Hollywood in Iowa

Information gathered here is drawn from Internet Movie Database, wikipedia, MSN movies, flixster, Blockbuster, and archive.org. Additions and corrections are welcome and can be forwarded to Paula Mohr.

Title	Date	Connection	Description
16 to Life	2009	McGregor	IMDB: Romantic comedy. A small town teenager's angst about sexual inexperience drives a comic quest for love and understanding on a birthday to end all birthdays.
All the King's Horses	1977	Ivy, Des Moines	IMDB: A Christian woman falls in love with and then marries a non-Christian man (based on a true story).
Blood on the Mountain	1974	Des Moines	IMDB: Fury explodes high above Royal Gorge in the spectacular Colorado mountains as a cop seeks revenge for his wife's death on two fugitives who run for their lives.
Bridges of Madison County	1995	Winterset, Madison County	IMDB: Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson, for four days in the 1960s.
Brother Enemy	1981	Des Moines
Butter	2011		IMDB: A comedy set in the Midwest U.S., where an adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their town's annual contest.
Cedar Rapids	2011	Cedar Rapids	IMDB: Tim Lippe has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention, where he soon finds himself under the 'guidance' of three convention veterans.
Cheers for Miss Bishop	1941		Wikipedia: Film based on the novel Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich (1881-1954). Bess Streeter was born in Cedar Falls and graduated from the Iowa State Normal School (now the University of Northern Iowa).
Children of the Corn	1984	Sioux City, Whiting	IMDB: A boy preacher named Isaac goes to a town in Nebraska called Gatlin and gets all the children to murder every adult in town. A young couple have a murder to report and they go to the nearest town (Gatlin) to seek help but the town seems deserted. They are soon trapped in Gatlin with little chance of getting out alive.
Cold Turkey	1971	Winterset, Orient, Greenfield, Des Moines	IMDB: Reverend Brooks leads the town in a contest to stop smoking for a month, But some tobacco executives don't want them to win, and try everything they can to make them smoke. If townspeople don't go nuts, from wanting a cigarette, or kill each other from irritation and frustration, they will win a huge prize.
Country	1984	Waterloo, Dunkerton	IMDB: Gilbert Ivy and his wife Jewell are farmers. They seem to be working against the odds, producing no financial surplus. Gilbert has lost hope of ever becoming prosperous, but his wife decides to fight for her family.
Coverup, The	2008	Marshalltown	IMDB: The story centers on around the mysterious death of repeat drunk driving offender Thacker and the discovery of his body in an alley behind the Marshalltown, Iowa, police department after his latest DUI arrest.
Crazies, The	2010	Lenox, Winterset	IMDB: About the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.
Distant Thunder, A	1978	Des Moines, Red Rock Dam	This film is second in a four-part series of Christian films, following A Thief in the Night. Relentlessly pursued and finally captured by the forces of a one-world government, a woman is given a choice, take the Mark of the Beast, or death.
Echoes of War, The	1985	Des Moines	An ex-Vietnam medic wants to join a hospital rescue team, but is still fighting fears from traumatic war experience. Also known as 'Life Flight'.
Experiment, The	2010	Des Moines	IMDB: 26 men are chosen to participate in the roles of guards and prisoners in a psychological study that ultimately spirals out of control.
F.I.S.T.	1978	Dubuque	IMDB: Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Face in the Mirror	1982	Des Moines
Farmer in the Dell, The	1936	Iowa farm	Iowa farm family moves to Hollywood and experiences a conflict of values.
Fever Heat	1968	Stuart, Oskaloosa	MSN: An ex-stockcar racer finds himself in need of repairs on his truck. The garage is owned by a young widow whose husband was killed in a racing accident at the local track. He gets a job as a mechanic helping the veteran wrench-man and eventually takes over the racetrack. Two of his friends are the victims of sabotage and lose their lives in a fiery crash. He decides to leave the life in the fast lane behind and settle down with the widow.
Field of Dreams	1989	Dyersville	IMDB: An Iowa corn farmer, hearing voices, interprets them as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the Chicago Black Sox come.
