Two things happened recently that got me thinking about places and movies. The first was happening to visit Philadelphia at least half a dozen times in the last six months (it’s only about an hour and a half from my house) to see various sites and also just to walk around and enjoy the city. Next to New York and Baltimore, it’s my favorite east coast place to be. The second thing was I finally saw Creed, the newest installment in the Rocky saga, this time focusing on Apollo Creed’s son, and I thought about how much I associate Philadelphia with Rocky. It’s true that there have been quite a few movies that feature Philly, including one of today’s features here at TCM, The Philadelphia Story, and of course anything that figures into American history, like 1776. But when I think of Philadelphia, the first movie that comes to mind is Rocky. It probably always will. I can associate other movies with the city, too, but that’s number one. It got me thinking of other cities and what movies I would associate with them. It’s a personal association, obviously, so it’s not going to match up to “the greatest film from each city” so, please, no “you left off…” remarks in the comment section. If I left it off, add it on. Let’s go.
New York is the biggest one as so very many movies have been made there or have been made on a studio set but took place there. Some big ones immediately come to mind like Annie Hall and Manhattan and probably half a dozen other Woody Allen movies. Then there’s the body of work by Spike Lee with Do the Right Thing definitely coming to mind early. And in the Golden Age of Hollywood, why there must have been hundreds, from The Thin Man and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Woman of the Year and Miracle on 34th Street to All About Eve and On the Waterfront and An Affair to Remember and so many more. But there’s one that comes to mind first, for better or worse. I say that because it’s probably for worse but I can’t help it. Even now, knowing I was going to write this post, the second I thought about the New York City part, one movie popped into my head, the same one that always does: Taxi Driver. It’s the New York movie for me. Director Martin Scorsese is known for his New York movies and anything from Mean Streets to Goodfellas could show up on someone else’s list and, heck, he even has movies with the city’s name right there in the title, like New York, New York and Gangs of New York. But Taxi Driver is the one I will always think of first. Maybe the side of New York it shows doesn’t really exist anymore (so much has been cleaned up) but that only adds to the mystique. And I don’t know what this says about my relationship with New York, but the runner up movie for me is The French Connection. Number three? The Godfather. Oh well.
Los Angeles probably shares the title with New York for movies where the city is one of the stars and certainly, even more than New York, L.A. is the town where the vast majority of movies have been made for as many decades back as they’ve been making movies in California. Since there are so many movies made in and about L.A., the trick here is to once again focus on the first movie that pops into your head when you hear the city’s name. I already know what that one is for me but first, let’s rattle off a few other titles, though only about 0.00000001 percent of all titles available. There’s Chinatown, of course, and The Big Sleep. Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce, A Star is Born and Sunset Boulevard. But the movie that really feels like L.A. to me, and I apologize for it being the second movie in a row to come from the seventies, is Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye. A part of it may be that I burgeoned as a cinephile in the seventies so that’s why these movies stand out for me. Another part is simply that Robert Altman seemingly did everything in his power to make Los Angeles more than just the setting, he made it the main supporting character to Philip Marlowe. It’s my favorite Altman film, my favorite Marlowe, my favorite L.A. flick. I could watch it on an endless loop if I had to.
San Francisco. Okay, here’s one where the movie from the seventies doesn’t take the prize but it comes pretty damn close. The seventies movie is Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1978 and it has San Francisco burned into every frame. This adventurous and entertaining remake works on every level, as chiller, as suspense, as satire, and the city is a large part of that. And if you go back further into Hollywood history, you will, of course, find other movies all about the town, like the 1936 disaster pic, San Francisco. But let’s be honest. Despite all the titles one could come up with for this fair city, if Vertigo wasn’t the first movie that came to mind when you saw the name San Francisco, then somewhere, somehow, Mr. Hitchcock failed (or maybe you just haven’t seen it), because never before or since, I daresay, has a city so perfectly become the third wheel of a love triangle, even pushing the human third wheel, Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) aside. True, they go up the coast a bit, too, but San Fran is always there, lurking. And the image of Kim Novak set against the Golden Gate bridge, about to leap into the water, is about as iconic as they come.
Washington, D.C. Another former residence of mine and one that I’m sure I should immediately say Mr Smith Goes to Washington for the title. But that one never comes to mind first. Then there’s The Day the Earth Stood Still which is, thanks to my love of sci-fi, always a front-runner when I think of movies made in D.C. And, naturally, a host of political movies, from Gabriel Over the White House to Seven Days in May. Nonetheless, and sorry but here comes the seventies again, The Exorcist simply cannot be supplanted in my mind when someone says, “Quick, name a movie made in D.C.” Not that anyone has ever or would ever say that to me, but if they did, The Exorcist would come blurting out of mouth just as surely as if I were possessed and looking to get rid of some pea soup I had eaten earlier. Having walked up and down The Exorcist steps a million times may have something to do with it as well.
Chicago. Finally we arrive at Chi-town. While there have been some classic movies set in Chicago, like The Front Page, In Old Chicago, and In the Good Old Summertime, most of the movies I think of when I think of Chicago came about in the eighties. Yes, the eighties. Movies like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables and Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Slick crime comedies like The Sting and even light fare romantic comedies like Continental Divide, with John Belushi. Speaking of John Belushi, well, you know what’s coming, right? The Blues Brothers. Let me say this right off the bat: I don’t dislike the movie but it’s not exactly a favorite. I enjoy the musical performances of some of the legends, like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway, but the movie doesn’t do much else for me. Still, I simply can’t think of Chicago without thinking of The Blues Brothers. It’s number one by a mile.
And all of this makes me think that maybe the prevalence of later made movies on my list has little to do with when I grew into my cinephilia and more to do with when the movies started going to the actual site to make the movie. The earliest selection on my list is Vertigo and unlike many Hitchcock movies, filmed entirely on sound stages, there’s plenty of location shooting right there in San Francisco. Once you get to see the actual locations, and especially if you know the city, the movie that shows it off the most is probably the one that’s going to come to mind. Obviously for cities like New York and Los Angeles, that’s a lot of titles. For Washington, D.C., not so many. For Boston or Miami or Baltimore, smaller numbers still but the movies that come to mind first will probably be the ones with actual location shots. Maybe that’s why Rocky will always be my Philadelphia story, Hepburn, Grant, and Stewart be damned.