Posts tagged Pompilio's
Yeah, Rain Man definitely filmed here
9Here’s a compilation of screen shots from the 1988 film “Rain Man” starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman and photos of some of the locations, taken by me.
John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge / Cincinnati – Covington
Here is a scene where they are crossing the Roebling Bridge between Ohio and Kentucky:
Here is a photo I took of the bridge:
Pompilio’s Restaurant – Newport, Kentucky
There was a scene filmed at Pompilio’s Restaurant. Here is the exterior from the film:
I took this photo last year. It looks so much less barren now!
Here’s the interior of the restaurant, a scene when they are ordering their pancakes from their waitress: Sally Dibbs…Dibbs, Sally. Interestingly, Bonnie Hunt also played another Sally, the Porsche in Pixar’s Cars!
I made an odd observation. If you look carefully, the floor and furniture look so much the same, but yet…different. The chairs were switched from green to red, and the floor was switched from red to green…
Here’s a scene from the movie looking from the bar into one of the rooms of the restaurant (from above).
A close up of that dining room
The bar in the background
The Hearthstone Inn & Cabins – US 52, Metamora, Indiana
This scene where Raymond wouldn’t go out in the rain was supposed to take place on US 60 somewhere in Missouri. In reality, it was filmed at the Hearthstone Inn & Cabins on US 52 in Metamora, Indiana.
This first screen capture, from the movie, is of the restaurant to the left, and the cabin Charlie and Raymond are staying in is to the right (you can see the Buick in front of it)
Here is a shot of the restaurant from 2005. Where it says “The Hearthstone Restaurant” in the following photo, was where the cabin sat perpendicular in the movie (the restaurant buildings have been added onto).
This screen capture from the movie is essentially the same scene from above, only this is supposed to be the next morning. Also, you can see a number of small cabins up on the hill in back.
Here is a closeup of the cabin, which now sits up on the hill, in front of the little cabins.
Here is a farther away shot of where the cabin sits now, behind where it was in the movie, and facing US 52.
In this scene inside the cabin, Charlie’s impatience is growing as Raymond refuses to go outside in the rain. Note the neon restaurant sign in the background, just to Charlie’s right. That is the Hearthstone Inn sign, which sits along the north side of US 52 in Metamora, Indiana. The view out of this cabin is southeast.
The Big 8 Motel – US 66, El Reno, Oklahoma
Finally, the rain ends and back on the road they quest. Their next stay is at the Big 8 Motel, billed as “Amarillo’s Finest.” Actually, this motel was located in El Reno, Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, sometime after the movie, the property was sold and it became the nondescript “Deluxe Inn.” The beautiful neon sign was gone, the building had a horrendous paint job, and it was anything but deluxe…the condition of the motel in the movie was pretty good, but by the time I passed through in August 2000, it was in decline. It continued to worsen until the motel closed and was finally demolished.
The gentleman in the screenshot below was the real owner of the Big 8 (he was in at least one Route 66 documentary I have seen). Under his ownership, the Big 8 was in good shape, but after he sold it, in started to decline.
The following screen captures show the location of their room, 117. Nice touch to have room numbers in neon tubing above the doorways.
The room number was still 117, but all of the neon tubing was gone.
Guthrie, Oklahoma
The scenes filmed in Guthrie were as Charlie stopped (again) to use a phone booth to conduct business, Raymond leaves the car and attempts to cross a street in search of K-mart. Halfway through the intersection, the “walk” sign changes to “don’t walk,” prompting Raymond to stop in his tracks, disrupting traffic and forcing Charlie to seek medical / psychiatric help…probably as much for himself as Raymond.
Arriving in town…heading east on Oklahoma Avenue from the west end of town
Oklahoma Avenue, just west of Division Street
Oklahoma Avenue and Division Street
This scene was filmed with Raymond walking north on Division Street at its intersection with Oklahoma Avenue (our view is to the south).
Raymond is still facing north on Division Street, while we are looking east down Oklahoma Avenue
Charlie takes Raymond to a doctor
The above scene was filmed inside this space in the building at the northeast corner of Oklahoma Avenue and Division Street. Raymond is sitting in front of the window that diagonally faces the intersection.
You can see the building in the photo below is visible in the window behind Raymond, which is located on the southwest corner of Oklahoma and Division (it’s the same building he passed when he first crossed the street).
All of the above scenes in Guthrie were filmed very compactly at this corner, or steps away.