Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What's the Most Popular Movie Set In Your State? (according to IMDB)

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-10-2015, 01:57 PM:

Posted on Reddit; reported from the LA Times a little over a year ago:

What's most popular movie set in your state? There's a map for that :

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-10-2015, 02:12 PM:

Sorry to nitpick, but I'm not sure that Psycho qualifies, using the criteria in the bottom left of the infographic. In the movie, Janet Leigh is driving away from Phoenix and claims to be from LA when she sells her car, so the implication is that she's heading west. She winds up on the "old highway", on which the Bates Motel (in and around which the majority of the movie is set) is located. Presumably the old highway is the one that was replaced by the 10: the stretch across the desert from the IE to Phoenix had recently been completed when Psycho was made. Driving west from Phoenix on the 10, there is no alternative route going more or less alongside the freeway until you get to the Indio/Coachella Valley area, which is well over the border and into California. I'm guessing that this is where the Bates Motel is supposed to be.

I'm probably reading too much into this, and the scriptwriter didn't give it a second thought (after all, which state the murder takes place in is irrelevant to the story). If so, I'm not sure if this checks the "clear or highly probable location" box.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-10-2015, 03:02 PM:

Of course the real Bates Motel is in California - on the Universal back lot! [Smile]

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 03-10-2015, 03:16 PM:

Top rated and popular are not the same thing, but we can always make a few bucks selling Mockingbird here.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-10-2015, 03:29 PM:

Well the map is stupid with respect to Montana. Lonesome Dove is a TV show, not a movie.

I would say the most popular movie set here is A River Runs Through It.

Thanks to our stupid tax laws, hardly any movies have been made here lately (at least major productions). We went through a period in the where a lot of movies came to Montana - Far and Away, Heaven's Gate, The Missouri Breaks, The Horse Whisperer, The River Wild and others were all made here. But thanks to other states (and Canada) having big tax incentives and Montana not having any, productions have pretty much gone away.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 03-10-2015, 03:36 PM:

A River Runs Through It

I love that movie. The Bluray is stunning. I'm probably the only person outside of Montana that has ever seen it, and although I have no interest in fly fishing, the film makes me want to move there. What a beautiful state.

My favorite movie shot in New Jersey (certainly not the most popular) is The Station Agent, filmed in and around the town I live in. The train station with the abandoned railway cars is still there.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-10-2015, 08:41 PM:

Most of the locations still exists like they were in 1941 for the movie TORA, TORA, TORA, in Hawaii. It was not filmed there but Hotel street in Honolulu still look the same as the way it was dipicted in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and Schofeild Barrecks has not changed at all.

-Claude

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 03-10-2015, 09:35 PM:

In Cold Blood is the one for my home state. I remeber watching this moive as a kid with my dad and it scared me a bit. Its kind of a thing growing up here that parts of that movie was shot in Kansas. Im surprised Dancing with Wolves wasn't the movie because some of the large open prairie shots and I think others here and there where filmed near where I live.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-10-2015, 09:45 PM:

Wasn't Dances With Wolves filmed mostly in South Dakota? If so, I would have picked that over Badlands for that state. (North Dakota is way more famous for its Badlands even though SD has a Badlands National Park.)

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-11-2015, 12:09 AM:

I'm a little bit surprised that none of the John Sayles movies that deal with local/regional identity made it into this list (Sunshine State for Florida, Silver City for Colorado and Limbo for Alaska).

As for California, I'd have voted either for Greed or Double Indemnity before I actually moved here: they were the two films clearly set in the state and shot mainly on locations there which made the greatest impression on me. Most of the locations still exist and still look roughly like they do when the films were made (with the exception of San Francisco's Polk Street, which I gather has been more or less completely razed and rebuilt since the 1920s): Barbara Stanwyck's house in the Hollywood hills is still there, as is Glendale railroad depot and, of course, Death Valley.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 03-11-2015, 12:49 AM:

I find it highly amusing and ironic that "My Own Private Idaho", a film about a gay hustler is tied to a state that is one of the least gay-friendly in the country. [Smile]

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-11-2015, 10:44 AM:

And I find it highly ironic that one of the most famous movies filmed
in Arizona was. . . . "Oklahoma!"

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-11-2015, 03:16 PM:

I've sorta blown my own theory out of the water (or desert?) about Psycho. I'd forgotten that the movie depicts Janet Leigh driving for a day and a half before arriving at the Bates Motel: she starts out shortly after lunch on day 1, sleeps in her car overnight and then drives for another full day before arriving at the motel after dark. That means she would have to have been driving for at least 15 hours or so. Going west, you'd be at the coast within 7 or 8, even in a 1960 car and on 1960 roads (from my house, 75 miles east of the coast, a drive to Phoenix takes around five hours including one coffee & gas stop).

But in any case, if you drive for 15 hours in any direction from Phoenix, you'd be out of Arizona (and if you went south, you'd be out of the entire country). So Psycho still probably doesn't qualify!

