Ok, so this movie isn't the greatest. But to a Louisville native like me, it is fascinating in that is shows a bit of city as it was in the mid-70's, for instance the water tower off of Zorn Ave, the Burger Chef on Shelbyville Rd, and Standiford Field.
shareInteresting that you should mention this topic. I just finished watching the movie on DVD and I was thinking about Louisville.
It looked like it was a fairly developed city, but there were not really many people on the streets or sidewalks. So why did it need so many tall buildings? So, did Louisville used to be more populated and a lot of people left or do you think they cleared the roads and sidewalks for filming?
In the Chicago scenes, there were always tons of people (like the woman with 1 arm) and traffic so you knew it was the big city.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
Louisville in 1975 was pretty well populated at about 800,000 people. Weekends at the Belvedere, where Pam and her man are walking before when he asks her if she's single, was packed on weekends.
During the week the downtown area tended to be dead, as was the stretch of Main Street where the Loans place was located. You'll note the open sequence at night was well trafficked as there are lots of night clubs in that area.
I'm actually re-watching this movie right now and am at the point where she goes to the Burger Chef. It's weird being able to identify stuff based on just little glimpses of architecture. I haven't lived in Louisville since 1995, and this movie just points out how little the city did change in 20 years.
That's cool barbelith23. Thanks for responding.
I know what you mean by being weirded out at recognizing places in a movie. Especially one that's from a different time period. That's how I feel when I see Santa Cruz or San Francisco in some movies. I get a lot of "hey I've been there" moments.
I've seen so many different views of New York City in TV shows and movies, I often get that deja vu feeling for that city too. The Jodie Foster movie The Brave One used a lot of locations that have been on many Law and Order shows. At times, I was waiting for Lt. Anita Van Buren or Jack McCoy to show up.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
The scenes of Louisville made this movie worthwhile for me -- that and Pam Grier, of course. I had no idea Louisville was that large.
If you lived in Louisville, maybe you can comfirm that Sheba did indeed return to Chicago at the end. When she takes the taxi to the airport, I kind of expected her to turn back, and the film never showed her boarding the plane. But she's wearing different clothes in the final scene over the credits, so I assume she's back in Chicago.
One thing I loved about the Burger Chef scene was the menu with the prices. I'll have a cheeseburger for 35 cents, please. Make that two!
I was tripping out when I saw this movie this morning at 5:50 A.M. I, too am a Kentucky native and I was tripping when I realized this was movie made in my home state. People have the impression that Kentucky is a hillbilly state. The next time somebody asks me about what Kentucky is like, I'll tell them to take a glimpse at this movie, just to get a little idea.
shareI don't think anyone thinks of KY as a Hillbilly state. Only East KY is within the Appalachian range.
One thing that does bug me though is Kentucky is often considered "The South" but Virginia (which is pretty much the same lattitude) is often considered Mid-Atlantic. Kentucky wasn't even in the Confederacy. Virginia is much more Southern than KY in many ways. I met some Kentuckians and to me they seemed more like Midwesterners than Southern. Louisville is definitely not as Southern as Richmond.
For anyone who doesn't know, the beginning of the movie, "Stripes" was also filmed in downtown Louisville just 6 years later.
Being from Louisville this movie was really fun for me to watch and see what it looked like way back when (before my time!). It blows my mind how tiny the airport was. LoL
More made in Louisville films: Elizabethtown, Keep Your Distance, The Insider, Nice Guys Sleep Alone.
It's fun seeing spots you know, but funny to see them "driving" somewhere and realize they're going the wrong way or that the scene has been spliced so actually YOU know they're driving all over town to get somewhere 5 minutes from where they were headed!
Most, if not all, of William Girdler's films were at least partially shot in Louisville; he was a native of the area. Abby is a good example.
Helga, I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at the dirt.