Florida
Hollywood stars shine in Naples, Fort Myers: Movies shot in SW Florida
Zombies shuffle through downtown Fort Myers. A group of kids fight to save Cape Coral’s burrowing owls. Dakota Fanning kisses a boy on a Captiva Island beach.
And the cameras are rolling to capture it all.
Film crews have visited Southwest Florida many times over the years, and so have some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Denzel Washington. Jayne Mansfield. Reese Witherspoon. Sean Connery. Drew Barrymore. Joe Pesci. Jessica Lange. Woody Harrelson. And many more.
To celebrate the upcoming Academy Awards on March 15, we’re taking a look at some of the biggest movies shot over the last seven decades in Fort Myers, Naples and other parts of Southwest Florida. One of them even won an Oscar for Best Actor (Jessica Lange in “Blue Sky”).
‘NIGHT MOVES’ (starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns and Melanie Griffith)
The film: Film noir about a Los Angeles private investigator (Gene Hackman) hired to find a client’s runaway daughter. His search takes him to the Florida Keys.
Year released: 1975
Director: Arthur Penn
Production: Some scenes were shot on Sanibel Island. The rest were filmed in California and Wakulla Springs, Florida. “Night Moves” was directed by Arthur Penn, who also directed the movie classics “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Little Big Man,” “The Miracle Worker” and “Alice’s Restaurant.”
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Sample review: “‘Night Moves’ is one of the best psychological thrillers in a long time, probably since ‘Don’t Look Now’ … If you like private eyes, find it.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
‘BLUE SKY’ (starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Lange and Powers Boothe)
The film: Drama about a nuclear cover-up involving a U.S. Army nuclear engineer (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife (Jessica Lange).
Year released: 1994
Director: Tony Richardson
Production: Some scenes were shot in Fort Myers and North Captiva Island. Lange won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. The film was finished in 1991, just before the death of its director.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Sample review: “What makes it feel like a Hollywood film from another era is its belief that character can drive a movie; that there is nothing more fascinating than the complexities of the human heart.” — David Ansen, Newsweek
‘WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES’ (starring Christopher Plummer, Burl Ives, Gypsy Rose Lee and Peter Falk)
The film: Christopher Plummer plays a crusading Audubon Society agent who takes on bird poachers in the Florida Everglades. The bad guys want the birds’ feathers for women’s hats.
Year released: 1958
Director: Nicholas Ray
Production: Filming took place in the town of Chokoloskee, just south of Everglades City. The movie marked the big-screen debut of actor Peter Falk.
“Wind Across the Everglades” was written and produced by brothers Budd and Stuart Schulberg. Budd Schulberg is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for the classic 1954 drama “On The Waterfront.” Director Nicholas Ray is best known for the 1955 James Dean classic, “Rebel Without A Cause.”
Rotten Tomatoes score: 55%
Sample review: “Canada’s Christopher Plummer is suitably heroic and rock-jawed in this lively but chaotic action drama. He’s a dedicated conservationist who invades the Florida swamps and tries to stop red-bearded Burl Ives from slaughtering the wild birds.” — Clyde Gilmour, Maclean’s Movies
Read more: Christopher Plummer’s early film fame came in the Everglades in Collier County
‘THE FAT SPY’ (starring Phyllis Diller, Jack E. Leonard, Brian Donlevy and Jayne Mansfield)
The film: “The Fat Spy’s” over-stuffed, head-scratching story spoofs the 1965 beach-party movie “Beach Blanket Bingo.” A group of teenagers search for buried treasure on a (mostly) deserted island — that is, when they’re not dancing and singing to knock-off rock songs like “Do the Turtle.”
Meanwhile, the island’s owner enlists his daughter and her rose-loving romantic interest to stop the teens. And the owner’s twin brother and the villainous Camille Salamander search everywhere for the long-lost Fountain of Youth.
