Wicked Good Guide to Mass. Movies
Compiled by Adam Gaffin
If a movie was shot in Massachusetts, or is based on events that happened here or people who were born here, then it's on this list. Share your opinions of these movies - click on the "Comment" links below. Is something missing from the list? Let me know. And, yes, I need to add back the TV shows!
All movies
1776
John Adams spends his summer vacation in Philadelphia.
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Alex and Emma
They stroll across the Harvard Bridge. 2003.
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Alias Boston Blackie
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Alice's Restaurant
Arlo Guthrie learns the dangers of littering.
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Ally McBeal
The saga of a young lawyer who happens to be nuts. Same producers as "The Practice," so sometimes you saw characters from one show show up in the other. Has beautiful aerial shots of Boston, but other than that and the occasional joke about the Patriots, this could be set anywhere in the country - you'll never hear a Boston accent.
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Amazing Grace and Chuck
See the Celtics in the old Garden.
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America (1924)
D.W. Griffiths' vision of the original Patriots' Day.
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Amistad
That's our very own John Quincy Adams, in scenes shot in the State House.
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Andre
OK, it was filmed in British Columbia and the lead was played by a sea lion, but other than that, it was almost true to the real story of Andre the Seal.
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April Morning
Starring the immortal Vlasta Vrana as Paul Revere.
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Between the Lines
Anybody remember the Real Paper?
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Blown Away
Copley Square and East Boston go boom (during filming, parts of the latter neighborhood actually did catch on fire).
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Boondock Saints, The
Willem Defoe tries to stop twin brothers on a mission from God before they kill another mobster. 1999.
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Boston Strangler, The
Tony Curtis does the Hub.
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Bostonians, The
Henry James comes to the silver screen.
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Brinks Job, The
Proto-gang that couldn't shoot straight almost gets away with big North End heist.
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Brown of Harvard
John Wayne, Harvard man (in an uncredited role).
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Captains Courageous
With a landing in Gloucester. 1937.
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Carnal Knowledge
College kids discover each other in the Berkshires.
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Celtic Pride
Dan Akroyd as a loser Celtics fan.
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Chance of a Lifetime, The
1943.
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Change of Seasons, A
Includes a scene in the Williamstown College gym. Written by Erich "Love Story" Segal. 1980.
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Civil Action, A
John Travolta gets stuck in traffic on Rte. 128, gets off in Woburn.
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Cocoanut Grove
Made before the fire. 1938.
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Coma
Hangin' around at Boston City Hospital (with exterior shots in Lexington).
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Covenant, The
Descendants of a 17th-century group of colonists discover supernatural powers aren't all they're cracked up to be. 2006.
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Crucible, The
Daniel Day-Lewis edition. 1996.
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Crucible, The
Salem witch trials or McCarthy hearings? 1957.
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Dealing: Or the Berkeley-To-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
Oh, gosh, now whatever could this be about? 1972.
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Departed, The
Jack Nicholson as Whitey Bulger. 2006
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Fear Strikes Out
The Jimmy Pearsall story. 1957.
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Fever Pitch
Jimmy Fallon pretends to be a Red Sox fan. 2005.
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Field of Dreams
Includes a Fenway Park scene. 1989.
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Firm, The
Tom Cruise graduates Harvard Law. 1993.
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Forrest Gump
JFK and Worcester boy Abbie Hoffman both have cameos. 1994.
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Friends of Eddie Coyle, The
Robert Mitchum plays a tough-guy Boston mobster. 1973.
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Glory
The 54th Massachusetts marches into battle.
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Good Mother, The
Not just filmed here, directed by West End native Leonard Nimoy. 1988.
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Good Will Hunting
Wicked smaht MIT janitor from Southie falls in love with Harvard student. See also our guide to mistakes in the movie: Good Won't Hunting.
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Great Moment, The
Ether is invented. A real snoozer.
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Harvard, Here I Come!
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Hocus Pocus
Bette Middler looking really ugly as a 300-year-old Salem witch.
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Hoffa
Jimmy vs. Bobby Kennedy.
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Home Before Dark
Jean Simmons as neurotic Marblehead housewife.
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Honeymoon Killers
Scene filmed in Pittsfield. 1969.
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House of God, The
Crusading docs at Beth Israel. 1984.
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House of the Seven Gables, The
A Salem story that doesn't have anything to do with witches (although it does have a character named Hepzibah). 1940.
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Housesitter
Exciting close-ups of Plymouth & Brockton buses. 1992.
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Human Stain, The
Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman smear up the Berkshires. 2003.
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In Dreams
Annette Bening develops a psychic link with the serial killer who murdered her daughter by the shores of the Quabbin Reservoir. Key dialogue flaw: At one point, her husband discusses a murder "upstate." There is no upstate Massachusetts. 1999.
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
That's Harvard in the early scenes.
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JFK
Kevin Costner tries for the award for the worst Boston accent ever. 1991.
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Jaws
Them's Massachusetts extras getting eaten. 1975.
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Johnny Tremain
The Shot Heard 'Round the World as explained by a teen-ager. 1957.
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Just Cause
Sean Connery as a Harvard Law prof. 1995.
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Last Hurrah, The
The story of Frank Skeffington, a.k.a. James Michael Curley. 1958.
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Legally Blonde
Valley Girl gets law degree at Harvard. 2001.
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Little Women
No Winona Ryder, but what can you do? 1949.
