Synopses and Reviews of Films Shot in the Cleveland Area
CLICK on Film Name for Reviews

1.  3 Days of Rain (2000)
2.  Air Force One (1997)
3.  Aquarius (1970)
4.  Bride of Killer Nerd (1992)
5.  Bus is Coming, The (1971)
6.  Christmas Story, A (1983)
7.  Cracker Factory, The (1979)
8.  Dead Man's Bluff (2000)
9.  Dead Matter, The (1996)
10.  Deer Hunter, The (1978)
11.  Double Dragon (1993)
12.  Double-Step (1968)
13.  Enemy (1996)
14.  Escape Artist, The (1982)
15.  Flattered (1995)
16.  Fortune Cookie, The (1966)
17.  Gathering, The (1977)
18.  Giant Coal Dumper (1897)
19.  Hail Columbia (1935)
20.  Happy Gilmore (1996)
21.  Hives (1997)
22.  Howard the Duck (1986)
23.  It Happened in Cleveland (1936)
24.  It Runs in the Family (aka My Summer Story) (1994)
25.  Kid From Cleveland, The (1949)
26.  Light of Day (1987)
27.  Losers, The (1968)
28.  Love Commune (1970)
29.  Major League  (1989)
30.  Major League II  (1994)
31.  One Night (2000)
32. One Potato, Two Potato (1964)
33.  One Trick Pony (1980)
34.  Paradise (1991)
35.  Perfect World, A  (2000)
36.  Proximity  (2001)
37.  Rainmaker, The (1997)
38.  Renegade Force (1998)
39.  Return to Campus (1973)
40.  Revenge of the Dawgs (1999)
41.  Shadow Creature (1995)
42.  Shooting Star (1993)
43.  Slaughter of the Innocents (1994)
44.  Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
45.  Striptease Baby Dolls from Cleveland Meet the Unkillables (????)
46.  Surrogate, The (1984)
47.  Telling Lies in America (1997)
48.  Those Lips, Those Eyes (1980)
49.  Traffic (2000)
50.  Twisted (2001)
51.  Up Tight (1968)
52.  Vinyl (2000)
53.  Walk, The (1996)
54.  Welcome to Collinwood (2001)

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
Year released: 1997
Produced by: Columbia
Distributed by: Buena Vista, Columbia, Sony Pictures
Runtime: 124 minutes

 "Air Force One" is about a group of Russian terrorists that hijack
Air Force One (the President's plane), with the President, his family, and
other various members of his cabinet onboard.  The plane is enroute from
Moscow to Washington, D.C.  The terrorists will start killing hostages one
by one unless their Russian dictator, who was imprisoned in a government
coup, is released.
 In this film, Cleveland is not supposed to be Cleveland at all.  It
does in fact stand in for another city, that city being Moscow.  The images
of Cleveland in this film don't necessarily stand out to the viewer like in
some other films.  A person watching this film for the first time may not
even think Cleveland was used as one of the shooting locations.  Someone
that is really familiar with Cleveland and it's major landmarks can probably
pick out a key scene where Cleveland was imaged.  This is the scene at the
beginning of the film in which Severance Hall stands in for the Kazakhstan
Presidential Mansion in Moscow.  This is the mansion that is attacked by
U.S. Special Forces at the beginning of the film.  There is no exterior shot
of Severance Hall, but a roof shot and a couple of interior shots.  The role
that Cleveland plays in this film with regards to Severance Hall is an image
of Cleveland as being a renowned cultural center for the arts.
 One interesting aspect of the film to note is that two scenes were
not shot in Cleveland, but a little ways outside of Cleveland.  This was in
Mansfield, Ohio, and involved the now closed Mansfield Reformatory.  The two
scenes where the Reformatory was used was in an opening and closing scene.
The Reformatory doubled as the prison in which the Russian dictator was in.
The prison's location is supposed to be in Moscow.  This same Mansfield
Reformatory was used for much of the shooting of the Shawshank Redemption, a
box office hit a few years back.  Another interesting aspect to Air Force
One that is Cleveland-related "trivia" info, is that the executive producer
of this film, and who was the same executive producer of the Shawshank
Redemption, is a Cleveland native.  His name is David Lester.
 I definitely give this film a "thumbs up" in terms of quality and
enjoyability.  Very good editing, sound, and picture quality, combined with
good acting, lots of action and suspense, really makes it an "edge of your
seat" thriller.  I would also give a "thumbs up" to how the Cleveland area
fares especially with regards to the pristine state of Severance Hall.  This
is a Cleveland landmark that will always be well-known to those that live in
Cleveland and those from outside of Cleveland.

####

Air Force One
reviewed by Christi Stuyvesant
directed by:  woflgang petersen
year of release:  1997

The plot:  Harrison Ford plays the president of the united states, jim marshall.  hijackers seize the plane that the president is on along with his family.  this movie is filled with action and supense.  jim marshall is also an ex- solider.  he uses that to rescue himself and his family from the hijackers.

How Cleveland is represented:  One sceen was shot on top of severance hall.  i really didn not even notice that that was severance!  That was the only sceen to be shot in cleveland.

I give it a thumbs up because i like movies like this.  It does remind me of many other movies with the same plot of hijackers, but i like action and some thirlls.  the quality was pretty well, and cleveland didn't look like cleveland but still a good movie to watch!

####

Directed & Written By
                -- Mark Steven Bosko
                    & Wayne A. Harold
Released by Riot Pictures and distributed by Troma Films

     In Bride of Killer Nerd the Kent-superstar Toby Radloff reprised his
role Harold Kunkle from the original Killer Nerd (1991).  Apparently revenge
wasn't quite enough, because now he's found a new city to terrorize as well
as a counterpart -- a she-nerd, Thelma.  Together they take revenge, but this
time with more blood than the original.

     The original Killer Nerd was filmed mainly in Kent, Ohio, and didn't
really do that city much justice, aside from some nice "clean neighborhood"
shots.  Of course, what do you expect from a B-movie? The upside was were
merely in the fact that it was filmed in Kent. The same is true of the
sequel.  Obviously on a limited budget you can't expect to make a city shine
(see Telling Lies in America) and the plot involved more indoor-killing
versus something in public square.  Besides that, the film was supposed to be
in bad taste, and succeeded in that rather well.  The strength must lie
simply in the fact that it was filmed in Cleveland.

     This is simply why I liked the film & the original.  It's neat to have
friends with connections to the director and the stars (I actually went to
high school with a cast member of the original).  Based on this and the fact
that it's just fun watching a 'nerd' and his girlfriend do stuff like put an
axe through someone's head make it above-average B-movie fare.  I had to give
it a thumbs-up. Ebert?

###

 In 1983, Hollywood came to Cleveland in the form of
MGM.  Their task was to produce a modern, yuletide
classic for years to come.  To do so, MGM hired Bob
Clark to direct a screen adaptation of humorist Jean
Shepherd’s comical memoirs of his childhood years in
the 1940s.  The setting though, was not Cleveland, but
rather, a small, mid-west city called Holman, Indiana,
though his street name was Cleveland Street.  Shepherd
also lends his warm voice as narrator of the film.
The movie is, of course, A Christmas Story (1984).
The film certainly did become a classic.  It has
enjoyed 24-hour marathons on cable stations such as
TNT throughout the Christmas season.
 In the film, Peter Billingsley plays young Ralphie.
Ralphie is a boy whose only ambition, in the weeks
leading up to Christmas, is to assure himself of
receiving a Red Ryder, BB, air rifle.  Red Ryder is
one of his many radio idols and Ralphie likes to
envision himself as a cowboy who can protect his
family and homestead with such a wonderful gift as the
Red Ryder rifle.  His only problem is in convincing
those around him that this would be the perfect gift,
especially since the general response from the adults
around him is a “You’ll shoot your eye out.”  Many
other little vignettes are offered throughout this
delightful film, such as Ralphie’s having to tackle
the neighborhood bully, Ralphie’s mouth having to be
washed out with soap, and of course, his father’s
winning of an outrageous lamp in the form of a women’s
shapely leg.  His father is played perfectly by Darren
McGavin.  The bond that they silently share is
realized well before his father surprises Ralphie on
Christmas morning with the gift that he has been
dreaming of.
 The film may have been shot in Cleveland, but as
mentioned before, it actually represents Holman,
Indiana on the screen.  Public Square and the Terminal
Tower are presented magnificently as they are used to
recapture the downtown Christmas days of the 1940s
mid-west.  The Terminal Tower is in its full golden
glow, while Public Square plays host to a Christmas
parade that Ralphie must anxiously sit through.  His
anxiety is due to the fact that he feels the desperate
need to get into Higbee’s and tell Santa Claus about
the rifle he yearns for.  The department store used is
none-other-than Cleveland’s now-closed, downtown
Higbee’s.  The store was decorated to the hilt in an
effort to evoke the memories of Christmas
extravaganzas of the past that department stores were
so eager to present.  In other words, though it was
not supposed to be Cleveland, Ohio, those who know it
is can only feel proud.  Cleveland was obviously
chosen due to its small, big-city look that could be
made to appear absolutely beautiful on the big screen.
 The house used in the film is also located in
Cleveland, but it seems that no one truly know exactly
where it actually is.
 Trivia related to the film ranges from the broad to
the personal.  One of the broader bits of trivia is
the fact that the street name is Cleveland Street.
Many might guess that this is a tip of the hat to the
city of Cleveland for its cooperation, but it is not.
Shepherd actually grew up on a “Cleveland Street” in
the state of Indiana.  Also, many people have
mentioned in the past that Ralphie’s elementary school
was here in Cleveland.  In the film, it is called
Warren G. Harding, and many people may have mistakenly
thought that it was the Warren G. Harding Elementary
School located in the Old Brooklyn section of
Cleveland, but this is not the case, though the two
schools do look similar.  Actually, the school used in
the film is located in Canada.  On a more personal
level, one of the marching bands they used in the
parade scene is from my old alma-mater, Parma Senior
High, though their footage was cut from the film
because their uniforms did not look vintage enough.
The film did, however, dub in their music over the
band chosen for the film.  My old band director Jim
Sentz’s name is listed in the credits.  Also, the kid
who played Santa’s nasty elf at the top of the slide
married one of my high school classmates, though they
later divorced.
 Overall, the film is a treasure, not only for
Clevelanders, but also for people across the country.
The film oozes charm and makes one want to reminisce
about their youth.  It is as effective in its comedy
as it is in its wonderful sentiment and nostalgia.
The film is an undoubted “thumbs up.”

####

(WARNING: spoilers galore)

 This is a very low budget picture directed by Edward Douglas with Entity
Productions in 1996.  The story was basic B horror stuff.  Two couples
stumble across this mythical ring and accidentally awake a dead man,
recently murdered at the scene.  When the female lead tracks notices the
strange occurrences, and the dead guy eating raisins in her kitchen (which
was absolutely hysterical in that “this is terrible” kind of way), she
investigates the origins of the ring.  The vampire who killed the lifeless
man eating raisins now goes after the girl to get the ring back.  A quick
city politics twist at the end and all is well.  All in all, just your
average “vampire tracking young girl while collaborating with the local
mayor to overthrow existence.”
 While the city of Cleveland is never shown, it takes place in the one and
only Chardon.  Nothing too great here:  a shot of Chardon city hall and the
local library, along with some random woods.  Although it does not say too
much about Cleveland, it may give some the impression that the Cleveland
area is a poorly lit haven for crap.  Seriously though, it looks like any
small town in the Midwest with nothing too great to speak of.
 Now, for the review, this picture had its moments.  As a whole, it was an
epic piece of garbage.  All but two characters appeared to be 20-25,
including all the brilliant scientists and the mayor.  This definitely made
the movie look like a high school project thrown together in a day.  The
lone bright spot was Jason Tomaric’s performance.  He enters about three
quarters of the way through the movie as the nerdy scientist/vampire guy in
with the mayor.  After seeing him in class, I can’t help but cheer when he
delivers an uncoordinated kick to the good guy, just to be run through
moments later in their scuffle.  Now there is an ending that I can
appreciate.  Another source of laughter, but adding to the poor quality, was
the actor with the lisp.  I could not take anything he said without finding
great amusement out of it.  If you can laugh at a movie like this with
friends, then it’s worth a rental from B-Ware, but otherwise it gets a
thumbs down as possibly the worst attempt at a movie I have ever seen.

