10 best movies set or filmed in Colorado

Even though the Centennial State does not hold a candle to the slick, blinding glamour of Hollywood—and might not be closely associated with cheap film location the way that Vancouver, British Columbia is—Colorado has provided a cinematic backdrop to many films. It’s a wonder that more films aren’t shot here, because our state can offer just about any setting a production crew might need. Consider that you could shoot the exploration of Martian landscapes in The Great Sand Dunes National Monument, reproduce the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas, string a thirsty man through the desert bluffs north of Delta, and capture the gritty realism of gang wars in urban backalleys, all within a six-hour radius of Denver. Our state oughta be in pictures, and to honor those intrepid filmmakers who have recognized the cinematic qualities of Colorado, The A.V. Club presents a list of the 10 best movies set or filmed in Colorado. 

10. Vanishing Point
Synopsis: A prototypical car chase movie, Vanishing Point follows the exploits of Kowalski (Barry Newman), a car delivery driver, as he hauls ass from Denver to San Francisco on a bet to make the trip in less than 15 hours. Naked hippies, overly macho cops, small town soul DJs, and gay hitchhikers emerge from the western landscape and add flavor to Kowalski’s race against the clock. The real star of the movie, though, is the 1970 Dodge Challenger, Kowalski’s trusty steed of steel.
Colorado Connection: Several scenes were shot in Denver, which serves as the narrative departure point for Kowlaski’s adventure.


9. Die Hard 2
Synopsis: John McClane brings a carry-on bag full of snippy, emasculating one-liners to fight terrorists who have taken an entire airport hostage to free a South American drug lord.
Colorado Connection: Die Hard 2 had several scenes that were shot in and around the old Stapleton Airport. Although the movie takes place at Dulles International Airport, producers chose to shoot exterior scenes around Stapleton, banking on heavy snowfall that serves as the backdrop for a sequence of snowmobile chases/fights. Ironically, they shot the scenes during an incredibly dry winter in Colorado and had to make snow for some of the shots.


8. Over The Edge
Synopsis: Suburban teens go buck wild, feathering their hair, doing the drugs, having the sex, taking part in general sass back, and smashing up some cop cars around a middle school. Why? Because the rec center closes at six, and they have nothing better to do. Matt Dillon stars in his first role.
Colorado Connection: The film was shot in Aurora and set in a fictional subdivision called New Granada, which provided the stark, boring suburban landscape upon which the feisty youth writhe and rage.


7. True Grit (1969)
Synopsis: A young woman seeking vengeance against her father’s killer employs a crotchety old bounty hunter to mete out some old-time justice. John Wayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn, one of Western film’s most iconic characters.
Colorado Connection: The scenery of the film is critical to the storyline, and lends a sweeping drama to Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn’s hunt for her father’s killer. The film was shot in and around Ridgway showing off some of the most beautiful parts of the state. The video below painstakingly recreates many of the film’s shots and where in the state they were located.


6. The Stand (made-for-TV miniseries)
Synopsis: It’s the end of the world, and most of the population has been wiped out by a virus with the fun-sounding name of “Captain Trips”. Guided by visions and dreams, the survivors take sides in the last battle between archetypes of good and evil and rumble for a final word in the twilight of civilization.
Colorado Connection: Among the surviving humans, the bad guys flock to Las Vegas to form their sinful army, and the good guys all head for Boulder, which apparently represented a land of virtue and righteousness for Stephen King.

5. Sleeper
Synopsis: Woody Allen stars as a natural foods store owner who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and thawed out 200 years later in a dystopian future. Full of slapstick antics and filmed during the period of Allen’s ongoing collaborations with a young, alluring Diane Keaton.  
Colorado Connection: The film featured several shots of the conservatory at the Denver Botanic Gardens and brought worldwide attention to the Sculpture House, a modernist architectural gem located in Genesee Park. The house was designed by Charles Deacon in the ’60s for his family and is still visible from I-70 as you ascend into the foothills west of Denver.


4. American Flyers
Synopsis: Kevin Costner stars, along with his proto-hipster mustache, in a film about two brothers reconnecting and pushing each other toward glory as they train and compete in a bicycle race in the Rocky Mountains.
Colorado Connection: The bicycle race that serves as the focal point of the story is the now-defunct Coors Classic, and the race scenes were all shot along the Front Range. The Coors Classic route was recently reborne as the Quizno’s Pro Challenge, which will bring stage racing back to Colorado, and will hopefully bring some throwback mustaches and inspiring ’80s rock montages with it.


3. Red Dawn
Synopsis: One of many movies released in the ’80s that played up our nation’s enduring Cold War fears, this bit of patriotic bluster viewed through a current lens looks more like the Tea Party’s answer to The Breakfast Club than it does anything approaching plausibility. In spite of its ridiculous premise, it’s an engaging watch, and has maintained enough of a stature in our culture to justify a remake, which is currently in production.
Colorado Connection: Although not filmed here, the story is set in the fictional town of Calumet, Colorado, proving that our state represents the essence of America, the geographic loins from which our most honorable ideologies and cultural values spring forth.  


2. Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead
Synopsis: An underrated slice of mobster noir, Things To Do In Denver boasts an amazing cast (Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Treat Williams, Christopher Walken) led by Andy Garcia, and follows the plight of Jimmy The Saint’s (Garcia) crew after a job goes wrong, and they all end up with bounties on their heads.
Colorado Connection: Whoever was in charge of choosing the film’s locations had a real eye for Denver’s potential. The city is cast in a beautiful and gritty light, a grimy metropolis with a seedy side and a rich midwestern feel. The scenes that were filmed in Denver were taken mostly from the Five Points neighborhood, and the Bluebird Theater on Colfax makes a cameo as a porn palace, recalling one of its past lives.


1. The Shining
Synopsis: Jack Nicholson manifested the sneaking dementia of cabin fever convincingly and horrifyingly in Kubrick’s singular, sustained vision of the Stephen King novel. Cut through with masterful touches of suspense and panning camera shots that build the tension, this tale of a writer and his family couped up as caretakers of a haunted hotel is the benchmark of horror.
Colorado Connection: Stephen King found inspiration for his novel during a stay at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Although the movie only features a few exterior shots filmed in Boulder, the Denver references are ever-present in the film, making our states narrative link to the film still quite the feather in our caps.