List

Movies Shot around or Set in Chicago, Part One

By Cecilia Cygnar

Here's a selection of great movies featuring out great city!

  • About Last Night

    2003

    Based on the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, this is a funny, sexy romantic comedy that tries its best to show how hard it is dating and living through the early days of relationships. Out of all of the 1980s young love rom-coms (yes, even the John Hughes ones), this is my favorite. Some great Chicago shots...and many Chicago bars!

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  • Adventures in Babysitting

    1999

    A silly romp of a movie that I would rewatch only for the great shots of Chicago. Basically, a kid escapes the grasp of the babysitter and this leads to a search through Chicago to be reunited. The search is the best part, since you see a lot of great Chicago scenes.

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  • Backdraft

    1998

    Apparently, when Ron Howard wanted to make a movie about firefighting, he knew he needed to set it in Chicago because the Chicago Fire Department has one of the best reputations in the country. Howard uses the city very well...including picking a great bungalow-lined street for the Kurt Russell character's home.

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  • Barbershop

    2003

    The first film in the series, this one and its sequel, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, are the only ones actually shot in Chicago. Both are filled with great South Side locations and neighborhoods, though much of what you will see in the film is the barbershop set.

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  • The Blues Brothers

    1998

    If I did a Chicago movie list and did not include this, I would have a mob chasing me! Some consider this the quintessential Chicago film, since it's one of the films most associated with Chicago. After it came out in 1980, people almost forgot about our connection to Al Capone. Basically, it's about two brothers who set out on "a mission from God" to save the Catholic orphanage where they grew up from foreclosure. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi wrote this movie "as a tribute" to Chicago. And it shows.

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  • The Breakfast Club

    2008

    I include this film because it was shot in the Chicagoland area, although the location is not in any way relevant to the movie. This film could be set in any high school in America. Hughes chose Maine North High School and its library to shoot in. It needs to be on the list because it's a local film. But don't expect to see any of Chicago or its surroundings. Just lots of school!

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  • Call Northside 777

    2004

    Back in the 1930s and '40s, off-set location shoots were rare. Even movies that have locations in their title were not shot there, In Old Chicago, San Francisco, etc. They were shot on massive studio soundstages. Director Henry Hathaway (known later in his career for Westerns) didn't want a soundstage. He wanted Chicago, where this film is set. After all, it's based on a real-life criminal case from the Windy City. He used the real locations that were used by the people, police, and the reporter involved in the actual case. And the outcome is a tense, taut thriller that sings with true authenticity.

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  • Chi-Raq

    2016

    Spike Lee's controversial film about violence in Chicago ruffled a lot of feathers when it came out. Some said it was highlighting crime for entertainment purposes. Some said it was frighteningly accurate. Regardless of how you feel about the movie, Lee shot in several great South Side locations, including St. Sabina Church. Watch it for that.

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  • Chicago

    2003

    Like Call Northside 777, which is based on a Chicago-based crime, this film is based on a period in Chicago when crime was sensationalized during the Roaring Twenties. Unlike Call Northside 777, almost none of this film is actually shot in Chicago. No, it's not a soundstage, but rather Toronto, Canada. Yes, I know. Express your outrage here! Even with that, I still love this one...but for the music, not for the location shots.

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  • Candyman

    1992

    A horror movie that I watched because of the Chicago connection. And boy do I wish I hadn't...not because it's not good (it is great!) but because of the several sleepless nights it caused. Lots of great Chicago locations, though more on the dark and gritty side.

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  • The Color of Money

    1999

    It's hard to believe this was shot in Chicago, but it was. There are some street scenes where you can see parts of Chicago neighborhoods. But mostly it's Chicago pool halls. So, if you're a pool player and know your local pool haunts, director Martin Scorsese, Paul Newman, and Tom Cruise just might have been hustling where you now play. Also an interesting tidbit, Navy Pier (before the renovation) was the location Scorsese used to shoot the interiors of the final Atlantic City tournament.

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  • Derailed

    2006

    A dark thriller with a good twist in it, but that's not the only one reason to watch this one. The other reason is some great Chicago scenes.

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  • Eight Men Out

    2001

    Based on the 1919 Black Sox scandal that rocked baseball and Chicago. Unfortunately, much of "Chicago" was filmed in Indianapolis, including shooting the Comiskey Park scenes at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis.

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  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off

    2006

    If you asked Chicagoans to name two films that were set in Chicago, most would name The Blues Brothers and this John Hughes classic. From the restaurant where the "Sausage King of Chicago" dines, to Wrigley Field, to the parade route where Ferris channels Wayne Newton with "Danke Schoen," to the Bueller home in Winnetka, to the Frye home in Highland Park...all have become iconic scenes in movie history and famed Chicago locations.

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  • The Fugitive

    2001

    This 1993 film stars Harrison Ford and earned Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Shot in various North and South Side locations around the city, Chicago has never looked better on screen. This one even includes actual footage from a St. Patrick's Day parade, complete with a shamrock green Chicago River.

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  • Groundhog Day

    2002

    Here's a movie that uses the Chicago area in reverse. This one is not set in Chicago, but it was almost entirely shot here, more specifically Woodstock, IL. Set in Punxsutawney, PA, where the annual and most famous Groundhog Day festival takes place, the small town in Western Pennsylvania was perfectly swapped out for the far suburb of Woodstock, an idea supplied in part by Chicago-native director Harold Ramis. Even today, many people flock to Woodstock to see iconic sights from this now classic 1993 film.

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  • High Fidelity

    2000

    Author Nick Hornby set his novel about a guy who works in a record store in London. When made into a movie, the screenwriters moved the setting to Chicago because it had a great alternative music scene. It didn't hurt that the star, John Cusack, is a Chicagoan. Much of the film is shot in the neighborhood of Wicker Park.

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