####

Dead Matter
reviewed by Doug Fill

    The movie The Dead Matter was made by Edward Douglas in the Chardon area.
It was made in 1996 and is very low quality. I could tell you all you need to
know about this movie in one sentence- Jason Tomaric does karate. That one
scene is so small but it is worth sitting through this 112 minute movie to
see it.
    The plot involves a group of teens who find ring in the woods and
accidently activate its magical powers through a saeance. From ther the plot
goes in a million different directions. The kids playing with the ring. A
vampire looking for the kids. Some scientists looking for the kids. A mayor
trying to get more votes. This movie has it all. And too much of it.
    It looks like it was made for a high school project and was obviously
shot on video, possibly even on vhs. The acting is horrible. This movie
should be viewed by anyone who does not agree with Karen Fields that
professional actors should be used. It seems to drag on forever and is filled
with characters involved in ridiculous situations.
    The magical ring has the power to bring the dead back to life and to
control their actions. By speaking into the ring one can make the zombies do
anything they want. There are also vampires that want the ring for a reason
that is not really clear. The plot is really hard to follow.
    Anyone from the chardon area will recognize the locations used for this
movie, including the library. This movie was shot in Chardon because the
people who made it live in Chardon. It seemed to work out good for them
because there are wooded areas and areas with building used. It seems like
the city was supposed to represent a much larger city oin the movie. The
Mayor had a whole team of advisors, and he held press confrences. Thats where
Jason Tomaric comes in. He is one of the mayor's karate chopping advisors.
It's a small roll, but its interesting to see the difference in quality
between this movie and his movie One.

####

Directed by:
Michael Cimino
Distributors:
Kinowelt Filmverleih
Universal Pictures

Wow.  I was not ready for this when I watched it.
I LOVED the beginning....the camera movement and angles.  Slow moving,
intense character interactions without saying a word.  Again, bleak and
industrial, isolated, blue collar, small town-setting.
Youngstown was a stand in for an upstate NY or Penna town.  Lots of small
town stuff...religion, and the hypocracy surrounding it (ie: drinking and
beating your daughter, etc.)
Funny bar scene in which Chris Walken and DiNero are playing pool and
singing along to "it's just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of
you...."
Lot's of passing trucks in caddilacs, making bets and drinking beer in the
afternoon, etc. White collar stuff.
Then the wedding...hilarious...horrible choir singing in the church, all out
of tune.
Take a 180 now, to Vietnam.  Scary stuff.  Very realistic.  UGH.
The russian roullette with the prisoners.  Yuck. Typical war-movie set up,
but done really really well.
Oliver Stone probably got a lot of ideas for Born on the 4th of July....and
probably a lot of what we see on the Deer Hunter is derived from Sam
Phillips movies.
No Cleveland related trivia, oh well.  The role of Youngstown/Cleveland was
simply to keep cost down, and act as an industrial town.
I give it thumbs up.   I wasn't really in the deep-dark mood, though.  I may
have to go get a drink after that one.

####

    Universal Studios, along with Imperial Entertainment and Scanbox released the movie _Double Dragon_ in the fall of 1994.  This movie was a first for director Jim Yukich.

The cast of this film included Vanna White and George Hamilton as new reporters, Alyssa Milano as Marian, the daughter of the police chief, Mark Dacascos as Jimmy Lee, Scott wolf as Billy Lee, and Robert Patrick as Shuko.

            The rating for this film is PG13.  Unlike the game Double Dragon that consist of Computer animated fighters and plenty of karate chops combined with Confucianism, the movie has live characters to heighten the imagination of the audience and provide a more realistic view of the film.

The plot of this film is to show that good outweighs bad as an evil businessman uses every tactic he possibly can to gain power by acquiring two precious medallions which posses the power over the body and the soul.

In the beginning, fighters dressed in futuristic Ninja clothing storm a village somewhere in China, killing the parents of two young boys with hopes of acquiring the power of two special medallions. Sadare a servant to the deceased parents had made a promise to protect the children and the medallions until they were old enough to understand and use the powers left for them.  One of the brothers would have power over the body and the other would have power over the soul.

Life goes on for Jimmy Lee and Billy Lee who have been brought to the United States in the year 2007, and raised in Los Angeles by Sadare.  Jimmy, age 19 and Billy, age 17 is both excellent fighters and participates in matches throughout the film defending themselves from street fighters, gangs, and Shukos_s fighters. In the chase scenes, the criminals and the good guys drove computerized automobiles.   However in the beginning of the film they do not know why these people are after them.  After Shuko had acquired one of the medallions, he was able to use his newfound supernatural powers to locate Sadare and the boys.

This movie had colorful clothing, funky hair colors and styles.  The lighting was excellent and the weather and news scenes were so realistic that I began to adjust my television set.

There was one getaway scene where the boys were walking on the waterfront and my husband and I both recognized Lake Erie immediately.  There was also a fight scene where the pictures on the wall closely resemble Applebee_s Restaurant.

I enjoyed this film from beginning to end, even though I knew the good guys would prevail.  It was the drama leading up to the final acts that kept me captivated with this movie.  I enjoyed it so much that I watched it twice.

I give this movie thumbs up in quality and enjoyability.  As for as the representation of Cleveland in the film, you would have to know the landscape of Cleveland to recognize the areas in the film. Cleveland fares well as far as I could see.

####

Double Dragon
Reviewed by Brian Weisbrot

In 1994 director James Yukich and Imperial Entertainment collaborated efforts in order to create the film "Double Dragon." This intensely action-packed story placed in the year 2007 grabs its audience with the use of great visual and sound effects. Based off the video game Double Dragon, this film presents an image of cinema that exposes the great impact visual effect has on motion picture. "Double Dragon" is prime example of a mediocre script at best, that is able to appease audiences via visual stimulation, special effects, and computer animation.

Two young men absorbed with the grief from the loss of their father inherent the responsibility of protecting their city. Burdened with inexperience these two brothers, Billy Lee and Jimmy Lee, are forced to fight off the evil powers of Shako and his followers. These two young martial artsmen spend the entire film chasing their father's prized medallion. Simultaneously avoiding the wrath of evil gangs, especially Shako. With aid from the power hawks gang Billy and Jimmy are able to prevail and keep their city in tact.

Cleveland plays a unique role in this film. It is substitute for a futuristic Los Angeles. Therefore, it is difficult to say if our city was represented in a fair manner. Since there is no mention of the actual city Cleveland in the film, most viewers probably had no idea that the film was shot here. However, I can almost guarantee that all Clevelanders would be able to recognize the beautiful picturesque water as Lake Erie and the Skukocenter as Tower City Center. Overall I was impressed with the overall visual display of the film and was surprised with the images that were obtained here in Cleveland.

I think it is great that our city is becoming a more prevalent location for Hollywood films to consider. Our economy and film industry will have great positive from projects such as "Double Dragon." However, hopefully the future of Hollywood films that enter Cleveland will have more substance than this animation-like action flick.

####
 
 

Director/writer:  Bruce Pattison
Year of Release:  1996
Production:  Bullet Hole Productions

This film is about race rioting, a civil world war
centering on blacks against whites.  The problem
starts when black presidential candidate Daniel Justin
is assassinated while giving  a speech.  The story
begins with a women reporter, (Laura Nemico from World
News Network)travels into a war zone with other white
soldiers.  Apparently she is there to get a story.
She is only armed with a  live camera, which has a
feed to her station.  From the begining of their
arrival to the "war zone" there is a lot of shooting
and most everyone is killed.  The reporter, who is
black but looks white, is rescued by a black soldier
named Hadid.  (who calls himself Enemy)  Hadid is then
wounded while in a fight with another soldier who is
white. (Morgan) The story typically revolves around
these three characters as well as shots from where
Laura's boss is working in the station.  Laura's boss
tells her that she is going to have to lay low in the
war zone as no one can come get her out.  While
detained in this war zone she interviews both the
white guy and the black guy.  she asks the white guy
"why do you kill blacks"  he states "because there
different--difference makes enemies-he kills enemies.
Enemy and Morgan fight again and Enemy is clearly the
winner and could have killed Morgan, however he puts
his weapon down. All of this was on live film for the
world to see.  In the end of the film they face off
again, with Morgan pointing a gun at Enemy and then
puts it away.  There was a cease fire and Laura gets
to go home.
The film was shot in Cleveland, although I don't think
that Cleveland was supposed to be where this all took
place.  They didn't state that in the movie.  Most of
the shots were taken in an old abandoned looking stone
building.  Some other shots appeared to have been shot
on train tracks.  Additional footage is filmed in a
"TV station."  In this film there were no clear
Cleveland landmarks that I could see.  My guess was
that it was filmed by the lake in the industrial area.
 I'm going to give the film both a thumbs up and a
thumbs down.  The content was interesting and held my
attention.  There were also a lot of thought provoking
lines in the film.  It definitely sent out a message.
The acting wasn't all that great, and seeing the same
scenery over and over made it kind of dull to watch.
It had a low budget look to it, but I thought Bruce
did a good job with what he had to work with.  In
addition the tape that I rented was in pretty bad
shape as well, it jumped a lot and didn't want to stay
in focus, but overall I enjoyed watching it.

####

A Francis Ford Coppola Production
1982 Zoetrope Studios Release / Vestron Video
Directed by:     Caleb Deschanel
Director of Photography:   Stephen H. Burnum
Music Composed & Conducted by:  Georges Delerue
Production Designer:    Dean Tavoularis
Edited by:     Arthur Schmidt
Based on a Novel by:    David Wagoner
Screenplay by:     Melissa Mathison & Stephen Zito