Vaguely related to which, it's interesting how most of the films on that map aren't exactly upbeat, positive messages about the states they portray, are they? The majority center on violent death (both murder and capital punishment), mental illness, racism, injustice, war, organized crime or a combination thereof. The Straight Story and Bringing Up Baby are really the only two unproblematic feel-good movies on there. And maybe The Gold Rush if you don't read anything too deep into it.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-11-2015, 03:45 PM:

That map says True Grit for Oklahoma? While significant parts of the novel were set in "Indian Territory," which later became Oklahoma, neither the original 1969 movie or the more recent Coen Brothers re-make had any scenes filmed in the Sooner State. Shame on them since there is a lot of places in Oklahoma that would work very well as shooting locations for Western genre movies. Maybe Oklahoma just doesn't have the same kind of movie production tax arrangement as New Mexico.

quote:
And I find it highly ironic that one of the most famous movies filmed
in Arizona was. . . . "Oklahoma!"

One that gets my goat is The Searchers. The story is set right here in the region where I live. Comanches camped out in the Wichita Mountains would go on raids South into Texas. We have some mountains here; they just don't look like the buttes and mesas in Monument Valley.

Notable movies with scenes both set in Oklahoma and filmed in Oklahoma:

The Outsiders (1983)
S.E. Hinton's novel is set in Tulsa.
The movie was shot in Tulsa.
Not fucking Canada, California or even New Zealand like some bullshit remake would probably do these days. I'm only saying this because it is very rare for a movie production to make a movie where the movie really takes place. Can you tell I have zero respect for Hollywood when it comes to their very dopey portrayals of geography?

Rainman (1988)
A few scenes of the movie were shot in small town & rural areas not far from Oklahoma City. That includes the fart in a telephone booth scene.

UHF (1989)
Almost all of Weird Al Yankovic's cult classic was filmed in and around the Tulsa area. I didn't really like this movie very much, but some scenes were funny.

Far and Away (1992)
The land rush scene and some other portions were filmed in Oklahoma. Of note: Director Ron Howard was born in Duncan, Oklahoma.

Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
The pow wow and buffalo stampede scenes were shot in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. The refuge is home to a large herd of bison that's kept to about a 700 head count; excess bison are auctioned. The original blood line of Texas Longhorn cattle live at the refuge.

In the Army Now (1994)
Some of this Pauly Shore comedy was shot on Fort Sill, next door to Lawton. I know one guy named Allen Stokes who was basically playing himself in the movie: a pretty scary looking drill sergeant.

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 03-11-2015, 04:31 PM:

I remember when the "Missouri Breaks" was filmed here in Billings in the 70's. Brando and Nicholson were at a well known Bar here one afternoon drinking and getting pretty hammered at the same time. After awhile they started throwing their empty glasses up in the air and letting them crash on the Floor breaking them and laughing like it was really Funny.

After they did it about 3 times the owner physically throw both of them out in the parking lot and gave them a lecture at the same time about them thinking because their well known Movie Stars doesn't give them the right to come into an establishment and think they can do what they please. Brando apologized, Nicholson didn't say Squat....Arrogant P.O.S. [thumbsdown]

BTW Bobby: The Oklahoma Land Rush in "Far and Away" was filmed right here in Outer Billings about 2 miles from where I live. I was at the location where most of it was Shot in 1991. We use to ride Motorcycles there in the late 60's. The Chicken Slaughter house was filmed in our old Train Depot on Montana Ave. Much of that film was shot in Billings and Bozeman, Mt. During Filming here Howard hadn't even come up with the title name yet. The Scripts were still calling it "The Irish Story"...

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-11-2015, 05:21 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Far and Away (1992)
The land rush scene and some other portions were filmed in Oklahoma

I can also vouch it was filmed in Montana. It was a pretty big deal at the time, both because not all that many movies are made here and because it was such a huge scene to film.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-11-2015, 08:34 PM:

What the hell did they even film in Oklahoma? The state is listed as one of the filming locations.
[Confused]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-11-2015, 11:27 PM:

Who knows? All I know is the company made major headlines in Billings when they were filming there and everyone was all a-twitter over meeting Tom Cruise. They also had open casting for that land-rush scene which also was front page news. (Doesn't take too much to make the front page of the Billings Gazette.)

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 03-12-2015, 01:18 AM:

The Oklahoma Film & Music Commission's website does not list Far and Away, and this article suggests that nothing was filmed in Oklahoma, but Oklahoma received a credit because the historical society assisted.

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 03-12-2015, 11:50 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Who knows? All I know is the company made major headlines in Billings when they were filming there and everyone was all a-twitter over meeting Tom Cruise. They also had open casting for that land-rush scene which also was front page news. (Doesn't take too much to make the front page of the Billings Gazette.)

When they were Filming here in Billings, I got an invitation to see a Director's Cut of "Back Draft" that was Howard's previous film. It had about a 1/2hr more footage than the Theater Release. Cruise and then wife Nicole Kidman were there also. Cruise was pretty personable and you could go right up to him and have a discussion about anything. Kidman was a stuckup Bitch that acted like she was British Royalty. didn't care for her at all. I remember Cruise going to a business here called "Rent a Wreck" and renting an old beater Chevy to drive around town and be anonomous looking. Ron Howard was very friendly and easy to talk to. I teased him about Andy Griffith Show saying "You don't hear of a lot of New Born Boys being named "OPIE" these days. He laughed and said Yes, very True ! [beer]