Daley Blames - Who Else? - The Media For Oprah-geddon
Chicago Gets Googled
Friday Flashback - Old School Oprah
Today's Transgender Day of Remembrance Honors the Dead
Review: Paramount Room
Chicagoist is headed to London. (Well, OK, not the entire staff, just one of us.) We'll be visiting a friend of ours there who's never been to Chicago and, furthermore, isn't too familiar with Toddler's town and our lovable CTA. Naturally we've taken it upon ourselves to educate him.
When he told us that he has a multi-region DVD player a little PowerPoint light bulb went off in our heads. Aha! Buy him a DVD, we told ourselves. That got us to thinking about what movies are quintessentially Chicago. After much thought (and a casual hint from our friend letting us know that he'd never seen it) we chose The Blues Brothers. Though it probably seems almost cliche to us natives and long-time residents, it's a film which succinctly captures an awful lot of what makes Chicago Chicago. From Wrigley Field ("1060 West Addison") to Maxwell Street, the Picasso, Illinois Nazis and beyond, The Blues Brothers packs it all in. Especially for someone who's never been here before.
Once we settled on that we started shopping around, only to be overwhelmed by a plethora of options. We counted at least four editions to choose from. There's the "Collector's Edition" (both pan-and-scan and widescreen) and the "25th Anniversary Edition" (also pan-and-scan and widescreen). And people wonder why DVD sales have flattened out! We understand that Universal wants to try and squeeze every drop of revenue possible, but if you aren't careful you could even accidentally buy the depressingly-mediocre sequel Blues Brothers 2000 or "The Best of the Blues Brothers" retrospective DVD.
We opted for the "Collector's Edition" and first thought we'd try Reckless Records for a used copy. (Hey, we're going to London and need to be thrifty!) No dice. We looked at other used DVD outlets around town and found nary a copy. Our conclusion? People do not part with their copies of The Blues Brothers (at least in Chicago). That would be akin to selling your sister.
Anyhow, we've gotten off track a bit here. We chose The Blues Brothers, but if you wanted to introduce an out-of-towner to the Windy City what would be your choice for a quintessentially Chicago movie? (And please do not pick Chicago; it was shot in Canada).
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Henry the Portrait of A Serial Killer shows Chicago authentically. See this for realism, avoid Ferris Bungholes day off.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
for real good chicago/london crossover, do 'high fidelity.' book set in england, movie set in chicago.
The Breakfast Club (yes, I know it's set in the suburbs, but close enough).
High Fidelity for the hipster part of town, although your British friend might be confused since the book is set in London, not Chicago.
Road to Perdition
Only the Lonely
Backdraft
Stranger than Fiction. Great movie for those of us that are of the early Gen Y type.
The Fugitive
Ferris Bueller
Barbershop
I can't believe I'm suggesting this (and I can't believe to admitting to watching this)...but The Break Up (which is not a good movie but not quite as bad as I expected) actually shows off the city pretty well.
road to perdition is quite slow. and depressing. much more of a mid-winter movie.
Definitely The Fugitive. Actual correct use of distances (for the most part), some really great location spots and events (St. Patty's Day parade) and some awesome aerial shots of the city. an overlooked classic.
Blues Brothers was actually filmed in Canada too. They only spent about a week here filming exteriors.
For the Generation X-ers...
My Bodyguard...
One of Matt Dillon's first roles, and great footage of Chicago, including some great scenes of the old Maxwell Street market...
Try "The Monkey Hu$tle"--its an awful Blaxploitation film, but its got great 1970s-era South Side street scenes. And the major conflict in the movie centers around the city wanting to extend a freeway, so it might be useful to revisit given the talk of Madigan's insane Crosstown Expressway!
Also, "North by Northwest"--again bridging the Britain/Chicago gap.
I'd say the Fugitive, Break-Up (Because the city looks beautiful in it), and yes, the Blues Brothers.
just,
You're confusing "The Blues Brothers" with "Blues Brothers 2000." The sequel was indeed mostly filmed in Canada, one of many reasons why it's so unimpressive. The vast majority of the original however was shot in Chicago.
I'd say "About Last Night",I know a bit/lot dated but good scenes of the "L",lakefront and of course the early days of Mother's on Rush Street,not that crazy about the performances of Rob Lowe(a major whiner in the movie)and don't even get me started about Demi Moore and Jim Belushi.
Also how about "Thief" with James Caan directed by Michael Mann and score by Tangerine Dream.