 Engrossing story about young magician Danny (Griffin
O'Neal) who's father, an escape artist, died
tragically while performing an escape.  Danny runs
away from his Grandmothers house to join his Aunt &
Uncle (who have a magic/mind reading act) as an
aspiring magician.  Danny also has a fascination with
escape artistry--he desires not only to be like his
father, but also to find out how he died.  Danny gets
involved with two-bit crook Stu (Raul Julia) who is
the son of corrupt mayor (Desi Arnez).  Stu enlists
Danny's skills as lock-pick, safecracker, and escape
artist to pull a fast one on his father, but Danny
pulls the rug out from under Stu when he reveals the
corruption of city officials, including the mayor
(Stu's father).  Along the way Danny discovers, in a
moment of serendipity, exactly what happened to his
father.
 We see many sides of Cleveland in The Escape Artist.
The first thing we'll discuss is City Hall.  Harding
City Hall (Cleveland stands in for Harding, Ohio)
looks exquisite as we tour the washed out marble halls
on our way to the mayors office.  The marble shimmers
in dramatic lighting; Deschanel uses lots of light to
flood the marble shrine in brightness (practically
washing out all colors) which, ironically, gives these
scenes, in a place filled with corruption, a squeaky
clean look.  This is a place where lots of well
dressed people are hiding the dirty deeds of unethical
behavior; we understand that they are innately flawed
not the place (City Hall) where they have congregated.
 Even the mayors office has an air of regality--this
is a place where important people meet to make even
more important decisions.
 The jail-house has a distinct appearance that
contrasts well with City Hall.  The jail does not look
bright and shining--it is stolid and treated with hard
light.  This is also a place of corruption but this
corruption is not hidden; there are no smooth talkers
here, power is abused, and no quarter is given.  Jail
is a harsh and dirty environment and this jail-house
is no exception.
 There is a great scene that takes place at a
restaurant near downtown Cleveland (the restaurant,
Ted's Rancho, specializes in live seafood) which gives
us a number of great views of the city.  Ted's Rancho
looks like the kind of place where mobsters might hang
out--it's on the fringes of the inner city near the
industrial zone.  The restaurant has great ambiance
and seems the perfect place for Stu to launch his
crooked scheme, but the real character in this section
of the film are the exterior shots of Cleveland.  We
see the Detroit-Superior bridge lurking over downtown
Cleveland like a massive link that holds the city
together.  We can see the huge Hulett Ore Loaders
stretched out against the sky like a contemporary
Stonehenge paying tribute to the engineers of modern
society.  We notice the industrial underbelly of a
great city which fuels a local economy that will
sustain and inspire masses.  Finally, we see the river
of life-blood that allows an industrial center to
flourish and thrive against brutal competition.  The
filmmakers needed an industrial city that could be the
hot-bed of political corruption, and they chose
filming locations wisely.  The city looks fantastic
because it contains all of the elements that fueled
progress into the twenty-first century!
 A couple of brief trivia items:  A scene where Danny
climbs down a fire escape to elude Stu and his cohort
appears to be shot at Franklin Castle (the most
haunted site in this area) I was lucky enough to shoot
a TV show at the Franklin Castle and I actually
climbed down that very fire escape from the third
floor!  The very next scene shows Danny exiting a yard
through a back-gate into an alleyway; this also
appears to be the back-yard gate at Franklin Castle.
I'm not positive that these are the actual sites, but
from my memory they certainly appear to be shot at
Franklin Castle.  Unrelated to Cleveland trivia:
Hunce Hall of the Bowery Boys makes his final screen
appearance in this film as Stu's henchman (a comedic
role--just like his Bowery Boys/East Side Kids work).
Also, Desidero Arnez (Desi) plays Stu's father, the
mayor (Desi Arnez starred with Lucille Ball on the I
Love Lucy Show, and later formed Desi-Lou
Productions).
 I liked The Escape Artist (thumbs up!) even with its
imperfections.  Griffin O'Neal gives a great
performance, and Raul Julia is outstanding.  All the
supporting characters are well played--I liked these
people and wanted to know more about them.  Cleveland
looks great in this film (thumbs up!) we see the
industrial, the residential, the seedy, and the
elegant side of this city.  Every city contains all of
these elements and the filmmakers are careful to
include everything so we get a real taste of this
fictional place--Cleveland has it all!

####

1. Directed by Bill Wilder and released in 1966 by United Artists.

2. CBS camera operator Harry Hinkle (Jack Lemmon) accidentally gets run over by a Browns’ player during a game. Shyster lawyer and brother-in-law Whiplash Willie (Walter Mathau) influences and helps Harry exaggerate the damages in order to split the money from a phony insurance claim. Harry’s conscience gets the best of him as he tries to win his ex-wife back while accepting the assistance of the remorseful player who caused the accident.

3. In this film Cleveland is representing Cleveland. For a 1960s film, Cleveland looks and is portrayed like any other major city. Everyone seems to be pretty dressed up and wearing suits. And the few shots of city have a positive reflection and looks cleaned up -- not the industrial wasteland that it probably was at that time.

4. The main scene that stands out for Cleveland is that of Municipal Stadium during a Browns’ game. According to IMDB.com, during the game the Browns are playing the Minnesota Vikings, but on the play were Harry gets hurt, the opponents are the Philadelphia Eagles. Other scenes of Cleveland include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Public Square and a Cleveland neighborhood.

Other trivia include: Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason were both proposed to star with Lemmon, but Lemmon insisted on Matthau (which was their first of nine more films together). Production stopped for due to Matthau having a heart attack -- he lost 30 pounds by the time filming was over and had to wear a large black coat to conceal his weight loss. Lemmon’s three-minute wheelchair ballet was completed in one take.

5. Overall I would give it a thumbs down for enjoyment -- story dragged on and really wasn’t that funny -- thumbs up for production and in terms of how Cleveland fares.

####

The Fortune Cookie
reviewed by Stephanie Markus

Directed by- Billy Wilder
Released by- United Artists/MGM in 1966
 

   This movie is about Harry Hinkle(Jack Lemmon), a CBS camera man at a
Cleveland Browns game that gets tackled off the sideline during a play by a
Browns player.  Hinkle is rushed to the hospital where his brother-in-law
attorney Willie
Gingrich(Walter Matthau) decides to present a false claim and sue CBS, the
Municipal Stadium and the Cleveland Browns for $2million.  Hinkle is against
this scam until he realizes it will bring his ex-wife back into his life.  He
feels guilty when he sees what pain and guilt his scam brings on the football
player that tackled.

   Cleveland looks great in this film.  Cleveland is never given a bad name
or even represented badly in this movie. The Municipal Stadium looks fabulous
with plenty of scenes there.  Lemmon is taken to St. Marks Hospital, I do not
know
if this is really a hospital in Cleveland but if it does it looks nice and
well kept.  There is a scene at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport that
looks so ancient.  I can’t believe Hopkins was that small.  The airport looks
like it was in a 3rd world country with a small wooden sign
with it’s name on it.  The inside baggage carousel scene looks a little
better.  This movie highlighted a lot of Cleveland names and businesses with
scenes mentioning The Plain Dealer, Lake Erie, WJW TV8, Art Model(that’s a
major down point for Cleveland), and a scene going into Hinkle’s apartment
with the billowing smoke stacks from LTV in the background.  This movie makes
Cleveland look like the city it is.  Cleveland is well presented in this
movie by showing a lot of its aspects as well as mentioning a large number of
them.

   I give this movie a “thumbs up”!  This movie was quite long but the sit
went quickly with plenty of schemes to keep the viewer entertained.  I love
the Lemmon/Matthau team.  Every movie they do is a hit. I also give this
movie a “thumbs up” for the way it presented Cleveland. The city was never
put down and looked great in all of its shots.

####

Directed by: Robert Simonds
Year Released: 1996

A man that lives with his grandmother and who also has a huge passion for hockey. The only thing is, he is terrible at hockey and he is never chosen to play on any teams. The IRS tries to take away his grandmother's house because she had not paid taxes for years. In the meantime, Gilmore was discovered to be a professional golf player by natural talent. He ends up winning some tournaments and money, which he gives to his grandmother to pay off her debt.
* * I give it 2 stars out of five. It was very funny, but not much of a plot. Sandler is always funny, which I think totally makes his movies.

The movie showed Cleveland as a place where one of Gilmore's golf tournaments were held, the "Michelob Invitational." All that was showed was the golf course (not sure which one) and I'm not even sure that it actually was Cleveland. It didn't look familiar to me at all. But the city's name was shown on a banner, that was the only way that I knew.

####

Happy Gilmore
reviewed by Christi Stuyvesant

directed by:  Dennis Dugan
year of release:  1996
released by: Universal

The plot:  Adam Sandler plays Happy Gilmore, a hockey player wanna-be that can hit a slap shot 400 yards away.  But when
his grandmother loses her house, Happy decides to help her raise money to get it back.  He joins a pro golf tour and brings his
temper, hard hitting, out landish golf strokes to the greens.  Everthing is going fine until he meets his rival golf superstar.  The the
fun begins!!
How Cleveland is represented: Cleveland  is stated  in the golf tour.  As a stop in the 72nd annual Cleveland Classic.  That is all
they say about it, but the people that are supposed to be in cleveland are made to look really bad!!  The one guy has a doulbe
beer hat on with it gushing out and a women opens up her shirt for Happy to sign her chest!  They make Cleveland look trashy.
All in all, Happy Gilmore is one of those stupid funny movies.  you really have to be in one of those no brainer moods to really
laugh.  if you want to watch something funny and like Adam Sandler then you have your movie.  so, thumbs up!  But if you
watch it for Cleveland in the film, then you are wasting your time.  Cleveland is only said once, and I could not find any place
that it was filmed in cleveland or the surrounding area.

####

    The movie Hives was made in North Ridgeville, a small suburb west of
Cleveland. It was made in 1997 and directed by Brian McLaughlin. This movie
is local in every sense of the word. Anyone from North Ridgeville would
surely recognize many of the locations used.
    Hives is a science fiction movie that also attempts to be a comedy. The
plot involves a species of aliens called phlegm that are trying to take over
earth. The aliens are little softball-size critters that are noticeably just
hand puppets. A team consisting of a scientist, a CIA agent, a detective, a
Jamaican, and a California surfer seem to be the only ones in the town that
realize what is happening. The aliens come down to earth and attach
themselves to the heads of humans. Once the are attached, they conceal
themselves by building beehive hairdos on the unsuspecting humans. Apparently
none of the humans friends notice that they now have a completely different
(color, height) hair style.
    Some of the humor is funny. Like when the government finds out about the
aliens and discuss how this has happened once before. It turns out that the
same critters hid themselves in beehive hairdos in three fifties, but their
one weakness was rock and roll and the were all destroyed when the Beetles
arrived. But this time around the aliens were immune to rock and roll.
    The majority of the humor attempts are not funny though. Actually the
film is just bad. At 144 minutes it seems to drag on forever. The fact that
it was obviously shot on low quality video does not help either. But it was
impressive how much energy was put into this movie. It seems like every
resident of North Ridgeville was involved in this movie. There is a scene
where the crew steals a fire truck and drives off with it. In another scene
they are flying in a real propeller plane, and there are scenes shot with
real police cars and officers. The list of credits thanks the mayors office
and pretty much every business lent a hand in some way. And not oonly North
Ridgeville, but also surrounding cities like Bay Village and Westlake.
    Its too bad that they couldn't make the movie better though. The acting
was decent, and the special effect were cheap on purpose (the alien guns shot
silly string), but the storyline just killed this movie. They shot in North
Ridgeville because they were from there. This movie is a good example of how
its easier to film in a small city than in a large one that has had many
films shot there. I'm sure the local grocery store was thrilled to have
scenes from a movie shot in it. This city is the definition of rural. The
movie makes fun of the city's size by focusing on the fact that the Corn Fest
is the years biggest event. In the movie, the Corn Fest is so big that all of
the worlds leaders are going to attend. That's why the aliens chose North
Ridgeville to attack first.
    In all the film seems like it was just done for fun. At the end there is
a quote from Ed Wood, the king of bad sci fi movies. If you want to watch
this movie it can be found at b-ware video, but its really not viewing unless
you're from North Ridgeville...of course if you live in North Ridgeville you
were probably in the movie.

####

Imagine sitting in your living room, relaxing, and
drinking a nice, cold beer.  Sounds good, huh?  Now
imagine that you are violently yanked from your comfy
chair and dragged millions of miles away to another
planet.  As if that weren't bad enough, you land in a
place called "Cleve-Land."  Horrifying, isn't it?
Well this is just what happened to Howard, a typical,
hard-working, run-of-the-mill kind of guy.  This sort
of freak occurrence would surely ruffle anyone's
feathers, but it just so happens that Howard really
has feathers to be ruffled.  You guessed it folks,
Howard is a duck.  Most Clevelanders don't take too
kindly to walking, talking, cigar-smoking ducks.
Fortunately, one Clevelander does and she is an
independent, punk-rocker with a fondness for fowl.

"Howard the Duck" was released in 1986 and was filmed
right here in Cleveland, Ohio.  The director, Willard
Huyck, did a great job of turning Hollywood actors
into Clevelanders.  There are many Cleveland
references, props, set decorations, and locations
throughout the whole film.  Lea Thompson plays the
duck-loving, rock singer with WMMS stickers on her
guitar case who can be seen performing at local bars.
An interesting fact about the girl band in the movie
is that they all really played their instruments and
sang.  Yes, that is "21 Jump Street's" Holly Robinson
on guitar.  Tim Robbins is seen wearing an Indians
baseball cap, which isn't much of a surprise since in
real life he is a huge Tribe fan and visits Cleveland
often.  The always charming Howard the duck looks
smashing in his stylish Ohio State University
sweatshirt.  There are references throughout the film
for such localities as AM Cleveland, 9th St. and
Powell, and the Cuyahoga Nuclear Power Plant.

