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Reader Participation Day: Which Movie That Incorporates A National Park Setting Is Your Favorite?

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By NPT Staff - November 7th, 2012

National parks have served as backdrops for countless movies. Death Valley National Park played a role in Star Wars, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, of course, was prominently featured in North by Northwest, and Thelma & Louise drove through parts of Canyonlands National Park.

The list rolls on, not unlike credits at the end of a movie:

* Devils Tower was the focal point of Close Encounters of the Third Kind

* Arches National Park was glimpsed in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

* Planet of the Apes landed at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

* Denali National Park and Preserve was a backdrop for Into the Wild

* Fans of Westerns know that Shane rode across the Grand Teton National Park landscape

* Dances With Wolves used Badlands National Park

There are more, but you get the idea. So, which movie with a national park backdrop is your favorite, and why?

Comments

Submitted by y_p_w on November 8, 2012 - 4:27pm.

The Shining didn't really incorporate any NPS setting (or even claim to) and wasn't filmed on any NPS site. The interior shots were patterned after the Ahwahnee Hotel, but were on a soundstage. The exterior shots were from the Timberline Lodge, which is on Forest Service land (Mount Hood NF to be exact).


Submitted by admin on November 8, 2012 - 5:40pm.

ISTR part of the Mel Gibson movie Maverick was filmed in Yosemite Valley.

But my favorites are Dances With Wolves and Close Encounters, in this category. I remember in particular being absolutely astonished at how beautiful DWW made South Dakota look, my memories at the time of South Dakota being of the drab landscape you see from I-90.


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