I was in school at Sam Houston when that movie came out... There is actually a light tower in the middle of the National Forest people still party at... The pool hall was the Jolly Fox, and the liquor store is A1 liquor. Ahhhh all the old memories...
Urban Cowboy!!! God, I am an idiot. The mechanical bull as erotic weapon! Plus, I forgot Lone Star, and it's so good it hurts. I saw that two times at the theatre within the space of a week when it first came out. John Sayles is *great*. I really wish Dazed and Confused was set in Channelview, though... I always thought it was... sigh. Oh, I suppose we should mention Local Hero. Mostly set in Scotland but it has a big Houston connection. Cute movie, too.
there was a movie set in houston and galveston...cop investigates a sniper who shows up at astros games...i never saw it, but heard about it.
yeah...being from houston REALLY detracted from this movie...when he's racing down Memorial Drive it really lost believability for me that he was in D.C.
The pool hall was The Emporium. The Jolly Fox was a nightclub that served liquor and catered to the Sam students--hard to get a lot of high school kids in there, though there was another club called the "Sound Machine" that was a bit easier to sneak into.
"Bad News Bears In Breaking Training" Did you know that the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training was filmed in the following places: Bayland Park, Houston, Texas, El Paso, Texas, The Houston Astrodome, Kirby Dive in Houston, Van Nuys in California. http://www.geocities.com/northvalleyleague/know.html Also, several Houston Astros stars of the day such as Bob Watson and Cesar Cedeno are clearly visible in the film (in the famous and hokey "Let them play!" scene, indicating much of the Astrodome footage was filmed before an Astros game.
MR MEOWGI, <b>True Stories</b>...yes! <b>Slackers</b> anyone?? does Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure count? <b>North Dallas Forty</b> <b>The Big Country</b>
Night Game, starring Roy Scheider. I remember watching an Astro game on TV when they were shooting that movie. They were going to be shooting after the game and all the extras who played the players were in uniform and were watching from the catwalk in left field. Kind of a weird scene.
Although not a "best," a darn good movie that noone has mentioned is "The Rookie." For those who don't know the movie, it is a true story based on the unlikely saga of Jim Morris, a high school teacher in Big Lake, Texas who made it to the big leagues as a 35 year old rookie relief pitcher. The movie starred Houston native Dennis Quaid and was filmed mostly in the Austin area, but there are some recognizable shots of "downtown" Big Lake. The film's final scenes are shot at the Ballpark in Arlington.
Robocop 2 was filmed in Houston - the original was not. Piranha was filmed at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos (and the script was written by Texan John Sayles). But I don't think it belongs on any "best" list. I'd say The Last Picture Show is probably the best movie about Texas, even though its legacy has been tarnished by the crappy sequel Texasville.
You're not. That scene in the field where he has to be held back from trashing the office equipment... I should watch that movie again.
Man, I wish I could keep up with these threads. Was Smokey and the Bandit filmed in Texas? I know they go to Texarkana.... Wasn't there a movie filmed in the Galleria in the '80s? Something about a kid playing dart gun tag??? JFK? Silkwood? Talk Radio?
True Stories is a great call. Giant Dazed and Confused. Bottle Rockets Rushmore I love all of those films. I appreciate Urban Cowboy though it's not one of my favorites. One line that might not make it in the movie if it were filmed today is when Travolta gets back together with Deborah Winger, and he tells her. 'I want to apologize clear back to when I hit you the first time.' Beating on women didn't have the same stigma then that it does now.
