IF THEY CAN DYE THE RIVER GREEN TODAY, WHY CAN'T THEY DYE IT BLUE THE OTHER 364 DAYS OF THE YEAR? Chicago Magazine ranks the top forty movies filmed (at least partly) in Chicago, getting number one so fundamentally wrong (given the options) that I have to wonder if the list compiler deliberately chose provocation over accuracy.
Not that its top forty buildings in Chicago list got the order any better, mind you.
To me there's a right answer here, but what do you think it is?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do NOT get that.
ReplyDeleteYou can legitimately say Fugitive, Ferris, Blues Brothers or Hoop Dreams based on your criteria. I have no idea what criteria gets you to High Fidelity.
ReplyDeleteBefore I read the list, I assumed you meant Ferris. That was the first movie that jumped into my mind. Putting Ferris outside the top 5, Blues Brothers outside the top 10, and The Untouchables all the way down at 33 (I mean, it's got the most famous movie line about Chicago, right?) is just weird.
ReplyDeleteExcellent choice for #1, I think; if you have to take Notting Hill and put it in an American city, Wicker Park in 2000 is easily one of your best choices. The movie chooses and uses its Chicago locations well (ah, Lounge Ax) despite one major geographical mishap that actually does make sense with the deleted Beverly D'Angelo scene, and thankfully is a Chicago movie that doesn't end up at Wrigley at any point (hell, the only time you even see downtown is a background shot of Rob on (I think) the Clark St bridge. It's a neighborhood movie of Chicago, like Blues Brothers (though that's suburban as well) and I love it for it. I mean, you can certainly argue for other #1 choices, like Hoop Dreams, and I wouldn't disagree; but #1 is quite defensible.
ReplyDeleteAnd c'mon, Continental Divide? It spends like 10 minutes in Chicago. At least My Best Friends Wedding is one of the rare movies to acknowledge that the White Sox exist (fun fact; in the scene there; current White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen is up to bat). Nice to see the love for The Company though.
(As for the building list, it's love for Mies buildings taints it but I'll just note that I love working in #4, in the Burnham & Root side. That and a lot of the list concerns buildings not even close to Chicago, like in Plano.)
Well, I think you have to consider the quality of the movies themselves; Ferris is middle of the road, Blues Brothers should be higher, but the Untouchables is right where it should be; down in the "eh, it's OK category." The production values are nice but I just don't think it's that good of a movie.
ReplyDeleteI suspect High Fidelity is driven by it not merely being filmed in Chicago, but by Cusack being a Chicagoan. It's a darn fine movie, but I don't associate it with Chicago at all.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you can make decent cases for Ferris, Blues Brothers, or Hoop Dreams, and that's about it. High Fidelity is a great Chicago movie, but not so much iconic.
ReplyDeleteAnd now whenever I see Mies Van Der Rohe's name anywhere, I *have* to start singing this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Ujve7PuWk
I think High Fidelity's Chicago-ness is high, but it's just not that good of a movie. Rob needs to come off as more of an asshole than Cusack's capable of.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteI'd have put Blues Brothers at the top of my list, Ferris Bueller #2. I had never laid eyes on Chicago until I was 23, so for me Blues Brothers *was* the travel guide. There was not a single day in my three years in Chicago that somehow I wasn't thinking about that movie. Granted, for the last two I look out my window and say "Yep, that's definitely Lower Wacker Drive", and move on. I imagine non-natives who work near the Honorable Richard J Daley Plaza -- the one with the Picasso -- have the same problem.
ReplyDeletehow do you not associate chicago with it? he's on the El all the time (going places in ways that make no sense), at a ton of Chicago music venues, it is a TOTALLY chicago movie. Although not in a greatest tourist hits sort of way, in a living in Chicago and liking music sort of way.
ReplyDeleteI still get hung up on the timing at the end of the Blues Brothers. I know I shouldn't, but I do. If it's only 106 miles to Chicago, they leave during "Sweet Home Chicago", but get to Chicago in daylight, HOW LATE WAS IT before the show started? Or did they take the LOOOOONG way around to get there? Or maybe the escape through the sewers and the confrontation with Carrie Fisher took longer than I imagine?