Year released: 1966
Director: Joseph Cates
Production: The movie was shot in Cape Coral in 1965 as a publicity stunt orchestrated by Cape Coral developers Gulf American Land Corp. That’s why the city’s name is mentioned often in the film and why scenes are shot at tourist-friendly spots like the Cape Coral Yacht Club, the beach, the Iwo Jima memorial and former tourist attraction Cape Coral Gardens, including shots of its rose garden, fountains and popular porpoise show.
“The Fat Spy” was one of Mansfield’s last roles. She would die in a car crash in 1967.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%
Sample review: “As a film reviewer, I get to see an awful lot of movies — not to mention a lot of awful movies. However, every now and then, it is possible to come across a film that goes beyond just being bad. … The 1966 feature ‘The Fat Spy’ falls into that unique category.” — Phil Hall, Film Threat
Read more: ‘The Fat Spy’ and the year Hollywood came to Southwest Florida
‘OUT OF TIME’ (Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes and Sanaa Lathan)
The film: In this crime thriller, the police chief (Denzel Washington) of fictional Florida town Banyan Key begins an affair with a married woman who says she has terminal cancer. To pay for her treatment, he steals money confiscated in a drug bust. But then the woman and her abusive husband die in a suspicious fire, the money disappears and the chief is the prime suspect.
Year released: 2003
Director: Carl Franklin
Production: Multiple Florida locations were used to create the fictional town of Banyan Key, including Boca Grande. The opening five minutes of the film were shot in downtown Boca, where dozens of local extras showed up for filming in 2002.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 64%
Sample review: “It’s all very ‘Body Heat,’ which is to say, we’ve seen it all before. … ‘Out of Time’ (is) a well-performed, perfectly watchable thriller that’s nonetheless as generic as its title.” — Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
‘HOOT’ (starring Luke Wilson, Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson and Logan Lerman)
The film: A group of kids try to save a burrowing-owl habitat from bad-guy developers building a pancake restaurant. The comedy is based on Carl Hiaasen’s novel of the same name. It’s set in Coconut Cove, a fictional town based on Cape Coral — a city famous for its burrowing owls.
Year released: 2006
Director: Wil Shriner
Production: “Hoot” was filmed mainly on Florida’s east coast, including Fort Lauderdale, but parts were shot in Lee County’s Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 26%
Sample review: “While the novel is drenched in Hiaasen’s wit, sense of adventure and aggressive environmentalism, the film emerges as a vanilla comedy, only slightly more interesting than most.” — Toddy Burton, The Austin Chronicle
‘DAY OF THE DEAD’ (starring Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato and Jarlath Conroy)
The film: With this horror classic, director George A. Romero completed the zombie trilogy that started with 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead.” The story follows a group of scientists and soldiers hiding in a Florida bunker as they try to solve the zombie outbreak that’s taken over the world above.
Year released: 1985
Director: George A. Romero
Production: Most of the underground filming took place in a limestone mine in Wampum, Pennsylvania. But above-ground scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers, and the bunker’s elevator-platform entrance was built in a Sanibel Island field.
Downtown Fort Myers doubled as the city of the dead. The movie’s opening scene sees local extras, dressed as zombies, pouring out of Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center and shambling along the River District’s streets.
That scene helped inspire the now defunct Zombicon festival, where people dressed up as zombies every year and recreated the scene for the annual “zombie walk.” The festival ended after a fatal shooting in 2015.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
Sample review: “It’s an intelligent, well-written, excellently played movie, with top flight gore/horror effects, perverse humor and a provocatively bleak vision. … An inventive gore-fest, and one of the best horror movies of the eighties.” — Kim Newman, Empire
‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA’ (starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen, Fred Ward, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis)
The film: Romantic comedy about a New York fashion designer (Reese Witherspoon) who returns to Alabama to get a divorce after six years of separation.
Year released: 2002
Director: Andy Tennant
Production: Some scenes were shot at South Seas Island Resort and its nearby beach. The filming involved actors Dakota Fanning, 7, and Thomas Curtis, 9, kissing and playing younger versions of Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas. Another scene shows Witherspoon and Lucas also kissing.
