50 largest US Cities - Can you name films that take place in each one?

[Jaymole]

I was wondering, for each of these 55 cities, can you name a film that is set there? It would be interesting to see who can match up the most films/cities:

New York, New York (pop 8,084,316)
Los Angeles, California (pop 3,798,981)
Chicago, Illinois (pop 2,886,251)
Houston, Texas (pop 2,009,834)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (pop 1,492,231)
Phoenix, Arizona (pop 1,371,960)
San Diego, California (pop 1,259,532)
Dallas, Texas (pop 1,211,467)
San Antonio, Texas (pop 1,194,222)
Detroit, Michigan (pop 925,051)
San Jose, California (pop 900,443)
Indianapolis, Indiana (pop 783,612)
San Francisco, California (pop 764,049)
Columbus, Ohio (pop 725,228)
Louisville, Kentucky (699,827)
Memphis, Tennessee (680,768)
Austin, Texas (pop 671,873)
Baltimore, Maryland (pop 638,614)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (pop 590,895)
Boston, Massachusetts (pop 589,281)
Nashville, Tennessee (575,261)
Washington, District of Columbia (pop 570,898)
El Paso, Texas (pop 577,415)
Seattle, Washington (pop 570,426)
Denver, Colorado (pop 560,415)
Charlotte, North Carolina (pop 580,597)
Fort Worth, Texas (pop 567,516)
Portland, Oregon (pop 539,438)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (pop 519,034)
Tucson, Arizona (pop 503,151)
New Orleans, Louisiana (pop 473,681)
Las Vegas, Nevada (pop 508,604)
Cleveland, Ohio (pop 467,851)
Long Beach, California (pop 472,412)
Albuquerque, New Mexico (pop 463,874)
Kansas City, Missouri (pop 443,471)
Fresno, California (pop 445,227)
Virginia Beach, Virginia (pop 433,934)
Atlanta, Georgia (pop 424,868)
Sacramento, California (pop 435,245)
Oakland, California (pop 402,777)
Mesa, Arizona (pop 426,841)
Tulsa, Oklahoma (pop 391,908)
Omaha, Nebraska (pop 399,357)
Minneapolis, Minnesota (pop 375,635)
Honolulu, Hawaii (pop 378,155)
Colorado Springs, Colorado (pop 371,182)
St. Louis, Missouri (pop 338,353)
Wichita, Kansas (pop 355,126)
Santa Ana, California (pop 343,413)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (pop 327,898)
Arlington, Texas (pop 349,944)
Cincinnati, Ohio (pop 323,885)
Miami, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida

[Groucho]

I'm stuck on #1 & #2. :sad:

[Mondo Kane]

I'm stuck on #1 & #2. :sad:

Oh, surely you've seen a John Hughes movie. Scratch off #3 too.

[Drexl]

What are the rules concerning films that take place in more than one city? Does the whole movie have to take place there or just part or most of it?

Also, can we start naming them off like in the TV shows in states thread, do you want us to try to get all of them at once?

[Jaymole]

I would say the majority of the film has to take place in that city.

Obviously for cities like NYC & LA there are hundreds of films you can name....I guess I'm more interested in seeing if somone can match-up as many as they can...although it would be interesting to see how many films we can name that take place in Cincinnati.

[Groucho]

Not a movie, but as God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

[Doc MacGyver]

Well I live in Philly, so I can tack off a couple from here...

Rocky
Philadelphia
12 Monkeys
Fallen
Invincable

huh... Damn, I thought I could name more.



Doc

[Daryl]

Detroit:
Action Jackson
Four Brothers
first half of both Beverly Hills Cop and True Romance

plenty more but those were the first few that popped into my head

[Jam Master Jay]

I live in Portland, OR and I remember a few of the main streets downtown were shut down while they were filming The Hunted. I can't remember any other movies that took place or were filmed here.

[db27]

Boston - The Departed, Mystic River, Good Will Hunting, Boondock Saints

also, i had no idea Columbus Ohio was that big. I visited it and it didn't even seem bigger than Boston to me.

