Our 50 States... in film
Got a game for the gang. One at which Neel will excel, I hope.
Can you name a movie set in each of the 50 states? The movie must have the majority of its action take place within that state (so, for instance, you could say Forrest Gump for Alabama, even though large parts of the film take place elsewhere.)
To get the ball rolling:
Illinois: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Nevada: Ocean's 11
Washington: Singles
Can you name a movie set in each of the 50 states? The movie must have the majority of its action take place within that state (so, for instance, you could say Forrest Gump for Alabama, even though large parts of the film take place elsewhere.)
To get the ball rolling:
Illinois: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Nevada: Ocean's 11
Washington: Singles
posted by Courtney at 5:03 PM
23 Comments:
Nice challenge. I've long thought about doing the same thing for TV, where South Dakota would actually not be that hard. (Think about it.)
AK: Friendlier to TV, I think. There are a bunch of nature-type family movies that run together in my mind, so I'll go with the sunny and dark novelties Insomnia and 30 Days of Night.
AL: Well, Sweet Home Alabama, of course.
AR: Had to look it up to be sure, but Sling Blade. Some folks call it a Kaiser blade...
AZ: Interestingly, TV's Alice was set in Phoenix, but the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was set in Tucson. Well, okay, it's not that interesting, but again I thought about TV.
CA: What isn't set here? You can look at a maps of Los Angeles and San Francisco to find, like, 10 movie titles. (Laurel Canyon, South Central, Pacific Heights, The Presidio, etc.) Personally, I like how Chinatown is really about California history, and L.A. Story is about California psyche.
CO: Probably not the best film to rep the state, but Catch and Release is filmed and set in Boulder.
CT: I'll stop here because nothing comes to mind. I'm thinking about Yale University and the suburbs, but nothing's hitting me.
Nice start. Let's see what the others have to say:
CT: Mystic Pizza
There you go. That's a great Connecticut example.
You do realize the hidden benefit of stopping at Connecticut was forcing someone else to pick up at Delaware. Good luck, whoever you are.
I don't about being BASED on Delaware, but "Dead Poets Society" was mostly filmed there.
And "Forrest Gump" was filmed a lot here in my area. (I met Tom Hanks during the filming.) I was an extra in several movies that were filmed here, but "Gump" wasn't one of them. I was doing theater at the time that was filmed.
Florida: "Burn Notice" Set in Miami.
Georgia: "Designing Women" Set in Atlanta.
Hawaii: "Magnum, P.I."
That's a few that I can think of....
Klee, I think I'll have to do a separate game for TV shows. For now, let's stick to movies. There's a really major obvious one for Georgia.
And we'll consider Delaware still to be fulfilled.
Yeah, I'm still stuck on Delaware, but if you ever do a TV list, The Pretender was set there.
DC: Recently, Breach was an excellent depiction of fed culture.
DE: ??
FL: I've always been fond of Ruby in Paradise.
GA: Steering clear of a certain Savannah park bench, I'll stay in town for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. But I doubt that's the "major obvious one."
HI: 50 First Dates in a squeaker over The Big Bounce and a set of Elvis movies.
IA: Field of Dreams, catch, I mean, natch.
ID: There's a movie called Twin Falls Idaho, which I can only hope was set there.
IL: As you said, Quinn, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, or any of the Shermer movies of which Jay and Silent Bob are so fond. (And ahem, there's always Chicago.)
IN: South Bend comes to mind. Rudy?
KS: Gotta go with The Wizard of Oz, unless you consider Oz to be the Ozarks in Missouri. Then, technically, you should use another movie.
KY: I'm thinking Elizabethtown, though I wonder if the Kentucky Fried Movie applies.
LA: Hard Rain? Kidding. How about Spike Lee's HBO film When the Levees Broke? Though I'm sure there's a non-Katrina film I'm forgetting.
MA: I was waiting for this one. What's the definitive Massachusetts movie? The Paper Chase? Good Will Hunting? The Depah-ted? Or something outside of Boston and Cambridge?
MD: Aside from a significant Act Two foray in As Good As It Gets, nothing comes to mind, so I'll stop here.
ok, I think I am getting confused on the rules. So do I just try and think of 50 movies total myself or fill in the blanks to help the entire group get to 50?
So to continue the alphabetical blanks:
Michigan: Gross Pointe Blank
Minnesota: Fargo (which can be confusing)
Mississippi: Mississippi Masala
Missouri: ok, think... Kansas City... St. Louis
oh! State Fair
Montana: Little Big Man
Nebraska: To Wong Foo (or was that suppose to be a generic middle of nowhere and I happen to notice the license plates?)
Nevada: Viva Las Vegas
New Hampshire: Hmmm. guess this is where I pass the alphabetical version off to someone else.
And to play the game the other way, here are other ones I thought of.
Oregon: Goonies
Washington: Life or Something Like It (they even used our regular news people to play the news people)
California: Kalifornia
South Dakota: Dances with Wolves
Illinois: A League of Their Own
New Jersey: Clerks
Arkansas: Walk the Line
Alaska: Never Cry Wolf
Idaho: Smoke Signals
New York: Party Girl (or just for you, Quinn, The Muppets Take Manhatten)
Ohio: Major League
Colorado: Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Maryland: Hairspray
Oklahoma: Oklahoma! (ya ya, can you tell where I work?)
Vermont: White Christmas
Pennsylvania: That Thing You Do
Massachusetts: Little Women
Arizona: Pump Up the Volume
Hawaii: South Pacific
Go, Julie! I couldn't think of a good Oregon movie because Animal House isn't actually set there. (Though this year's Feast of Love is set in Portland.)