Rob,
The original was only here for exteriors too. Although I was woring - the interiors were shot in LA, not Chicago. There was an article while the sequel was being filmed blasting Landis for not filming it all here, and he talked about how the original was mostly shot elsewhere, and no one cared at the time. Of course now I can't find that article.
adventures in babysitting is a decent choice. checkerboard lounge, u of chicago campus, lower wacker dr., etc. bad boys w/ sean penn also. the fugitive would also work. i like the "ride on a real train" scene from risky business. backdraft too. blues brothers is the mainstay and best pick though.
almost forgot Cooley High.
untouchables, for the historical aspect.
Love Jones, which was actually made by Chicagoans. Or Soul Food.
The Visitors (the American remake. Funnier than it should be, and all in Chicago).
I'd also like to throw in my support for High Fidelity.
While a lot of things in the Blues Brothers were shot in LA (the end concert for instance) some of the most important scenes were filmed in and around the area...most of the chase scenes (which is the basis of the entire movie) Daley Plaza and the county building, Maxwell Street, Joliet Prison...need I go on?
Halsted Street (Conrad Nelson, 1934)
Chicago: Midland Metropolis (Bert Van Bork, 1963)
Medium Cool (Haskell Wexler, 1969)
Now We Live on Clifton (Kartemquin Films, 1974)
Chicago Loop (James Benning, 1976)
"Studs Terkel's Chicago" (John McGreevy, 1979)
Grassroots Chicago (Kartemquin Films, 1991)
Here's a cool Google map of the Blues Brothers filming locations:
kevinforsyth(dot)net/film/blues.htm
The Negotiator, for the Samuel L. aspect.
Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller are two good quick ones. Who wants to stay in all week watching movies when you're in London!
"Call Northside 777" gives some great feel for the early 20th century.
Believe it or not, "Next of Kin" the otherwise insanely silly Swayze action movie has some good on-location shooting.
Without a doubt: WAYNE'S WORLD 2!!
It isn't bad enough that they claim that they are in 'Aurora' and everything looks blatantly California - but when Wayne is driving to stop Christopher Walken from marrying his girlfriend (don't we all have that problem?), he very clearly drives by an exit sign that says 'Santa Monica'. Just terrible.
I'd have to say that Blues Brothers would have to be the best, followed by Ferris Bueler. Those movies at least use the most shots of Chicago.
Not all of these were actually set in Chicago, but the city's film office has a list of films made here.
tinyurl.com/2a72xf
Props to Beyond Blues Brothers for mentioning the Kartemequin Films--Facets just released a DVD with some of their labor films.
Seeing that entry it struck me that no one had mentioned "Hoop Dreams"!?!?!?
And weren't most of the Fredrick Weisman films done here?!?! We'll see next month at the Chi. Docs Fest!
Most of the best ones have been mentioned, so something obscure:
There is an extremely silly romantic comedy with Christina Applegate and Jean Reno called Just Visiting that makes really good use of Chicago locations. Jean Reno plays a medieval French knight who gets "time transported" to present day Chicago and meets up with Applegate, who is a museum curator (like I said it was very silly).
Definitely worth a look for the Chicago scenery. The best scene has Reno riding a horse into the Madison Street El station and on to a train. I've seen it twice on WGN but have no idea where else to find it.
How about Mad Dog and Glory or Return to Me? Mad Dog and Glory is a John McNaughton film, pretty Chicago, and is filmed in part at the classic Club Lago. Return to Me was directed by and stars Bonnie Hunt, and you don't get much more Chicago than that, plus part of it was filmed at Twin Anchors.
Don't forget The Package by Andrew Davis with Gene Hackman, The Hilton, the El, Pullman, a chase scene around the East Bank Club. In fact, I almost literally ran into Gene Hackman on Wabash during shooting ("Watch out, you id - Hey, Gene Hackman!")
Actually, the whole Andrew Davis oeuvre is chock full of Chicago films. Stony Island, Code of Silence, Above the Law (the Hilton again and that parking garage on Wabash), The Package, The Fugitive, Chain Reaction.
Although, if you really want quintessential Chicago movies, you could just look for everything with Ralph Foody in it . . .
While You Were Sleeping
Silver Streak
Running Scared
What about Weather Man? Not only do you get Chicago but also Skokie (Old Orchard Mall) and Evanston. Plus the shots of Belmont Harbor capture one of my favorite locations in the city.