[antennaball]

Austin, Tx

Man of the House
Dazed and Confused

San Antonio, Tx

Miss Congeniality

[TwoDog]

OK here is my attempt (avoiding all the obvious ones for #1 and #2)

Chicago - adventures in babysitting, fugitive, Home alone (?)
Houston - Apollo 13
Philadelphia - Sixth Sense

Damn more difficult than I thought

[Jason]

Pittsburgh:

Flashdance
One of those Bruce Willis cop movies

[foggy]

Where did you find this list? The reason I am asking is I found other lists online with different cities. Two glaring omissions from this list are Jacksonville and Miami, FL with around 700,000 and 500,000 in population respectively.

[Jaymole]

I found it somewhere on the internet...I don't remember where.

I have added Miami & Jacksonville to the list at the bottom. Now foggy, since you brought them up, name some films set in those cities:)

[Robert]

Pittsburgh:

Flashdance
One of those Bruce Willis cop movies

<b>The Deer Hunter</b>

[Robert]

San Francisco -

Dirty Harry movies
Basic Instinct
Interview With The Vampire
A View to a Kill
The Rock
X-Men 3

[rw2516]

Kansas City-Prime Cut, Mr. and Mrs. North
Las Vegas-Diamonds Are Forever

[Altimus Prime]

Pittsburgh:

Flashdance
One of those Bruce Willis cop movies

That would be Striking Distance.

Also in or around da 'burgh:

Inspector Gadget.

Silence of the Lambs (technically outside the city, down the Ohio River in a suburb.)

Dogma

Houseguest

Sudden Death

Groundhog Day (some nice opening shots of the city, before moving to Punxy)

Factory Girl (Sienna Miller stuck her foot in her mouth several times while here, causing a scene at a bar, and referring to the city as "Sh!tsburgh."

A Drake Bell show is set to be filmed here.

[Drexl]

Other missing cities:

Memphis, Tennessee (680,768)
Nashville, Tennessee (575,261)
Louisville, Kentucky (699,827)

I'm not going to cheat and use IMDB, but I can say that for some reason (I haven't seen it in 10 years or so), I remember that Can't Buy Me Love took place in Tucson, Arizona.

[Brooklyn]

Last Days Of Disco - New York, New York
2 Days In The Valley - Los Angeles, California
The Blues Brothers - Chicago, Illinois
Student Bodies - Houston, Texas
Trading Places - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Anchorman - San Diego, California
Cloak And Dagger - San Antonio, Texas
Detroit Rock City - Detroit, Michigan
Big Trouble In Little China - San Francisco, California
Coma - Boston, Massachusetts
Amazing Colossal Man - Las Vegas, Nevada
Dawn Of The Dead - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

[Lateralus]

Well I live in Philly, so I can tack off a couple from here...

Rocky
Philadelphia
12 Monkeys
Fallen
Invincable

huh... Damn, I thought I could name more.



Doc

You forgot Philly's favorite director:

The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
The Lady in the Water

the other two were just outside of Philly:

The Village
Signs

[cupcake jesus]

Factory Girl (Sienna Miller stuck her foot in her mouth several times while here, causing a scene at a bar, and referring to the city as "Sh!tsburgh."

I believe that Factory Girl takes place in NYC. The film that Miller was filming in Pittsburgh is the film adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

cheers,

-the Jesus

[printerati]

Cincinnati - Airborne, most of Rain Man, some of Traffic

[Mondo Kane]

Sacramento-Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane

[Jaymole]

Other missing cities:

Memphis, Tennessee (680,768)
Nashville, Tennessee (575,261)
Louisville, Kentucky (699,827)


I've added those to the list, now 55 cities.

[B.A.]

St. Louis -> White Palace; One Night at McCool's

[Joe Molotov]

Colorado Springs - The Prestige
Tulsa - The Outsiders and Rumble Fish

[breadlymoore]

Minneapolis - the one and only Purple Rain.

