Broward in the Picture

“The Idol Dancer/The Love Flower” (1920)

Early pioneer filmmaker D.W. Griffith made the two films at the same time in Fort Lauderdale — and both, where South Florida stood in for the South Pacific, were more notable for disaster and tragedy while filming than as great cinematic achievements in Griffith’s career. “The Love Flower’s” entire production company was nearly killed at sea after leaving Fort Lauderdale by boat to scout locations in the Bahamas. Caught in an unexpected storm, Griffiths and his cast and crew were stranded on an uninhabited island for three days, according to David Morton’s book “Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida’s Film and Television Industry,” published by University Press of Florida. Actress Clarine Seymour fell from a tree during shooting of “Idol Dancer.” She was sent back to New York after suffering abdominal pains, where she was diagnosed with a twisted intestine and rushed into surgery, which was successful. She ended up passing away from post-surgery-related pneumonia. 

“Where the Boys Are” (1960)

The film most associated with Fort Lauderdale had its red carpet premiere at the venerable Gateway Cinema. The story of a group of co-eds on their way to Fort Lauderdale is frequently credited with putting the city’s spring break scene on the map. It starred Connie Francis and George Hamilton, with Francis recording the title track that that became a chart-topping hit. Francis eventually settled in Broward, moving to  Parkland. In 2010 she returned to Fort Lauderdale Beach to mark the 50th anniversary of the film’s release where she sang the title song, while the city named the corner of A1A and Las Olas Boulevard “Connie Frances Corner.”

“Girl Happy” (1965)

For a time in the 1960s, it seemed like a new Elvis Presley film was coming out every two or three days. Most of them followed a similar plot: kid from the wrong side of the tracks (Elvis) wins the girl. And so it was with “Girl Happy,” which starred The King as a nightclub singer and a young Shelley Fabares as his love interest. Elvis never actually set foot in Fort Lauderdale; only secondary filming was done in the city while principal filming was done on an MGM backlot in Hollywood. But if he didn’t come to town, he did sing about it in a tune about all the fun a young man can get up to in the Spring Break capital is titled Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce.

“Midnight Cowboy” (1969)

This is a classic New York film, but like so many New Yorkers, it eventually looks to South Florida, with several scenes shot in Broward. The film’s famous final scene — the 31-hour bus journey from New York for Jon Voight’s Texan gigolo and Dustin Hoffman’s streetwise, illness-ridden Ratso — winds up on Miami Beach but before that it stops at the Great Southern Hotel in Hollywood. It’s not the only old Hollywood hotel that makes an appearance — Ratso’s earlier daydream of Florida luxury is set at Hollywood’s original Diplomat Hotel. In beach scenes, it’s Fort Lauderdale Beach standing in for Miami Beach.

“Caddyshack” (1980)

It’s one of the most quotable, least appropriate films of all time, starring Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield. And Harold Ramis’ country club golf course classic was shot largely in Broward. Davie’s Grande Oaks Golf Club, then called Rolling Hills, stood in for the fictional Bushwood Country Club. Or at least it did for most scenes: the famous chocolate bar in the pool scene (if you’ve seen it, you know) was filmed at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale. And the cast and crew enjoyed the  late-70s South Florida, shall we say, hospitality while shooting. Or as Ramis later told Sports Illustrated in an oral history of the film: “The cocaine business in South Florida was mammoth, and everyone was doing everything. There was some concern from the studio. Someone in the accounting department leaked to the studio that everyone was taking their per diems in cash, which is … unusual.”

Porky’s* (1981)

This one’s on the list with an asterisk because filming was done around Miami, with the historic campus of Miami Senior High School standing in for fictional Angel Beach High. But this still gets Broward points because writer-director Bob Clark based the story on his experiences as a student and high school quarterback at Fort Lauderdale High School in the 1950s.

