Cities portrayed in movies

[mhays]

Seattle is a setting far more often than a filming location, so it's often a surprise (to me) when something is set here. Here's a list of 92.

Same with TV shows. Random stuff I never hear about.

Most of these show us in a positive light, or at least a gritty-but-good light. There have been exceptions like House of Games and American Heart (recommended).

Here's a longer list of films filmed here. This seems to be a more inclusive list...lots of smaller productions included.

[Boisebro]

when i lived in chicago, there were a bunch of movies filmed and/or based there.

three spring to mind (though i know there are a ton more):

ferris bueller
about last night
blue's brothers -- with the exception of the illinois nazi chase scene, which resulted in a bridge jump from chicago... to milwaukee, for some reason. hellova jump:



later, i'd add "what women want" to the list, which featured 2400 North Lakeview Drive as Mel Gibson's character's apartment.

[Xing]

• Video Link

[MplsTodd]

During the suburban boom years of the 1960s and 1970s, there were a few TV shows that had a positive presentation of living in the city--That Girl (w Marlo Thomas) in mid-'60s NYC and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in '70's Minneapolis. Even the Odd Couple and Bob Newhart Show were positive portraits of city living.

Regarding movies: I think "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Madonna and Roxanne Arquette deserves some credit for offering a compelling portrait of mid-1980s NYC.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by mhays

...
Most of these show us in a positive light, or at least a gritty-but-good light. There have been exceptions like House of Games and American Heart (recommended).
...

I also recommend American Heart, particularly if you like either Jeff Bridges or Edward Furlong. It kind of portrays Seattle in the way early Gus Van Sant films portray Portland.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by emathias

I thought about including it, but decided in the end to only include films I've actually seen.

Actually, I might add a 1969 film starring Anthony Quinn called A Dream of Kings. It's about an immigrant Greek family with a proudly Greek father with a sick son and set and shot in Chicago mostly in parts of River North (where the main family lives), the Near West Side and, I think, Uptown or Edgewater. It's hard to find, but worth it if you like Anthony Quinn or just want to see 1960s Chicago used to represent 1950s Chicago. Makes the city seem pretty grungy, not a great place to be raising a family (especially since 1960s River North would have been mostly warehouses, transient hotels, flophouses, and the businesses that cater to people living in such places).

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

San Francisco isn't the setting for too many movies, but two stick out in my mind right now:

Isn't the entire Dirty Harry series set in San Francisco? Even Sudden Impact had a number of scenes set there.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by wong21fr

Isn't the entire Dirty Harry series set in San Francisco? Even Sudden Impact had a number of scenes set there.

Don't forget Basic Instinct (1992).

My favorite San Francisco movie is The Game (1997).

For cultural reasons, I also like I Remember Mama (1948).

There was also Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).

Quicksilver (1986) and The Joy Luck Club (1993) were also set in San Francisco but only partially filmed there.

[SFView]

I posted this back on Dec. 1, 2015 on the thread, "Favorite Movie Heavily Featuring Your City." The counts have changed since then. If you check the Wikipedia link within my quote below, you will see a rather complete listing of movies filmed on location per city.
Quote source: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/newr...eply&p=7254394

Originally Posted by SFView

I don't really have a favorite film for San Francisco, since I like so many different movies for different reasons; but for among the films that best represent San Francisco, I recommend the Dirty Harry series movies for starters.

For reference of movie filming locations set in US cities, look here:
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego...States_by_city

Current Top 21 Ranking of Number of Films Set in US Cities by City:
1. New York City (11 C, 1,719 P)
2. Los Angeles, California (2 C, 966 P)
3. San Francisco, California (2 C, 363 P)
4. Chicago, Illinois‎ (2 C, 286 P)
5. Washington, D.C.‎ (1 C, 238 P)
6. New Orleans, Louisiana‎ (1 C, 128 P)
7. Miami, Florida‎ (116 P)
8. Boston, Massachusetts‎ (1 C, 92 P - TIE)
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania‎ (2 C, 91 P - TIE)
9. Seattle, Washington‎ (1 C, 90 P)
10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania‎ (87 P)
11. Houston, Texas‎ (67 P)
12. Detroit, Michigan‎ (54 P)
13. Baltimore, Maryland‎ (53 P)
14. Atlanta, Georgia‎ (50 P)
15. Cleveland, Ohio‎ (39 P)
16. San Diego, California‎ (31 P)
17. St. Louis, Missouri‎ (28 P)
18. Dallas, Texas‎ (1 C, 22 P)
19. Phoenix, Arizona‎ (21 P)
20. Portland, Oregon‎ (20 P)
21. Memphis, Tennessee‎ (17 P)

San Francisco is still currently ranked 3rd in the US with 2 C, 372 P films listed behind 1st place New York and 2nd place Los Angeles.