The scenes were originally supposed to be shot in Georgia, but the weather was too cold there. Most of the film was shot in New York and Georgia.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%
Sample review: “With its overlong running time and egregiously sluggish pace, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ comes off as a sporadically amusing yet entirely ineffective romantic comedy that ultimately squanders an expectedly charismatic turn from star Reese Witherspoon.” — Dave Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
‘COUPE DE VILLE’ (starring Patrick Dempsey, Daniel Stern, Arye Gross, Annabeth Gish)
The film: In this comedy-drama, three bickering brothers drive a 1954 Cadillac from Detroit to Florida to deliver the car for their mother’s birthday.
Year released: 1990
Director: Joe Roth
Production: Some scenes from “Coupe de Ville” were shot in Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Sample review: “There is something deadening about the kind of formula picture where you know with absolute certainty what is going to happen, and how, and why. And ‘Coupe de Ville’ is composed of so many formulas that they must have a template for it in screenwriting school.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
‘PALMETTO’ (starring Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon)
The film: An ex-convict (Woody Harrelson) gets entangled in a fake kidnapping scheme that goes horribly wrong. Based on the James Hadley Chase novel “Just Another Sucker.”
Year released: 1998
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Production: Some scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers with Woody Harrelson. Others were shot in Charlotte County, Palmetto and Sarasota, Florida.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 39%
Sample review: “Another film noir chump meets blond poison in the Florida-set ‘Palmetto.’ … Director Volker Schlondorff brings scant dramatic urgency to a potentially nifty dissection of a badly botched felony.” — Mike Clark, USA Today
“GONE FISHIN’” (starring Danny Glover, Joe Pesci and Rosanna Arquette)
The film: Two New Jersey buddies go fishing in Florida in this wacky Disney comedy. They’re soon involved in a string of mishaps involving a stolen boat and car, hurricanes and more.
Year released: 1997
Director: Christopher Cain
Production: “Gone Fishin’” was filmed throughout Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Estero, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades National Park.
A stuntwoman died during filming when a boat lost control and hit her boat near Goodland Bay. Her husband and other people on the set also had minor injuries.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
Sample review: “The mis-pegged comedy/adventure — there is a dearth of both — inexplicably boasts a first-rate cast. But the plot and dialogue are third-rate.” — Nick Charles, New York Daily News
‘JUST CAUSE’ (starring Sean Connery, Blair Underwood, Laurence Fishburne, Ed Harris and Kate Capshaw)
The film: In this crime thriller, a Harvard professor and former lawyer (Sean Connery) investigates a 25-year-old case involving a black man (Blair Underwood) convicted for the horrific murder of an 11-year-old girl. It’s set in Ochopee.
Year released: 1995
Director: Arne Glimcher
Production: “Just Cause” was filmed on location in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Collier County.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 26%
Sample review: “Despite its tendency to tread well-traveled roads, ‘Just Cause’ is filmed with enough energy and craft that, for the majority of its one-hundred minute running time, it’s reasonably entertaining.” — James Berardinelli, ReelViews
MORE MOVIES WITH SWFL CONNECTIONS: ‘Adaptation,’ ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’
These movies prominently feature Southwest Florida, but they weren’t actually shot here:
- “Terror Inside” (2008): Corey Feldman and Tanya Memme star in this independent film shot in Orlando but with some scenes set in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It was written and directed by Cape Coral resident Joe Lenders.
- “Adaptation” (2002): This loose adaptation of Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book features scenes set in Florida, including Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. But the movie actually was filmed in Los Angeles. It stars Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep.
- “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994): The Jim Carrey comedy features a scene set in Collier County — including a billboard that says “Welcome to Collier County” — but the movie was actually shot in the Miami area, according to online movie database IMDb.
Connect with this reporter: Call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@gannett.com. Or connect on social media at Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter) and @crunnells1 (Instagram).
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, married socialite Bettina Anderson on Thursday in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to Palm Beach County records.
A private wedding celebration is expected to take place Saturday in the Bahamas, Page Six reported. President Donald Trump indicated Thursday that he will not be in attendance, saying the date “was not good timing for me,” citing the ongoing war in Iran and other presidential matters. The president was initially scheduled to be in Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend but is now expected to be at the White House.
