Filmmakers find Oregon's settings appealing
By James Baggett
The scenery in Portland is dramatic. Within the city sit modern buildings, big bridges, wide rivers and tall trees. Not far to the east large mountains rest, and to the west sits the largest of all oceans, the Pacific. It's an undeniably picturesque region, so naturally it has attracted movie producers to film here. Below is a sampling of noteworthy movies filmed in the Portland area.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)
The classic novel by Ken Kesey was turned into an equally classic movie starring Jack Nicholson, and filmed on location at the Oregon State Mental Hospital in Salem. Nicholson's character is sent to a mental hospital, where he quickly becomes the center of attention as a rebellious leader who organizes the other patients at the expense of the tyrant nurse. At one point, he hijacks the hospital's bus and brings the other inmates on a joyride before authorities catch up with them on the Coast after a liberating ride on a fishing boat.
"Drugstore Cowboy" (1989)
In this movie about the drug sub-culture in the early 1970s, you can see shots of Beacon Rock in the Columbia River Gorge. Most of the movie takes place in Northwest Portland, around 21st Street. It follows a clever young drug addict, Bobby (Matt Dillon) and his close friends around the Northwest. Bobby provides for his friends by organizing slick robberies that allow the group to keep a nice apartment while supporting their habit. It features a strong theme of an unconventional family, as Bobby acts as a father figure for the group of junkies.
"Mr. Holland's Opus" (1996)
Symphony composer Glen Holland (Richard Dreyfus) reluctantly takes a job at a Portland high school in order to pay the bills while he composes music that he hopes will get him his big break. As time goes on, Mr. Holland comes to love his job through his natural ability to inspire students to love music. His family life is threatened when his son is born deaf, and Mr. Holland struggles to give his son the same attention as his music students. After 30 years of teaching, school budget cuts lead to the end of the music program - and Mr. Holland's career. The movie was filmed at the Christie School on U.S. Highway 43 in Marylhurst and in Portland at Grant High School.
"Bandits" (2001)
Two friends, played by Billy Bob Thornton and Bruce Willis, break free from the Oregon State Penitentiary and start robbing banks up and down the West Coast. Portlanders will recognize the Broadway Bridge and a scene in the Columbia River Gorge. Other local filming locations included Lake Oswego, West Linn, Sandy and Oregon City. When the duo runs upon a beautiful housewife (Cate Blanchett), a humorous, unlikely, but still serious, love triangle emerges. The beautiful woman causes an increasing amount of tension between the two friends, and it's not good for business.
"Elephant" (2003)
This movie was filmed at Whitaker Middle School on Columbia Boulevard. It follows the events that happen to characters in the minutes leading up to a Columbine-style school shooting, carried out by two students who are repeatedly picked on by other students. It was the first movie of its kind since the tragedy in Colorado, and received heavy criticism. Even so, it won the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival.
"What the Bleep Do We Know!?" (2004)
Filmed mostly in the Pearl District and along the MAX line, this movie takes the audience on a trip through theoretical quantum physics, psychology and metaphysics in order to posit some speculation about alternate universes and dimensions that resemble the one we know, but are actually quite different. It's done in a documentary interview format, though it has a limited plotline, and it includes digital imaging that augment the paranormal subject matter.
"The Burning Plain" (2009)
Portland continues to be a place where directors enjoy making movies. Filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga (who wrote the screenplay for the three plot twisted, chronologically thrown movies - "Amores Perros," "21 Grams" and "Babel" - that comprised director Alejandro González Iñárritu's "death trilogy") is coming to Portland to direct his first film.
"The Burning Plain" is set to feature a daughter, played by Charlize Theron, who lives in Portland and must make amends with her estranged parents (her mother is played by Kim Basinger). Characteristic of Arriaga's plots, this is only one of the interlinked stories that progress during the movie; four other characters must face their own challenges.
When this film hits the theaters as scheduled in 2009, be sure to look for some of those Portland shots.