[sopas ej]

I knew that San Francisco has been the setting for quite a number of films, but I guess I didn't realize that after LA and NYC, it actually ranks third (!).

Maybe I haven't seen too many films set in San Francisco.

Looking back, there are even some film noirs from the 1940s and early 1950s that I've seen that are set in San Francisco; the ones that have actually been filmed there show a somewhat gritty city, I assume because they are film noirs. I can't think of the title of one of them, but I remember it showed great shots of the Ferry Building area when it was a rundown section of town, well before the now-demolished Embarcadero Freeway was built.

[SFView]

^^^"The Maltese Falcon" (1941), comes to mind.

[bobdreamz]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986) definitely broke that mold for chicago. a group of privileged suburban teenagers play hooky and head downtown and discover a world of excitement, adventure, and fun!

Love the movie but I'm still trying to figure out the name of the song in the film when they are taking aerials of downtown Chicago as they are heading towards the city in the car & you see the skyscraper canyons !

"big city , blah blah ! Who hoo hoo hoo " !

Help !

[Urban Zombie]

Originally Posted by mhays

Seattle is a setting far more often than a filming location, so it's often a surprise (to me) when something is set here.

The Class of 1999 (an absolutely fantastic B-movie, btw) took me by surprise in that it appeared to have been completely filmed in Seattle--right down to the scenes shot on "anywhere USA" residential streets (our candy cane stop signs are a serious clue as to whether something was actually shot in Seattle vs. only being set there).

[Xing]

Originally Posted by Lord Baphomet

The Class of 1999 (an absolutely fantastic B-movie, btw) took me by surprise in that it appeared to have been completely filmed in Seattle--right down to the scenes shot on "anywhere USA" residential streets (our candy cane stop signs are a serious clue as to whether something was actually shot in Seattle vs. only being set there).

That movie is awesome.

[mrnyc]

for cleveland i always liked the fortune cookie with jack lemmon and walter matthau, a very 1960s movie with the unusual plot combination of pro football and insurance fraud.

currently, vin diesel and company are in town and they are filming fast & furious 8 in downtown cle as we speak, but i believe the cle will be a stand in for new york in that one.

[dave8721]

How about Ghostbusters II which portrayed New York as being a cesspool of anger and resentment with so much negativity that it allowed a 500 year old tyrant to return to life to take over the world?

[mhays]

Looks like that was 1990 when we did more big movies. Now Seattle filming is more about art house movies, TV commercials, and brief scenery shots that tart up movies filmed elsewhere.

I'm ok with us not throwing cash at film production. However we should at least fund our film office properly.

Washington state is pathetic in that regard. Same with the tourism office. Last I heard we were close to dead last in both categories. But throwing each at least a pittance, like $10,000,000 per year, would pay off in multiples with sales tax alone. With tourism there's often a relatively obvious relationship with tourism dept. funding and actual tourism. Films can be hit or miss but one good movie can jump tourism significantly and long-term. Like the average Nora Ephron movie, including the one partially filmed here.

[Crawford]

While the 1970's were obviously NYC's nadir, there were some positive movies, and not just those directed by Woody Allen. An Unmarried Woman (1978) is fairly good for showing SoHo at its artistic height and the residential Upper East Side and environs.

[upnorthsox]

Add Three Men and a Baby for NYC as an overall positive 80s film.

[fleonzo]

Originally Posted by SFView

I posted this back on Dec. 1, 2015 on the thread, "Favorite Movie Heavily Featuring Your City." The counts have changed since then. If you check the Wikipedia link within my quote below, you will see a rather complete listing of movies filmed on location per city.
Quote source: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/newr...eply&p=7254394


San Francisco is still currently ranked 3rd in the US with 2 C, 372 P films listed behind 1st place New York and 2nd place Los Angeles.

What are the numbers in front of the "P"s?