Duluth and Iron Will are chopped liver on Explore Minnesota’s “Top 10 Minnesota Film Destinations”
If crappy Disney movies like Iron Will were exempt from the list, how did The Mighty Ducks get included?
Anyway, on the list are:
A Prairie Home Companion – Fitzgerald Theater, Mickey’s Diner
Grumpy Old Men – Lake Rebecca
North Country – The Iron Range
Purple Rain – First Avenue
The Good Son – Palisade Head
Beautiful Girls – Bryant Lake Bowl
Jingle All The Way – Mall of America
Sweet Land – Southwestern Minnesota
The Mighty Ducks – Rice Park
Fargo – Brainerd Lakes Area
Read in depth, if you please: “Top 10 Minnesota Film Destinations”
Iron Will was shot in Duluth in the early 1990s and features scenes in the Greysolon Plaza (Hotel Duluth), outside the Central Administration Building (Old Central High School) and probably other local places I’ve forgotten. (It’s not exactly the kind of movie anyone would watch over and over again, but I’m sure it provided a handful of Duluthians memories of drinking with Kevin Spacey that will last a lifetime.)
Amazing. Only two good movies on that list (and it would still be only two good movies if Iron Will and the also not-included Far North would have made the list).
I’ve watched Iron Will twice in the past month, because I recently thrifted it for my kids. (Okay, I actually watched it once, and the second time I just put the tape on and told them to stay upstairs, so I could have a few moments of peace.) Now I’m going to have to watch it again — because I actually didn’t know about or notice the Duluthiness of it all.
Some scenes of The Mighty Ducks were filmed across the street from my school, at the Minnetonka Ice Arena. We were, like, 11 years old, so after school we’d run over there screaming “Emilio!” like we were all in love with him or something, even though we had previously never heard of him.
I’m just surprised that anyone besides the Coens have bothered filming Minnesota-located movies in Minnesota — hell, that they even set them here. If only they had filmed Gran Torino here.
What was the movie shot at Glensheen in the 1970s with Richard Thomas and I think Patty Duke? I have seen it but can’t remember the name.
The Patty Duke/Richard Thomas movie shot at Glensheen was titled You’ll Like My Mother. I bought a used copy several years ago and watched it again. Not a bad film.
Mallrats also not represented.
Agreed with topofthehillman on Torino. Fantastic Clint movie, he was totally robbed at the Academy Awards that year. Too bad it wasn’t filmed in MN. It had a lot of Minnesotans in it, though.
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One Minnesota movie I enjoyed (at the time) was Untamed Heart with Marisa Tomei and Christian “Pump up the Volume” Slater.
I haven’t seen it in at least 15 years though, and my tastes have changedm so who knows, maybe on a second viewing it will be crap. Purple Rain definitely induces a few eye rolls if you look at it again now, 25 years later.
Don’t forget Jingle all the Way. I just saw it for the first time a few days ago. Cheesy fun (with an extra side of cheesy).
Grumpier Old Men should be on there too. I worked as an extra down in Stillwater for the wedding scene.
In Mallrats I met Stan Lee one late night while filming at Eden Prairie Center. I was 18 and had no idea who any of the people in the movie really were. I was kinda scared of Ben Affleck because I had just seen Dazed and Confused and he was a quiet guy when everyone sat to eat together. Lower budget so there weren’t many extras, but I was a senior in high school making $300 a day to be in the background. You can go to that mall, or the “dirt mall,” which was in Monticello.
What about Little Big League and Feeling Minnesota?
One morning on my way to high school in Fridley, I passed a giant movie crew surrounding a weird 1980s-modern house. A few years later, I watched Bound and Gagged: A Love Story (nsfw) and recognized the weird house right off! (It was the fucking-on-the-TV scene, if anyone is curious.)
I love Untamed Heart! And Iron Will, Grumpy Old Men and Mallrats of course!
