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Films of the fifty states: New Mexico to Ohio
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From the deserts of New Mexico to the Big Apple to Mountains on both sides of the country, our next group of films has it all. From New Mexico to Ohio, there's tons to see in America on film.
New Mexico
Scene from The Milagro Beanfield War
The landscapes and Wild West history of New Mexico make it a great spot for movies. Baring the name of a real city, Truth or Consequences New Mexico is a 1997 action film directed by Kiefer Sutherland. After a drug deal goes wrong, the film's four main characters find themselves fleeing for their lives to a small New Mexico town. The film stars Vincent Gallo, Mykelti Williamson, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, and Kim Dickens.
Set around Albuquerque, Employee of the Month is about a lazy employee (Dane Cook) of a Wal-Mart-esque store who suddenly becomes ambitious when he finds out the new girl (Jessica Simpson) likes to date the "Employee of the Month." His problem is the competition, the ultimate employee (Dax Shepard) who is "Employee of the Month" 17 times running. The film also stars Andy Dick and Tim Bagley.
Based around Santa Fe is The Tao of Steve, a 2000 film about Dex (Donal Logue) who is an overweight kindergarten teacher, forced to examine his lifestyle when he meets a woman (Greer Goodman) at a college reunion points out that he isn't as cool as he thinks.
Directed by Robert Redford and based on a novel by John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War is about the small southwestern town of Milagro where a land developer (Richard Bradford) is attempting to install a resort. An activist (Sonia Braga) and a newspaper editor (John Heard) realize this plan will displace local migrant workers. The film turns into a battle between the rich and the poor over who has more right to use the land. The film also features Melanie Griffith and Christopher Walken.
New York
One of the most memorable scenes in film.
Like California, New York abounds with movie sets, creating tons of films based in the city. For the romantic side of the city, check out the classic rom-com When Harry Met Sally. Most everyone probably knows the premise of this film: friends Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) try to see if they can have a friends-with-benefits relationship without emotions getting in the way.
The 1933 drama King Kong might be one of the most famous films set against the New York City skyline. For the time period, the animation was groundbreaking if not always accurate. Even if you haven't seen this movie, you've probably seen Kong climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, swatting away planes, Fay Wray screaming in hand. Recently, New York City was also the set for another monster movie, Cloverfield. The film is about the city being attacked by a strange creature while a small group of friends, celebrating one's going away party, try to escape.
More on the comedy side is the f1984 film Ghostbusters, about three underappreciated paranormal professors (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis) along with a fellow Ghostbuster (Ernie Hudson) who are trying to save the city and a beautiful woman (Sigourney Weaver) from possession by evil spirits.
The Muppets also made a visit to the Big Apple in The Muppets Take Manhattan. All of the usual characters are there as the gang tries to create a Broadway musical based on themselves, coming into comic difficulties along the way.
North Carolina
Film poster for Cold Mountain.
Home of the Appalachians, the beach, and the Vanderbilts, North Carolina has plenty of subjects for a good movie. The 1988 baseball flick Bull Durham is about an up-and-coming pitcher (Tim Robbins), a seasoned catcher (Kevin Costner), and the woman (Susan Sarandon) who always has an affair with one member of the minor league baseball team they play for every season. The film is set in Durham, North Carolina.
The Civil War romance Cold Mountain is about a returning soldier (Jude Law) trying to return home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina and Ada, the woman he loves (Nicole Kidman). Meanwhile, Ada is being taught how to run her father's farm by a female drifter (Renée Zellweger). The film also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and singer Jack White.
Set around Asheville and the Biltmore Estate is Being There, a 1979 film staring Peter Sellers. The film revolves around Chance, a gardener who leaves the estate he works on for the first time when the owner dies. He meets a couple (Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas) who believe him to be a savant and include him in their inner circle.
