Upon moving to Oregon, I discovered something interesting: people here generally don’t care one whit about the entertainment industry. It took me about a minute and a half for that first epiphany to lead itself to epiphany 1B, which is that most people everywhere don’t care about this and that I was, all along for all those years working in that business, in a bubble. I Kind of knew it then but it became crystal clear. I was no longer among people who knew the theatrical release schedule backwards and forwards and cared deeply about box office grosses, because after all those are dumb things to care about if you don’t have a professional interest in caring about them, and there isn’t much of an entertainment industry here.
It wore off on me as well- I couldn’t tell you what movies are in theaters right now, or what’s been a hit and what’s bombed, or whatever derivative trash Marvel has lined up for the next ten years, or any of that. That may come as a surprise to those who knew me three years or more ago. It even surprises me. All it took was leaving LA to rid me of something that I used to live and breathe. I now live in a place where they don’t put movie ads on billboards or bus stops, and as I’d rather dumpster dive at an Arby’s than watch broadcast television, I don’t see TV spots for movies either. It’s awfully nice and I recommend it, because (old man yelling at cloud time) most movies these days aren’t any good anyway.
That being said, I do still enjoy that very LA thing people do when seeing a place they recognize in a movie or TV show: “oh, they’re right by campus on Westwood Boulevard. See that Burger King? It’s a Chik-Fil-A now.” Also, the movie magic involved in location shooting: in La La Land Mia leaves my favorite West Hollywood restaurant (which incidentally is the site of many location shoots) on foot and moments later arrives in South Pasadena. Did she teleport?
Recently, multiple people I know told me that I had to watch this pig movie. which was shot in and around Portland. I was hesitant- in the way that everyone is hesitant to take other peoples’ suggestions- particularly when said suggestion involves Nicolas Cage. I grudgingly gave it a chance, because to me it’s a win/win: if it’s good, then great! I saw a good movie. If it’s bad, I can hold that over the people who suggested it to me for generations to come. The verdict: it had no right to be good, but it was. Those are generally the kinds of movies worth watching and the ones I appreciate. Also, the pig cleans up nicer than Nicolas Cage.
Oregon does have an illustrious history as a filming location, so I got to thinking about other movies made here. I discovered a fun little fact about the small city of Cottage Grove, which is just south of Eugene. Its filming history goes all the way back to 1926, as that’s where Buster Keaton shot The General (which is NOT about car insurance). Back in 1926 if you wanted to crash a train in a movie you had to actually crash a train, which is exactly how it went down outside Cottage Grove.
Sticking with the train thing, they also shot a movie called Emperor of the North (originally Emperor of the North Pole, but it’s about badasses not Santa so they shortened it) in 1973. I had never heard of this movie but now I kind of need to see it. Lee Marvin as not just a hobo, but the BEST hobo? Ernest Borgnine? Keith Carradine? Directed by Robert Aldrich, who made The Dirty Dozen and The Longest Yard (Burt Reynolds not Adam Sandler, goddammit)? Being that it’s got all the pedigree I require in a movie and I’ve never heard of it, chances are it’s either unavailable everywhere or terrible.
Cottage Grove wasn’t done there, as a few years later it was the site of a homecoming parade that went a tad sideways. Enter the Deathmobile:
While most of Animal House was shot on the University of Oregon campus up the road in Eugene (and there’s a handy guide to those locations here), Main Street in Cottage Grove was where Flounder dumped his 10,000 marbles as part of a really futile and stupid gesture.
One last tidbit before we leave the Delta house guys behind: Dexter’s Lake Club, where they stopped in for a double rock & rye and seven Carlings, is still going in Dexter, Oregon.
Cottage Grove played one more notable role in the movies in 1986, as some of the railroad scenes (but not THE railroad scene, which was done in California) in Stand By Me were shot there.
Most of Stand By Me was filmed about 50 miles north, in the small town of Brownsville. That became Castle Rock.
Brownsville has leaned into it with an annual Stand By Me Day every July 23, and there are signs all over the place like this one.
Finally, let’s take a moment to pour one out for Rob Reiner. He’s still out there making movies- bad ones, mostly– but from 1984 to 1992 he was shooting nothing but net:
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – his first movie!
- The Sure Thing (1985)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- When Harry Met Sally…(1989)
- Misery (1990)
- A Few Good Men (1992)
It was largely downhill from there, although he did make The American President in 1995. That was a good, almost plausible movie at the time and as much of a fantasy as Lord of the Rings today.
Before we depart central Oregon let’s catch up with this fellow who just wanted some damn toast.
That’s a Denny’s right alongside I-5 in Eugene, which has a duck in the window who apparently LOVES pancakes.
I’m sure the service has gotten better since Jack straightened them up.
Since we’re talking about Jack (I can call him Jack because he stood behind me at a bar for a few minutes one time watching a game, so we’re buds), The Shining has to get a mention. The film was shot almost entirely in the UK, since Stanley Kubrick was either a recluse or afraid to fly or just hated Hollywood and wanted to be far from it, depending on what you read. The Overlook Hotel though was played by the Timberline Lodge, which anyone who has been to Mt. Hood could have probably told you already.
I haven’t been inside the Timberline Lodge since twins creep me out.