I remember when Fargo came out on VHS, my aunt (who’s quite religious and would tell you it was “god’s plan for you” if you fell and broke your leg) rented it when we had a ton of family in town and gathered us at my grandpa’s to watch it, kids and all. She had not seen it yet, just heard that it was shot in Minnesota and all that jazz. After about 15 minutes she got up and declared she was turning it off and we were going to play cards again. I didn’t get what the fuss was about until years later when I finally saw the movie.
Bad Cat!, is Bound and Gagged as awesome as its trailer?
How can we forget about Drop Dead Gorgeous?! Hilarious mock-umentary filmed mostly around the Twin Cities, and it was Amy Adams’ film debut! I love this movie. I still remember that Casey Garven, the guy who plays Brett Clemens, used to come and read with my 5th-grade class at Stowe Elementary. He would talk about what he was doing and he would bring up his film experience in Mighty Ducks 2 & 3 and that he was going to be in Drop Dead Gorgeous… I didn’t see the movie until my freshman year at UMD, but I remembered him (and he was just as good looking as I remembered too!).
Movie also features Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, and the late Brittany Murphy.
Two things:
First, this post tells me that we may need our own actual best Minnesota films list for PDD.
And secondly, I’m not sure where you were headed with the “Bound and Gagged” question, Paul, but I could see a PDD screening of that one sometime, somewhere … if only my old balcony were open, that sounds like it would’ve been a great title for a brew-n-view. It might be a little too mature subject matter for me, but those Black Labels dudes, who basically curated that series, used to come up with quirky flicks like that back when we could.
Duluthians were extras in Iron Will. Any other films?
Another Emilio Estevez flick, adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s That was Then … This is Now, was shot on the East Side of St. Paul, where I grew up. One scene took place under the railroad viaduct off West 7th, right next to Lou’s Viaduct Inn, where I worked as a short order cook.
Foolin’ Around (1980) with Gary Busey and Annette O’Toole was shot in the Twin Cities. I remember walking my bike over the 3rd Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis and seeing them shooting a scene on the river flats below (a still from this scene was used as a lobby card, and I could be a speck seen on the bridge in the background).
Also, much of Slaughterhouse Five was shot in the Twin Cities. Director George Roy Hill was from the Cities.
As to Duluthians playing extras in films other than Iron Will, I think a few were used in You’ll Like My Mother including a Harold Congdon who according to the IMDB site played the role of a “Man.” Maybe he wasn’t from Duluth… but now that I think of it, my former sister-in-law’s sister stood in for Patty Duke for some of the long shots of Patty’s character trudging up to the Congdon Mansion.
“Far North” may have had some extras in it, but I think it was a pretty closed set. I remember watching one scene being shot on the Lift Bridge, right outside of Grandma’s. I couldn’t believe there was a Hollywood movie shooting below that full deck (Sam Shepard was right there!) and the college boys and girls could not have been more disinterested.
That scene, by the way, is in the final movie, although it was reshot during the day and somewhere else in Canal Park. I always wondered why that was…
Interesting tidbit: Both first movies for Patty Duke (You’ll Like My Mother) and her son Mackenzie Astin (Iron Will) were shot in Duluth.
Bound and Gagged was interesting and fun, but not exactly flawless storytelling and acting. It’s not nearly as porno-rific as the trailer makes it appear to be, but still not something you should show your grandma…
They filmed Mighty Ducks 2 (or maybe 3) in the Mall of America the day I quit my job. I’ve been tempted to watch it just to see if I’m in the background looking pissed off.
I really hated the E.P. Center. Except for Aladain’s Castle. Or tripping there while screening “Toxic Avender.” Or smoking weed in the air conditioner bunker for Powers/Carsons Pirie Scott. Or smashing carts in the target parking lot. Or rolling down the hill drunk near Sears. Or eating greasy pizza in the old basement foodcourt. Or riding my BMX bike down the orange carpet ramp in the middle of the mall. Or seeing Gordon from Sesame Street in 1978. Or seeing Gary Specca and his dominoes circa 1980. Or seeing Prince arrive at the movies with his latest hot piece of ass circa the Lovesexy era. Hi, Carmen!
It’s not a movie, but Duluth is referenced in a short story in the May 31, 2004, New Yorker.
“The Secret Goldfish” by David Means