Top 10 Film Locations

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One of the reasons why we love movies is that they have the power to transport you to a different time or place.  A movie’s setting can become such an important element in the film that it moves the story and brings the screen to life. Most of these movies have left deep impressions in our minds, but more importantly, they’ve inspired us to pack our bags and see the world. The following are ten of the most popular film locations of all time – hope they’ve inspired you to travel as much as they did for me.

10. To Catch a Thief – The French Riviera

The image of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly speeding down the hairpin turns of the stunning Grand Corniche (coastal highway) in Monaco is what really stands out from this film. The plot in this movie fades over the years but the chemistry between Grace Kelly and Cary Grant set against the backdrop of Monte Carlo remains forever. The beautiful towns and villages that are captured on screen during the film’s chase scenes along the picturesque French Riviera in 1955 are like a postcard come to life. The playboy lifestyle of Grant’s character John Robie living in a villa in Saint-Jeannet would make any man trade in his jeans for a bow tie.

9. Beverly Hills Cop – Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills Cop may have started out with Eddie Murphy’s street-wise character Axel Foley driving a beat up Chevy Nova in Detroit but the movie takes off the second he is seen driving it through Rodeo Drive alongside upscale boutiques that make the people in Porsches and Lamborghinis seem out of touch with the rest of the country.  The images of opulence along Rodeo Drive and the Beverly Hills mansions are a different world to Foley. The juxtaposition of Foley in a sweatshirt being thrown out of an exclusive club provide a perfect comic foil for Eddie Murphy’s comedic genius.

8. Crocodile Dundee – Australia

You may laugh at the “Now that’s a knife” jokes but Crocodile Dundee’s success was no joke.  Forget beautiful sandy beaches, cute koala bears and adorable kangaroos, Paul Hogan and his 80′s comedy Crocodile Dundee did more for Australian tourism in America than any million dollar ad campaign ever could. The scenes of Mick Dundee showing off at the pub were actually filmed at the Federal McKinlay Hotel in Queensland, far away from the Outback. The hotel (which in Australia refers to a bar) has been renamed Crocodile Dundee’s Walkabout Creek Hotel.

7. Fargo – Minnesota

Even though the title of the movie is named after Fargo, ND, most of the action in the film takes place in the sleepy yet loveable community of Brainerd, MN.  This real town takes on mythical characteristics as the residents appear to be the “salt of the earth” types personified by Frances McDormand’s portrayal of Marge Gunderson, the pregnant sheriff.  No matter how chilly the weather seems throughout this film and despite the fact that she’s investigating a cold-blooded murder, you’re enticed to visit this town and the surrounding area just to interact with the friendly locals and see the Paul Bunyan statue (not actually located in Brainerd.) Try not to look disappointed if you visit a small Minnesota town and no one responds to a question with “Oh sure.”

6.  Lost in Translation – Tokyo

We may never know what Bill Murray whispered into Scarlet Johansen’s ear at the end of Lost in Translation but it doesn’t really matter.  What you take away from the film is the feeling of perpetual unease and jet-lag that a tourist can feel when surrounded by a completely different culture, like in Tokyo which seems like a larger, more hectic version of Times Square during the night time scenes. The bar where Murray’s character bonds with Johansen’s character during the hotel scenes is actually called the New York Bar and is on the 52nd floor of the Shinjuku Park Tower in Tokyo.

5. Romancing the Stone – Columbia

Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is a lonely New York romance novelist who gets dragged to Columbia and into a real adventure to get her abducted sister back.  Upon landing in Columbia, she is detoured from her bus ride to Cartagena and is saved by an American ex-pat named Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) and she promises him money to help her get to Cartagena. Along the way, they bicker and try and make it through the beautiful yet untamed Columbian jungle which leads to great comedic moments. The jungle pushes them closer to one another emotionally and literally in a classic scene involving a landslide.  The majestic Columbian jungle is evident throughout as they head to Cartagena and find El Corazon (the heart.)

4. When Harry Met Sally – New York City

Harry first meets Sally on a drive to Manhattan after graduating from college and they don’t get along. The perfect chemistry between Billy Crystal’s Harry and Meg Ryan’s Sally is evident early as they part ways at the iconic arches in Washington Square Park.  New York City is as neurotic as Harry and Sally and the film lets the viewer relate to the complexity and humor of love. The scene in Katz Deli in the Lower East Side where Sally famously enjoys a sandwich has prompted many a tourist to visit the deli and say “I’ll have what she’s having.” From the Central Park boathouse, to strolls through the Upper West Side, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City blends in with their personalities while Harry and Sally realize they were meant to be more than friends.

3. Midnight in Paris- Paris

Just like Manhattan and Annie Hall had been Woody Allen’s love letters to Manhattan, Midnight in Paris is his chance to blend his love for the past with the history and romanticism that still breathes in Paris. Owen Wilson’s character Gil is a writer vacationing in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents who both henpeck Gil to try and knock the dreamer out of him.  This is not a love story about two people but about Gil’s attraction to Paris and its “good old days.” Historical figures in literature and art reach out to Gil after he enters a car on a street while on a stroll at night. He realizes he steps into the Roaring 1920s and ends up interacting with some of history’s most fascinating artists like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso and Picasso’s lover Adriana (Marion Cotillard.) While back in present-day Paris, Inez shops in at Saint-Ouen, Gil discovers Adriana’s diary from the 20s and gets a friendly tour guide from the Rodin museum to interpret it, finding out she fell in love with him in the past. While finally discovering that it’s better to live in the present, it’s the atmosphere in Paris and its essence that both the viewer and Gil are effortlessly seduced by and sucked into.

2.  Blame it on Rio – Rio de Janeiro

The inherent sexiness of Rio de Janeiro is enhanced by the natural beauty of Michelle Johnson. This forgotten gem of a 1984 comedy classic, starring Michael Caine and Joseph Bologna as two fathers who take their daughters on vacation in Rio only to have love, deception and the beach aid in driving them mad.  Michelle Johnson’s amorous Jennifer seduces Michael Caine’s character Mathew on the beach during a Brazilian wedding which leads to hilarity as she spends the movie chasing him around their villa and he spends the movie helping her father Victor (Joseph Bologna) search for her new lover. Blame it on Rio captures how a vacation in exotic Rio can aid in losing one’s inhibitions. This bedroom romp is consistently funny throughout as you almost feel sorry for Mathew as he can’t avoid trouble with Jennifer. As the title says, the amorous actions of Mathew and Jennifer which spin them on a collision course with a hilarious finale can only be blamed on Rio.

 1. Before Sunrise – Vienna

No movie has ever captured that feeling of young love at first sight or more accurately “love at first night” like Before Sunrise, where the city of Vienna acts as cupid to Ethan Hawke’s American character Jessie and Julie Delpy’s French character Celine.  Jessie and Celine’s young 20-somethings characters strike up a conversation on a train heading from Budapest to Vienna and Jesse convinces Celine to spend a night with him in Vienna before he flies back to the U.S. in the morning.  The city of Vienna becomes more than the backdrop as the two stroll through it and you’re drawn into the honest dialogue they have with each other.

While they are walking along the Donaukanal (Danube Canal) they are approached by a man who instead of begging offers to write them a poem with a word of their choice in it. The scene captures the poetry and the beauty of the city that even a man asking for money does it with style and fits seamlessly into their flirtatious courtship. Before Sunrise and its inviting Vienna backdrop provides us with an escape as we are drawn into Jesse and Celine’s story; as any classic film should.

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