ReplyDeleteHere's a copy of the script if you want to join me in trying to figure out how 106 miles took so long:
http://corky.net/scripts/bluesBrothers.html
I live in #3 on the buildings list, so I obviously can understand the Mies love--I also understand the Mies haters though. I was not so big a fan before I moved into #3, but I moved into #3 since my fiancee already lived there before we even met.
ReplyDeleteSomething about the way the lobby melts into the horizon of the lake in all seasons, and the starkness of the frame versus the starkness of the lakefront in winter and the vibrancy of the lakefront in summer is just really artful in exactly the way architecture should be. The building and its setting mesh and clash in really wonderful ways.
Of course not every international style building succeeds on anything CLOSE to that level. I would say they seldom succeed like the glass house apartments, just look at their neighbors to the North on Lake Shore. A pair of similarly situated Mies apartments built 20 years later. The lobbies are walled off from the see through view, the materials of the lobby and the plaza are altered in a way that does nothing for the light and the contrast to the lake, a sundeck is plopped right in the middle of the 'front yard' in such a place that it gets very little sun after sunrise, and the windows are glazed 1970's mud brown. They are almost the same buildings upon first glance, BUT the little details make one pair a success and one pair a big blah residence.
How did When Harry Met Sally get on that list? They were in Chicago for what, 2 minutes?
ReplyDeleteAn interesting point, but I think the Rob (book form) if translated to the movie would make it a much different beast and tip it over into "why the hell should I care about this guy?"
ReplyDeleteNot to mention their side trip to Evanston before driving back through Chicago and on to New York.
ReplyDeleteI thought Cusack did such a great job portraying an unsympathetic, self-pitying asshole that I hate the movie.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest gripe with the book-to-movie translation (even though I liked both) was the change in the character Marie. In the book, she's extremely average looking, even a little on the plain side. In the movie, she's frickin' Lisa Bonet. In the book, why Rob's drawn to her is because of her talent as a singer and songwriter. Which makes so much sense for that character - and even redeems his jerkiness somewhat - he likes this woman because of her work and abilities not what she looks like. In the movie, she's still talented, but making her beautiful muddies his motivations.
ReplyDeleteThe boyfriend and I watched Ferris a couple of months ago, and it actually stands up pretty well.
ReplyDeleteMy top three:
ReplyDelete1. Blues Brothers
2. Ferris Bueller
3. Running Scared
That's my ordering too, for much the same reason. I was in the Art Institute just last week and it's hard to be there without thinking of Ferris. I have no problem with High Fidelity being in the top 5 (pun intended) but the idea of it being ahead of those two is just silly.
ReplyDeleteChicago Mag has been doing a ton of these lists for its 40th anniversary - they've been a mess as far as ordering, but a whole lot of fun.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Break Up should have cracked the top 40.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I'm still annoyed they moved A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte just because it makes that scene in Ferris more of a historical document (as much as Sloan and Ferris' outfits, for that matter).
ReplyDeleteWhere is Adventures in Babysitting, people?
ReplyDelete<p>As someone who has never been to Chicago maybe I don't get a say, but as far as my perceptions of the city go it was Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller that formed them.
ReplyDelete</p>
I can think of worse ways to learn about a city; hell, most of my perceptions of NYC come from Serpico and The French Connection. So in my mind, NYC is still filled with criminals and undercover cops with unfortunate facial hair and worse jackets.
ReplyDeleteOn the buildings -- and maybe it doesn't count -- but one of my very favorite structures in Chicago is the Water Tower itself.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it works very well - I think Rob comes off as exactly enough of a self-pitying jerk, but has redeemable qualities.
ReplyDeleteHmm, thinking of Hanukkah presents (less than 2 weeks, people!!) for my Chicago-born-and-bred mom, who loves her hometown -- The Thief (#19) might be obscure enough that she hasn't seen it (or remember it from 1981), and she likes a good heist film. Chicagophiles, have you seen that one, and if so, was it Chicago-y enough for you?