Overall, "Howard the Duck" is a rather twisted, kind
of weird, yet really fun romp around Cleveland with a
"fowl-mouthed," kung-fu fighting, ladies man from
another planet.  Thumbs up!

####
 

Paul Schrader

Produced by Home Box Office and Taft Entertainment Pictures
Distributed by Columbia Tristar and Vestron Video

Joe and Patti Rasnick are brother and sister in a band called the Barbusters.  While working in the factories of Cleveland by day, the members of the Barbusters rock out at night.  Slowly they gain a following and decide to take their act on the road, touring as far away as Erie, Mansfield and Kalamazoo (that was sarcasm for those that didn’t catch it).  While on the road, Joe questions his sister’s integrity and her treatment of her son, Benjamin.  Joe loses it when he sees Patti and her boyfriend stealing steak and watching as they use Benjamin to cover it up.  Joe kicks Patti’s boyfriend out and the band slowly disintegrates.
Back home, Patti starts playing with new bands, like the metal (yeah right) Hunzz.  During all this, Patti and Joe’s mom’s health is failing.  Mrs. Rasnick never approved of Patti’s wild side and always wanted to know who the father of Benjamin was.  Before ever touring, Patti and Mama Rasnick had a falling out.  But hearing that Mama was probably going to die after ovarian cancer had her in a shambles, Patti put the past behind her and the two patched up their differences.  And in the end, the Barbusters played again.

This is definitely supposed to be Cleveland, but I must admit that I would be embarrassed to tell anyone that this movie was about Cleveland.  But more on that later.  The opening establishing shots of the movie are the only shots worth viewing because they give a wide range of Cleveland locations, although mostly centered around LTV Steel.  One shot shows Patti, played by Joan Jett, going into a Pick and Pay (a now defunct chain of grocery stores).  That Pick and Pay is now Unique Thrift Store on Lorain Road just east of Fulton Road.  Nearly a third of the movie is the Barbusters playing out at the Euclid Tavern, on Euclid Avenue near East 117th Street.  There is also a scene that was shot outside of and also inside of the Agora, on Euclid Avenue near East 55th Street.  One other bit of trivia is that Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails fame, played in this movie in a band called the Problems.

Here comes my laundry list of complaints.  The name Barbusters, is completely stupid.  Casting Michael McKean as anyone in a band was stupid.  Sure, I liked him in Clue, but the scene in this film where he’s wearing a Gatorade baseball cap was too much.  Since it was the 80’s, I should excuse the atrocious haircuts that everyone has.  The choice of that awful ‘Cleveland Rocks’ song for the soundtrack was a mistake.  This movie makes it look as though everyone in Cleveland works in a factory and has to live from check to check and that everyone here loves music.  This list could go on, but anyone who has seen this film knows it would take pages to fill.  But we can always come back to the fact that Paul Schrader actually directed a film, and what films have I directed?

Something else about this movie has to be pointed out.  Actually two somethings.  The first is the feeling I got that I was watching an Afterschool Special.  The preachiness of this film was enough to make me want to throw my VCR out the window.  On the other hand, and this is my other something, was the way Michael J. Fox played Joe, and Joan Jett played Patti.  They were brother and sister, but they seemed oddly close.  There was almost something demented about the way they interacted.  In fact, up until the time that Patti revealed who the father of her son was, I had some sinking feeling that it was her brother, Joe.  This morality pic would have suddenly been graced with a perverted, incestuous subplot, making it worthy of cult status.

I didn’t really like this movie at all, but it had little to do with it’s depiction of Cleveland, though as I mentioned above I wasn’t too thrilled with that either.  So I guess we have another thumbs down on our hands.

####

THE LIGHT OF DAY
reviewed by Monica Mlynowski

1) 1987; Tri-Star Pictures/ Taft Entertainment, directed by Jim Jarmusch with John Lurie, was the first feature film by one-time Clevelander Jim Jarmusch.
2) The Light of Day is about a brother and sister struggling to make it as rock musicians in Cleveland.  The sister (played by Joan Jett) is your typical “screwed-up rebel.”  She has a son (whose father is not revealed until the end) and her only one goal and priority in life is to rock-in-roll.  The brother (played by Michael J. Fox) is the more responsible one that is constantly picking up the pieces after his sister who causes a strain in their close relationship and which ultimately puts an end to their band.  This film is a classic conflict movie with a resolution at the end of it.  In the end, the sister comes to grips with her reality and responsibility .  She also makes amends with her estranged mother before she dies of cancer and resolves issues with her brother.  This all leads to a happy ending and a reformation of their band so they can continue to “rock on “ in Cleveland.
3) The Light of Day opened up with scenes from Cleveland.  Once again, Cleveland is portrayed as a very industrial city.  Many aerial shots were taken of factories pumping smog into the air, a dirty-looking Cuyahoga River, and countless construction and blue-collar workers.  However, at the same time Cleveland is also depicted as a strong rock-in-roll town.  There are many shots of billboards around the city advertising rock stations such as WMMS.  The majority of scenes are shot as some very well known bars where each bar is packed with fans that are dancing and extremely into the music.  Many scenes feature Michael yelling into the crowd “are you ready to rock-in-roll Cleveland?”  At this moment the crowd goes nuts!  Even at the factory where Michael works at, the only topic of conversation is “who is playing at Peabody’s, The Euclid Tavern…etc.?”  This film portrayed Cleveland as a city that revolves around rock-in-roll.  I feel that most of the scenes were indeed shot here in Cleveland (probably due to the fact that Jim grew up here in Cleveland) especially the local bars that the band played at.  The only scenes that I was really disappointed in were the ones at the hospital when the mother was dying of cancer.  Cleveland has one of the most renowned hospitals yet the one that is featured in the movie was outdated and pathetic-looking.  Maybe it was due to scheduling difficulties but I thought that something more appropriate could have been used.
4) One important aspect of this movie was that the director grew up in Cleveland himself, which made the movie more authentic to me.  Scenes from such bars as the Euclid Tavern were very realistic because a band like that really would have played in that bar at that time period.  There were also some very recognizable scenes from the Cleveland Heights area (which I grew up in) such as the playground on Euclid Heights (that I played on as a child) as well a quick clips of places like the Medic on Coventry.
5) I gave the movie a “thumb’s up” because it was extremely enjoyable and kept my interest.  It had a good plot with good actors.  The movie was very realistic in settings and their locations.  I loved the fact that so many scenes were recognizable because it made you feel like you had a connection with the movie.  Aside from the industrial aspect of Cleveland, I like the fact that the film made Cleveland out to be a strong music city.  It gave new light to the typical, undesirable depiction of this city as being a strictly industrial and blue-collar city.

####

Light of Day: 1987
reviewed by Tecia Esposito

    D: Paul Schrader
    Produced by:
Keith Barish   (producer)
Doug Claybourne   (executive producer)
Rob Cohen   (producer)

Light of Day is about a brother/sister team of musicians from an industrial,
blue collar town (Cleveland), struggling between the monotony of their
everyday and an undying dream to ROCK. Sister has a baby, but goes out on
the road without him to play in a metal band.  She left her old band, which
her brother was a part of, leaving he and their mother to take care of the
kid.
Mom becomes increasingly sick....hospitalized....and dies. The family drama
is very realistic, especially the acting by Gena Rowlands (mom).
Michael J.Fox and Joan Jett are brother sister.  Mom dies, they all feel
bad, then they unite and ROCK at the EUCLID TAVERN....which just so happens
to be my place of work.
I felt very close to this movie since I love that place so much.
Cleveland wasn't a stand in for this movie...it is actually supposed to be
in Cleveland.  It was portrayed as an industrial, blue collar, middle to
lower class, hard working, we wanna rock-but we can't cause we have to work
all day-type city.  Pretty true to reality, I must say, and a pretty good
family drama.
Cleveland is sort of an antagonist in this film.  The characters are tired
of their bleak, industrial, city life (sound familiar?).
So they have to rock a lot, and if they don't, they're miserable.
Obviously, the Euc is spoken about....ie..."I love the Euc," and, "I was at
the Euc all night, I didn't do it..."
EVERYONE loves the Euc, especially we who work there, and those who like to
ROCK!
Joan Jett was still hot in this movie...too.
I give it two big HUGE thumbs UP, because the floors in the Euc looked so
clean, I've never seen them like that before.  They must have had a
Hollywood clean up crew in there for days prior to shooting.  It probably
only lasted about one night.

####

The year is 1970, there are Americans fighting on
foreign soil and soiled hippies in America to protest
about it.  It is the age of aquarius, so you can be
sure that the ghetto freaks are all shacked up in
their love commune doing their drugs, having their
sex, and listening to their rock and roll.  Director,
Robert J. Emery shows us what life is like when you
are living in a tiny apartment with fifteen other
people who are all your "brothers and sisters," but
whom would all sleep with you at the drop of a hat.
It's all a bad, incestuous acid trip that won't end
until someone gets hurt or just passes out from too
much naked dancing.

"Love Commune" makes up in direction and camera work
what it lacks in plot and acting ability.  From what I
can tell, the whole film was shot here in Cleveland,
but is supposed to be set in New York City.  Our
hippie friends can be seen panhandling and protesting
in Public Square, and working their mojo in an
unrecognizable local bar.  A beautiful shot of our
main character riding a motorcycle over the Detroit
Memorial Bridge shows how different the city looked
thirty years ago.

If you're in the mood for sex, drugs, rock and roll,
more sex, more drugs, bad acting, acid trips, naked
hippies, more sex, protests, drugs, and a very, very
cold Cleveland winter then this is the film for you.

Did I happen to mention that there is sex and drugs in
this movie?

####

“Love Commune” AKA Ghetto Freaks AKA Sign of Aquarius
Reviewed by Stefan Damian

Released in 1970 by Something Weird  Video (?). Directed by Robert J. Emery.

Ok…so this movie is about hippies having sex, taking drugs and dancing. That’s about it. They try to add a subplot about how the main character (I forget his name) convinces two women that it is all about free love so they shouldn’t get pissed at him for sleeping with somebody else, but that falls flat. So does another sub-plot (which lasted all of 5 minutes) about one guy getting upset at a black member of the commune and wanting to take it out on the entire race – or something to that effect. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be Cleveland or not. The beginning scenes were in a park with an apartment complex in the background that looks to be in the west side somewhere, then we see the lead riding a motorcycle over the Detroit-Superior Veteran’s Memorial Bridge into downtown. Absent is the Key Tower as well as BP Building (and now even the Federal Courthouse) – looks kind of funky.

I’m not sure if this is actually supposed to take place in Cleveland or not since the majority of the film takes place indoors as the psychedelic styling of the music plays as people sit around smoking pot and taking acid.  And dancing. I think Cleveland is just used as a model for Anytown, USA. I guess the hippie life was so evolved that all it takes is a random setting and psychedelic imagery to get the point across that all you need is drugs, many lovers, no job, gonzo music, and bad clothes to be better than the rest of the uptight society. If it was Cleveland, then all it accomplished was to show that there were idiots here as well. But I guess they weren’t idiots if they convinced a lot of good-looking women to sleep with them. Or to take drugs to loosen up their minds so that they would sleep with them, or make them listen to bad music to get them in the mood to sleep with them. I give it thumbs up. I want to be a hippie. Unless you are wasted on drugs or alcohol, or have convinced many women to sleep with you (and them knowing about each other), and you like to wear ugly clothes, then don’t bother seeing this movie. It is very rough to sit through. Unless your mind is free from the contaminants of the authoritative cultural upbringing that our strict society has imposed on your severely brainwashed self, then head on over to B-Ware Video in Lakewood and rent it.

