CLICK ADSUnited States
The time is the 1930s, and in
fictional Maycomb, Alabama, life is a paradise of swaying trees and
bountiful breakfasts—for some. For others, the Deep South is a hard
place, requiring the efforts of a decent lawyer (the mighty Gregory
Peck).—Joshua Rothkopf
True to its nickname, Alaska is the
last frontier for adventurer Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Sean
Penn’s wilderness drama follows this hungry young protagonist as he
seeks enlightenment in the hinterlands of our nation’s northernmost
state, its rugged, unforgiving landscapes counterpointing his own
spiritual discontent.—Keith Uhlich
The Coen brothers’ lunatic comedy
about a loving trailer-park couple who kidnap one of five quintuplets to
raise as their own captures the distinctive patois—a hybrid of local
dialects—and arid poetry of the Grand Canyon State.—Keith Uhlich
Billy Bob Thornton became a household
name with this touching Southern drama, which he not only dominated as
the mentally slow Karl, but wrote and directed. The overall picture—an
Arkansas of crime, compassion and hope—was positively Clintonian.—Joshua Rothkopf
It may be the birthplace of beach
parties, the Summer of Love and Hollywood, but Roman Polanski’s noir
tears the scab off California dreamin’: an L.A. detective story that
exposes what lies beneath our go-west idealism, while simultaneously
evoking nostalgia for the Golden State’s sunny facade.—David Fear
In Sydney Pollack’s backcountry
oater, a jaded Mexican War veteran (Robert Redford) seeks solace in the
American West, only to discover that life in the Rocky Mountain
State—with its harsh weather, craggy terrain and aggressive
inhabitants—is more turbulent than transcendental.—Keith Uhlich
Cubes clatter in Scotch tumblers as
the emotional temperature plummets in Ang Lee’s portrayal of Nixon-era
life in New Canaan, CT. Fine, these are the problems of wealthy white
people, but stiffness yields something tragic and universal.—Joshua Rothkopf
A tough one! The slender First State
doesn’t have a lot of cinematic history, and authorities denied David
Fincher permission to shoot his radical anticapitalist comedy in
Wilmington, where it’s set. But enough clues are sprinkled
throughout—business cards, license plates—to know we’re at the financial
hub.—Joshua Rothkopf
As tawdry and trashed as the
collegiate tradition itself, Harmony Korine’s tale of girls gone wild
presents a Florida that’s a neon fountain of youth—a version of the
state’s sunbaked, garish resort-town vibe that feels only slightly
exaggerated.—David Fear
Frankly, my dear, we don’t give a
damn that this classic Hollywood melodrama was shot mostly in
Tinseltown. Between its extravagant plantation sets, the epic battle
scenes, a Southern-fried romantic triangle and the unforgettable burning
of Atlanta, this is the most iconic rendering of Georgia on film.—Keith Uhlich
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50 American films, 50 states: One iconic movie for each state
In celebration of the big, bold USA, we take a trip through all 50 states via 50 indelible American films
Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Alaska: Into the Wild (2007)
Arizona: Raising Arizona (1987)
Arkansas: Sling Blade (1996)
California: Chinatown (1974)
Colorado: Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Connecticut: The Ice Storm (1997)
Delaware: Fight Club (1999)
Florida: Spring Breakers (2012)
Georgia: Gone with the Wind (1939)
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Texas
Chain Saw Massacre...REALLY? Lots of people like to insult Texas so
Texans overlook people like you that just don't get it but while trying
to trash Texas, aren't you taking down a lot of good writers, actors,
and the dozens and dozens of talented people it takes to make a good
movie? Of the over 200 movies shot in Texas you come up with Texas Chain
Saw? How pathetic. Did you catch Apollo 11 or Ron Howard's Apollo 13 by
any chance? You may have heard of some of the people in it: Tom Hanks,
Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinese, and Ed Harris to name a few
people in Apollo 13.
"The
Ice Storm" for Connecticut???? Surely you jest. "The Swimmer" with
Burt Lancaster is a better choice. Even Mystic Pizza is a better choice.
There
are a lot of good and bad things on this list, but as a Texan I'm
pretty sure y'all chose it because it was the first movie you thought of
with the name "Texas" in the title. There are so many more iconic
movies that truly encapsulate the spirit of Texas, such as Giant, The
Last Picture Show, Days of Heaven, Friday Night Lights...