“Flight of the Navigator” (1986)

Fort Lauderdale stands in for nowhere else in this film; it was shot in Fort Lauderdale, and with its shots of Midcentury-modern houses on canals, there’s no mistaking it. It’s the story of a boy who disappears on July 4, 1978 and returns, without having aged, in 1986 for an usual reason —  he was taken by an alien spaceship and traveled light years across the galaxy. The Disney-distributed family sci-fi film looks dated now, but at the time it had some of the most cutting-edge effects in the nascent world of CGI.

If technology has changed, so has South Florida. But plenty remains familiar, including an argument between boy and alien about whether it’s better to get to Fort Lauderdale from elsewhere in Florida via I-95 or the Turnpike.

“Cape Fear” (1991)

Martin Scorsese’s remake of a 1962 thriller in which Robert DeNiro plays an unstable criminal was largely filmed throughout Broward. According to movie-locations.com, the main campus of Broward College (then Broward Community College) stands in for the high school in the film, while other locations include a truck stop on US Highway 27 in Weston and several spots on Hollywood Boulevard.

“Wrestling Ernest Hemingway” (1993)

Richard Harris and Robert Duvall were the stars of this film that was shot at South Florida locations including Dania Beach at what is now Dr. Vonn D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, previously known as John U. Lloyd State Park.  But Gregory von Hausch, who at the time hosted a local film TV show called “The Reel Stuff,” remembered another actor. In 2015 von Hausch told the Sun-Sentinel about a producer offering an interview with “this promising, young, sparkling actress playing some waitress character.  “. .  . It was Sandra Bullock. This was before ‘Speed,’ before her career shot off.”

“Fair Game” (1995)

This forgettable thriller starring Cindy Crawford and Billy Baldwin was shot largely around Miami, but one memorable scene took place on Las Olas Boulevard. A key scene calls for an apartment to be blown up —  so they shut down Las Olas one evening to simulate blowing up a building.

“Donnie Brasco” (1997)

The Al Pacino/Johnny Depp movie that taught people the difference between “a friend of mine” and “a friend of ours” also taught that sometimes an airport is not an airport. The scene at the airport? That’s the Broward Convention Center in the late ‘90s, which is currently going through a huge expansion.

“There’s Something About Mary” (1998)

The Farrelly Brothers’ quintessentially ‘90s sophomoric comedy was a big film in the careers of Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller. When filmmakers needed a high school, they went to Plantation. Although interestingly, they didn’t use any of the city’s high schools —  it’s Plantation City Hall that stands in. The driving range where Healy (Matt Dillon) first meets Mary is the Aqua Golf Driving Range, 2250 S. Park Road, in Hallandale Beach.

“Hoot (2006)”

Based on a Carl Hiassen novel and with music by Jimmy Buffett, this family friendly tale of environmentalism might be one of the most Floridian films of all time. Broward locations included the Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, Chaminade-Madonna High School in Hollywood, All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale and Anglin’s Fishing Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

“Marley and Me” (2008)

This film about a man and his dog was based on the memoir by former Sun-Sentinel columnist John Grogan. To that end, the film made a big effort at realism; one of their shootings was the paper’s old downtown newsroom. Cameras, a crew and actors including Owen Wilson, who played Grogan, and Alan Arkin, who played an editor, holed up in the newsroom while journalists attempted to work around them. Later, the paper ran a story asking staffers what they thought of the film. “Alan Arkin needs to sound angrier. He’s shouting too nicely to be an editor,” reporter Kathy Bushouse said in the story, while investigations editor Joe Demma was reminded of another time. “I haven’t seen so many people sitting around doing nothing since the O.J. trial,” he said.

“Bart Got a Room” (2008)

Based on writer-director Brian Hecker’s experiences of growing up in South Florida, this prom-night coming-of-age story was shot all around Hollywood, including many scenes at Hollywood Hills High School.

This is a mere sampling, but you get the idea. From the groundbreaking filmmaking of “Midnight Cowboy” to the legendary raunch of “Caddyshack” to the less memorable cinema of “Fair Game,” Broward County has opened its arms, streets and beaches to every kind of filmmaker and film style.   

This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division.