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Little Women
Scenes in Concord, as is only right. 1994.
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Love Field
Michelle Pfeiffer sees JFK shot. 1992.
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Love Story
Love means never having to pahk your cah in Hahvihd Yahd. 1970.
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Maid of Salem
1937.
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Malcolm X
He worked at the Parker House. 1992.
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Malice
Fear stalks a New England college. Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin appear. 1993.
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Mermaids
With cameo by local boy Rex Trailer as Winona Ryder's gynecologist. 1990.
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Moby Dick
Retelling of a tale of a whale. Patrick Stewart makes it so. 1998.
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Moby Dick
A tale of a whale. 1956.
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Moby Dick
A whale of a tale. 1930.
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Mona Lisa Smile
A pretty woman tries to shake up staid, dowdy Wellesley College in the 1950s. 2003.
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Mr. Baseball
Tom Selleck in Fenway Park. 1992.
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Mystery Street
Murder at Harvard. 1950.
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Mystic River
Clint Eastwood's take on the gritty, mean streets of working-class Boston. 2003.
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Never Too Late
Fifty-something Concord resident (Maureen O'Sullivan) learns she's pregnant. Hubbie (Paul Ford) is none too thrilled. 1965.
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Next Karate Kid, The
Filmed at Brookline High. 1994.
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Next Stop Wonderland
Rivals "Good Will Hunting" in its depiction of a Boston subway line. 1998.
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Oleanna
William H. Macy as sleezeball professor in this adaptation of David Mamet's play. 1994.
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Oliver's Story
Love means never having to say you saw this sequel. 1978.
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Once Around
The Rte. 62 rotary in Arlington, that is. 1991.
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Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them, The
Includes a Fenway Park scene. 1992.
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Out of Towners, The
Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn start their great misadventure in NYC by getting lost at Logan Airport. 1999.
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Out of Towners, The
Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis start their great misadventure in NYC by getting lost at South Station. 1970.
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PT 109
Cliff Robertson swims through shahk-infested waters. 1963.
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Paper Chase, The
Minds of mush at Harvard Law. 1973.
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Physical Evidence
Burt Reynolds and Theresa Russell visit the Hub. 1989.
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Pretty Poison
Filmed in Great Barrington. 1968.
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Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover
What does he have on the Kennedys?
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Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The
Springfield and Longmeadow scenes. 1988.
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Reversal of Fortune
Who can forget the classic Herald headline: "Klaus was a louse"? Certainly not Alan Dershowitz, ace Harvard law prof, who took on his case. 1990.
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River Wild, The
Meryl Streep rows down the Charles before tackling something a bit less mild. 1994.
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Ruby
The man who shot the man who shot JFK. 1992.
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Sacco and Vanzetti
Convicted in Dedham, waked in the North End. 1971.
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Scarlet Letter, The
John Heard earns an A. 1979.
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Scarlet Letter, The
Give Demi Moore an A for effort. 1995.
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Scarlet Letter, The
Definitely an A effort. 1934.
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Scarlet Letter, The
Give this one an A.
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School Ties
Jock at prestigious Massachusetts prep school tries to hide his secret: he's been circumsized. 1992.
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Second Sight
John Larroquette as detective, Bronson Pinchot as psychic, and a plane that tries to fly through the Sumner Tunnel. 1989.
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Small Circle of Friends, A
Harvard students try to avoid the draft (but the cafeteria scenes were filmed at MIT!). 1980.
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Soul Man
How to get into Harvard: Put on blackface. 1986.
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Southie
Written by a Southie native and starring Donnie Wahlberg from nearby Dorchester. What life in Southie was really like. 1999.
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Squanto: A Warrior's Tale
But we call it maize. 1994.
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Starting Over
Burt Reynolds plays a divorced man. 1979.
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Still We Believe - The Boston Red Sox Movie
You know how it turns out, but you watch it anyway. 2004.
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Story of Alexander Grahahm Bell, The
Don Ameche invents the telephone in Boston. 1939.
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Stuck on You
Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear are conjoined twins who own a burger joint on Martha's Vineyard. 2003.
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Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon
Featuring the infamous nude scene in the Braintree cemetery. 1970.
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Terror in the Wax Museum
Lizzie Borden returns with her axe. 1973.
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The Adams Chronicles
Mini-series: Those wacky Adams boys. Alien and Sedition Laws, anyone?
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The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
The cold war heats up on Nantucket. "Emergency! Everybody to get from street!" 1966.
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Thomas Crown Affair, The
Steve McQueen kicks Pierce Brosnan's butt in the original, which was - quite rightly - set in Boston instead of some silly city to our south. 1968.
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Titicut Follies
Documentary about Bridgewater State Hospital that was banned in Boston. 1967.
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Two Sisters from Boston
With Jimmy Durante. 1946.
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Verdict, The
Paul Newman sobers up and takes on the Archdioscese of Boston. 1982.
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Warlock
Features scenes of olde and new Boston. 1989.
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What's the Worst that Could Happen?
Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito visit a variety of eastern-Mass. locales, including the Back Bay, Marblehead and Salem. 2001.
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Filmed at Smith College and in Northampton. 1966.
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Whose Life is It, Anyway?
Richard Dreyfuss builds giant statues in the North End before becoming paralyzed. 1981.
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Witches of Eastwick, The
The devil, you say! Must've been those Ipswich clams. 1987.
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With Honors
Bum teaches Harvard students the meaning of life. 1994.
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