Denver Films: A History Of Movies With Colorado Connections

In honor of the Starz Denver Film Festival, we've decided to comb through the history of Colorado film. You'll find the usual suspects--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Shining--and some movies we didn't even know had a Colorado connection. Who knew Die Hard 2 was filmed at the old Stapleton Airport?

The result is a pretty formidable list of films with Colorado ties:

Vote for your favorite below.

The Shining

The Shining (1980), adapted from Stephen King's book by the same name, was both inspired by--and partially filmed in--the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

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[grahamhgreen]

FILMED ENTIRELY IN DENVER:

Available at all Denver area Barnes & Noble stores:

It’s Not Just Out to Scare You: "The Torturer", New Thriller Starring Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura, Star Trek!)

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Links to the website and a wicked trailer at http://www.thetorturer.com.

Available at AMAZON: http://bit.ly/TorturerAmazon2

Demand It! at http://bit.ly/TorturerDemandit

[mjeffn]

Woody Allen movie, can't recall the title, was partially film at the flying saucer house near Idaho Springs.

[LadyCat]

Possibly "The Sleeper"? I think I saw that film once a long time ago.

[LMPE]

Were any scenes in "Silver Streak" filmed/set in Colorado?

[brusher]

How about "Then Came Bronson." Anyone remember that short lived but wonderful series? One episode filmed in southwestern Colorado.

Or "Sargent Preston" (even earlier) filmed in Ashcroft?

[brusher]

True Grit (1969) Ridgeway, San Juan Mountains, Colorado
John Wayne, Gen Campbell, Kim Darby

[lolajoker]

Other films that were made in Colorado that were not on the list:

The Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. Filmed in Denver
Vanishing Point, filmed in Denver. on Colfax Ave and on Colorado interstates.
Cat Ballou, with Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda. Filmed near Royal Gorge.
Lightning Jack with Paul Hogan. Filmed in the same place as Cat Ballou.
3 Ninja's of Mega Mountain with Hulk Hogan. Film in the new Elitch Gardens Denver.
Under Siege 2 with Steven Segal. Train scenes filmed in Golden Colorado.

[LateForTheSky]

Things to do in Denver when you are dead.

[power to the people]

About Schmidt!

[wm1066]

I always thought Jeramiah Johnson was in the Colorado Rockies, I could be wrong... but I know I saw it in Grand Lake Colo. at an outdoor theater.

[LateForTheSky]

Jeremiah Johnson was filmed in the Wasatch and Unitah ranges of Utah. After filming, Redford built his mountain home in the same vicinity and then Sundance, west of Orem.

[Rasmenia]

Major foul - if you're going to do a list on movies set or filmed in Colorado, you have an obligation to include "Red Dawn", which wasn't filmed in CO, but we all know was set there.

"WOLVERINES!"

[Christopher A M Berry]

Also, just remembered Flashback from 1990, Dennis Hopper and Keifer Sutherland, filmed near Glenwood Springs.

[Christopher A M Berry]

What about "Mr Majestyk?" A Vietnam Vet just wants to grow melons in SE Colorado, but the mob has other ideas. The usual ensues, including machine-gunning a barn full of watermelons. The great chase scene was later used in a Ford commercial. Filmed in the melon capitol, the Rocky Ford-La Junta area.

[Brucewillis]

Sleeper? And the Sculptured House aka The Sleeper house.

[Durango]

Cliffhanger, one of the most ridiculous movies ever filmed. Almost all of it filmed in the Italian Alps

And Jeez, If you think that south of Cortez on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is "close to Durango" you really need a lesson in Colorado geography.

As far as movies filmed in Colorado.

Try Denver Rio Grande, Colorado Territory,Ticket To Tomahawk with Marilyn Monroe, Across the Wide Missouri with Clark Gable.

Not the tripe cited in the story

[mabinog]

You missed "Night Passage" with Audie Murphy and Jimmy Stewart.

Then there are many scenes in westerns using the Durango Silverton and Cumbres and Toltec railroads.

[Durango]

Err, Mmm Huh?

You do know the setting for the Shining was the Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood Oregon?

Stephen King set the book in Colorado but the filming was elsewhere.

[LadyCat]

The only "Shining" scenes filmed at the real Stanley Hotel were in the tv version of the movie. You are right, the whole movie was filmed in Oregon, including I believe, most of the outdoor shots. And since when is Estes Park somewhere "near Boulder"? I thought it was closer to Ft. Collins.