####

Directed by: David S. Ward
Year released: 1989
Produced by: Mirage and Morgan Creek Productions
Distributed by: Paramount
Runtime: 107 minutes

 "Major League" is a baseball comedy about a group of Cleveland
Indians ballplayers who are misfits.  They are trying to win the American
League pennant after years of having a bad losing streak.  There is one
obstacle though.  The owner of the team wants to move the team, so she tries
everything to stop them from winning.
 With this film, a lot of the images of Cleveland are like what
Cleveland looks like today.  From the beginning of the film, there are quite
a few shots of the Cuyahoga River with the big iron ore boats, the famous
Hope Memorial bridge, and LTV steel.  This is because Cleveland is, and has
mostly always been imaged as an industrial city.  Other shots in the
beginning of the film, like of the Terminal Tower and the BP building,
represent what are major landmarks to the city of Cleveland.  Both of these
buildings have been integral parts to Cleveland's history and economy.
Shots of the old stadium not only bring back a lot of memories, but also
represent the beginning of sports in Cleveland.  Today, we may have Jacob's
Field and Gund Arena for sports and the like, but before all that, there was
only one stadium in the city of Cleveland for sports.  The old stadium
brought out an image for Cleveland as being a central and important sports
town, and also an entertainment town.  In this film, the city of Cleveland
is supposed to represent Cleveland as is was during the time this film was
shot.
 It is interesting to note that in this film, only a few scenes were
actually shot in the old Municipal Stadium.  The other scenes involving the
stadium were actually shot at the stadium in Milwaukee, due to scheduling
differences at the Municipal Stadium with the real Cleveland Indians team.
 I would give this film a "thumbs up" in terms of both quality and
enjoyability.  The style and editing were very good, as was the overall
sequence of the plot.  The good plot, mixed with a lot of humor, kept me
interested throughout the whole film.  This was a very good film too in how
the Cleveland area fares.  As was mentioned before, much of the shots of
Cleveland image what Cleveland looks like today, especially with downtown
being the center of industry, entertainment, and sports.

####

MAJOR LEAGUE;
reviewed by Monica Mlynowski

1) 1989; Paramount Pictures/ A Morgan Creek Film Production, directed by David S. Ward with actors Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes.
2) The Cleveland Indians are a failing team on a loosing streak.  The owners want to move the team out of Cleveland but in order to do so they must ensure that the team looses every game and finishes dead last in the league.  To guarantee their failure, they take away every necessity and luxury they can from the team.  However, the owner’s plan backfires.  With the help of a down and out catcher and a pitcher that discovers the magic of eyeglasses, the team does a remarkable turnaround and starts winning games.  They even make it to the league playoffs.
3) I think that for the decade that this movie was filmed in it was an appropriate depiction of urban Cleveland to an extent. However, Cleveland has come a long way and if this movie were filmed today, I think that there would be a completely different take on Cleveland.  In this film Cleveland is viewed as an extremely industrial city.  The movie, right from the beginning, shows shots of Cleveland that are very industry orientated with an abundance of factory and blue-collar workers.  The camera frequently catches a shot of a very dirty-looking Cuyahoga River, factories pumping chemicals into the air and endless construction workers.  The film utilizes many aerial shots of Cleveland’s industrial sites as well as every bridge in all of Cleveland.  Obviously the movie used the Municipal Stadium which was fairly outdated and in need of restoration.  When the team was filmed at training camp in Florida, the shots were brighter, more alive with beautiful background scenery, which made Cleveland feel even gloomier and dirty.  I also noticed that certain scenes did not look like places that were filmed in Cleveland (none of the apartments or restaurants looked vaguely familiar).  Other places that were featured in this film were the Terminal Tower, Public Square and an extremely pitiful-looking Flats area.
4) I did not come across too much Cleveland trivia.  Some of the scenes did not look like they were filmed in Cleveland at all but I could not come across any documentation of this.  However, I did discover that because of scheduling difficulties at the Municipal Stadium, Milwaukee stood in for Cleveland in many of the scenes.
5) I gave the movie a “thumb’s up’ for the enjoyablity of the film.  It was a mainstream comedy that made me laugh.  However, I gave the movie a “thumb’s down” for the way it portrayed Cleveland.  I think the film went too far in its exaggeration of the industrial aspect of Cleveland and the film made the city look completely dirty and undesirable.  If I had never been to Cleveland, I would think that it was nothing but smog, industry and blue-blue collar workers that are lucky to have baseball as the sole entertainment of the city.

####

            Major League 11, a comedy about the Cleveland Indians was released in 1994.  This film is a Warner Brothers and A. Jacob G. Robinson production.  This film was written and directed by David S. Ward.  Writing credits also go to R. J. Stewart and others.  The film contains some comedy, romance, and much more.

            The plot was to show the Cleveland Indians as a come back team after being down and out for so long and after being sold over and over again.  The movie begins with Michelle Burke as Nikki Reese, the owner of the Cleveland Indians selling them to Harry Doyle who doesn_t show much interest in the team.

            The movie will always hold a special place in my heart because it is about my home team and filmed in Cleveland.  The way it began will the fans at a rally waiting for their favorite players to come home for the season gave me the feeling of being there in person.  Many times during the actual game scenes I actually felt the same excitement I feel when watching a real baseball game on television.

            The old stadium looked really good in the movie and the use of so much Indian stuff really made the film seem more realistic.  All of the actors really brought their characters to life in this film.  Everyone from Charlie Sheen to the stupid catcher was great. I had a blast throughout the entire film.  There actually was only one character that I would have left out of the film, the Lady coach.  Her role just didn_t do anything for the film.  However the writer made it to the big screen, which tells me that someone likes it a lot.

            The lighting and color was great.  I found the use of expensive cars and nice clothing gave this movie that extra exhilarating punch to draw the views into the lives of the athletes.

Major League 11 is a movie that is suitable for the entire family and I would recommend it for the entire family.  Adding the romantic touch gave the film that extra special touch that appeals to the female audiences as well as the older audience.  By giving each actor such unique personalities you were able to see how important everyone involved in a film is to that film.

This was an out standing cast, which included:

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, James Gammon (1), Omar Epps, Eric Bruskotter, Takaaki Ishibashi, Alison Doody, Michelle Burke (1), David Keith, Margaret Whitton, Bob Uecker, Steve Yeager, Kevin Hickey
(more)

A child could have written this story.  And anyone could have played the catcher.  The film made Cleveland look good. It was over all fun.  Though everything was predictable you didn_t care, because it_s the about the Cleveland Indians. There was never a boring moment. I would give this film a big thumbs up.

####

Major League II

reviewed by Joey Cassel

United States, 1994
U.S. Release Date: 3/30/94
Running Length: 1:48
MPAA Classification: PG (Language)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Omar Epps, David Keith, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Bob Uecker
Director: David Ward
Producer: James G. Robinson
Screenplay: R. J. Stewart
Cinematography: Victor Hammer
Music: Michael Colombier
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers

The story of Major League II takes place one year after the first Major League. In the first major League the Cleveland Indians defied all odds and won their division, only to get knocked out in the American League Championship Series. Major League II picks up where the first left off. Hard-throwing Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), the "Wild Thing", has cleaned up his image and lost ten mph off his fastball. Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), the veteran catcher, walks with a limp and his gimpy leg threatens to keep him off the roster. Willie Mays Hayes (Omar Epps replacing Wesley Snipes) has decided to give up speed for power. Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), the team's top home run hitter, has given up his hard core attitude for a more gentle approach. And Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) has turned in his uniform for a suit -- and the Indians' ownership.

The movie used some key Cleveland spots and did it’s best to show the enthusiasm of a city that desperately wants a winning team. Cleveland is shown in a positive light. I have to be one of the biggest Indians fans so even if this movie wasn’t, tactful or well done, I liked it anyways. The first Major League did a better job of showing the city and the emotion of a losing team, but Major League II would be enjoyed by any true Indian fan.

####

     The first film I viewed was "My Summer Story" (AKA It Runs in the
Family) directed by Bob Clark.  It was written by and based on Jean Sheperd's
novels "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" and Wanda Hickey's Night of
Golden Memories and Other Disasters".  It was released, to video, in 1994 by
MGM.
     The movie is a sequel to 1983's "A Christmas Story", partially shot in
Cleveland, which was written and directed by the same people. It continues
the adventures of Ralphie Parker and his family. None of the original actors
reprise their roles except that of Ralphie's teacher Ms. Shields, played by
Tedde Moore.  In this film the Parkers have to deal with their hillbilly
neighbors the Bumpus family, who were alluded to in the original but not
shown.  Also, Ralphie is on a search for the perfect spinning top so he can
beat the class bully, Lug, who is number one at the game.  Ralphie does some
bonding with his father while fishing.  Ralphie eventually beats Lug at tops
and they live happily ever after.  There wasn't much going on here.
     The film is not set in Cleveland but in Indiana.  In the opening shot we
see an industrial location.  The narration of the scene, by an older Ralphie,
says that some people think this is the ugliest place in the universe.  This
is obviously a dig on Cleveland, being that the film was shot here.  There
are shots scattered throughout the film of industrial areas and the steel
mills, mostly while Ralphie and friends are riding past on their bikes.  I
would have to say that this is not the best depiction of Cleveland that I
have seen.  There is also a clear shot of the Terminal Tower when the boys
are playing on the street.  Playhouse Square is used in the film when
Ralphie's mother goes to the old "dish night" movie screenings and we are
shown the lobby of Playhouse Square and inside a theater.  The scenes in the
Parker's neighborhood are  shown as cozy and small town idyllic, except for
the Bumpus's house which is supposed to be grungy.  All in all, I would say
that this film is no different that others in it's depiction of Cleveland,
although it is set in Indiana.  Most of what is shown is industrial, but the
small town atmosphere does come off nicely.
     I can say that this film is garbage compared to "A Christmas Story".
From the acting to the storyline, I just did not care what happened to these
characters.  I sat there longing for Darren McGavin to show up as Ralphie's
hilarious father to save this mess of a picture.  There we a few decent parts
but that does not make up for the boredom in between.  Not funny or
charmingly nostalgic like its predecessor.

####

It Runs In the Family (aka My Summer Story, 1994)
Reviewed by James Denny

 MGM returned to Cleveland to film the sequel to its
holiday classic, A Christmas Story (1984).  What, you
never knew that they made a sequel?  It is a fact that
is lost on many people for two good reasons.  The
first reason being, the film was never released in
Cleveland theatrically.  A second reason being, the
film is absolutely atrocious.  The film in question is
called It Runs In the Family (1994).  It was later
released on video under the title My Summer Story in
an obvious attempt to make a connection to its classic
predecessor.  MGM even hired the same director, Bob
Clark, to try to recapture that same charm that made A
Christmas Story so winning.
 The film is again based on Jean Shepherd’s memoirs of
growing up in the small mid-west city of Holman,
Indiana.  Shepherd serves again as the film’s
narrator, but his memories in this film are just not
at all satisfying.  Vignettes presented include
Ralphie, played by Kieran Culkin this time, searching
for the perfect spinning top to take on the school
bully’s killer top, Ralphie’s father’s feud with the
hillbilly, next-door neighbors, and his mother’s quest
to receive a full dinette set by going to the movies.
The film is similar to its prequel in that it has very
little plot, but several running stories.
 Cleveland serves as Holman, Indiana once again, but
with little of the city being showcased this time.
The shots of Terminal Tower and Public Square are
again available, but only in the daytime, thus not
capturing the true splendor of the surroundings.  The
same house appears to have been used again, but still
no one seems to know for sure exactly where this house
is actually located.  On the Internet though, the
Tremont area is listed as a shooting location, and
some have suggested that this is where the house
stands.  The back streets of Cleveland are often used
that make the town of Holman look much more rundown
than it did in A Christmas Story from ten years
earlier.  It seems that these locations could be the
grimy, back streets of any large city though.
Basically, the film did not capitalize on the
uniqueness of Cleveland that the original film
utilized so well.
 As far as any Cleveland related trivia about the
film, there is very little to be offered.  I know an
instructor from Tri-C West, Gary Jones, who was on the
set as a stand-in for Glenn Shadix, who played Leopold
Doppler in the film.  Jones saw many of the stars of
the film as they hung around their trailers.  A flaw
with the film stems from the producer’s obvious use of
car collectors in this area to provide the appropriate
cars for the time period.  The problem being that the
cars were all in noticeably pristine condition due to
their status as collectables.
 The film was truly a letdown from its yuletide
predecessor.  Charles Grodin plays the father in this
film and turns in, perhaps, his worst performance.  He
seems to be imitating Darren McGavin from the earlier
film, but to no avail.  His feud with the hillbilly
neighbors, the Bumpuses, is painfully overdone and
entirely unfunny.  Kieran Culkin is non-descript in
the role of Ralphie, but probably because the awkward
script does not offer much of an opportunity for him
to do too much.  Mary Steenburgen is decent in her
portrayal of Ralphie’s mother, but cannot save the
film single-handedly.  The saddest element of the film
is that Shepherd’s musings are forced and not nearly
as insightful or endearing as they were in A Christmas
Story.  The film receives a big “thumbs down” as a
whole, including its use of Cleveland.  Cleveland has
so much to offer, yet this film could have been shot
in any non-descript, urban venue.  From a
Clevelander‘s perspective, this perhaps hurts the film
the most.

