AARoads Forum

Non-Road Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: hbelkins on December 01, 2022, 07:17:07 PM

Title: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: hbelkins on December 01, 2022, 07:17:07 PM
'Tis the season to be Mary, as Clark W. Griswold Jr. says as he's distracted by the busty store clerk in "Christmas Vacation."

As you probably know, the movie opens with the Griswold family journeying out into the country to find the perfect Christmas tree for their good old-fashioned family Christmas. The terrain doesn't look like anything anywhere near the Griswold family home in Chicago.

So maybe Illinois isn't flat after all.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: TheGrassGuy on December 01, 2022, 07:34:17 PM
I'm guessing Pennsylvania for the actual filming location.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 01, 2022, 07:45:38 PM
I just assumed the opening scene was filmed at Illinois Pass given it matched Carhorn's description. 

Similarly the terrain around Haddonfield in Halloween resembles the backcountry of Southern California.  Of course it would be more fair to say that Southern California resembles Illinois...
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: kphoger on December 01, 2022, 07:53:36 PM
It was filmed in Summit County, Colorado.  Just north of Breckenridge.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 02, 2022, 12:07:09 PM
Maybe Clark drove all the way to where "The Great Outdoors" takes place with all those tall mountains of Wisconsin....  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: kphoger on December 02, 2022, 12:20:14 PM
Breckenridge Golf Club, to be precise.

Compare the scenery:

(https://i.imgur.com/YIPzQFj.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/4zQheDA.jpg)

(https://brecknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CV-12-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: bm7 on December 04, 2022, 06:46:59 PM
The video game Watch Dogs is set in Chicago. The downtown area resembles the real Chicago to an extent, but the city is for some reason surrounded by pine-covered hills and mountains.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: epzik8 on December 05, 2022, 02:10:12 PM
One time there was a MadTV sketch where Lorraine visited "Florida University" with her son, but there is a mountain in the background when she gets arrested at the end of the sketch.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: hotdogPi on December 05, 2022, 02:21:26 PM
Quote from: epzik8 on December 05, 2022, 02:10:12 PM
One time there was a MadTV sketch where Lorraine visited "Florida University" with her son, but there is a mountain in the background when she gets arrested at the end of the sketch.

Not impossible. It could be elsewhere in the country similar to how the University of Miami and Miami University are in different parts of the country. Florida, MA is mountainous, as are both the (unrelated) Village of Florida and Town of Florida in New York.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on December 05, 2022, 02:40:18 PM
The shopping scene was filmed at the State Street Marshall Field's (now Macy's). The external shot of Clark's office building is actually one of the Federal Buildings downtown.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: Mr_Northside on December 06, 2022, 04:03:03 PM
Seemed to be a pretty steep hill Clark went down on the lubed up sled as well.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: kphoger on December 06, 2022, 04:24:50 PM
Quote from: Mr_Northside on December 06, 2022, 04:03:03 PM
Seemed to be a pretty steep hill Clark went down on the lubed up sled as well.

Also Breckenridge Golf Club.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: skluth on December 06, 2022, 05:49:10 PM
Quote from: epzik8 on December 05, 2022, 02:10:12 PM
One time there was a MadTV sketch where Lorraine visited "Florida University" with her son, but there is a mountain in the background when she gets arrested at the end of the sketch.

There's also the scene in an Austin Powers movies where they're in London and there's mountains in the background 
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: hbelkins on December 07, 2022, 02:30:31 PM
Walmart wasn't the behemoth that it is today back when that movie was shot. Wonder how much they paid for product placement? Clark sliding through the parking lot, and Eddie loading up the shopping cart with Ol' Roy dog food for Snot?
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 07, 2022, 02:47:23 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 07, 2022, 02:30:31 PM
Walmart wasn't the behemoth that it is today back when that movie was shot. Wonder how much they paid for product placement? Clark sliding through the parking lot, and Eddie loading up the shopping cart with Ol' Roy dog food for Snot?

I often wondered the same thing with Career Opportunities and a Target store being used as the primary movie backdrop.  Somehow I can't envision Jennifer Connelly suggestively riding a mechanical horse would jive with that whole "family brand"  thing Target goes for now. 
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: formulanone on December 07, 2022, 03:55:11 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 07, 2022, 02:30:31 PM
Walmart wasn't the behemoth that it is today back when that movie was shot. Wonder how much they paid for product placement? Clark sliding through the parking lot, and Eddie loading up the shopping cart with Ol' Roy dog food for Snot?

