Movies that do a terrific job showing off a city - Page 5

dchan · #81 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 5:54 AM**

It's a TV show, but Miami Vice does a great job of showing the 80's Miami (as opposed to the modern beach condo-filled Miami). It also does a great job of showing New York in its Season 2 opening episode. Both were actually shot in their respective cities.

Another great movie that showed off New York: Death Wish. This was 70's NYC, and felt pretty authentic. This is in as opposed to Death Wish III, which was shot on a recreated section of "NYC" (in London) that made the East New York neighborhood look like the worst place in the world (it was still pretty bad in reality).

I think Bloodsport did a great job of showing 80's Hong Kong, and it features nice panorama shots, street shots, and shots of the Walled City of Kowloon (from the famous thread).

dave8721 · #82 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 1:16 PM**

Anyone mention Swingers for LA (stuggling actor culture in particular)

MolsonExport · #83 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 2:05 PM**

I remember that Major League (baseball movie) was in Cleveland

novawolverine · #84 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 3:15 PM**

Parts of it was filmed in Baltimore though, which was always perplexing to me. Seeing the Indians playing Camden Yards wasn't very convincing. But I'm a fan of the movies.

TonyAnderson · #85 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 5:00 PM**

Off the top of my head some television filmed in Salt Lake City

Many parts of Dumb and Dumber were actually filmed in Salt Lake City.

The current HBO hit show Big Love is set in the Salt Lake area and usually has a lot of skyline and street shots of downtown (though the show isn't a good portrayal of the city)

SLC Punk!

High School Musical

Capsule F · #86 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 6:36 PM**

For Philly:

Blow Out
Trading Places
And "Mannequin" believe it or not. I tried to mention ones that others didn't.

Evergrey · #87 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 7:17 PM**

Flashdance, of course!

• Video Link

CentralGrad258 · #88 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 7:47 PM**

Just thought of a random movie that does a terrific job showing off a city. Does anyone remember "Airborne"? It's an early 1990s movie about a California surfer boy who moves to Cincinnati, struggles to adapt and ends in a climactic race where he races a bunch of locals on rollerblades through the streets of Cincinnati. It used to be in heavy rotation on HBO back in the day and really does a good job showing off the city. Pretty decent flick too.

Evergrey · #89 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 8:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CentralGrad258

Just thought of a random movie that does a terrific job showing off a city. Does anyone remember "Airborne"? It's an early 1990s movie about a California surfer boy who moves to Cincinnati, struggles to adapt and ends in a climactic race where he races a bunch of locals on rollerblades through the streets of Cincinnati. It used to be in heavy rotation on HBO back in the day and really does a good job showing off the city. Pretty decent flick too.

oh man.. great choice! Really captures the spirit of Cincinnati!

Cleved · #90 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 8:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I remember that Major League (baseball movie) was in Cleveland

Quote:

Originally Posted by novawolverine

Parts of it was filmed in Baltimore though, which was always perplexing to me. Seeing the Indians playing Camden Yards wasn't very convincing. But I'm a fan of the movies.

Actually all of the stadium filming was done in Milwaukee. The only part shot in Cleveland was the opening montage. The opening credits do a nice job of showcasing mid-80's Downtown before Key Tower and a few other towers went up.

I suppose while I'm at it, for Cleveland:

The Deer Hunter (Tremont neighborhood filling in for PA steel town)
A Christmas Story (Tremont neighborhood filling in for an Indiana town)
American Splendor

Evergrey · #91 Posted **Oct 23, 2009, 9:05 PM**

don't forget "Howard the Duck"!

andrew61 · #92 Posted **Oct 24, 2009, 2:38 AM**

Here are a few I thought of:

NYC (outer boroughs): A Bronx Tale

San Francisco (Potrero Hill area): Pacific Heights; 40 Days and 40 Nights

New Orleans: The Big Easy

Chicago (certain aspects): High Fidelity

And, although it was a TV series and not a movie, I used to watch Early Edition mostly for the Chicago scenes.

andrew61 · #93 Posted **Oct 24, 2009, 2:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctownd

I suppose while I'm at it, for Cleveland:

The Deer Hunter (Tremont neighborhood filling in for PA steel town)
A Christmas Story (Tremont neighborhood filling in for an Indiana town)
American Splendor

American Splendor was the most awesome movie ever made depicting Cleveland, IMHO (I won't count A Christmas Story because in the movie Cleveland was merely a stand-in for Hohman, Indiana). And, I won't name drop, but let me just say that someone featured very prominently in American Splendor happens to be an old acquaintance of mine.

