Road Trip: California

List creator: underdog Created on: September 26, 2002 - 10:27 AM PDT Description: A set of films that capture California places -- watch these all and you'll feel like you're driving up and down the Golden State.

show images/hide images

	movie title	related list	average rating	MPAA rating	watch	rent	buy
	Chinatown (1974)
Polanski and Towne's noir classic captures the sordid water history of LA and wraps it around a fascinating, fatalistic crime plot. A SoCal classic.
	Orange County (2002)
Occasionally hilarious, often fairly stupid (yet likeable) this orange curtain comedy also features a road trip of its own to Stanford
	Bowfinger (1999)
Many LA locations but worth it alone for the scene where Eddie Murphy has to cross the Glendale Freeway (I have nightmare memories of just trying to drive the damn thing). Oh, and the movie's quite funny, too.
	Touch of Evil (1958)			Not Rated
Orson Welles dark classic is set south of the border but was actually filmed in Venice Beach
	Cutter's Way (1981)
Certainly the best film ever shot in Santa Barbara and captures the eerie, sun-drenched Spanish-influenced atmosphere in this downbeat sleeper.
	We Were Soldiers (2002)
The Pentagon, the War Room, and all of the Vietnamese village scenes (except an interior tunnel) were filmed at Fort Hunter Liggett Military Reservation in southern Monterey County.
	The Deep End (2001)
Lake Tahoe has never looked more haunting (and noir-ish)
	Play It Again, Sam (1972)
Woody Allen filmed this in San Francisco because of a garbage strike in NY at the time, and it worked out perfectly; what could be a better setting for a film about a man obsessed with Bogart (look for Marin Co. locations, too)
	Vertigo (Special Edition) (1958)
An obvious choice but would be noticeably missing; Hitchcock was the rare director of that era would would film a great deal on location; one of SF's most famous movies
	Time After Time (1979)
Muir Woods, The Oakland Museum and a host of San Francisco locations in this underrated time travel movie
	The Birds (1963)
Hard to resist this scary classic filmed in Bodega Bay and Bodega; will absolutely make you eye that seagull a bit more fearfully
	Mumford (1999)
Sweet little comedy filmed all over Sonoma County