[Cusm]

I have lived in OKC for 15+ years and can not name one based here. Twister (all over the state) and Silkwood (just north of OKC by about 30-45 minutes) are probably the closest I can think of. Far and Away may have taken place in what became Oklahoma City, but it was filmed in one of the Dakotas and who knows what part of the territories it was suppose to be in.

[HE Pennypacker]

You forgot Philly's favorite director:

The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
The Lady in the Water

the other two were just outside of Philly:

The Village
Signs

Also Night's forgotten Wide Awake.

[PopcornTreeCt]

Memphis, TN = Hustle & Flow, Walk the Line
Miami, FL = Scarface, Bad Boys 2

[DX 4 Life]

San Diego - "Top Gun"
"Bring It On"
"Traffic"
"Lost World: Jurassic Park"
"Almost Famous"
"Apollo 13"
"Hunt For Red October"
"Sands Of Iwo Jima"
"Gung Ho"
"Some Like It Hot"
"Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"
also parts of "Titanic", "True Lies" and "Free Willy 2" were produced in the same warehouse

[zombeaner]

I'll take Dallas, are we talking filmed here or set here? I watched some of Serving Sara being filmed (just being a Bruce Campbell fanboy), Robocop was filmed here, Dr. T and the Women was filmed here.

[TomOpus]

San Diego - "Top Gun"
"Bring It On"
"Traffic"
"Lost World: Jurassic Park"
"Almost Famous"
"Apollo 13"
"Hunt For Red October"
"Sands Of Iwo Jima"
"Gung Ho"
"Some Like It Hot"
"Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"
also parts of "Titanic", "True Lies" and "Free Willy 2" were produced in the same warehouseNot to forget Anchorman

[foggy]

There are already a couple listed for Miami But for Jacksonville I will contribute "Creature from the Black Lagoon". It was also a big center of film production pre 1920 with about 100 silents listed on IMDB.

[Ketamine]

Wichita - The Big Kahuna, The Ice Harvest (though at times they call it Wichita Falls, TX)

[Michael Corvin]

The first part of Stripes takes place in Louisville, KY. Before Ramis and Murray actually join the Army.

[kenny79]

El Paso -- Kill Bill

[groovrbaby]

Phoenix - Psycho, Jerry Maguire (briefly), Raising Arizona, Blue Collar Comedy Tour

[DX 4 Life]

Not to forget Anchorman


yeah, someone added that in the earlier posts so I just decided not to use it. Also, the Kelly McGillis' house in "Top Gun" is in Oceanside near the marine base...there was a nice squabble a couple years back. The city wanted to tear it down along with others near it to put up whatever (I don't remember if it was condos or business)...People in the area and San Diego county filed a petition to keep it there as a historical landmark. I'm not sure whatever happened to it after that.

[Mondo Kane]

El Paso -- Kill Bill

Lancaster and Barstow,CA doubled for El Paso.

[mh4268]

Some others for Philly:
Blow Out
Witness
Mannequin (although i forget whether they mention in the movie it is Philly)

[PopcornTreeCt]

There are already a couple listed for Miami But for Jacksonville I will contribute "Creature from the Black Lagoon". It was also a big center of film production pre 1920 with about 100 silents listed on IMDB.

That's interesting. I was racking my brain trying to think of any movies from Jacksonville.

[grenier]

Milwaukee - Dahmer

[TomOpus]

yeah, someone added that in the earlier posts so I just decided not to use it. Also, the Kelly McGillis' house in "Top Gun" is in Oceanside near the marine base...there was a nice squabble a couple years back. The city wanted to tear it down along with others near it to put up whatever (I don't remember if it was condos or business)...People in the area and San Diego county filed a petition to keep it there as a historical landmark. I'm not sure whatever happened to it after that.Ack, I missed it... even after looking twice.

Yes, I remember the big deal about the house and, like you, I don't know if they ever came out with what happened. Hopefully it was kept. At least we still have Kansas City Barbeque :)

[smashthesymbols]

Kansas City-Prime Cut, Mr. and Mrs. North
Oddly enough, Robert Altman's Kansas City also takes place in Kansas City. It's been a while, but I think there's scenes in In Cold Blood that are in Kansas City too.