Other excellent choices for ID, NJ, SD, and especially MD. I can't believe that I couldn't think of "Good Morning Baltimore."
I actually like klee's idea of Dead Poets Society for Vermont. And while struggling on Louisiana, I thought of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but that's Mississippi.
And, by extension of what you said about Fargo, ND could be difficult.
Gee, Quinn, how close did Julie come to finishing the job?
TX: Not Thelma and Louise, that's for damn sure.
Worked on it some more, compiled all the answers. Got about 43 before resorting to Wikipedia for a total of 49. (Delaware.)
Julie, To Wong Foo was filmed in Nebraska, but not set there.
AK: Insomnia, 30 Days of Night, Never Cry Wolf
AL: Sweet Home Alabama, Big Fish
AR: Sling Blade, Walk the Line
AZ: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Pump Up the Volume
CA: Chinatown, L.A. Story, Kalifornia
CO: Catch and Release, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead
CT: Mystic Pizza
DC: Breach
DE: first in statehood, last in film?
FL: Ruby in Paradise
GA: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
HI: 50 First Dates, The Big Bounce, South Pacific
IA: Field of Dreams, The Straight Story
ID: Twin Falls Idaho, Smoke Signals
IL: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Chicago, A League of their Own
IN: Rudy
KS: The Wizard of Oz
KY: Elizabethtown
LA: A Streetcar Named Desire
MA: The Paper Chase, Good Will Hunting, The Departed, Little Women
MD: Hairspray
ME: The Shawshank Redemption
MI: Grosse Pointe Blank
MN: Juno, Fargo
MO: Kansas City, Meet Me in St. Louis, State Fair
MS: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Mississippi Masala
MT: Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, Little Big Man
NC: Bull Durham, Cape Fear, Cold Mountain
ND: Leprechaun, according to Wikipedia
NE: Election, Boys Don’t Cry
NH: The Hotel New Hampshire
NJ: Clerks
NM: The Milagro Beanfield War
NV: Fools Rush In, Viva Las Vegas, Ocean’s Eleven
NY: Party Girl, The Muppets Take Manhattan
OH: Major League
OK: Oklahoma!
OR: The Goonies
PA: That Thing You Do!
SC: The Patriot
SD: Dances with Wolves
TN: Nashville
TX: Terms of Endearment, Friday Night Lights
UT: September Dawn
VA: The New World
VT: Dead Poets Society, White Christmas
WA: Life or Something Like It, Singles
WI: Mr. 3000
WV: October Sky, Matewan
WY: Brokeback Mountain
Ya, most people think either the city of Fargo is in Minnesota or the film is set in North Dakota.
And there's quite a few of us on this blog that can list PLENTY of Oregon films! Here's one to keep on the confusing Fargo theme: My Own Private Idaho is a Portland one. (Basically name any Gus Van Sant movie from the 90's and half of them are set in Portland).
Is anyone else going to realize my showtunes mistake?
I was humming Meet Me in St. Louis but because the chorus ends, "meet me at the fair" I got mixed up and thought that the song came from State Fair.
And my word verification is: nuuuu (as in a few of my friends saying "nuuuuuuu, you've got it wrong.)
Stan By Me was also filmed in Oregon. As was The Hunted (didn't see it...it just really messed up my commute). Mr. Holland's Opus was shot here at least in part but I can't remember if it states in the movie where we are. And wasn't Kindergarden Cop in Astoria or somewhere on the coast?
And I would have said Garden State for NJ.
Why yes, Kindergarten Cop was filmed and set in Astoria. Can't believe I forgot that.
I address the TV end of this (sorta) over at the Ken Jennings forums here.
You guys are leaving out the most excellent Oregon film of all times: Body of Evidence, starring Madonna and Willem Dafoe.
Do road trip movies count? If so, National Lampoon's Vacation racks up Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Colorado, Arizona and California.
There's a really major obvious one for Georgia. Hmm...would that be Gone with the Wind?
Oooooh! another great Oregon movie: Overboard, with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.
Andy, you got my obvious Georgia film. The rules of the game is that most of the action has to take part in that state, so road trip movies would be highly suspect.
So we still don't have Delaware. All I can think of is the scene in Wayne's World when they're using the Green Screen technology, and they say, "Hi, we're in Delaware."
Andy: as much as I like Overboard ("a falsetto child?"), I want to say it's one of those movies where they mistakenly pronounce it "Or-uh-GONE."
Oh, Gone with the Wind. I assumed Quinn was talking about Deliverance, and I was gonna let that pass without comment.
IN: Breaking Away
NC: Neel already has Bull Durham
GA: Athens GA Inside Out. It's a mid-'80s documentary on the music scene in my hometown.
VA: Maybe the X-Files film? I just watched a special on Robert Hanssen and realized how unbelievably close to my current home he lived, so I'm seeing conspiracy everywhere. Sure, you'd think today's snow is coincidence.
As I pointed out on the TV list, I added DC but left out RI. So:
RI: Outside Providence
Neel -- Mrs. MMM is arguing that Breach should be VA, not DC. Hanssen lived within easy walking distance of our house. We actually pass his document-drop site every day. Kind of creepy.
Our commute was actually held up a couple of times while they were filming. I think they moved his house closer to the park than it actually is, but it was the same park.
Maybe. I thought Breach was unusual in that they worked and prayed in DC.
If not that, then maybe The Exorcist? Looks like it's set in Georgetown.
I have been to the Excorcist steps (in Georgetown) many a time. It's a fun high-school-date thing to do.
Post a Comment
<< Home