The Electra Forums

Of all the strange things...

I watch this movie "Back in the Day" that just recently came out. And as it starts they talk about going from LA back to Newburgh for a class reunion - I kinda go Hmmmm. Then he arrives at the airport and I go - hey that looks familiar as the key character is coming out of our airport (EVV). Hey - that is HERE. They go to restaurant the called "the Knob" and it is "Knob Hill" which is about less than a half a dozen houses from mine. And "the Knob" sounds a lot funnier than Knob Hill. It is a local bar/restaurant that has been here for ages. In fact my property is on the edge of that very hill (more like the valley). If the trees weren't there I could throw a rock and hit it. Then they talk about Castle High School - yep - that is where my kids went and currently GO. And low and behold, they are shots in and all around the school, as well as the river front here, and houses all around here. My kids are/were Castle Knights. They keep talking about eating a Stromboli at Pizza King - heck I had one just Friday from the very same one (best damned Stromboli's around). I drove right by it today too. It was hilarious. I don't live in Nashville or St. Louis like some of our member do - I live in a very small town next to a small city. And this is not just my small town, but my neighborhood. I don't think this area has ever been featured in anything like a film.

It turns out the main character and the guy that put the movie together is from here. So bits of the movie are probably based on some truth. But Newburgh is the town and it isn't the name of the county and we don't have a county jail (in the movie). Green River Rd is the road the Mall is on and kids probably did cruise it as in the film in the 90s. The mall they went in was the "old" Mall though, and that mall is mostly disused really - it hasn't been the main mall since the 70s (the only life left in it is a Sears store on the end of it). The move is full of stupid/rauchy type humor that is pretty fun if you aren't overly sensitive to that stuff. It is full of sophomoric humor. It is in the vein but not the level of Animal House or VanWilder - not as good but still funny. Anyhow, it isn't often when you live in a small town like this and it winds up on a hollywood movie. Last time I remember this area being on the news it was because of the Tornado in 2005 that killed 27 people - and hey, that was not a good reason to be on TV. And the only other time I remember this general area having a movie shot here was "a League of Their Own" which a local (Evansville) minor league baseball field was used for the Racine Belles - but that was over 20 years ago, and that was Evansville (the largest city nearby here) and not Newburgh.

Anyhow, it won't likely win any awards. It is a low-budget comedy no doubt. But I have to say, I thought it had some funny moments when I gave it a chance. A good brainless comedy is fun every now and then. Clearly the whole movie was shot nearby. No - not everyone is like that here! And yes - it is exaggerated for effect. But we got some chuckles, and frankly most of the movies I see now that are supposed to be comedies are much LESS entertaining than this. It is some good mindless fun. It isn't a Woody Allen movie, and thank God. Woody Allen hasn't done a funny Comedy since Sleeper! Over half of the main actors I recognized from parts in other movies or comedies.

If I spent $40 I might feel jipped. But if I got on video is was a fun hour and a half - and almost right next door. Oh yeah, I know I heard a Mock Orange tune in the movie too - a local band that I know most of the members and they are FANTASTIC. Also with some classic 80s and 90s music.

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Thorny

You just know that everyone is now going to Google Earth the daylights out of you, don't you?!

It's wild seeing your area on the screen, eh; happened to us both in NZ when "The Frighteners" came out - filmed in Wellington, NZ. when I was there, and, of course, LOTR... which featured just about every scenic part of Godzone!

Jersey - in the Channel Islands - was the setting for an 80s cop show which probably never got screened in North America called "Bergerac" and we used to have a giggle at some of the scene edits, i.e. from one side of the island to another in the space of a split second! I know it's only a wee island, but it's not that wee!!

Slightly unsettling walking on Omaha Beach in Normandy, too... having seen Tom Hanks getting seven bells knocked out of him in "Saving Private Ryan"... and living around St Come du Mont, where "Band of Brothers" had a some pretty torrid action: some of the landscapes are still quite recognisable!

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

Because even the Australians need heroes."

There were a few in my area growing up in Nashville. The first one I was a kid going to my grand parents. The road was blocked, when they let us thru we drove thru the set of WW and the Dixie dance kings. Old Burt was in the trailer with the rest of the cast waiting in the car. It was a a store we used to stop at and get gas and cold drinks. My uncle used to live in the trailer in back. We came back that way going home and they had blown up the store.

The last I remember was a movie called Star Man with Jeff Bridges. A friend of mine had a custom van he wanted to get in the film. We parked at a drug store on the road they were shooting the scene where the cops shot the car door with a shot gun. The did about 6 takes that we saw. We went up to the church where they had their stunt gear at. A car hauler full of Mustangs and a effects guy loading up doors to explode when they shot them. That was cool.

Nichole Kidman shot a scene from a movie just down from the house not too long ago. I think it was just a scene of them driving down a country road while talking but it took all day to shoot. I missed that because of my hobby (work).

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SlmGuy

My apartment building front was used as a precinct house in a cop show around ten years ago. I didn't live here then. Film crews are pretty common here to the point of being a nuisance. Still when a commercial comes on and I see something in my neighborhood I sit up and take notice.