ReplyDeleteAnd really, forget all this Chicago nonsense. Where are the top forty lists for New Hampshire and Worcester, Massachusetts? These are the locales everyone is clamoring for.
ReplyDeleteOkay, since I grew up near Chicago and always (and still) think of it as my favorite big city, I'm going to do this blind. Here are my top 5 Chicago movies...I'm guessing that one of these is not #1 on the list, or 'spectacularly wrong' wouldn't apply. Although it really should be one of my top 3.
ReplyDelete1) The Blues Brothers
2) Ferris Bueller's Day Off
3) Hoop Dreams
4) The Fugitive
5) The Untouchables
Now, off to look at the list
...
You've gotta be kidding me! I didn't even remember that High Fidelity takes place in Chicago, and it's completely irrelevant to the plot. And, possibly even more misguided, The Blues Brothers, the most Chicago-centric movie in history, isn't in the FLIPPING TOP 10!!! I just googled the author, and apparently she's been in Chicago since at least 1986...I simply can't understand this travesty.
Aw, why isn't that on Netflix Streaming? All right, we'll have to wait for the DVD in the mail.
ReplyDelete#4
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the inclusion of "Mickey One" and not just its inclusion, but its insanely high ranking. It's a movie I'm aware of, but I've certainly never seen it and part of why I've never seen it is because it doesn't APPEAR to be available on DVD. But since the introduction to the list says that they raided their Netflix queues to find the best 40 Chicago movies... well... that's clearly a lie. Somebody just felt like being cool and esoteric and snobby, which feels a bit unfair, since I saw "Mickey One" on the list and said, "You know, I should watch that." Only to be told, "No. You cannot."
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I think "Blues Brothers" is one of the most overrated movies in the history of the world. I don't deny for a second that it has a half-dozen iconic scenes and classic moments. ZERO question about that. But as a complete and total film, it's almost unbearably flabby and I find it bores me more than it entertains me, in the balance. It's piss-poor storytelling and it's badly directed throughout. Sorry. I know that'll make people hate me... But it's what I think.
-Daniel
I've not seen it, but I'll make an effort and take a look.
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of "Mickey One" is simply an exercise in "see how hip I am?". I suspect number 5 is there for the same reason. I think it's actually written into the style books of big city publications. "Always include two or three references nobody outside your group of friends will understand".
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I'm okay with "High Fidelity" being number one. I would have chose differently, but I don't have that big of beef with it.
I don't agree but won't argue that point, but as for its Chicagoness, it's really hard to beat.
ReplyDeleteI've seen High Fidelity three times, and didn't know until just now that it was set in Chicago. Yeah, it's got the el, this club, that store, blah, blah, blah. None of it represents the film. It could have been anywhere.
ReplyDeleteRisky Business, Ferris, Blues Brothers? Those happen in Chicago. Lana and Joel aren't getting it on on the BART.
High Fidelity works for me, but that's because it captures the Chicago that I live in. I go to movies at the Music Box. I go to shows at the Double Door. I ride the El every day, I buy records at shops a lot like Rob's, etc. etc. When I think of where I live, I think of my neighborhood and the other neighborhoods I hang out in. I like Ferris Bueller just fine, but to me it's the cinematic equivalent of guidebooks about Chicago -- outside of the Wrigley Field, readers might think the city's north and south borders are Fullerton and Adams. At least the Blues Brothers ventures outside of downtown (even if the Illinois Nazis were obviously filmed in Milwaukee).
ReplyDelete/what Bill said. HF is a great movie about terrible men. Rent it with your daughters.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Mercury Rising should not be on any "best" lists. Okay, maybe on Best Movies Filmed of 1998 in Chicago starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin". If there was a "making of" and Willis or Baldwin shot any home movies while in Chicago that year then it would need to be a Top 3 or Top 5.