A thriller set in North Carolina, Kiss the Girls stars Morgan Freeman as a D.C. detective hunting for his niece in North Carolina. It is believed she is the latest victim of a serial killer known as "Casanova". The first break in the case comes when a victim (Ashley Judd) manages to escape. The film also includes performances by Cary Elwes, Jeremy Piven, and Tatyana Ali.
The indie film Junebug is about an outsider art collector (Embeth Davidtz) who is traveling from Chicago to South Carolina to close on an exclusive art deal. While there, she meets her Southern in-laws for the first time, causing an uproar. She must then deal with her newfound quirky family, secrets being revealed about her husband, and trying to close the deal of a lifetime.
North Dakota
Sigrid Gurie plays a pregnant police sherrif in Fargo.
North Dakota is another setting for movies varied in content. Another Coen Brother's film Fargo is a uniquely North Dakota centered film about an inept embezzler named Jerry (William H. Macy) who is being thwarted by a pregnant police officer (Frances McDormand). Jerry has hired two cons (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife (Kristin Rudrüd) in a plan that ultimately goes awry.
The 1940 adventure romance film Three Faces West stars John Wayne as a North Dakota Sheriff John Phillips, who has fallen for Leni (Sigrid Gurie) a Viennesse woman who has recently escaped from Germany along with her father (Charles Coburn). As he tries to save the townspeople from a duststorm, Phillips and Leni fall in love despite the fact that she is engaged to the man who helped her and her father escape.
Barbara Stanwyck stars in The Purchase Price, a film about a singer (Stanwyck) who flees from her hodlum boyfriend (Lyle Talbot) to North Dakota. There, she becomes the mail-order-bride of a farmer (George Brent). The pair don't get along but are forced to work together when the hood locates her and appears in town himself.
The 2006 Tribeca Film Fest award-wining documentary Jesus Camp takes place in a remote evangelical Christian camp in North Dakota. Featuring cameos by Ted Haggard, the film predominantly features camp owner Becky Fischer and the various campers who talk intimately on their beliefs and how they practice them. Constrasting this is a moderate Christian radio show host, who believes such camps brainwash children. The documentary is a rare and intimate look into religious issues in America and how they affect the next generation.
Ohio
Kubrick's iconic film
Tons of more film fun can be found eastward in Ohio. The baseball film Major League is about a fictional roster of Cleveland Indians who are hired to loose but end up winning in order to get back at the team owner who hired them. The film stars Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Wesley Snipes.
Vladimir Nabokov wrote the screenplay for this next film, just as he did the book it was based on. Stanley Kubrick's Lolita is a hit 1962 film about a college professor (James Mason) so fixated on a 14-year-old vixen (Shelley Winters) that he marries her mother (Sue Lyon) in order to get closer to her. The film is set around Beardsley College in Ohio, though filmed largely in England.
A great sci-fi film, Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty is set inn Herrington High, Ohio, where the students are convinced that their teachers are really aliens. The students are the only ones who can stop the aliens before they spread their possessive virus throughout the entire country. The film stars Jordana Brewster, Josh Hartnett, Christopher McDonald, Salma Hayek, Usher, Jon Stewart and Elijah Wood.
Getting its title from the Stevie Nicks song, Edge of Seventeen is a 1998 film set around Sandusky, Ohio. The film is Todd Stephens autobiographical tale of the last day of school in 1984 and coping with his homosexuality in the Mid West. The film deals with various issues of love, friendship, and life. The indie film won several awards at LGBT film festivals around the country.
Set in Cleveland, American Splendor is a biopic about Harvey Pekar (played by Paul Giamatti), a VA file clerk inspired by Robert Crumb (played by James Urbaniak) to make his own comic books. Harvey's truthful tale of American life in his comics make him a celebrity and he opens a store with Joyce Barber (Hope Davis), who becomes a love interest.
The real Harvey Pekar makes an appearance in the film, as do Molly Shannon, Donal Logue, and Judah Friedlander. More information about the comic itself can be found here.
Keep reading next time when we explore more of the fifty states in film!
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