When you think of motion pictures, red carpets and iconic movies, it's no surprise Hollywood is the city that first comes to mind. What may come as a surprise is that sometimes, the actual location of these American-made productions wasn't actually in the Los Angeles area.
In fact, don't be surprised if some of the best movies since World War II were actually filmed right in your hometown. A visual map put together by HotelsCombined.com breaks down the most popular movies filmed in every state.
I'm sure some movie buffs would say these choices of films are up for debate. Still, you can't deny the impact that box office blockbusters like The Goonies, Rocky, Jaws or Back to the Future have had within their represented states. And of course New York City takes pride in one of the greatest movies of all time, Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winner The Godfather, and the Coen Brothers' Fargo really does take place in North Dakota.
There's also a few surprises here. Samuel L. Jackson's classic dialogue in Jurassic Park was spoken in Hawaii? Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump didn't run like the wind in Alabama? Surprise Criterion Collection pick Armageddon was shot in South Dakota? The Shawshank Redemption is the pride of Ohio? Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was shot in Arizona? Robert DeNiro's The Deer Hunter was set in Pennsylvania yet filmed in Washington state? Heath Ledger's Brokeback Mountain inspired a funny Willie Nelson song in New Mexico? Quentin Tarantino thriller Django Unchained is part of Louisiana lore? Wouldn't Colorado rank Jack Nicholson's performance in Stephen King's The Shining first?
Take a look at the full map below and see if you agree with HotelsCombined.com. Should Back to the Future rank ahead of Steven Spielberg's sci-fi classic ET: The Extra Terrestrial (or any number of classics, including Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho)? Would you put Dazed and Confused as the most iconic film in Texas? Or is something else the Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca or Citizen Kane of the Lone Star State?
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Note that this map's a few years old now. Surely one of the many recent films Academy Award-caliber films shot in Georgia has surpassed Road Trip. And there's other states where a Disney, 20th Century Fox , Warner Bros. or another major studio might've topped a prior best picture from your home state.
This post was originally published on May 26, 2017.
