Movies Made in Chicago: 80 Films Covered on Chicago Film Tour

Chicago, IL, July 23, 2011 Chicago Film Tours (312-593-4455, www.ChicagoFilmTour.com), a bus tour in its second year of operation, takes film lovers on a 30 mile tour through the city of Chicago, visiting locations where over 80 films were shot in Chicago. The tour takes 2 hours and goes off at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

While Jess (the guide) and Raymond (the driver) showed us clips of the various films on screens mounted within the bus, we drove past the restaurants and hotels that provided settings for some of Hollywood's best-known films. The tour costs $30. You learn about the old, the new and many films made in-between.

TRANSFORMERS MIA

Surprisingly, "Transformers," which is out now and was shot in Chicago (next one will be shot in Philadelphia) was not mentioned on the tour, but from the small fire station in Chinatown that provided a set for "Backdraft" (as did the Firehouse Restaurant on Michigan) to Marina Towers which had the spectacular car crash in Steve McQueen's last film ("Hunter")---a shot so spectacular that the cast of "The Blues Brothers," (which was also shooting at the same time in Chicago), stopped production to watch the car fall from the upper floors of Marina Towers into the Chicago River below. In the original script, the driver of the car was supposed to survive. When the car flipped, end over end, landing on its top---which could not have been predicted---it was easier to rewrite the script so that the driver is killed than to redo the spectacular car drop. That, ultimately, is what the filmmakers did.

THE VIAGRA TRIANGLE

We traveled through River North to the Gold Coast and learned of a nightclub section of town referred to as "the Viagra triangle," an area where older men look for younger women. The Ambassador East Hotel, built in 1918, was used in many movies, including 1980's "My Bodyguard," and the Pump Room, opened in 1939, which was used in 16 or 17 films. In fact, the first booth in the Pump Room was so popular with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack that a phone line was installed directly to the booth. It was sad to learn that the fabled Pump Room, featured in "The Sting" (1973) is to be made over and renamed the Gold Coast Kitchen.

THE UPTOWN THEATER

As we drove past a dilapidated former theater, the Uptown, which has seating for 4,000 (one acre of seats), we learned that it has been closed since 1981 because it is on the historic register so to renovate which means it would cost $40 to $50 million. On the positive side, our new mayor (Rahm Emanuel), whose brother is a Hollywood agent, is said to be in favor of reopening the historic theater. The original Playboy Mansion was also pointed out and tribute was paid to John Hughes' films, since he is the director with the most films on the Top 100, with such classics as "The Breakfast Club," "Home Alone," "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles."

CLARK STREET

We drove down Clark Street (which is where we were picked up on the tour outside the Rock and Roll McDonald's and the Rain Forest Caf© at 600 North Clark) a series of cemeteries we passed (Graceland National Cemetery, Bohemian National Cemetery, etc.) provided the backdrop for the information that Lincoln Park was turned into a park from previously having been a cemetery. The bodies were exhumed and moved out of Chicago.

WRIGLEY FIELD

Wrigley Field, used as the setting for a scene in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and many other films was one of the famous venues we cruised by, as was the Biograph Theater outside of which Dillinger died, most recently the setting for Johnny Depp's film "Public Enemies" (2009). The Biograph now operates as the Victory Garden Theater.

IT CAME FROM THE 70s: FROM THE GODFATHER TO APOCALYPSE NOW

One of the films I covered in my book It Came from the '70s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now was "The Fury" in which the 62-year-old Kirk Douglas did his own stuntwork. North Avenue Beach was a recurring setting for many films made in Chicago. Chess Records at 2120 Michigan, home of Muddy Waters was one of the sites we passed and was used in the film "Cadillac Records."

VINCE VAUGHAN & CHICAGO MOVIE LOCATIONS

Vince Vaughan has it written into his contracts that part of each of his movies has to be filmed in Chicago. The list of places we visited included: LaSalle Street Bridge, Hotel 71 (top floor served as Bruce Wayne's headquarters in the last "Batman" movie); Mother's; Ambassador East Hotel; Lincoln Park Zoo; North Avenue Beach; Belmont Harbor; The Riviera Theater; Uptown Bank Building; Green Mill Lounge; Uptown Theater; Essanay Studios; Graceland Cemetery; Wrigley Field; Slugger's; Roscoe & Clark Street; Biograph Theater; John Barleycorn's; Oz Park; Twin Anchors Restaurant; Sedgwick CTA Station; O'Brien's Steak House; Michigan Avenue; Water Tower Place; Lower Wacker Drive (scene of the Batman chase scenes); The Wrigley Building; Roosevelt Auditorium Building (used as a hotel lobby in Kevin Costner's film "The Untouchables"); Chicago Hilton and Chicago Towers; the Kimball Mansion; Chess Records; Chinatown; Union Station; Emmit's Pub; Franklin Street Bridge; Merchandise Mart and the Rock and Roll McDonald's.

MOVIES MADE IN CHICAGO

The movies made in Chicago include "About Last Night" (1986); "Adventures in Babysitting" (1987); "Backdraft" (1991); "Bad Boys" (1983); "Batman Begins" (2005); "Blink" (1994); "The Blues Brothers" (1980); "The Breakfast Club" (1985); "The Break-Up" (2006); "Cadillac Records" (2008); "Call Northside 777" (1948); "Candyman" (1992); "Chain Reaction" (1996); "Child's Play" (1988); "Class" (1983); "Code of Silence" (1985); "The Color of Money" (1986); "Cooley High" (1975); "The Dark Knight" (2008); "Derailed" (2006); "The Dilemma" (2011); "Eagle Eye" (2008); "A Family Thing" (1996); "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986); "Flatliners" (1990); "Fred Claus" (2007); "The Fugitive" (1993); "The Fury" (1978); "Hardball" (2001); "Harry and Tonto" (1974); "Hero" (1992); "High Fidelity" (2000); "His New Job" (1915); "Hollywood or Bust" (1956); "Home Alone" (1990); "Home Alone 2" (1992); "Hudsucker Proxy" (1994); "The Hunter" (1980); "I, Robot" (2004); "The In-Laws" (2003); "The Lake House" (2006); "A League of Their Own" (1992); "Little Fockers" (2010); "Mad Dog and Glory" (1993); "Medium Cool" (1968); "Mercury Rising" (1998); "Michael" (1996); "Mickey One" (1965); "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997); "My Bodyguard" (1980); "The Negotiator" (1998); "Next of Kin" (1989); "North by Northwest" (1959); "Nothing in Common" (1986); "Ocean's 11" (2001); "Only the Lonely" (1991); "Ordinary People" (1980); "The Package" (1989); "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987); "Prelude to a Kiss" (1992); "Primal Fear" (1996); "Public Enemies" (2009); "Red Heat" (1988); "Return to Me" (2000); "Risky Business" (1983); "The Road to Perdition" (2002); "Rookie of the Year" (1993); "Silver Streak" (1976); "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), "Somewhere in Time" (1980); "Soul Food" (1997); "The Sting" (1973); "Straight Talk" (1992); "Stranger than Fiction" (2006); "Thief" (1981); "Time Travelers Wife" (2009); "Transformers" (2010); "Uncle Buck" (1989); "The Untouchables" (1987); "Wanted" (2007); "What Women Want" (2000); "When Harry Met Sally" (1989); "While You Were Sleeping" (1995); "Within Our Gates" (1920); "The Wizard of Oz" (1910).