Favorite Films Shot In Chicago?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
Here are mine

1. The Weather Man (all time favorite film too)
2. The Breakfast Club
3. The Untouchables
4. The Blues Brothers
5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
6. My Best Friends Wedding (dont judge me)
7. High Fidelity
8. Payback (Directors Cut)
9. Child's Play (come on its chucky!)
10. Candyman
11. The Watcher (i'm probably the only person on the planet that enjoyed this one)
12. Only The Lonely
13. Widows (probably the most honest portrayal of modern chicago ive ever seen)
14. Medium Cool
15. She's Having A Baby (my favorite john hughes film)
16. Road to Perdition
17. Stranger Than Fiction
18. The Fugitive
19. While You Were Sleeping (again dont judge me)
20. Risky Business
 
The first real feature I ever worked on was Red Heat. I was Camera PA on 2nd unit, and we spent a lot of nights shooting a a car chase on State Street. It was actually a car/bus chase and that's significant because when you film a chase with a bus it's a MAJOR pain in the ass. We were shooting overnights for a couple weeks on that. I remember at the end of my very first day (so, dawn) the AC hands me the exposed film, which was a pile of 1000' cans because we were shooting multiple cameras, some of them high speed. Laden with 50 pounds of film that represents more than $100K of work when you consider all the stunt guys, lighting crew, etc., he looked me in the eye and said, "Nervous? Good. That's why I know this will get to the lab safely."

Anyway, dumb action movie, but it's a strong Chicago movie memory for a kid who was still in college at Northwestern.

For a very different but significant Chicago movie reference, there's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
 
Mitch Gross said:
The first real feature I ever worked on was Red Heat. I was Camera PA on 2nd unit, and we spent a lot of nights shooting a a car chase on State Street. It was actually a car/bus chase and that's significant because when you film a chase with a bus it's a MAJOR pain in the ass. We were shooting overnights for a couple weeks on that. I remember at the end of my very first day (so, dawn) the AC hands me the exposed film, which was a pile of 1000' cans because we were shooting multiple cameras, some of them high speed. Laden with 50 pounds of film that represents more than $100K of work when you consider all the stunt guys, lighting crew, etc., he looked me in the eye and said, "Nervous? Good. That's why I know this will get to the lab safely."

Anyway, dumb action movie, but it's a strong Chicago movie memory for a kid who was still in college at Northwestern.

For a very different but significant Chicago movie reference, there's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.
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Firstly, seen red state and loved it. Second, Mitch I never knew you were from Chicago?! WTF! Third, Seen Henry at way too young of an age, messed with me for a bit. Hard film to swallow given its true.

I forgot to mention Michael Mann's THIEF. Beautiful film!
 
Rudy is great, a good friend did five or six weeks in south bend as an actor on that shoot. Back before they became super efficient with how many days a minor character would work. When I had my first play produced one of the actors told of his good friend getting hired to do three days on heavens gate. Every morning he'd go to downstairs at hotel in Montana or Wyoming to find his call time only to be told his scene wasn't shooting that day. That went on for almost a year. The whole time collecting a nice check. Helped bankrupt ua.
 
David_Manning said:
Hands down, Running Scared (1986) directed by Peter Hyams. Starred Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.
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That is a good one. That location they filmed the ending shootout in, I went though that building everyday for 2 years because the subway runs underneath it and its stop brought you right downtown. Had a pretty large food court in the basement too. Really beautiful building. The illinois film office is in that building as well.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Not from Chicago but went to Northwestern U. as an undergrad.
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Oh nice. I grew up in Naperville, but I lived in the city from 2014-2018. Spent my first 2 years at an apartment on the corner of Hollywood and sheridan where LSD ends on the north side and then final two years I was right downtown next to the Sheraton hotel by navy pier off mcclurg. Really miss my home.. Hope to return to Illinois in the next 2-5 years.
 
Ordinary People (chiefly shot in the northern 'burbs; a few scenes downtown)
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (unsure if it was shot in the city itself)
 
KMR said:
Ordinary People (chiefly shot in the northern 'burbs; a few scenes downtown)
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party (unsure if it was shot in the city itself)
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Ordinary People is (IMO) redford's greatest attempt at directing and it was shot mostly in Lake Forest, Illinois with one scene in northbrook at the mall and a scene along the river where the trump tower stands now.. great film!

know of that second film but have not seen it.
 
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