####

Director: Mary Agnes Donoghue
Release Date: 1981
Production: Buena Vista

     The movie centers around dysfunctional family life.  A pregnant mother is emotionally frazzled due to her spouse leaving and needing time to grow.  All alone she  sends her son to stay with her best friend, played by Melanie Griffith.  On screen and off screen marriage to Don Johnson serves to add spice to any movie.  Melanie is struggling with the loss of a child and unable to reach out for help from her husband.  She treats him as if her were non-existent.  The youngster serves as a median to rekindle love between the couple.  He also grows in his own friendships and discoveries throughout the summer.
     In this film Cleveland is not shown in a positive light.  the hustle and bustle of the old greyhound bus station, the big city full of smog.  Even the shots from the bridge appear to depict an unkept city.  The mother is escaping the city to taker her son to the quiet, serene country.
     The greyhound bus station serves as one useful location.  The manor at Cleveland State is the child's school.  Glimpses of Beaumont even appear.
     I give this move two thumbs up based on it's story content and controversy.  I have children and the movie is very suitable for them to view.  Cleveland may not fare well in the film, but at least we were employed.

####

Paradise
reviewed by MICHAEL ROBINSON

Director: Mary Agnes Donoghue
Production date was 1981
 

     The mother was pregnant and she sent her child to live with friends while she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. Her husband was suffering from mid-life crisis, the boy goes to live with Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. the couple had a estranged relationship due to the loss of there child. It would take a miracle to save their love, and that's is what they got in the form of a child. Both the couple and the boy find peace in there relationship during the film.
      From the Greyhound bus station to the flats and beyond, I noticed these right off, the City was dirty and it appeared as if it was a place to run away from. In comparison the country was real quiet, while the city, Cleveland, was loud and noisy.  Better to be featured than not featured at all.
     Several key scenes are shot in the Greyhound bus station. The location settings included the Greyhound Bus Station, Cleveland State University, and the Flats.
     I give the film two thumbs up based on location usage, Cleveland, and character representation.  Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith add an on screen and off screen romantic flavor.  I enjoyed the film immensely.

####

directed by Scott Zifhl
Distribute by Zinc Entertainment (2000)

Synopsis of Plot: What Plot!
Any movie staring Rob Lowe and James Coburn should have you scared.  If
their staring in this film doesn't scare you, don't worry the script will!
Rob Lowe plays the good/bad guy "I guess"?  James Coburn plays the bad/bad
guy.  Coburn runs a victims self help group, only problem is his method of
helping victims involves murders.  Rob Lowe is an inmate who escapes and
finds out about a tape that our self help guy Coburn made.  Lowe steals this
tape and everybody's chasing the Lowestar!
The question is how Lowe can you go?  The script has you on a wild goose
chase through the City of Cleveland Ohio.  So you ask, "who's chasing Lowe"?
  Who isn't! Coburn and his goon squad including a paid inmate who acts like
a bounty hunter.  The only positives about this film was the way Cleveland
was portrayed in the film.  The opening titles were nicely shot and included
many of Cleveland's pitcurestique views.  The statue of the stamp that says
"FREE" on it, reminded me of how much I paid to see this movie. Nice shots
included: Terminal Tower, Settler's Landing in The Flats, Warehouse
district, Shooters Restaurant and other Cleveland sites.
I think Cleveland was shown as a bright city that is constantly moving.  I
did notice a lot of water shots around the Flats area.  I would have to give
this movie a "thumbs down".  Let's face it, Cleveland looks better now than
back in the 70's.  However, not good enough to save this movie.  This movie
gives independent films a bad name and I don't care where this was shot , it
needed a script!
P.S. Proximity, see the script doctor!

####

Proximity (2001)
reviewed by Joey Cassel

Directed by: Scott Ziehl

Writing Credit: Ben Queen & Seamus Ruane

Cast Credit: Rob Lowe & James Coburn

Distributers: HBO, Warner Bros., & Overseas Film Group

Production Companies: Warner Bros. & Zinc Pictures

Plot Synopsis:

An inmate(Rob Lowe) serving time for vehicular homicide, overhears prison guards discussing plans for a murder and then becomes a target himself. Rob Lowe’s character escapes from prison and runs around the city of Cleveland trying to unravel the conspiracy.

Treatment of Cleveland:

The city looked amazing. They definitely used the very best parts of Cleveland. There were some key scenes near the lake and in Tower City that really translated well on film. Cleveland was alive and glowing. The paint that is "Hollywood" brushed beautifully over the city. They did a wonder with the city, but made an awful movie.

Funny Anecdote:

A few friends and I snuck into the wrap party of Proximity, that was held at Shooters. After having a long conversation with a young Mormon girl, who was no older than eighteen. We watched Joel Silver hit on her and he eventually left the party with her. No trivia in accord to the movie, just a small piece of my experience.

The Review:

It was a really terrible movie. Rob Lowe tried to shift into action mode and came out looking more one dimensional than ever. The movie’s script was ridiculous and repetitive. The actors couldn’t deliver the apparent suspense that was supposed to be felt. Overall, it was movie that had the flavor of a bad eighties suspense/thriller that should have starred Dolph Lundgren, in place of Rob Lowe.

####

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Year Released: 1997
Starring: Matt Damon; Danny Devito; Claire Danes

A graduate from law school finds employment with a very unreputable law firm.  He gains experience and ends up starting a firm of his own with a partner. He takes on a case to defend a boy with leukemia who was insured with an invalid policy.  Ruby ends up exposing a multi-million dollar insurance fraud and after winning the case decides that a career as a lawyer is not for him.

* * * -I give it three starts out of five--I like Matt Damon.

As far as Cleveland is concerned, they showed about a three second picture of  tall buildings on a sunny day--I did recognize it!. Cleveland was the home for the 'Great Benefits' insurance company and looked quite appealing!

####

THE RAINMAKER
reviewed by Geri Gill

Rainmaker is a 1997 film directed by, Francis Ford Coppola. It is  from a novel written by John Grisham.  The story is about an attorney, Rudy Baylor who tries to maintain the high level of idealism that took him into law school and gets sucked up in a good old boys law firm, the underbelly of law firms and the Great Insurance Company.  He latches onto a case that shakes the Global Insurance Company to its foundation.

 I can’t say a lot about this being filmed in Cleveland, because just a short glimpse is shot here.    The insurance headquarters is located in Cleveland and though a short but important part is shot at the insurance headquarters no credit is given for which building was used   The boardroom shown in the film has this beautiful mural of the great lakes on it in the background. The negotiating between the rich and powerful lawfirm contrasts with the seedier enclaves of Rudy Baylor in this room. A powerful scene.

The negotiating focuses on the wet behind the ears, financially burdened attorney challenging the big corporate world. The importance of Cleveland, I believe, is showing the contrast between the little southern town Rudy comes from, having to take a bus to Cleveland because he has no money, to face these eight $1000.00 per hour attorneys in the huge conference room in a skyscraper, was important to illustrate the distinction in the two law firms..  An excellent and most important scene that pulls you into the world of corporate politics.   Big town vs. little town. Rudy the small town lawyer has an office in an old tumble down building with furnishing fit for the 40’s.  This scene was a most important component, making you feel the compassion for Rudy Baylor and distain for the corporate insurance company.  A great film but the story line is old and much used .David and Goliath,  a story similar to the Erin Brockovich film.

####

The Rainmaker
Reviewed by Brian Weisbrot

One of the most empathetic stories displayed through cinema in the past several years is a film based off a John Grisham novel called "The Rainmaker" (1997). Directed by the great Francis Ford Coppola, starring Matt Damon, Danny Devito and an extremely star studded ensemble cast, this film had all the works.

A poor young man fresh out of law school was forced to join the ranks of an illegal organization as an attormey in order for survival. Along the way Rudy takes on a case against a large insurance company based out of Cleveland. Representing a lower class family in Membphis, Tennessee, Rudy is introduced to the harsh reality of cancer and the inhumane qualities of large corporations. His plaintiff's son is an eighteen your old boy who was harnessed with leukemia. Due to the refusal of their rightful coverage the family was left without any medical support and was forced to watch their son wither away and die a slow painful death helplessly. Although there was nothing that would be able to replace their son, the mother was very satisfied to learn that due to her efforts this inhumane company was forced to bankruptcy.\

Although there was a minimal amount of Cleveland displayed in this film, there was definitely an interesting perspective portrayed. When entering the city of Cleveland, the viewer is presented with a shot of a non-descriptive city at night fall. Due to Rudy's socioeconomic class he was forced to arrive on a Greyhound bus. Therefore, the viewer is presented with a very ambiguous shot of Cleveland, which leaves little room for interpretation. However, the second and final shot presents a beautifaul shining downtown covered with blue skies and surrounded by enormous modern architecture including the insurance company's building. The actual building shot was the terminal tower. Although a very small shot, the downtown area of Cleveland had a beautiful portrait displayed in this blockbuster film.

The city of Cleveland is headed is headed on the right track by recruiting epic films such as "The Rainmaker" to shoot here. However, it will be much more satisfying to say an entire epic film was shot in Cleveland, rather a scene. With the organizations such as the Cleveland Film Society and the Film Commission on the rise, I believe our society will be graced with more and more Hollywood films.

####

 This was a short niche film made by Bruce Pattison of Guerrilla Productions
after Art Modell moved the football team to Baltimore in 1996.  There are
shots of the new football stadium, so at least parts had to be filmed in
1998 or 1999.  It was only 30 minutes long, so there wasn’t much of a story
going on.  The basic idea is that Art Modell sells his soul to the
devil/football commissioner for $30 million to move to Baltimore.  Some
irate dogs, I mean “dawgs” (who talk with barking and subtitles) decide to
kidnap the owner of their former beloved football team.  Modell escapes
briefly when the “dawgs” chase a woman with large breasts (close-up courtesy
of Bruce Pattison).  They then chase him throughout the city before finally
capturing him, quickly taking him to the “dawgfather” who then lures the
devil/commissioner into giving the city a new stadium, a new team, and the
right to keep the name and colors.
       This movie had some shots of Cleveland, and presented it in a fairly
nice way.  There were a few shots of the new football stadium, the river
from a deck on the back of a restaurant down in the flats, and even the
Goodtime (2,3,?) boat.  Overall, it glazes over a couple of nice looking
highlights, all the while painting Cleveland as a hard-working Midwest city
full of die hard Browns fans.  Just a bit of quick trivia: what current COM
493 student was an extra in the movie?  Maybe I’ll just let him admit to it.
       This film was amateur, but I think that is all that Bruce Pattison
intended for it to be.  I give it one thumb up for not trying to be anything
more than it was.  It was clear that it was meant to be cheap and short with
a small audience here in Cleveland.  With my other thumb, I’ll just have to
go down due to an absolutely terrible script, cheesy digital effects, and
porn quality acting.  I realize that not much can be done as far as quality
with no budget, but some of the performances were like watching cats being
torchered.  So my final review: One thumb up for keeping it real, one down
for wasting a half hour of the audience's time.