Two other Cleveland movies that come to mind: (1) Light of Day (Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett); and (2) Welcome to Collinwood. Although both, sadly, depict the city as an ugly, shabby, gray, depressing place. Cleveland's not nearly as awful as all that.

plinko · #94 Posted **Oct 24, 2009, 3:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CentralGrad258

Just thought of a random movie that does a terrific job showing off a city. Does anyone remember "Airborne"? It's an early 1990s movie about a California surfer boy who moves to Cincinnati, struggles to adapt and ends in a climactic race where he races a bunch of locals on rollerblades through the streets of Cincinnati. It used to be in heavy rotation on HBO back in the day and really does a good job showing off the city. Pretty decent flick too.

An early Seth Green appearance...

novawolverine · #95 Posted **Oct 25, 2009, 12:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctownd

Actually all of the stadium filming was done in Milwaukee. The only part shot in Cleveland was the opening montage. The opening credits do a nice job of showcasing mid-80's Downtown before Key Tower and a few other towers went up.

I suppose while I'm at it, for Cleveland:

The Deer Hunter (Tremont neighborhood filling in for PA steel town)
A Christmas Story (Tremont neighborhood filling in for an Indiana town)
American Splendor

Maybe it was the second one, Camden Yards was definitely used as a Cleveland Stadium in one of them. I don't think Camden Yards was built for the first one.

jonjj · #96 Posted **Oct 25, 2009, 10:44 AM**

Baltimore has been home to quite a few films that have showcased the city pretty well. It doesn't hurt to have two pretty well-known film directors from the city.
John Waters has extensively filmed here:
A Dirty Shame-good shots of the northeast neighborhoods
Cecil B DeMented-downtown and waterfront
Cry Baby-all around town
Desperate Living
Female Trouble
Hairspray (the film based on the musical was actually shot in Toronto but the original was done here.)
Pecker-Hampden neighborhood
Polyester-burbs and city
Serial Mom-burbs and city; good shots of Roland Park

Barry Levinson also shot some films in town that give some good shots of the city:
Avalon
Diner
Tin Men-great for the history of formstone
Liberty Heights

Some other notables:
Accidental Tourist
Bedroom Window-great for Mt. Vernon neighborhood
Sleepless in Seattle-good shots of Fells Point

And for our tough neighborhoods:
Homicide
The Corner
The Wire

I just mentioned the films that I thought gave the best views of the city. There have been a ton of other films done in town.

mrnyc · #97 Posted **Oct 25, 2009, 5:57 PM**

i cant believe my fellow clevelanders forgot the greatest cleveland made film of all of those...double dragon. haha! well, ok that is a stretch, but not only does this cool cheeseball 80's action flick star the terminator's greatest enemy, clevelander robert patrick, but foe one thing it makes great use of the at-the-time newly redeveloped tower city mall:

who would have though the cleve would be a stand in for los angeles? thats hollywood for ya!

other than that, i would have to add antwone fisher for a rare look at a cleveland style ghetto apt building, the one at the end when he finally visits his mom, there are few of those left anymore and i'm not even sure that one is still there?

other stuff like the russo bro's welcome to collinwood, a funny italian job remake, showed that neighborhood, light of day, another 80's movie w/ joan jett/michel j. fox got the euclid tavern in its heyday (speaking of pop music, i think paul simon's earlier movie one called trick pony had scenes in there too or maybe it was the old agora, not sure?), clevelander joe esterhaus' telling lies in america had a few good local shots including clevelands less well known and scattered row housing, and lastly akron's jim jarmusch had a memorable and hilariously grey fogbound e9th st pier shot of cleveland in stranger than paradise.

Mr Roboto · #98 Posted **Oct 25, 2009, 10:35 PM**

nyc (harlem) - new jack city
nyc (bronx) - fort apache
philly - invincible
chicago - bueller?

Austinlee · #99 Posted **Oct 26, 2009, 12:45 AM**

Did anyone say for Philadelphia - "Philadelphia"?

That one is awesome. I love the beginning when they show random shots throughout the city.

Prahaboheme · #**100** Posted **Oct 26, 2009, 3:23 AM**

Boston -- Mystic River, The Departed, Boondocks Saints, The Perfect Storm