Dallas Film Tourism

Deemed futuristic for its time, Dallas City Hall stood in for the exterior of the OCP building (company that built RoboCop) in Detroit of the future for the original RoboCop (1986) – 1500 Marilla Street, Dallas, TX 75201 www.dallascityhall.com Other buildings and city street locations in the film can be found here: RoboCop Dallas Locations ‎

Formerly known as the Texas School Book Depository Building, the Dallas County Administration Building, located in Dealey Plaza, have hosted many film, television and documentary projects following the Kennedy assassination. Most notables would be Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991) starring Kevin Costner and Ruby (1992) starring Danny Aiello. – Elm at Houston Street. The Six Floor Museum, 411 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75202 www.jfk.org

Inside the 60+ acre venue, the Women’s Garden was the site of the wedding scene in Robert Altman’s Dr. T & the Women (1999) Starring Richard Gere and Helen Hunt. This facility has been used in numerous other film, television, commercial and still shoots over the years. 8525 Garland Road, Dallas. www.dallasarboretum.org

The parkgrounds have hosted many film & television projects, most recently the Fox television series The Good Guys shot a great a deal all over the park. NBC’s Chase used the Hall of State initially as their U.S. Marshall’s office and the new ABC series GCB shot a party scene in the shadow of the Texas Star ferris wheel in the pilot episode. Going further back, 1962’s State Fair starring Pat Boone and Ann Margaret was based on the State Fair of Texas and shot there as well as Problem Child (1989) starring John Ritter. www.fairpark.org

The historic Dallas hotel was the upscale establishment invaded by Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) and has also appeared in many other films and television shows over the years – 1321 Commerce Street, downtown Dallas. Keys to Tulsa (1996) starring Eric Stoltz and James Spader shot there. HBO’s True Blood (2009) had a story line set in Dallas in season 2, the Godric characters burst into flames on the hotel’s roof in episode 9.

is still heavily visited due to the ever popular CBS TV series Dallas (1978-1991). It was also used in reunion shows and movies of the week Dallas, the Early Years (1986), JR Returns (1995) and War of the Ewings (1997). Also expect to see a renewed interest with the TNT reboot of Dallas (2012) series. They have a conference center, tour, museum and gift shop – 3700 Hogge Road, Parker, TX 75002 southfork.com

(Note that the Ultimate Dallas website has everything you’d ever want to know about the series posted, including an extensive list of locations used in the series. www.ultimatedallas.com).

Walker, Texas Ranger shot extensively in and around the Dallas Fort Worth region, the most recognizable locations would be the Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Worth which was the Rangers Headquarters – 100 E. Weatherford, Fort Worth, TX www.tarrantcounty.com/egov/site/default.asp; and the White Elephant Saloon in the Fort Worth Stockyards – 106 E. Exchange, Fort Worth, TX stood in as CD’s Bar www.whiteelephantsaloon.com. The show built a set that doubled the interior for some shots, but occasionally shot on location too.

Pioneer Plaza, home to thecattle drive statues was the location of a foot chase with Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley in Serving Sara (2001) – Young & Griffith – downtown Dallas. www.dallasconventioncenter.com/attractions/plaza.html

Farah Fawcett fans may be interested in visiting the fountain in NorthPark Center where she disrobed and frolicked in the fountain – 8687 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, TX for Dr. T and the Women. The fashion show scene in David Byrne’s True Stories (1986) was also filmed in the center. www.northparkcenter.com

The Rookie (2001) starring Dennis Quaid shot scenes at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington – 1000 Ballpark Way, Arlington, TX. http://mlb.mlb.com/tex/ballpark/index.jsp

Spy Kids 2 (2001) shot scenes with Bill Paxton at Six Flags over Texas – 2201 Road to Six Flags, Arlington, TX. www.sixflags.com/overTexas/index.aspx

The season finale of CBS’ Amazing Race 5 was shot at Trammel Crow Park – 3700 Sylvan Ave., Dallas, TX http://listings.guidelive.com/dallas-tx/venues/show/3694925-trammell-crow-lake-park

The Bravo reality show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy shot scenes in 2005 at the original flagship Neiman Marcus – 1618 Main St., Dallas, TX. Watch for the store to appear in TNT’s new Dallas television series. http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/info/store.jhtml?storeId=01/DT&_requestid=22413

There is a quick glimpse of the Glory Window in Thanks- Giving Square Chapel in the Terrence Malick film Tree of Life – 1627 Pacific, Dallas, TX. http://www.thanksgiving.org/tours.html

The Oscar winning film Bonnie & Clyde (1967) starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway shot in various cities around the DFW region including: Dallas, Denton, Garland, Maypearl, Midlothian, Pilot Point, Ponder, Red Oak, Rowlett, Venus and Waxahachie, Texas.

McKinney, it’s town square, courthouse and neighborhoods have been used in many film and television projects over the years: Benji (1973), True Stories (1985), A Killing in a Small Town (1990), An American Story (1992), Starkweather: Murder in the Heartland (1993) to name a few and it continues to be a popular location. www.visitmckinney.com

Waxahachie has been referred to in the past as the movie capital of Texas and had a billboard out on I-35 proclaiming it. They had a string of highly acclaimed films shot there including: Tender Mercies (1981), Places in the Heart (1983) and The Trip to Bountiful (1985) and continues to have projects shoot there regularly. http://waxahachietxcoc.weblinkconnect.com/cwt/External/WCPages.

Cult classic Logan’s Run (1976) starring Michael York featured scenes at the Water Gardens in Fort Worth. www.fortworth.com/listings/?listingID=2989&menuID=40&hit=1

Billy Bob’s Texas has appeared in many projects, highlights include HBO’s Baja Oklahoma (1987), small film, but a big cast, starring Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Coyote, Swoosie Kurtz, William Forsythe, Willie Nelson and Julia Roberts; Necessary Roughness (1991) was the sight of a big bar fight. 2520 Rodeo Plaza, Fort Worth, TX. www.billybobstexas.com

The UNT’s campus and former stadium Fouts Field in Denton were the primary location for Paramount’s football comedy Necessary Roughness (1991). The film had a large cast which included Scott Bakula, Hector Elizondo, Robert Loggia, Larry Miller, Sinbad, Fred Dalton Thomas, Rob Schneider, Jason Bateman, Kathy Ireland and many more including walk-ons by many famous sport figures as players for the prison team. 1155 Union Circle, Denton, TX. www.unt.edu

Pure Country (1992) starring George Strait shot a variety of locations in the region, the Western Kountry Klub was the small town road house where he rediscovered himself in the film. 5728 Lakeview Drive, Midlothian, TX 76065. http://www.myspace.com/kountryklub

Bottle Rocket (1996), the film that established the careers of Dallas brothers Luke & Owen Wilson and Director/Writer Wes Anderson. The Days Inn Motel in Hillsboro served as the post-heist hideaway and has gotten recent attention in efforts to save it from demise. Days Inn, 307 I-35 Hwy SE, Hillsboro, TX 76645 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_Rocket

The Studios at Las Colinas have had many projects shot at their soundstage facility. Some highlights include: Silkwood (1983) starring Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell; Robert Altman’s Streamers (1983); Leap of Faith (1992) starring Steve Martin; Telemundo’s telenovella La ley del Silencio (2005) and Fox Television series: Prison Break: Seasons 2 &3 (2006-2008), The Deep End (2009-2010) and Lone Star (2010).