Maine should have been Shawshank Redemption and Colorado The Shining, The Departed for Mass, how about Paris, Texas for Texas
I
applaud the thought that went into this list, even if I disagree with
some of the picks. I do think it's weighed too heavily towards recent
films. The two picks I most strongly disagree with are Texas Chainsaw
Massacre and Pink Flamingos. Odd, even disgusting, movies, in my
opinon. For Texas, I would have gone with The Searchers or Urban
Cowboy, and for Maryland, Diner. Other suggested picks: Wyoming-
Heaven's Gate or Shane; Arizona- Tombstone or My Darling Clementine; New
York- Annie Hall; Pennsylvania- The Deer Hunter, and Oregon- One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Considering the thousands of candidates to
choose from for California, I have to say you nailed it with Chinatown.
Perfect choice.
The fact that Forrest Gump isn't listed for Alabama made me not want to read the rest of the list.
I
would have picked On Golden Pond for New Hampshire. The Fighter was
good for MA, but maybe Good Will Hunting? There should have been runner
ups for certain states.
For
Texas, I'd go with J. Sayles "Lone Star," or R. Linklater's Dazed and
Confused, or Giant or The Last Picture Show, or Paris, TX, or David
Byrne's True Stories any of those capture something more substantial
about Texas than Chainsaw Massacre.
I think most people in South Dakota would say that our most iconic movie is Dances With Wolves.
Connecticut
also has Revolutionary Road...a nice depiction of Connecticut life
while working in the maniacal world of New York City...
@Mike
Really? Thought the point of the movie was to show the stifling life
they led. Mystic Pizza, The Swimmer, both are better than TO's choice.
florida?
really? body heat hands down. William hurt, katheline turner,
kasdan's finest loses to a bunch of bimbos? come on...
Wyoming, "Brokeback Mountain:" Yes, the scenery was gorgeous but most of the movie was filmed in Alberta, Canada.
While
The Fighter is great, Massachusetts should be Goodwill Hunting.
Goodwill Hunting very much stands at the intersection of the Bay State,
in between its gritty old town feel and working class folks -- and the
more educated, often more phony, newer, wealthier types and hipper,
Brahman locations. Whether it was the settings and scenery, or
characters like the ones played by Damon and Williams, the movie truly
stands at the crossroads and is Massachusetts.
A
better choice for Minnesota would have been Grumpy Old Men and being
from South Dakota and loving Hitchcock film, I still would have chosen
Dances with Wolves. Coal Miner's Daughter in a great film but so is
Elizabethtown for Kentucky, but that's a toss up. And I would have liked
to seen Double Jeopardy in the running for Louisiana.
Say
Anything for Washington would have been a better choice. ANd "Garden
State" instead of Clerks is another choice i would have gone with. But i
understand their choices. Pretty good list (iconic)
pretty
average list all in all. i agree with a lot of the suggestions by a lot
of the people in the comments. but being from Minnesota, i hate the
choice of Purple Rain, and i hate Fargo for North Dakota. i know Fargo
is actually in NoDak, but the whole movie takes place in Minnesota. it
was shot in Minnesota. the characters even have crazy, over-the-top
Minnesotan accents. and if you really can't go with Fargo, then The
Mighty Ducks would've been a better choice than Purple Rain. MD is a
hockey movie, taking place in Minnesota, largely - if not completely -
shot in Minnesota. also, as a side note, as much as i love North By
Northwest, you gotta go with Dances With Wolves for South Dakota
A couple of quick suggestions - The Departed for MA and Fargo for MN. Those seem pretty obvious.
definitely agree with the comment below about Stand By Me. That movie perfectly captures summertime in Oregon.
West Virginia should be represented by the magnificent "Night of the Hunter", an unforgettable film.
Disagree
with Missouri a much better representation would have been Ang Lee's
Ride with the Devil, set in the Civil War in Missouri or Clint
Eastwood's Outlaw Josey Wales
Why George Washington is representing NC instead of Lynch's legendary Blue Velvet is beyond me.
I
don't care what the "locale" of Fight Club is supposed to be, it's a
patently California film. Every scene is L.A., especially the last
scene where the buildings are all brought down. Every exterior scene is
filmed around L.A. icons, including Century Plaza. The buses, the bar
and Paper St. scenes, LAX, I mean everything about this film says
"L.A.". You can't assign a film to Delaware that doesn't have a single
exterior scene shot anywhere but California/L.A.. C'mon, you can do
better than this. How about "Dead Poet's Society" for cryin' out loud?