Still, he offered his congratulations to the couple in a post on Truth Social Friday.
“While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so,” Trump wrote, adding that he felt it was important for him to remain in Washington, D.C., “during this important time.”
On Thursday, President Trump said that he had known Anderson “for a very long time, and hopefully they are going to have a great marriage.”
Anderson comes from a prominent Palm Beach family. Her father is Harry Loy Anderson Jr., a banker and philanthropist.
Trump Jr. announced his engagement to Anderson in December during a White House holiday party.
This is the second marriage for Trump Jr., 48, who has five children with his first wife, Vanessa Trump. The pair were married at Mar-a-Lago in 2005 and divorced in 2018. He was later engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who is now U.S. ambassador to Greece.
Trump Jr. operates the Trump Organization with his brother, Eric Trump, and has been a fixture alongside his father at political events. Anderson is a committee member at the Project Paradise Film Fund, which is focused on protecting Florida’s environment.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Military service members can get free admission to The Florida Aquarium over Memorial Day weekend.
Active-duty military, veterans, retired military personnel, drilling reservists, National Guardsmen, and honorably or medically discharged service members will receive free general admission from Saturday, May 23, to Monday, May 25.
Military service members will need to show a valid U.S. Military ID or DD Form 214 to get a free ticket at the ticket window.
“In honor of the courage, commitment, and sacrifice of our nation’s military service members, The Florida Aquarium will once again offer complimentary general admission during Memorial Day weekend as a heartfelt thank-you to those who serve and have served our country,” the aquarium said.
The aquarium said it will offer extended hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the three-day weekend.
To learn more about the aquarium, visit its website.
Florida
Florida officials to pay $485,000 settlement to fired FWC biologist over Charlie Kirk post after his death
Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.
The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.
Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers back pay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.
Fish and Wildlife officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other workers also filed pending lawsuits over being fired over comments about Kirk’s assassination
Brown was among a wave of workers in both the public and private sector who lost their jobs over comments about Kirk’s assassination on a Utah university campus. Lawsuits are pending over many of those firings.
Before his death, Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.
Kirk’s supporters combed social media after the Sept. 10 shooting for posts they viewed as celebrating his death. Influencers like Laura Loomer pledged to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing, and the conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared the identities and workplaces of many who posted with its audience of millions.
Libs of TikTok posted about Brown, and she was fired the next day, according to her lawsuit. Brown said someone then alerted Libs of TikTok about her termination only about 10 minutes after it happened and before it was made public.
In a rare instance in Tennessee, a retired police officer was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post joking about Kirk’s assassination. Tennessee officials agreed Wednesday to pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the man, Larry Bushart. While behind bars, Bushart lost his postretirement job and missed the birth of his granddaughter before authorities eventually dropped a felony charge against him, he said in the lawsuit.
Before her termination, Brown worked for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years and studied shorebirds and seabirds on the panhandle, according to court documents.
Carrie McNamara, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, called Brown’s settlement deal “a hard-won vindication” that sends a message to Florida officials that they cannot punish speech they dislike.
“The First Amendment does not disappear when someone accepts a government job,” McNamara said.
Brown’s former supervisor at the agency, Habitat and Species Conservation Director Melissa Tucker, had claimed that Brown’s post generated hundreds of formal complaints and caused significant disruption. Discovery in the case later revealed that the agency only received about 50 complaints.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker imposed sanctions against Tucker last week for exaggerating the amount and then not correcting the record.
-
Los Angeles, Ca53 minutes agoFirefighters make progress on wildfires burning across Southern California
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoMichigan man dies months after alleged attack by DoorDash driver
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour ago20 women sue SF sheriff after alleged mass strip search ‘for training’
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoFriends are rallying for Ruby Gonzalez’s family after the crash
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoMiami Heat’s Bam Adebayo wins NBA’s Social Justice Champion award for his work helping underserved communities
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoSecond suspect charged in armed bank robberies in Boston
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoFamily identifies teenage victim of deadly shooting at recreation center in Denver
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle Social Housing Developer buys $60M apartment building