Astoria, picturesque town in the northwest corner of the state, has been a location for a number of films. There was Free Willy, but I didn’t see that movie so we’ll skip that. Kindergarten Cop was shot at an elementary school there, and I did see that one but don’t care. Short Circuit, same. The one that MATTERED to every 10-year-old in America was The Goonies.
I’ve revisited The Goonies as an adult and it doesn’t hold up. It’s just a lot of running around and yelling, and entirely too much Corey Feldman. Maybe it was only supposed to be for 10-year olds sitting in an almost-level movie theater with sticky floors and no cupholders. That’s fine.
Anyway, the house is still there but can’t be street viewed, which I wouldn’t do anyway since that’s someone’s house. I’m sure over the years that far, FAR too many people have walked into their yard to do the Truffle Shuffle, thinking they’re the first genius to do it. According to the owner, the house does get thousands of visitors and she has had just about enough of it.
There were filming locations all over Astoria and more than enough fan photos online to document them. The city has jumped right onto this gravy train, even turning the jail from the first scene into a film museum.
What wasn’t filmed in Astoria or on the Warner Bros lot in Burbank was done down the coast a bit. The Lighthouse Lounge, which was the Fratelli hideout where the Goonies started their treasure hunt, was a temporary building put up at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach.
Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock, which is a big rock at Cannon Beach, also featured in the opening truck race of the film.
Cannon Beach is a great place to visit and if I showed up expecting a relaxing day and there was a truck race going on, I’d be mad at someone. Trucks don’t belong on the beach.
Right next door to that beach is Indian Beach, which also had a brief shot in The Goonies, had a scene in Twilight (which also shot all over the region, but I don’t care), and more notably was featured in Point Break. The original, not the pointless remake.
Allow me to digress for a moment. I’m generally OK with movie remakes, just as I’m generally OK with covers of songs. However, there should be rules about this. The biggest ones: have a point to why you’re doing it (and money is not that point), don’t try and recreate a movie whose reason for success was its execution, and don’t f*** with sacred cows, because you won’t make them better. If you want to make A Star is Born again, that’s fine. It’s a template with classic themes that can be updated at any time with any Bradley Cooper. If you want to remake The Godfather or Back to the Future, you need to give back your film degree to whatever upstairs college you got it from.
Point Break isn’t all that original in its basic theme, it’s just cops and robbers. It is original in just about every other way. It takes skill and commitment to get it right when you’re telling a story about Special Agent Johnny Utah going undercover to infiltrate a group of surfer bank robbers who wear president masks, because that’s goddamned ridiculous. But it works, because Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze both know what they’re capable of as actors and don’t try and get out of that box, the action scenes are perfectly executed, it’s shot gorgeously, and Gary Busey is in it. Round of applause for the director Kathryn Bigelow. She won an Oscar for directing The Hurt Locker and while that movie might be “better” than Point Break, it’s not better. You know what I mean.
Anyway they never should have remade Point Break, and I’m guessing a bunch of you didn’t even know that seven years ago they did exactly that and it was a big old bomb. It violated every rule above about remakes, and the results showed. Digression complete.
The final scene in Point Break, in which Johnny Utah allows Bodhi to ride the biggest wave of his life to his death because Surfer Code or something, then chucks his badge into the ocean like many cinematic members of law enforcement had done before him, was set at Bells Beach in Australia. That’s why the cops were all wearing funny hats. It was shot at Indian Beach, because if you need a beach plus a storm of the century, where better to find one than Oregon.
There are too many other movies for one post, and more than a few of them aren’t worth mentioning anyway. Like Mr. Holland’s Opus. Notable ones though include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest– which shot at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem (which was a functioning psychiatric hospital during filming)- and a handful of Gus Van Sant movies, including Drugstore Cowboy. That one shot all over Portland, and there are some great then and now photos here. You can see the Pearl District when it was still just a train yard, which wasn’t all that long ago. I’ll wrap this up with a particularly special one though.
Dark Horse Comics was founded right here in Portland (well, Milwaukie). They’ve had some titles turn into big movies, including The Mask (which launched Cameron Diaz’s career and, unfortunately, perpetuated Jim Carrey’s), Sin City, Hellboy, and 300. All Dark Horse titles. Not bad! They also made Barb Wire.
Their first one though was this piece of cinematic art, and it was filmed locally.
The high school (there’s a high school in every horror movie made between 1978 and 1999, look it up) was Portland’s Franklin High, and the murder house was a set built in Metzger Park. That’s near the Target I shop at. I’ve never actually seen Dr. Giggles– I don’t really do horror- but I’ll never forget this gem. It played to no crowds at the movie theater I worked at back in the day, and we mocked the hell out of it then. The doctor is out…of his mind! Good times. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Thank God.
I was asked just last night whether I still love movies. Kind of a loaded question but I did attempt to answer it. I do, but when you work in that business you start to judge movies based on their commercial potential rather than artistic merit. I would like to fully deprogram myself of that- and I’m getting there- but Hollywood doesn’t make it easy since the kinds of movies that are meant to be loved rather than consumed are increasingly rare, and even more rarely make it to theaters. Once in a while one comes along and it’s a glorious thing. In the meantime, I’ll be watching Animal House for the eleventy billionth time.
Dude, spoiler alert for Point Break! Geez