For those couple of you who follow my blog, we sometimes incorporate photographing movie filming locations into our road trips.
We first researched the filming locations for My Cousin Vinny in the fall of 2008. We had decided (as we regularly do), that it was a great movie to watch for some laughs. But of course, instead of watching the movie like normal people, on this evening, our curiosity was piqued and we ended up breaking out the laptops to start researching filming locations and continually pausing the movie. At the time, there wasn’t alot of info on the Internet, but we did have satellite images and maps available, as well as the newest research tool that was in its infancy, Google Street View, launched the year before.
I was very excited to photograph the filming locations and had them all plotted out on a DeLorme map (along with some from The Fugitive, which we also researched). Over Thanksgiving in November 2008, we planned on doing this trip, and rain was looking to douse the south for days, so as we left town, we made a right turn and went west and took a trip on 66 instead. Yes, we switched gears immediately…that’s how we roll. Impulse! But we really didn’t want the trip to be a literal washout, so we decided to wait for another time.
Unfortunately, life didn’t work out to afford us the opportunity to get down there in the spring or summer. By the fall 2009, after purchasing a T@B travel trailer and getting hooked on camping, road trips took a back seat to camping trips. Since then, for one reason or another, if we took a road trip, we always went somewhere else and just never got around to this trip. Fast forward to the end of December 2014. Pat had 5 days off he needed to use or lose, and we debated on camping vs. a road trip. I thought about the My Cousin Vinny locations I’d always wanted to see, sent Pat my map and the decision was made…we’d go “Way Down South!” Finally!
We also knew that the trip would be done with certain filming locations for The Fugitive, which were filmed in North Carolina. Primarily the bus-train wreck scene, hospital, ambulance chase, and leap from the dam were all filmed in North Carolina (despite that it’s supposed to be in southern Illinois and bears no resemblance to that area). After that, the action switches to Chicago.
Lastly, I was watching The Cannonball Run this past year, which has a ton of locations across the country. I didn’t look for many, just a few, but one notable location was when Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise landed an airplane in a street in a town to get more beer, and then took off again. That would also be along this route.
Other than photographing the locations, the trip was uneventful. It was all about the filming locations! It was a very pleasant drive and temperatures were much warmer. Light jackets were all that were needed. We did get to The Varsity in Atlanta for dinner on the first day (New Year’s Eve). What’ll ya have, what’ll ya have?
New Year’s Day, we set off for The Cannonball Run and My Cousin Vinny locations.
The hotel from The Cannonball Run was, to say the least, a major disappointment. What was a thriving hotel at one time (looked very cool in the movie) is now a very run down cheap motel, with a seedy clientele. We didn’t stick around long enough to get a decent photo, particularly as not one – but two – police cars arrived to patrol the property. No thanks, moving on…
Next up was Covington, Georgia – home to the airplane landing scene, which I will post on my Movie Filming Locations page at some point when I have good screen captures.
Then, it was on to Monticello and Eatonton, and the surrounding area, to do all of the scenes from My Cousin Vinny.
The next day we headed up to North Carolina, where we went to Sylva and Bryson City, as well as near Robbinsville, to work on The Fugitive.
On the second to last day, we did make a quick stop in Gatlinburg to walk around and check out the shops – it was in the 70’s! The final was a bit colder, and we only drove back home and didn’t do much. All together, it was a fun trip, and we enjoyed the filming locations!
So, here are the results of our journey!
My Cousin Vinny Filming Locations
The Fugitive Filming Locations
Here is a map of our complete road trip, including all of the locations for My Cousin Vinny and The Fugitive:
Even though I probably won’t be planning a road trip around movie scenes myself, it’s a pretty cool way to do it and you do it extremely well. The screen captures make it work even for those of us not all that familiar with the movies.
Thanks Denny! Certainly not all of our road trips revolve around movie filming locations. Some don’t at all, and others, like our 66 trip last summer, had some locations, but mainly that was a Route 66 trip. This one definitely was all about the filming locations, but we enjoyed the area too, and would go back there! Glad you enjoyed the posts.