A Familiar Place

Have you ever travelled and visited a place that looked very familiar but you know this is your first time being there? Your head tilts to the side, lines form on your forehead as your eyebrows scrunch together and eyes squint in confusion. You recognize certain buildings, statues and streets but don’t understand how you know them, and it takes a few minutes for the reason to sink in.

It’s definitely not déjà vu. It’s probably because you’ve watched classic blockbuster movies and you’re most likely standing in the same spot where the two leads reunited and passionately kissed, or where an epic battle of hero and villain took place or a car chase scene between cops and robbers.

Moments in popular and classic movies stick with us because they were incredibly heart-warming or because “that was a totally sick action shot, dude.” For whatever reason, movies stay in our hearts and the locations they’re filmed at help us remember those moments. 

These are the top three locations to visit to see the places where timeless classics were filmed:

New York City, New York
New York is home to some of the most popular film locations anywhere on the planet.  With more than 82 classic movies ranging from comedy to action to drama, NYC is the place to visit to check out these spots.  Some big-time movies like Citizen Kane, Scarface, Fatal Attraction, Goodfellas and The Godfather were filmed here.  If you’re a huge fan of Al Pacino, film locations to visit are the St. Regis at 2 East 55^th Street, just like Michael and Kay, or 60 Centre St., which is the New York Supreme Court building where Carlito Brigante came down the stairs. NYC is also the city of love, with more than a handful of romantic chick-flick movies filmed in the heart of NYC like You’ve Got Mail, Ghost, Big, Annie Hall, Sabrina, Scent of a Woman and of course Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

England
England is the place to visit to see locations where directors filmed visually compelling movies like Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Mission: Impossible, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Italian Job (1969) and both the Harry Potter and James Bond series. If you’re a Harry Potter fan or you have a niece, nephew, son or daughter who is, then get your Harry Potter photo opportunity in North Yorkshire where “Hogsmeade Station” is Goathland Station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. If you head towards the entrance to Platforms 9, 10 and 11 on the station’s west side, you’ll find a shopping trolley magically disappearing into a wall labelled “Platform 9 3/4.”  

Paris, France
Have you ever watched a movie and got really excited when you saw a place that you had visited before? I know I have and France has amazing scenery that filmmakers capitalize on. When you visit you might come across locations where The Age of Innocence, Armageddon, Mission: Impossible, Moulin Rouge (1952), Raiders of the Lost Ark, the James Bond series and The Bourne Identity were filmed.  You’ll recognized places like 104 Avenue Kléber, Paris, which is the Parisian apartment of Jason Bourne, and the rail station Gare du Nord in Paris, where he leaves his red bag in the luggage lockers. 

— Sarah DiVito