Throw out MR and replace with Weird Science, bump Sixteen Candles up a few notches, and I'm good.
...and now I'll be singing it for the rest of the day. Catchy. Thanks. "From da rubble of da waaaarrrr..."
ReplyDeleteWait. No Running Scared? ANYWHERE?? OOOhhhwno. I just disowned this list.
ReplyDeleteThe first movie I thought of, the very first, before clicking on the link, was My Best Friend's Wedding.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's all you need to know about my taste in movies.
I think I saw Mickey One advertised on one of the cable channels after something I'd DVRed this month -- maybe IFC? So perhaps it's finding a life on cable even if unavailable on DVD.
ReplyDeleteThis list didn't know what Deuteronomy waaaasssss!
ReplyDeletePlease leave NH out of this. I don't want to have the "What About Bob?" conversation.
ReplyDeleteI came to say this, but Guest got here before me.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, there really should be 2 different lists, yeah? One made by people who live in Chicago, and one by people who have never been.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, as someone who has never been, I would say my top 2 Chicago movies would be Ferris Bueller and The Fugitive, with Adventures in Babysitting as 2A. Yes, the other John Hughes movies took place in suburbs of Chicago, but you don't really get that in the movies (aside from Home Alone, which does have a pretty great scene at O'Hare).
As a movie lover, I'm ashamed to say I've never seen Blues Brothers. So I can't judge its Chicagoness.
Thanks, JJF!!
ReplyDeleteSee, I have a problem with Sixteen Candles being on the list; last I checked, it's all set in Shermer and has no Chicago scenes. Are there Chicago scenes in Weird Science? (It's been a long time since I've seen it.)
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, when I saw Mercury Rising on there I immediately did a quick scan, half-expecting to see Chain Reaction, the best 1996 movie starring Keanu Reeves as a nuclear physicist. (Though I give it points for using the lovely Yerkes Observatory up in Wisconsin, the Midwest equivalent of the Griffiths in LA.)
Humph. Sadly, it's not on Watch Instantly but it is out on DVD so I'll bump it up on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty damn Chicago, and in a lot of cases a Chicago that doesn't exist any more. For instance, Elwood and Jake stay in a men's hotel in the south loop that's on the site of what is now a park just north of the Harold Washington library (it was about to be torn down anyway so they could use the facade). Same for things like Maxwell Street and the like.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see Hoop Dreams ranked high. Have no problem with High Fidelity even if I think Ferris, Fugitive, Blues Brothers and Risky Biz are echt Chicago in a more obvious convention and visitors bureau way.
ReplyDeleteI'll just say, for the record:
ReplyDelete1. Bullitt
2. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
3. Dirty Harry
4. Vertigo
5. 48 Hours
As I sit in ORD eating a pizza, I have to say that HF doesn't upset me too much, but Ferris and Blues Bros should be higher, and The Breakup should have made the list.
ReplyDeleteI'd bump Guess way down for being not that great of a movie and put Vertigo #1.
ReplyDeleteRe: Weird Science, it's definitely set in Chicago though the city isn't used to any great effect. I don't remember any shots of the city or the Loop, just Anthony Michael Hall trying to fit in with the regulars at a primarily african amercian bar. Yeah. Could have set it anywhere. And I probably lump cities in with their 'burbs a bit more than natives of those cities would tend to.
ReplyDeletePursuit has left the interstate! We're on the El!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I give Ferris Bueller points for is that Roland Burris is in the parade sequence.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't realize until just now that I was not logged in when I posted.
ReplyDeleteHe's still Senator Roland Burris for another week or so, and I'll remind you to refer to him properly.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteExcuse me: Sen. Roland Burris, Trail Blazer, first non-CPA on the Board of Directors of the Illinois CPA Society. My apologies for forgetting his full title.
ReplyDeleteI immediately thought of The Fugitive.
ReplyDeleteSue, it is because of you that I show every single person I give a tour to the "Adventures in Babysitting building." Which now has the charming name of the Smurfit-Stone building. Hee.
ReplyDelete