[Matthew Chmiel]

Films that have had scenes taking place in Las Vegas:

Smokin' Aces
Ocean's Eleven (both the original and the remake)
Ocean's Thirteen
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
The Cooler
3000 Miles to Graceland
Pay It Forward
Very Bad Things
Vegas Vacation
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
Honeymoon in Vegas
Showgirls
Con Air
Casino
Honey, I Blew Up The Kid
Bugsy
Rain Man

[Jason]

<b>The Deer Hunter</b>

Technically Clairton, but close enough.

[DVD Josh]

BALTIMORE:

Along came a spider
Ladder 49
Enemy of the State

TO THE OP: Please update your lead post keeping track of all that has been mentioned.

[Boba Fett]

I live in Portland, OR and I remember a few of the main streets downtown were shut down while they were filming The Hunted. I can't remember any other movies that took place or were filmed here.
Zero Effect is probably the best film shot in Portland; The Hunted is fun to watch as a Portlander, but they really f-up the geography.

[Mondo Kane]

BALTIMORE:

Along came a spider
Ladder 49
Enemy of the State


Where's your John Waters movies? :eyebrow:

[worrywort]

Hmmm, a movie that takes place in Indianapolis...

Uhhh

Hoosiers, duh

[worrywort]

Denver - About Schmidt

[Quake1028]

Tampa, FL has around 333,000 people and should have made the list.

[Nick Danger]

There was a 1940s western named "Albuquerque", but I've never seen it. (I just looked it up. 1948, Randolph Scott, Gabby Hayes, and Lon Chaney.)

[tommyp007]

Charlotte:

Days of Thunder
Shallow Hal

[JIF]

Wichita, Kansas: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

[Duder]

The Hunted is fun to watch as a Portlander, but they really f-up the geography.

Agreed. Out of all the Portland-filmed movies I can think of, The Hunted seems to best capture the feel of the Portland area.

As a side note, Untraceable just began filming here yesterday. (I was one of the extras, playing a Portland cop.) It's going to be filming here for the next several months, so I wonder how well that will represent the area.

[BigDaddy]

Robocop filmed in Dallas to be Detroit.

[Inverse]

That list is pretty wonky (Milwaukee is bigger than Boston or Washington?) since it only includes the population within the narrow city limits, not metro areas including suburbs, etc. Here's a better list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_metropolitan_statistical_areas_by_population

[NiCK Crush]

Cleveland/Milwaukee - Major League 1 & 2

-NiCK

[jfoobar]

Indianapolis - A small part of October Sky
Nashville - Altman's Nashville, duh. :) Lots of country musician biopics have large chunks set in Nashville.

[DGibFen]

Louisville, KY: Parts of The Insider and Elizabethtown. And any movie that has a plot line involving the Kentucky Derby with at least one shot of Churchill Downs.

[Michael Corvin]

how about updating the first post with movies that have been mentioned? Kinda easier to keep track of what remains and keep the thread going.

[Finch03]

Courage Under Fire, Traffic, The Day After Tomorrow, and Glory Road all had parts filmed in El Paso.

[Bobby Shalom]

Minneapolis/St. Paul:

Purple Rain (Already mentioned)
Fargo
Prairie Home Companion
The Heartbreak Kid (2nd half)
Jingle All The Way (ugh!)

[starman9000]

Minneapolis/St. Paul

Mighty Ducks

[Doc MacGyver]

You forgot Philly's favorite director:

The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
The Lady in the Water

the other two were just outside of Philly:

The Village
Signs

I try, as often as possible, to forget most of those movies...


...Unbreakable WAS awesome, though.



Doc

[Bareit]

Seattle:

Get Carter (2000)
Singles

[Breakfast with Girls]

Seattle:

Get Carter (2000)
SinglesSleepless in Seattle (of course)
Firewall
The Ring
Say Anything

[Jaymole]

Sorry, I will update the list by tomorrow...