As
far as Kevin Smith goes, I think Mallrats is a better depiction of
Jersey. And to the person ranting about the amount of 'recent' movies
on the list, if they were all old mid-nineteenth century movies, they
would be representing very dated notions of the states and the list
would be a lot of nostaltic smalltown Americana. As previously
mentioned, you'd find a lot of takes place in Illinois, shot in Vermont
or in a studio type stuff. PLUS, a lot of these movies really aren't as
recent as you think. And early nineties movie, for example, is now
twenty years old.
Largely
a pretty good list. And fun to click through too.
Like everyone else, I have some differing opinions too.
I agree with previous commenters about Boston and Florida. There are
dozens of movies that are more iconic than "Spring Breakers," a movie to
that just made it to BluRay. Considering the dearth of pre-1990
classics, I'll go with "The Palm Beach Story."
My other votes would be: "Bull Durham" for North Carolina
"Giant" for Texas
"Roger and Me" for Michigan
"Leaving Las Vegas" - Nevada
It's hard to beat "Chinatown" but I might pick "Vertigo" for California.
"Sleepless in Seattle" for Washington strikes me as more 'iconic' than
"Singles."
"The Big Sleep" may be the most iconic movie to take place in South
Carolina, but all they talk about is Ann Arbor. I would go with "The
Patriot," a lesser movie, but more iconic about S.C.
Michigan
deserved a better title. Blue Collar?! I'm from Michigan and I haven't
even heard of it. Countless better choices come mind. Some of them
include: Gran Torino, 8-Mile, Four Brothers, Escanaba in da Moonlight,
Detroit Rock City, Robocop.
A
good list for the most part. I wish my home state of Arizona was better
represented by a movie that captured the essence of the Grand Canyon
State. Not the "Raising Arizona" is a bad film by any means, but I feel
like it could be set anywhere. A classic western like "Stagecoach" or
"3:10 to Yuma" (the original) would've been a preferable choice. Other
recommendations:
Texas - "Lone Star" - I know John Sayles is already represented on this
list with "Matewan", but Lone Star will always be his best work IMHO.
Besides, WV can always be represented by...
West Virginia - "October Sky"
Michigan - "Roger and Me" - Before the conspiracy theories and the
hatred of Republican politics clouded his vision Michael Moore was the
best documentary film-maker around
Connecticut - "Mystic Pizza" - Maybe not as good as "The Ice Storm" but
not as heavy-handed either. Plus, it was the launching pad for Julia
Roberts
Pennsylvania - "All the Right Moves" - Okay, nothing beats "Rocky" but
having lived in PA I can tell you it is a state that worships high
school football
Some
other alternates: "Petrified Forest" for Arizona (an oldie), "The
Producers" for New York, "Good Will Hunting" for Massachusetts (though
largely filmed here in Toronto), "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" for
Pennsylvania (the western part instead of Philly), "Bullitt" for
Califormia (great chase scene in SF), "Fried Green Tomatoes" for Alabama
I
would have picked "Days of Heaven" or "Tree of Life" for Texas since
they were directed by a Texan as well as being set there. And while you
already have another Stephen King adaptation on the list, I would have
picked "The Shining" for Colorado.
Ugh,
this New Yorker is wiping the egg off his face...we've corrected the
Massachusetts entry re: Lowell. All apologies to the fine people of
Lowell and MA.
Melvin and Howard for Nevada?! Over Casino, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Hangover, The Oceans's movies???
i
think Jeramiah Johnson was actually mostly filmed in Utah not Colorado.
Filming this movie was the reason Redford eventually moved to Utah.
Sundance. The entire film festival. Right?
Do not agree with Florida. How is a movie made last year a classic? Also I can easily name a movie for Florida: "Scarface"
While I appreciate it's inclusion on the list, "Brokeback Mountain" was actually filmed in Canada, not Wyoming...
The
fact that you call the setting of The Fighter "a working-class
Dorchester community" and then immediately trot out fake words like
"microcosmos" as if you have effortlessly mastered both film
comprehension and the English language tells me all I need to about this
article. Garbage.
A
principle we used (one that might not be obvious): Rarely did pre-1950
films shoot on location. They were usually marked by the artifice of
Hollywood studio sets; location shooting was an evolution that happened
later. Even so, we picked some studio-shot movies like Gone with the
Wind and Wizard of Oz, titles that evoke the *idea* of their states. But
overall, we were looking for authenticity. Loving the comments!—JR
Gonna stump for Blue Velvet as the more representative choice of my beautiful home state of North Carolina.
