MovieChat Forums > ...All the Marbles (1981) Discussion > Industrial wasteland backdrop

Industrial wasteland backdrop

posted 11 years ago by scubadivergeek
4 replies | jump to latest

Interesting that for the first half of the film (up until they get to Chicago) every time there's a shot of their car going down the road, nearly all of them show steel mills, factories, etc in the background. There's even the moment where they're driving past one such factory on the highway, and Iris or Molly (I forget which) comments about being thankful she doesn't have to work there.

Sort of gives a view of that working class background, where a lot of people are desperate to avoid the fate of working in a factory or steel mill or whatever. And that was around the time when a lot of the factories were closing down, too, around the time that this part of the country started being referred to as "the rust belt". Surely, it's no accident that the film begins in Akron, Ohio.

[–] bossat2822 11 years ago

Yeah, some of this was filmed in my hometown (Youngstown,Ohio) and it's ironic that you say that people were thankful they didn't work at those places. When the jobs left and the air became somewhat breathable, the entire region was begging that we had those jobs back. The economy still hasn't recovered around here. Also ironic is that the mud wrestling scene was filmed in Youngstown's Idora amusement park, which closed 3 years later due to 1. A devastating fire..and 2. A dying economy that would have doomed that park even if the fire didn't occur

[–] Maverikk 11 years ago

Yep, Youngstown is my hometown, too. I remember Peter Faulk calls it a dump. lol I remember the steel mills being shown, Idora Park, and the girls jogging in Mill Creek park.

[–] revans7583 10 years ago

I grew up in Akron,and the reality is that people begged for those jobs.Those jobs are the ones people are talking about as far as the old "middle class" that built America.They were a way for people without college educations,from poorer families,to live well.
If they were still there,I would be too.
One thing people don't know,but it was an inside joke in town at the time.There's a scene where they go through a drive-thru liquor store.Falk had to have that in the movie because he'd never seen one anywhere else.Jaco's is still there.

[–] steffan101 (2) 2 years ago

This reminds me of the Bill Joel song Allentown, released one year after the movie.

The opening lines - "Well we're living here in Allentown / And they're closing all the factories down" - reflect the theme of industrial decline.