Is Your State Featured in Our United States of Movies?
Nothing says summer like a trip around the country
Summer’s in full swing and it’s finally time to take that trip around the country you’ve been planning. Need some advice on where to visit? Here at Tribeca Shortlist, we’re featuring a collection of films that all perfectly embody the state they take place in. From the wilds of Alaska to the bayou, from big cities to scorching hot border towns, these are the United States of Movies.
Interested in any movie? Just click on the state to start streaming with a FREE Tribeca Shortlist trial.
Visit Massachusetts with ‘Next Stop Wonderland’
Take a trip through Boston with this charming modern romantic drama. Erin and Alan’s paths cross frequently, but the timing is always off, until they both find themselves alone on the train headed to Wonderland, just outside of Boston. From director Brad Anderson, also known for Transsiberian, Hope Davis delivers a star-making turn alongside a young Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Visit New York with ‘Escape From New York’
Okay… we know we’re cheating a little with this one. And visiting NYC isn’t really like visiting the ruins of a future-New York that’s been turned into a hellish prison (unless you come during August, god help you). But we love the way the monuments still shine through the rubble. And who can ever get enough of Kurt Russell’s turn as Snake Plissken?
Visit South Carolina with ‘The Big Chill’
Take a vacation in South Carolina with some of your closest old friends. A once close group of college friends gather for an uneasy reunion to mourn the death, by suicide, of one of their own. Throughout the course of an introspective weekend, they reminisce about their shared past and confront the compromises that have left them disenchanted with adulthood. A Boomer classic set to a memorable soundtrack of sixties rock and R&B hits.
Visit Florida with ‘The Birdcage’
No movie better embodies the vibrancy and excitement of Miami in the 1990s like The Birdcage. In this hilarious adaptation of the 1978 French farce La Cage aux Folles, the story centers on the life of a middle-aged, flamboyant gay couple, their straight son and his plans to get married. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane shine under Mike Nichols’ direction.
Visit Mississippi with ‘Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story’
Visit Mississippi for a personal yet culturally resonant story about racial tensions, which also serves as a testament to those who courageously speak out against injustice. Booker Wright became an unlikely activist for the Civil Rights movement when he appeared on a network TV documentary reporting on the changing times in his small town. Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and directed by Oscar-nominated, independent filmmaker Raymond De Felitta.
Visit Illinois with ‘Chicago’
What could be better than a musical romp through old-timey Chicago? Starry-eyed, small-time chorus girl Roxie Hart kills her lover and ends up in jail alongside vaudeville sensation Velma Kelly, behind bars for murdering her cheating husband but defended by hotshot lawyer, Billy Flynn. But when Billy takes on Roxie’s case too, he turns the wannabe star into a media sensation and sets off a singing, dancing catfight between the two women.
Visit Louisiana with ‘Angel Heart’
No movie quite captures the heat and humidity of New Orleans like Angel Heart. Raggedy, 1950s New York private eye Harry Angel (a distinctly unkempt Mickey Rourke) is hired by the mysterious Louis Cyphre (a devilishly stylized Robert De Niro) to track down missing singer Johnny Favorite. But when his investigation takes him to the outskirts of New Orleans, everyone he questions about the singer’s whereabouts ends up killed in a brutal, ritualistic fashion.
Visit Texas with ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’
For a visit to the dusty border towns the line the Texas-Mexico border, check out this bloody fun flick. Slightly sadistic brothers and robbers-on-the-lam Seth and Richie Gecko are fleeing to Mexico when they kidnap an ex-preacher and his two children in order to sneak across the border in the family’s RV. They all hide out in a rough-and-tumble topless bar while waiting to rendezvous with a local thug — until they realize the bar’s owner and clientele are bloodthirsty vampires.
Visit California with ‘Jackie Brown’
Need a dose of California sun (and guns)? Check out Jackie Brown. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, this adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1992 novel Rum Punch centers on Jackie Brown, a down-on-her-luck stewardess played by Pam Grier. After she is caught smuggling cash and cocaine into the country for a ruthless arms dealer, played by Samuel Jackson, romantic interests quickly develop between her and a bail bondsman. Her luck finally changes when a plan to double-cross the cops pays off.
Visit Idaho with ‘Smoke Signals’
Take a trip to the Coeur D’Alene Indian Reservation in Idaho with Smoke Signals. Victor’s first trip off the reservation is one of discovery, friendships, family, humor, and includes several choruses of an ode to John Wayne’s false teeth. The first movie written, directed and co-produced by Native Americans and based on a short story by Sherman Alexie.
Visit Montana with ‘A River Runs Through It’
A nostalgic tale of a stern minister (a perfectly cast Tom Skerritt) and his two sons (a newly famous Brad Pitt and studious Craig Sheffer), growing up and apart in the small towns and surrounding trout streams of early twentieth century western Montana. Norman Maclean’s beloved autobiographical novella is lovingly adapted — and melodically narrated — by director Robert Redford.
Visit Alaska with ‘Grizzly Man’
Need to get off the continental U.S.? Visit the stunning vistas of Alaska with Grizzly Man. Renowned documentary director Werner Herzog chronicles the life and death of amateur grizzly bear activist and outdoorsman Timothy Treadwell, who spent 13 summers living among wild grizzlies in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Reserve before he and his girlfriend were ultimately killed and eaten by the very animals to whom he had devoted his life.
*Photos by Kelly Steinmetz
