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By Theodore
Fischer, Washington Sidewalk
White House backdrops and
windows with views of the Capitol dome have long been staples of movies
set in D.C. The opening of Deep Impact, the movie whose filming
closed Key Bridge one Sunday last fall, reminds us that Hollywood
occasionally points the camera at other places in the city.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Sen. Jefferson Smith
(Jimmy Stewart) goes out for a nocturnal consultation with "Honest
Abe" at the Lincoln Memorial.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Aliens land
(peacefully for a change) on the Ellipse, across E Street from the White
House. Homage collectors' note: A clip from this movie plays on a
television in Independence Day (1996).
The
Exorcist (1973).
Good Father Damien tumbles to his death on the steep stairway between M
and Prospect streets at 36th Street near Georgetown University. Trivia
bonus: There are 39 of these so-called Exorcist steps, and before this
movie came out folks called them the "39 Steps" after the 1935
Alfred Hitchcock classic.
All the President's Men (1976). A memorable shot from the
vaulted ceiling of the main reading room in the Jefferson Building of the Library
of Congress shows Bob Woodward/Robert Redford and Carl
Bernstein/Dustin Hoffman uncovering White House dirty deeds. Woodward
calls "Deep Throat" from a phone booth (remember those?) on the
southwest corner of 17th Street and New York Avenue N.W., opposite the Old
Executive Office Building. (The Washington Post
newsroom, however, is pure Hollywood artifice.)
The Pelican Brief (1993). Denzel Washington confers with a
White House contact at Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.
Dave (1993). Local cops pull over President Dave
(Kevin Kline) and the first lady (Sigourney Weaver) in front of Cafe
Lautrec in Adams-Morgan. The steps of the Old Post Office Pavilion
stand in for the Capitol when Dave fakes a heart attack.
Forrest Gump (1994). Gump shows up at the scene of the crime
in time for the Watergate break-in.
True Lies (1994). Arnold Schwarzenegger pursues a terrorist
through Georgetown Park Mall, crosses the street (via the magic of
Hollywood) to Franklin Park (at 14th and K streets N.W.), then rides a
horse through the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel and up to the roof of a
hotel too tall to ever comply with D.C.'s height limitations. Later,
Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis tryst at the Willard Inter-Continental
Hotel.
First Kid (1996). The shopping spree that ends the film
takes place at Tysons Corner Center.
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Flynt and his attorneys
wage the battle for free speech at the Fairfax County Courthouse in the
city of Fairfax.
Wag the Dog (1997). Dustin Hoffman comes back to D.C., this
time as a slick Hollywood producer who stages a phony war with Albania to
distract the populace from presidential sex scandals. (Pictured at
top.)
Deep Impact (1998). Key Bridge was closed for one day
last fall for the filming of a scene in this pensive disaster movie about
a comet headed to Earth. Find out for yourself if the flick was worth the
traffic jam.
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