Most Arizona residents should be aware that the opening sequences of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho were shot in downtown Phoenix.
You may recall seeing our freeways in the film Little Miss Sunshine.
Because Arizona used to offer large tax benefits to filmmakers who wanted to shoot movies in the Grand Canyon State, many classics were made there, including some that may surprise you. Our state has provided setting for a number of famous films, ranging from desert locations in faraway countries to sci-fi vistas.
Here are 20 of our favorite films filmed in Flagstaff, Arizona:
Forrest Gump (1994)
IMDB 8.8
82 Metascore
The presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and other historical events unfold from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, whose only desire is to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Gross: $330.25M
Casablanca (1942)
8.5 IMDB
100 Metascore
A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
7.8 IMDB
80 Metascore
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Gross: $59.89M
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)
7.4 IMDB
55 Metascore
The Griswold family’s cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid
Gross: $61.40M
Over the Top (1987)
5.8 IMDB
40 Metascore
Tough trucker Lincoln Hawk is determined to win back his son and triumph at the world arm wrestling championships.
Director: Menahem Golan | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely, Rick Zumwalt
Gross: $16.06M
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
7.0 IMDB
50 Metascore
Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine.
Director: Stephen Herek | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin, Terry Camilleri
Gross: $40.49M
Easy Rider (1969)
7.3 IMDB
85 Metascore
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.
Director: Dennis Hopper | Stars: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza
Gross: $41.73M
Midnight Run (1988)
7.5 IMDB
78 Metascore
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Gross: $38.41M
V/H/S (2012)
5.8 IMDB
55 Metascore
When a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Chad Villella, Ti West, Adam Wingard | Stars: Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes, Adam Wingard, Hannah Fierman
Gross: $0.10M
Dead Man (1995)
7.6 IMDB
62 Metascore
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange aboriginal American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen
Gross: $1.04M
Terminal Velocity (1994)
5.5 IMDB
A maverick skydiver and a former KGB agent team up to stop the Russian mafia from stealing gold.
Director: Deran Sarafian | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, James Gandolfini, Christopher McDonald
Gross: $16.48M
Raise Your Voice (2004)
5.9 IMDB
33 Metascore
A girl from a small town heads to the big city of Los Angeles to spend the summer at a performing arts high school.
Director: Sean McNamara | Stars: Hilary Duff, John Corbett, Rebecca De Mornay, Oliver James
Gross: $10.41M
Angel and the Badman (1947)
6.9 IMDB
Quirt Evans, an all round bad guy, is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth, a Quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose between his world and the world Penelope lives in.
Director: James Edward Grant | Stars: John Wayne, Gail Russell, Harry Carey, Bruce Cabot
The Getaway (1994)
5.8 IMDB
51 Metascore
An ex-con and his devoted wife must flee from danger when a heist doesn’t go as planned.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods
Gross: $16.10M
Day of the Outlaw (1959)
7.3 IMDB
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
6.7 IMDB
78 Metascore
A Hollywood director emerges from semi-exile with plans to complete work on an innovative motion picture.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: John Huston, Oja Kodar, Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg
Broken Arrow (1950)
7.2 IMDB
Tom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael
Yellowstone Kelly (1959)
6.6 IMDB
In 1870s, in the Sioux territory south of the Missouri, trapper and Indian scout Luther Yellowstone Kelly is hired by the army at Fort Buford but runs into trouble with the Sioux.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Clint Walker, Edd Byrnes, John Russell, Ray Danton
Lightning Jack (1994)
5.5 IMDB
Lightning Jack Kane is an Australian outlaw in the wild west. During a bungled bank robbery he picks up mute Ben Doyle as a hostage. The two become good friends, with Jack teaching Ben how … See full summary »
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Paul Hogan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Beverly D’Angelo, Kamala Lopez
Gross: $16.82M
The Quick and the Dead (1987 TV Movie)
6.9 IMDB
A mysterious stranger rides into a homesteading family’s life when they are attacked by a ruthless gang.
Director: Robert Day | Stars: Sam Elliott, Tom Conti, Kate Capshaw, Kenny Morrison