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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is likely not the first city to be thrown out when people get to talking about movies, but if you are a movie fan, chances are youÕve been seeing a lot of Pittsburgh. Oh, you may have been watching a movie played out in Washington, D.C. or Memphis, Tennessee or New York City but the city you were seeing on the screen was Pittsburgh. In some movies, Pittsburgh even gets to play itself.
It used to be that Hollywood came marching to Pittsburgh every time a movie called for a steel mill in the background. The gritty old mills provided the setting for Michael Simmons Vietnam-era saga,THE DEER HUNTER (1978), even though the actual deer hunting scenes were shot clear across the country in Washington state.
Pittsburgh also got a big image boost when Jennifer Beals pursued her dream of abandoning her welding job in a steel mill for a chance at ballet school in FLASHDANCE (1983). In the movie Beals dances through the Hall of Sculpture at the Carnegie Institute at 4400 Forbes Avenue. Another time Hollywood made effective use of the cityÕs steel-forging atmosphere was in ROBOCOP (1987) when Peter Weller confronts his executioners at the Duquesne Steel Works (Route 837, Duquesne, Pennsylvania).
Cult movie fans were probably too scared to look for Pittsburgh in the classic low-budget zombie flick, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) when a radiation leak causes recently buried corpses to rise from the grave and seek human flesh for food. The movie was shot in and around the Steel City. The memorable opening sequence was filmed along the entrance road of the Evans City Cemetery, 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. The obelisk which OĂ•Dea cowers behind while Russell Steiner grapples with a ghoul is the Kramer monument.
In the sequel, DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), the filmmakers used the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, shooting in the Monroeville Mall. Shooting of the scenes with four terrified people trying to survive the zombie attack by sealing themselves inside the shopping mall took place from 10 at night until 6 in the morning while the stores were closed. The weapons store was shot in downtown Pittsburgh and added to the mall in the movie.
Julius Erving and Jonathan Winters came to Pittsburgh and filmed mostly on the cityÕs northside for the basketball fantasy, THE FISH THAT SAVED PITTSBURGH (1979). The actual basketball scenes were staged at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena at 1 Mario Lemieux Place after the woeful team got help from a psychic.
A real-life incident spawned MRS. SOFFEL (1984), which was filmed at the Allegheny Jail on 930 Second Avenue in Pittsburgh. Built in 1886, the jail was the site of an affair between a wardenÕs wife, played by Diane Keaton in the movie, and a charismatic prisoner, played by Mel Gibson. She eventually helps him escape. The tower of the stone courthouse adjoining the Allegheny Jail was once the tallest structure in Pittsburgh at 325 feet.
In the last ten years, Hollywood has worn a path to Pittsburgh, beginning with its greatest exposure in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991). The Soldiers and Sailors Museum (4141 Fifth Avenue) was transformed into the Memphis (Tennessee) Town Hall where psychopathic serial killer Anthony Hopkins is caged and interrogated by FBI cadet Jodie Foster. Foster also walks through the Òbug roomÓ in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (4400 Forbes Avenue).
In 1992, Pittsburgh made a quick appearance in HOFFA when the Carnegie Mellon Institute on Fifth Avenue doubled for a Washington DC courtroom where Jack Nicholson was tried. Pittsburgh also stood in for Washington DC that year in LORENZOÕS OIL when parents Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte start working on cure for rare disease afflicting their son after the medical establishment forsakes them. Although set in the nationÕs capital, it was Pittsburgh on the screen. SarandonÕs house is actually a facade built between two existing homes on Dickson Avenue in Ben Avon, a Pittsburgh suburb. Nolte and Sarandon discuss their sonÕs case with Peter Ustinov after an opera performance at the Carnegie Music Hall (4400 Forbes Avenue).
Tim Robbins filmed his live television segment, Ă’The Cutting Edge,Ă“ in the studios of WQED-TV (4802 Fifth Avenue) for his political satire BOB ROBERTS (1992). Also in Pittsburgh, the council chambers of the City/County Building on Grant Street were converted into a Senate hearing room. About the same time another type of bloodsucker was stalking the streets of Pittsburgh in the vampire movie INNOCENT BLOOD (1992). Anthony LaPaglia finally kills Robert Loggia at Liberty Avenue near Market Square; earlier Pittsburgh locations included the Melody Lounge, which played a Mob hangout, and Shadyside Gas in Squirrel Hill.
Pittsburgh played a central part in THE CEMETERY CLUB (1993) when Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd play three friends in their 50s who all lose their husbands and meet annually at their graves in the Allegheny Cemetery (4734 Butler Street). Lainie KazanÕs many wedding ceremonies and receptions are staged at the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts (600 Penn Avenue). Moskowitz Music is really Spratt Music on Brownsville Road in Brentwood.
PittsburghÕs three major rivers are the setting for the Bruce Willis action pic STRIKING DISTANCE (1993). Willis plays a Pittsburgh cop who looks for his fatherÕs killer inside the police force and is rewarded for his snooping with a demotion to river duty. The movie filmed almost entirely in Pittsburgh; Willis docks his houseboat at WashingtonÕs landing on the Allegheny River, the car explosion in the opening sequence was filmed in the Armstrong Tunnel, and three police cars go airborne on Fifth Avenue in Duquesne. The River Rescue Station that Willis worked from was built atop a barge at the old River Rescue Center on PittsburghÕs south side. Another movie creation was the cabin on Duck Hollow which was the scene of the final shoot-out.
Although filmed mostly in Italy the romantic comedy ONLY YOU (1994) with Robert Downey, Jr. and Marisa Tomei used scenes shot in Pittsburgh prior to the story moving overseas, including at the Kennywood Amusement Park (Exit 9 off I-376, West Mifflin), built in 1899 by A.W. Mellon. Tomei lived in an apartment in Shadyside at Bayard and Morewood avenues. For something completely different, Jean Claude Van Damme rescues hockey fans from saboteurs threatening to blow up the Pittsburgh Civic Arena during the Stanley Cup Finals (1995).
The city took another comedic turn in the bowling farce KINGPIN (1996) when Woody Harrelson tries to turn Amish Randy Quaid into a kegling champion. The early bowling scenes were staged at the Forward Lanes (5844 Forward Avenue), in the 4th floor of a brick warehouse. The final million-dollar winner-take-all bowling match between Bill Murray and Harrelson was filmed at the National Bowling Stadium, AmericaÕs largest bowling alley, in Reno, Nevada.
Pittsburgh got one of its biggest workouts in DOGMA (1999). The movie was shot almost entirely in Pittsburgh, whose locations played those in Chicago, Milwaukee and New Jersey. Locations included St. PaulÕs Cathedral in Oakland; the Grand Concourse of the
Steel Building; the Eckerds on Banksville Road; and the Franklin Inn Mexican Restaurant (2313 Rochester Road, Franklin Park). Pittsburgh International Airport plays the fictional General Mitchell Airport.
Robert Downey, Jr. returned to Pittsburgh to star in WONDER BOYS (2000) with Michael Douglas as an English professor struggles with an unstable student, his pregnant lover and unfinished novel. Much of the film was shot on the campus of Carnegie-Mellon with inside scenes at Baker Hall and the College of Fine Arts. Additional footage was shot in PittsburghÕs Hill District and on the North Side.
The preceding is merely a sampling of Pittsburgh rich cinematic history so look closely the next time you watch your favorite movie and see if you donÕt see Pittsburgh.
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