I've also wondered that myself, it was probably cheap advertising back then. One of those things I never caught for years, until we had a Walmart in my own town. Nowadays, they'd probably be dead set against having anything filmed in their stores.

Going to Colorado to film a few scenes seems a little out of the way, but now that I see it was Breckenridge...maybe they just wanted to hit the slopes.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: kphoger on December 07, 2022, 05:41:17 PM
Quote from: formulanone on December 07, 2022, 03:55:11 PM
Going to Colorado to film a few scenes seems a little out of the way, but now that I see it was Breckenridge...maybe they just wanted to hit the slopes.

They shot all sorts of scenes in Colorado–not just Breckenridge, but also Frisco and Silverthorne.  The rest was filmed at Warner Bros in California.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 08, 2022, 12:06:28 PM
Quote from: skluth on December 06, 2022, 05:49:10 PM
There's also the scene in an Austin Powers movies where they're in London and there's mountains in the background 

Including the very meta line, "It's amazing how much England doesn't look like southern California!"
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: dvferyance on December 08, 2022, 08:28:15 PM
At the beginning of the first movie you see not only mountains but palm trees too. There are palm trees in fictional Illinios.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: texaskdog on December 08, 2022, 09:35:26 PM
Quote from: epzik8 on December 05, 2022, 02:10:12 PM
One time there was a MadTV sketch where Lorraine visited "Florida University" with her son, but there is a mountain in the background when she gets arrested at the end of the sketch.
Like Little House on the Prairie how many times they'd be up in the mountains.  it was the PRAIRIE!!!
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on December 08, 2022, 10:11:57 PM
Quote from: dvferyance on December 08, 2022, 08:28:15 PM
At the beginning of the first movie you see not only mountains but palm trees too. There are palm trees in fictional Illinios.

There are also palm trees at fictional O'Hare. There's an episode of The West Wing shot that's supposed to be O'Hare. They put up a few Bears and Cubs banners on the wall, but forgot to cut the palm trees (at what I'm assuming is LAX) out of the shot.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 09, 2022, 02:40:38 PM
Seems like any time something is set in like Kansas, invariably, the outdoor scenes have way more topography than actual Kansas.  Like they go just outside of LA and find somewhere with no trees and call it good enough.  But it's like deeply dissected, steep rolling landscapes that look nothing like Kansas.  It's inexcusable because all they have to do is go up to like Bakersfield and point the cameras northwest and you've got flatsville as far as the eye can see.  Much better "Kansas" than what I've seen in things.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: Scott5114 on December 12, 2022, 03:28:17 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on December 09, 2022, 02:40:38 PM
Seems like any time something is set in like Kansas, invariably, the outdoor scenes have way more topography than actual Kansas.  Like they go just outside of LA and find somewhere with no trees and call it good enough.  But it's like deeply dissected, steep rolling landscapes that look nothing like Kansas.  It's inexcusable because all they have to do is go up to like Bakersfield and point the cameras northwest and you've got flatsville as far as the eye can see.  Much better "Kansas" than what I've seen in things.

Bakersfield is far enough away from Los Angeles (i.e., more than 30 miles) that the studios have to pay the same "on location" rates for shooting that they would in actual Kansas. (Actually, given tax incentives and the difference in cost of living, they may well save money just going to Kansas if they are going to shoot on location for an extended period of time.) If they can keep all shooting within this red circle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_zone#/map/0) they save a ton of money.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: iowahighways on December 29, 2022, 05:47:04 PM
TV Tropes actually has a whole page about this, with examples from different places and different media: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMountainsOfIllinois
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: JoePCool14 on December 30, 2022, 09:08:50 AM
Quote from: iowahighways on December 29, 2022, 05:47:04 PM
TV Tropes actually has a whole page about this, with examples from different places and different media: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMountainsOfIllinois

That is a perfect page for Crash It.
Title: Re: Fictional Illinois isn't flat
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 30, 2022, 10:21:08 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on December 30, 2022, 09:08:50 AM
Quote from: iowahighways on December 29, 2022, 05:47:04 PM
TV Tropes actually has a whole page about this, with examples from different places and different media: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheMountainsOfIllinois

That is a perfect page for Crash It.

Slander!  This isn't certified by Wallethub.