####

The second film I watched was "Slaughter of the Innocents" written and
directed by James Glickenhaus.  It was released, to video, in 1993 by HBO.
     The film is a thriller about a child murderer on the loose in small town
Provo, Utah.  FBI agent Stephen Broderick, who lives in Cleveland, is brought
in on the case to help catch the killer.  Unbeknownst to his peers, Stephen's
son Jesse is a computer whiz and amateur detective who helps him on cases.
Jesse helps his father by going to Utah with him and eventually a man is put
to death for the crimes.  Broderick and Jesse have their doubts about this
being the end of the killings and investigates more after a little girl turns
up missing.  It turns out that the actual killer is a religious fanatic who
has built a Noah's Ark replica in the Utah desert.  Jesse is on to him, flies
out to Utah by himself to investigate, and is captured by the killer.  FBI
agent Broderick at the last minute catches on to the killer's hideout and
saves his son and the kidnapped girl.  It ends with ark rolling out of its
cave and crashing to the ground below with the killer inside.  The plot is a
lot more complicated than this synopsis but you get the main idea, I hope.
     There is a lot of Cleveland used in this picture.  The film jumps from
Cleveland to Utah and back several times.  The first shot of Cleveland is out
a window from inside Broderick's office in a skyscraper.  Broderick is facing
the camera and the window is behind him.  If you know Cleveland buildings, it
is quite obviously located here.  This scene could have been shot blandly in
the office but the director chose to show the city in a nicely framed shot
out the window.  The very next scene is of Jesse's baseball game where the
backdrop is heavily populated by industry with smoke stacks spewing full
force.  There is also a night shot of downtown from street level that is
actually quite nice.  In one scene Jesse mentions going to Cedar Point with
his friend.  In another scene when Jesse is getting money to buy an airplane
ticket at Hopkins Airport you can here bus departure locations such as
Westlake, Shaker, and downtown on a loud speaker.  Cleveland is shown in a
mostly positive light in this film.  Apart from the industrial background of
the baseball game, Cleveland is photographed well and is not made to look
like a bad place.  It is made to look how you would see it if you lived here.
 Another point to bring up is that these murders take place in Utah which is
filmed gorgeously.  I'm glad they chose to show the murders happening in a
beautiful place and not in an industrialized city like Cleveland.  That is
the opposite of what most filmmakers would do.
     I personally liked this film.  The Cleveland scenes take you out of the
Utah desert and show you a family that is fairly realistic.  Although there
actions fit the genre of this film they are still portrayed as normal
Cleveland kind of people.  The actors do a good job and the production is
well crafted.  It is a taut little thriller that is worth the rental price.

####

“Slaughter of the Innocents” directed by James Glickenhaus (1994 HBO Home Video)
Reviewed by Stefan Damian

FBI man has genius kid. Genius kid figures out crime in Utah. Girl in Utah is kidnapped. Genius kid is kidnapped. FBI Man saves them both. The ending is shown on the video cover. Oh…and there’s something about the serial killer being Noah or something. I don’t know. I found the movie so wretched I almost nodded off a few times. (And for the record there are movies I like. I do bitch about a lot of them, but that is only because I require a few things. Good script, direction, production, acting, soundtrack, and escapism.) I just couldn’t get into the characters much here. Maybe I could when I have the perfect child. I found myself rooting for this world to be flooded somehow.

Cleveland was shown in a decent light. I’d mark it as among the best – especially considering how awful it is typically shown. Many shots of downtown and reference to other areas, industrial imagery…just what you see everyday I guess. But the fact Cleveland isn’t shown in a bad light doesn’t make the movie good. In my opinion anyway. I may watch it again when I have fewer things to worry about and more time on my hands. I may even enjoy it then. I just find it to be typical Hollywood direct to video schlock. I think the film could have used a couple gratuitous sex scenes as well. If the Noah guy thinks that the earth will be flooded then he should have started to spread his seed and collected what was his later on (if you know what I mean). Maybe to get the point across more that he was nuts he could have attempted to create a new creature – I will spare you the details on this. Anyway, Thumbs down. If you want a thriller with a cute little kid, go rent Poltergeist. Or if you just want an FBI thriller rent Silence of the Lambs. Or just rent this if you want to. It’s your money.

####

Stranger Than Paradise, directed by Jim Jarmusch, in 1984 was filmed in three states, New York, Ohio and Florida. About one-third of the film was done in Cleveland, which at the time this movie was made was turning its reputation around, as were the people in the film.  Cleveland weather in the winter, the industrial blight of the flats, and a cold snowy frozen Lake Erie was a perfect location for this film.  It has three second black blank screens in between scenes, all the scenes.   It is filmed in black and white portraying the bleak and boring lives of the 13 characters that make up this film, a perfect combination for the bleak, cold, location.

The industrial flats, Lake Erie at the East 9th street pier, the New Mayfield Theater, the Hotdog Connection restaurant and the mention of the Cavaliers is the total Cleveland in this film.

The best part of the film was the Hungarian-speaking old lady where Eva, a Hungarian visitor is staying.  The old woman lives somewhere in the industrial flats, in a small ethnic home with a chain link fence around it. The train tracks are close enough for the noise of the clickity clack to interfere with conversations.  You can feel the sadness of her life.   She is the only personality of the film, especially when she emits a swear word, which is totally out of her character.  Eva’s cousin and Ed, whom she stayed with for a few days in a very hostile environment, in New York comes to Cleveland for a visit. The fact that even though her cousin treated her with hostility, she is very happy to see them when they visit her portrays the desperation of the characters.  The total hopelessness of the industrial flats fits in very well with the glum, moody characters.  They have no personalities, and don’t seem to have any ambition except to go to the horse races. They visit the 9th street pier and spend five minutes staring at a snowy frozen unfriendly lake.

Ava’s job in a lonely desolate restaurant, the Hotdog Connection, probably located in the industrial flats, fits in with the theme of the story, portraying the life of three people with no purpose in life, just drifting managing to survive.  The music, mainly violin, and Screaming J. Hawkins singing I Put a Spell on You, was a rather enjoyable change of pace giving a sense that the three characters know the meaningless of their present life with the droning violin and the rash contrast of Hawkins song trying to wake something in them and respond to life and not just drift.

A very dark film It received controversial reviews when it was shown in the 9th Cleveland International Film Festival and was shown again this year at the 25th Festival. Thumbs down.

####

Stranger than Paradise
Reviewed by Matthew Dietrich

1. Directed by Jim Jarmusch and released in 1984 by Samuel Goldwyn Home Entertainment.

2. New York City slacker Willie (John Lurie) gets a visit from his cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) from Hungary before she goes off to Cleveland to live with their aunt Lotte. One year later, Willie and his buddy Eddie (Richard Edson) drive to Cleveland in the dead of winter for a vacation to visit Eva. From there all three decide to then go to sunny Florida were Willie and Eddie end up losing their money and then wind up with it all back.

3. The film is shot in Cleveland when the characters arrive in Cleveland. The city looks like it always does in the middle of winter (even today) -- ugly, gloomy, dirty and blighted -- a typical "rust-belt city".

4. Some of the scenes of Cleveland include the drive to the aunts house with different neighborhoods and areas including an industrial area (could be LTV) could be recognized through their car window, the aunts house and the East 9th Street Pier looking out over Lake Erie in the middle of the storm. Although it wasn’t a particular scene, but when Eddie and Willie were discussing things to do while at the aunt’s house, Eddie says they should go see the Cavaliers since they’re in Cleveland and Willie responds why bother since they’re 0-48.

5. Overall I give this a thumbs up for enjoyment, production -- neat angles and I like the black between each scene, and for it’s portrayal of Cleveland.

####

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
reviewed by James Hollis

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Produced by Cinesthesia Productions, Grokenberger Film Produktion, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Distributed in the US by Samuel Goldwyn Company

Willie is an aloof guy in New York City who wants nothing to do with his Hungarian past.  Unfortunately for him, his Hungarian past follows him: his cousin, Eva, comes to visit and he unwillingly allows her to stay at his place.  Over the course of the ten days that she spends with him, Willie goes from not caring at all about her to almost not wanting her to leave.
A year after she leaves, Willie and his friend Eddie, having cheated at poker and subsequently having increased their monetary income, decide to go visit Eva in Cleveland, where she is now staying with Willie’s Aunt Lottie.  She is quite surprised to see them.  Willie and Eddie stay with Aunt Lottie and Eva for a few days, and Eva shows them Lake Erie in all of its splendor.
Willie and Eddie then take Eva with them to Florida, and all three come into money.  Willie and Eddie bet on horses after having lost on dog races, and they have some modest winnings.  Eva is mistaken by someone in what one must assume to be a drug deal and returns to the hotel with a large stack of cash.  She leaves a note for the boys saying that she is flying back to Hungary.  They plan to stop her, but the only way to board the plane is to buy their own ticket.  Willie, it is assumed, ends up in Hungary.  Eddie is left waiting in Florida.  And Eva never got on the plane.

Cleveland (and it is Cleveland, not some stand-in city) is shown as a wasteland of snow and emptiness.  Although Eva escapes to Cleveland from New York City, she herself says that she doesn’t like it here.  She is more than willing to get away from Cleveland to go to Florida.  And Willie and Eddie don’t seem too fond of it either, even though earlier on in the film, Eddie kept saying how beautiful Cleveland was.  The Cleveland segment is by far the shortest of the three, so it is difficult to speak at length about it.

As Eddie and Willie are first driving into Cleveland, it’s obvious that they could not have taken I-90 West from New York because they are coming in north on the freeway where I-90 East and I-71 North converge at the start of the Innerbelt.  Also, there is a shot of the skyline that includes both the Terminal Tower and the BP Building, but of course no Key Tower.  I was intrigued to see old shots of Cleveland.

I guess I’d have to give this film a thumbs down because I was frustrated with the extremely slow pacing that Jarmusch used for the whole film.  Call me a product of the MTV generation all you want, but generally I have no problem keeping my attention fixed.  But this movie really tested that and I found myself wanting to watch the film in fast forward or not at all.  Sorry Tecia.

####

Directed by- Guy Ferland
Written by- Joe Esterhaus
Released in 1997 by BMG
 

   Telling Lies in America is a story about a coming of age Hungarian
immigrant boy(Brad Renfro) in Cleveland who is obsessed with trying to win
the local radio contest to get into the Student Hall of Fame on the radio
show dj’d by BillyMagic(Kevin Bacon).  Karchy gets on the show and then gets
offered a job by Billy Magic where he learns the in’s and out’s of the life
of a “famous” dj with girls, alcohol and glamour.  Karchy tells lies to
exaggerate all of his doings, thinking that he would be seen a cool and liked
more.  He realizes that his lies are hurting those he cares about and finds
the real him.

   Cleveland in this movie is projected as a clean city that hasn’t really
had much growth in technology and life as other larger cities had in the
60’s.  Cleveland is supposed to be the target city and the movie shows off
many of its good aspects.  The opening scene brings Bacon into Cleveland with
a view of Tower City and the bridges.  There is at times talk about how Bacon
got “stuck” in Cleveland and that it wasn’t the best city to work in but it
looked glamorous in the movie.  There are scenes with Karchy working at the
West Side Market and it looks great, clean and newer and not run down.  There
is a scene with LTV’s fire stacks in the background making the viewers aware
of Cleveland’s industrial side.  The radio station was supposed to be in the
building right next to the Terminal Tower(to the left) if entering from
Public Square.  The whole outside scene looked way more clean and
sophisticated than it does today. There is a scene where Bacon is leaving his
apartment
building and it looks exactly like the outside of the radio station.  Most
likely it was the same building front and just supposed to be overlooked.
Also, in the movie is a scene were they are at the Cleveland Court House.  A
line in
the movie that I loved is when the priest is asking Karchy where he will go
to college and Karchy replies “ I could go to Cleveland State, anyone can get
into Cleveland State.”
This line is probably the most significant evidence giving Cleveland a bad
name.  The movie made Cleveland look great and showed a lot of it’s good
aspects off.

