50 States / 50 Movies

I’ve been doing so much traveling this year, I started to try thinking up a movie for every one of our 50 states. The only guideline: Each movie must have some significant tie to that state.

Here’s my list accumulated from memory on two different flights across the country. I drew a blank with Delaware. And the only reason I covered Utah with Broken Arrow is because I happened to remember that the planes took off from Whiteman Air Force Base, which is located in Utah (my Air Force brat background paid off with that one).

Open to your suggestions for movies that better represent / tie to any of the states. And if you can think of a movie with a connection to Delaware, please post your suggestion.

Or maybe you’d like to offer up you own list of 50 movies!

UPDATE: I’ll add suggestions from comments.

UPDATE #2: I guess I was wrong about On Golden Pond, perhaps I was stretching my memory to make it fit into New Hampshire, but Derek sounds authoritative on this, so that will eventually move to Maine. Then the question becomes, what movie is set in New Hampshire? My first thought was Hotel New Hampshire, but most of the book — as I recall — took place in Austria (I think). Any suggestions?

ALABAMA
Forrest Gump

ALASKA
Into the Wild

ARIZONA
Raising Arizona

ARKANSAS
A Face in the Crowd
Suggestion: Sling Blade, True Grit

CALIFORNIA
Chinatown

COLORADO
The Shining
Suggestion: Dante’s Peak

CONNECTICUT
Mystic Pizza

DELAWARE
TBD
Suggestion: Fight Club

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
All the President’s Men

FLORIDA
Key Largo

GEORGIA
Gone With the Wind

HAWAII
Pearl Harbor

IDAHO
Napoleon Dynamite

ILLINOIS
Blues Brothers

INDIANA
Breaking Away
Suggestion: Hoosiers

IOWA
Field of Dreams

KANSAS
The Wizard of Oz

KENTUCKY
Coal Miner’s Daughter

LOUISIANA
The Big Easy

MAINE
Cider House Rules
Suggestion: On Golden Pond, Pet Semetary, Stand By Me

MARYLAND
Diner

MASSACHUSETTS
Alice’s Restaurant
Suggestion: A Perfect Storm, Good Will Hunting, The Departed

MICHIGAN
8 Mile

MINNESOTA
A Prairie Home Companion

MISSISSIPPI
O Brother, Where Are Thou?

MISSOURI
King of the Hill

MONTANA
A River Runs Through It

NEBRASKA
About Schmidt

NEVADA
Viva Las Vegas

NEW HAMPSHIRE
TBD

NEW JERSEY
Atlantic City
Suggestion: Garden State, Good Fellas

NEW MEXICO
The Milagro Beanfield War

NEW YORK
King Kong

NORTH CAROLINA
Bull Durham

NORTH DAKOTA
Fargo

OHIO
Major League

OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma!

OREGON
My Own Private Idaho

PENNSYLVANIA
The Deer Hunter
Suggestion: Philadelphia

RHODE ISLAND
Dumb and Dumber

SOUTH CAROLINA
The Big Chill

SOUTH DAKOTA
North by Northwest

TENNESSEE
Nashville

TEXAS
Lone Star
Suggestion: No Country for Old Men, Giant, The Last Picture Show

UTAH
Broken Arrow
Suggestion: SLC Punk

VERMONT
Dead Poet’s Society
Suggestion: White Christmas

VIRGINIA
Shenandoah

WASHINGTON
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Suggestion: Sleepless in Seattle

WEST VIRGINIA
Matewan

WISCONSIN
The Straight Story

WYOMING
Red Rock West

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