[sixerb]

cincinnati=traffic

[wendersfan]

Columbus - <b>Little Man Tate</b>

[wishbone]

Indianapolis - A small part of October SkyIndianapolis - Eight Men Out, old Bush Stadium and downtown

[Flashback]

I don't get some of this. I thought it was where the movie is based, not filmed to stand in for another place (Toronto coming to mind for many movies).

Hughes is outside of Chicago - or the majority I remember. Where as Hard Ball, My Bodyguard were all in Chicago or Color of Money, Judgement Night where the majority takes place in Chicago. I know picky.

Anyway some to throw out...
New Orleans - Big Easy
Phoenix - Does Banger Sisters count?
Denver - I am guessing but Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Memphis - The Firm
Milwaukee - Mr. 3000
Baltimore - Diner
San Fran - Mrs Doubtfire
NY - Taxi Driver
Atlanta - Driving Miss Daisy

Cincy - maybe someone can help-it was a teen movie of a surfer that moves to Cincy and races kids on Rollerblades.

[Nick Danger]

I still can't think of anything for Colorado Springs. The best I can think of is Bowling for Columbine, which is half-way to Denver.

[starman9000]

I still can't think of anything for Colorado Springs.


Stargate? (Can't remember if the movie was there or just the tv show)

Edit: The Prestige as well (watching it now)

[Tommy_Harn]

Cincy - maybe someone can help-it was a teen movie of a surfer that moves to Cincy and races kids on Rollerblades.

Airborne.

[madcougar]

Houston - My Best Friend is a Vampire! The high school scenes were actually shot at my high school, Charles H. Milby in 1987.

[draven31]

Austin,tx - D.O.A

[sixerb]

Indianapolis - Eight Men Out, old Bush Stadium and downtown
i was an extra in this, our band went to play in the stands, you can spot me in my ugly burnt orange coat a couple of times, lol

[alk3hol]

Memphis, TN - Mystery Train, Forty Shades of Blue

[Legolas]

Wait, fictionally take place there or actually shot there?

[Sierra Disc]

Portland OR - Drugstore Cowboy

[worrywort]

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/babestoyland/babestoyland1.wav

[daniel18]

I was wondering, for each of these 55 cities, can you name a film that is set there? It would be interesting to see who can match up the most films/cities:

New York, New York (pop 8,084,316)
Los Angeles, California (pop 3,798,981)
Chicago, Illinois (pop 2,886,251)
Houston, Texas (pop 2,009,834)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (pop 1,492,231)
Phoenix, Arizona (pop 1,371,960)
San Diego, California (pop 1,259,532)
Dallas, Texas (pop 1,211,467)
San Antonio, Texas (pop 1,194,222)
Detroit, Michigan (pop 925,051)
San Jose, California (pop 900,443)
Indianapolis, Indiana (pop 783,612)
San Francisco, California (pop 764,049)
Columbus, Ohio (pop 725,228)
Louisville, Kentucky (699,827)
Memphis, Tennessee (680,768)
Austin, Texas (pop 671,873)
Baltimore, Maryland (pop 638,614)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (pop 590,895)
Boston, Massachusetts (pop 589,281)
Nashville, Tennessee (575,261)
Washington, District of Columbia (pop 570,898)
El Paso, Texas (pop 577,415)
Seattle, Washington (pop 570,426)
Denver, Colorado (pop 560,415)
Charlotte, North Carolina (pop 580,597)
Fort Worth, Texas (pop 567,516)
Portland, Oregon (pop 539,438)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (pop 519,034)
Tucson, Arizona (pop 503,151)
New Orleans, Louisiana (pop 473,681)
Las Vegas, Nevada (pop 508,604)
Cleveland, Ohio (pop 467,851)
Long Beach, California (pop 472,412)
Albuquerque, New Mexico (pop 463,874)
Kansas City, Missouri (pop 443,471)
Fresno, California (pop 445,227)
Virginia Beach, Virginia (pop 433,934)
Atlanta, Georgia (pop 424,868)
Sacramento, California (pop 435,245)
Oakland, California (pop 402,777)
Mesa, Arizona (pop 426,841)
Tulsa, Oklahoma (pop 391,908)
Omaha, Nebraska (pop 399,357)
Minneapolis, Minnesota (pop 375,635)
Honolulu, Hawaii (pop 378,155)
Colorado Springs, Colorado (pop 371,182)
St. Louis, Missouri (pop 338,353)
Wichita, Kansas (pop 355,126)
Santa Ana, California (pop 343,413)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (pop 327,898)
Arlington, Texas (pop 349,944)
Cincinnati, Ohio (pop 323,885)
Miami, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida



I can't think of anything more useless than listing cities by their city proper populations. Cities should always be listed by their metropolitan area populations, not city proper.

[boss429]

Movies filmed in Baltimore, Maryland:

A Dirty Shame
Absolute Power
The Accidental Tourist
Airline
Along Came a Spider
America's Most Wanted
...And Justice For All
Avalon
Beauty Shop
The Bedroom Window
Boys
The Life of Bailey
Cecil B. DeMented
Clara's Heart
Cry-Baby
Dave
Dead Man's Curve
Desperate Living
Detention
Diner
The Distinguished Gentleman
Divine Trash
Enemy of the State
Failure to Launch
Female Trouble
First Invasion: War of 1812
For Richer or Poorer
Gods and Generals
Guarding Tess
Hag in a Black Leather Jacket
Hairspray
He Said, She Said
Head of State
Her Alibi
Home for the Holidays
Homicide The Movie
The Invasion
Ladder 49
Liberty
Liberty Heights
Live Free or Die Hard
Major League II
Maxum Xul
Men
Men Don't Leave
Meteor Man
The Mosquito Coast
Pecker
Polyester
Random Hearts
Red Dragon
The Replacements
Runaway Bride
The Salon
Satisfaction
Saved!
The Seduction of Joe Tynan
Serial Mom
The Service
Shot in the Heart
Silent Fall
Sleepless in Seattle
Something the Lord Made
Species II
Step Up
The Sum of All Fears
That Night
Tin Men
Tuck Everlasting
Twelve Monkeys
Violets Are Blue
Washington Square
The Weekend It Lives
While You Were Out
XXX: State of the Union
The Young Americans

[GreenVulture]

Some more for San Francisco:

- American Graffiti
- Birdman of Alcatraz
- Bullitt
- The Conversation
- Escape From Alcatraz
- Fearless
- The Game
- Innerspace
- It Came from Beneath the Sea
- The Lady From Shanghai
- The Maltese Falcon
- The Pursuit of Happyness
- Sneakers
- So I Married An Axe Murderer
- The Towering Inferno
- Vertigo
- Zodiac

These may not count since they're not specifically set in SF, but parts of Greed (Von Stroheim's version), The Right Stuff and THX-1138 were filmed here in the Bay Area.

And we also can't forget about Troy McClure's legendary Good-Time Slim, Uncle Doobie, and the Great 'Frisco Freak-Out, now can we? :)

[AnonomusBob15]

Anyone know any from Birmingham? The only two I can think of is 4 Little Girls (the Spike Lee documentary) and a small snippet from the Red Dragon remake. I know it isn't on of the 50 largest cities, but it's probably the best representation for Alabama.

[Ketamine]

I still can't think of anything for Colorado Springs. The best I can think of is Bowling for Columbine, which is half-way to Denver.

The Stand
The Prestige

[beatccr]

i cannot think of a single movie set in virginia beach and i live there...or in the surrounding hampton roads area. hah, does the 700 club count? the closest movie settings around here i can think of are any jamestown movies (The New World or Pocohontas).

[Sernov]

I still can't think of anything for Colorado Springs. The best I can think of is Bowling for Columbine, which is half-way to Denver.

Wargames, which would count for Seattle too.