can't go back. There's a big scramble to find good locations for transmitting locations, but apparently there just isn't that many good places.

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Tao Yue
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 209
From: Princeton, NJ
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 11-10-2001 04:44 PM

WCBS was the only major station to maintain backup facilities on the Empire State Building. The other stations switched mostly to temporary facilities in Alpine, NJ. WABC also began transmitting from the Empire State building on October 29.

Not sure about what John said (no room on top of Empire). Perhaps on top of Chrysler? Using more compact transmitters might also squeeze them in there. Otherwise, how did WABC get on top of Empire?

------------------
Tao Yue
MIT '04: Course VI-2, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Projectionist, MIT Lecture Series Committee

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Jerry Chase
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1068
From: Margate, FL, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 11-10-2001 05:03 PM

A single tethered balloon might be adequate. Air rights over the ex WTC site probably still exist. It could work with a three point tether, feeds for various antenna and a feed for helium.

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Sterling Hedgpeth
Film Handler

Posts: 2
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 11-13-2001 02:59 PM

I just saw "Escape from New York" again for the first time in ages and I'd forgotten that Kurt Russell sneaks into Manhattan by landing his glider on top of the WTC.

Long time lurker finally posting...

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 11-21-2001 12:37 PM

Sidewalks of New York has at least 2 shots with the WTC clearly visible.

Ironically, that picture was to have opened on 9/21 but was delayed until today due to the events of 9/11.

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Arthur Allen
Film Handler

Posts: 99
From: Renton, WA, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 11-24-2001 12:05 AM

I heard that in the movie Mario Brothers one of the World Trade Center towers starts to disappear through magic, but I haven't seen the movie myself.

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