   I give this movie a “thumbs up”!  It was cute.  I enjoyed the film because
it had a different subject and worked with the story well.  I also enjoyed
how Cleveland was represented in the film and only felt offensive with the
Cleveland State comment.

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Film -- Telling Lies in America (1997)
reviewed by Phil Shepley

Directed by -- Guy Ferland
Written by (Clevelander) -- Joe Eszterhas

     Telling Lies in America was your typical coming-of-age story.  Boy meets
the big world and is forced to make decisions which will make him a man.  In
this case, the boy is Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro), the big world is Cleveland
radio and the big-guy-mentor is deejay Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon).  Eventually
Karchy learns what it takes to hit it big while he struggles with his
immigrant father, a girl (Ally Mcbeal), and the Feds.

     I thought Cleveland was excellently portrayed in this film, especially
when compared to the more grubby look in the opening of Paradise.  City shots
in Telling Lies were made to look larger than life and always seemed to be
very pristine, aside from the factory scenes (which were still not too bad).
In other words, Cleveland was made to look like your typical cliche
"big-city" from America's Golden age, with all your sunny-sky-scraping tall
buildings and guys-with-hats. I don't think there was anything wrong with
this.  In the film, you definitely KNEW it was Cleveland, AND a burning river
or bad baseball team was never mentioned.

     I'm a sucker for this and have to give the movie a thumbs-up, even
though the coming-of-age plot was a little thin and typical.  A much better
film along the same lines was Almost Famous, in which Cleveland does make a
small appearance.

     FUN FACT!  Because of this film, we are all probably just two degrees of
separation from Kevin Bacon!  Take that, Minneapolis!

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Directed by Michael Pressman
Released by United Artist. (1980)
Synopsis of Plot:
This was not a bad movie, it had some cute moments and was entertaining. The
movie captured a time period of the 1950's.  The lead actor played by Thomas
Hulce was good.  His character in the movie was named Artie.  A familiar
face in the movie was Artie's dad, played by Jerry Stiller who was in Jerry
Seinfield'sitcom.  Artie starts hanging out at Kempton Hills Park Theater
and eventually works as a part of the stage crew and builds sets.  Artie's
dad who owns Shoemaker Auto Parts wants to see his son do well, but doesn't
want him working in the theater.
Artie learns about life and grows a lot through his experiences with the
theater.  If this sounds like your kind of film, take a peak!  I thought
this movie was average, but after seeing Proximity, this movie was a master
piece!  Make sure you watch Proximity before this movie.  I must say it was
very cool seeing Cain Park throughout the movie.

However, this is not a movie that's good for this project. Other parts of
Cleveland were not shown!  Some neighborhood shots of East side, like
Cleveland Heights, were captured in this movie.  Watching this movie and
envisioning Cain Park back in its "hay day" was nice; before Blossom and any
other outdoor venue for the arts in our surrounding area. I gave this film a
"thumbs up".

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Those Lips Those Eyes
reviewed by MARLENE STATLER

Herb Jaffee/1980
Production Company- United Artists

      Arte Shumacker is a senior in highschool and his parents want him to attend medical school.  Always the dream to have your child excel beyond the parents.    He has other dreams though that overshadow medical school.  He takes a summer job as a propman, a position he knows nothing about.  There he befriends Harry Crystal , the leading man.  he has aspiration to make it big in New York.  The movie follows the synopsis ' follow your dreams.
     Cleveland provides a wonderful setting for the film.  Cain park stage is very well utilized.  The constant references to Cleveland as a 'Graveyard' are ill placed, as spoken by Harry.  The film is supposed to be in Cleveland the small stepping stone to the big city, New York.  I believe the city plays well as the audience of Cain park, Cleveland natives, are receptive to the plays.  The shows are well attended giving the impression Cleveland is well versed in it's love of the arts.  It's portrayed as a small town niche in the role of life for Harry.   He wants to get away from it but it provides an opportunity for New York Producer to see his talents.  The city appears clean, well kept, quiet.
     The film is set in Cain Park, Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  I give two thumbs up to the movie.  I appreciate the effort made to obtain this rare footage.  I enjoyed being able to absorb part of Cleveland's history in this movie.

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Those Lips Those Eyes
reviewed by MICHAEL ROBINSON

Herb Jaffe/1980 Production Company- United States
 

     The main Character "Artie Shumacker " is a high school student whose parents want him to attend medical school after he graduates. He flunked anatomy and spends the summer retaking the anatomy class and finds employment.  His job in the film is a propman for a stage crew.  Artie has no experience in building or making anything.  The lighting and Camera angles were flawless they made Cleveland look breath taking, at night.  The audience comprised the well to do Cleveland high society out to see a play.  Later in the film Arte forms relationships with Harry the main character and one of the female cast. Harry's main goal is to be discovered and go to New York.  For him this is the big stage.
     In my opinion I really enjoyed the movie, it was as if Cleveland was a small town waiting to be discovered. It had that down home flavor which makes you want to experience that type of atmosphere.  Harry  downplays Cleveland's importance but the city plays a very important role.  Cain Park location is very useful for the plays.  It provides a sanctuary for the characters.  They can escape their normal life the theater.
     I enjoyed the movie, it receives my two thumbs up.  It is very refreshing to see my city used as a film location.  Cleveland has so much to offer any film crew if given the chance. The film quality was very good.

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THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES
reviewed by Michael James Quillin

A Herb Jaffe Production of a Michael Pressman Film
1980 United Artists release MGM/UA Home Video
Production 106mins
Directed by:     Michael Pressman
Dir. of Photography:    Bobby Byrne
Original Music/composed-conducted by: Michael Small
Musical Staging & Choreography by:  Dan Siretta
Production Designer:    Walter Scott Herndon
Edited by:     Millie Moore
Written by:     David Shaber
 A coming of age story about a struggling college
student experiencing the enthralling pleasures and
disappointing heartaches of a group of summer-stock
theatrical performers in the not so innocent 1950's.
Working backstage as a prop-man Artie Shoemaker
(Thomas Hulce) is a flunking premed student tempted by
the stage as a vehicle to meet women.  Harry Crystal
(Frank Langella) is the charming, charismatic,
summer-stock star performer stuck playing second rate
theaters, but longing for a triumphant return to
Broadway.  He has the charisma, integrity, and
talent--he just needs a break in the cutthroat world
of live theater.  Crystal becomes the mentor and
defender of novice prop-man Shoemaker.  Shoemaker also
succeeds, with some help from Crystal, in dating the
lead dancer Ramona (Glynnis O'connor) who initiates
him into the joys of sex.  Shoemaker is bitten by the
theater bug, and soon his whole future is teetering in
the balance of his new found love for the theater and
his love for Ramona.
 Cleveland, or more specifically, Cleveland Heights
looks great in this film.  We see very little of the
neighborhoods in the film, but what we do see has all
the charm of a quaint 1950's small town residential
area.  I am familiar with the Cain Park area and
recognized the neighborhood surrounding the park.
This is an area rich with small town history--Cain
Park Theater--and plenty of well kept early 20th
century homes lining the winding streets encircling
the park.  Kempton Hills Ohio (the name of the town
where the film takes place) comes to life as we tour
the placid, almost slumbering, streets of this small
town.  Kempton Hills beckons us to come visit, stop
for ice cream in the neighborhood parlor, visit the
local grocer, and enjoy the warm summer evenings at
Kempton Hills Theater enthralled with performances of
traditional Broadway Musicals.
 Kempton Hills Theater (Cain Park Theater) is the real
star of this show.  The film reveals Cain Park and all
its charm, from stage, to pavilion seats, to lawn and
upper pavilion.  We see the entire theater draped in
the mid-summer glow of a not too distant past.  For
those who have never visited Cain Park this film will
whet your appetite, and soon you too will want to tour
the plush natural surroundings that add a dash of
ambiance to any performance in this venue.
 Some interesting trivia about Those Lips, Those Eyes:
 When leaving the theater after an evenings rehearsal
Harry Crystal (Langella) takes a drink of beer and
makes the following remark--"where else but in
Cleveland would they ask you to drink 3.2 beer"--at
one time Cleveland had 2 different drinking ages, 18
and 21, if you were between the ages 18-21 you could
only buy 3.2 beer which contained a lower percentage
of alcohol; 3.2 beer was also the only beer available
during certain hours.  Harry was stuck drinking 3.2
beer after rehearsal, and he wasn't very happy about
this fact.  Which brings up another important bit of
trivia--theater people (at least locally from my
experience) really like to party after rehearsals and
performances.  Not only do we see Harry drinking beer
after rehearsal, but we also see the whole gang, stage
crew included, going out to the bar to party after a
show or rehearsal.  Again, from my experience, this is
exactly what happens during a performance run.  One
other piece of trivia:  At some point Harry mentions a
whorehouse on Prospect avenue.  Most people are well
aware that Prospect avenue has a reputation for
prostitution--evidently Harry Crystal was quite aware
of what was available on Prospect.
 I enjoyed Those Lips, Those Eyes (thumbs up!).  The
film not only had a number of excellent performances,
but it was also a very realistic portrayal of theater
life and what happens behind the scenes of a stage
production.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the treatment
of Cleveland (Cleveland Heights) in this film (thumbs
up!).  Cain Park looks spectacular, and the
residential areas surrounding the park could not blend
any better with the time period and feel of this
wonderful film!

####

Director:  Steven Soderbergh
Year of release:  2001
Rated:  R

Traffic is a drama starring Michael Douglas, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, Amy Irving, Benicio Del Toro, as well as
many other high-profile actors.  There are 3 different
stories that occur throughout this film, and they jump
back and fourth from story line to story line.  The
first is shot in Mexico (I think Tijuana) where two
corrupt Mexican policemen (Del Torro is one of them)
are recruited to work for Mexico's top drug policeman,
General Salazar. All the scenes that revolve around
the Mexican plot line are shot in a sort of yellowish
brown haze, giving the appearance that the country is
hot and impoverished. The second story line, shot in
San Diego, California, is about two undercover drug
officers who arrest a drug dealer named Carlos.  His
pregnant wife (Zeta-Jones) isn't aware of her husbands
drug dealing and works to get him out of jail.  The
third story line revolves around Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Robert Wakefield (played by Douglas) who is
about to become the U.S. head guy against drugs.  (I
can't remember what his title was.)  This plot centers
around his crusade against drugs and his own teenage
daughter's drug addictions.  He is the nations top
anti-drug official and isn't even aware of the problem
in his own home until it's gone way out of control.
This film may have been labeled a "Cleveland" film;
however, there is nothing Cleveland about it.  The 3rd
story line in this film is about Wakefield traveling
to and from D.C. to Cincinatti, Ohio.  The director
gives us two distinct views that depict Cincinatti.
The scenes are either in the rich section of town
where Wakefield and his family live, or there shot in
the seedy sections of the city where his daughter is
out scoring drugs.  In these scenes Cincinatti is not
shown in a very flattering way.  I've never been to
Cincinnati so I'm not sure how accurate the scenes
depicting that city were .  There is one scene in the
film where the daughter and her friends drop off one
of their friends at a hospital who has over dosed.  In
this scene you can clearly see that the license plate
is from Ohio.  Finally I liked the movie even though I
thought it was a little long, and some parts seemed to
drag. At first I didn't like watching the Mexican
shots in the yellow haze, but by the end of the movie
I got used to them. Soderbergh gives us a very
realistic almost chilling view of drug trafficking and
drug addiction and how it can effect peoples lives.  I
give the film a thumbs up.

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