Fighting Sullivans, The	1944		IMDB: The lives of a close-knit group of brothers growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression and of World War II and their eventual deaths in action in the Pacific theater are chronicled in this film based on a true story. (Based on the true story of Waterloo's Sullivan Brothers.)
Final Season, The	2007	Norway, Cedar Rapids	IMDB: Kent Stock disrupts his life to become coach of the Norway High School baseball team and try to lead them to victory.
Fraternity Vacation	1985	Iowa	A son of an Iowa hog farmer wins the heart of a California beauty because of 'Iowa niceness.'
Friendly Fire	1979	Iowa farm	Iowa farming couple loses son in Vietnam and embarks on a crusade for better government support. Based on the story of Gene and Peg Mullen of LaPorte City.
Gaily, Gaily	1969	Dubuque	IMDB: To escape sinful impulses, Ben Harvey, a callow youth, leaves his small town for Chicago in 1910. A pickpocket promptly relieves him of his money, and he nearly starves before Queen Lil takes him under her wing, gives him a room in her high-class bordello, and gets him a job at a newspaper. He's so sweet and dumb, he thinks Lil's is a boarding house. He's soon caught up in an electoral struggle between a secretly corrupt reformer and an openly corrupt councilman. Can Ben expose corruption or will he be caught up in allure of power? An alcoholic investigative reporter and the bordello's ing?nue try to help him grow up.
Happiness Is	1975	Des Moines
Healing, The	1983	Des Moines	Flixster: On the heels of his wife's tragic death, a promising young doctor slides into alcoholism and depression and lands in a skid row mission. Homeless and desperate, he meets an unlikely cast of characters -- and learns that God has a plan for his life.
Heat and Dust	1983	Washington	IMDB: Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal. The search leads back to the early 1920s, when Olivia, recently married to Douglas, a civil servant in the colonial administration, comes to live with him in India. Slowly, Olivia becomes fascinated by India and by the local ruler, a nawab who combines British distinction with Indian pomp and ruthlessness. This fascination is not without risks: the region is being ransacked by a group of sanguinary bandits, and intrigues are opposing the prejudiced British community led by Major Minnies and Dr. Saunders against the nawab. As Anne delves into the history of her grand-aunt, she is led to reconsider her own life.
Heaven's Heroes	1980	Des Moines	A true story of a highly decorated war hero and tough cop who compromise in this action-packed love story.
Home Safe	1981	Des Moines, Urbandale	Based on a true story. Grandpa Ollie comes to live in, and trouble begins.
Hostage, The	1967	Des Moines, Ivy	IMDB: Pesky little boy Davey Cleaves stows away on a moving truck that's driven by volatile psychopath Bull and his meek partner Eddie. Naturally, Davey finds himself in considerable danger after he's discovered by the two no-count criminals.
Ice Castles	1978	Waverly	IMDB: A young girl is on top of the world until a tragic accident dashes her hopes and dreams of becoming a world-class figure skater. Only with the help of those who love her can she prove to the world -- and herself -- that she still has the potential to realize her dreams.
Image of the Beast	1980	Des Moines	IMDB: Third and best known entry in the Mark IV series of fundamentalist apocalypse films. Fundamentalist Christian guerrilla David helps condemned dissidents escape, attempts to subvert the computerized Mark of the Beast, and generally tries to survive as prophecy unfolds in the rise of the Antichrist to the pinnacle of his power and the beginning of God's war on sinful man.
Iowa	2005	Centerville	IMDB: A cautionary tale of love, crime, fantasy and addiction that follows two young Iowan lovers who decide to go into the 'batch' business - cooking their own methamphetamine - only to watch it burn a searing hole in their lives.
Keep Your Powder Dry	1945	Des Moines	IMDB: A disparate group of women try to adjust to their new lives after enlisting in the Womens Army Corps.
Last Supper, The	1995		IMDB: A group of idealistic, but frustrated, liberals succumb to the temptation of murdering rightwing pundits for their political beliefs. (Filmed in LA, but set in Iowa.)
Lillian Russell	1940	Clinton	IMDB: Life story of the musical star from her discovery in 1890 by bandleader Tony Pastor till her retirement in 1912 when she married newspaperman Alexander Moore. Russell was born in Clinton.
Michael	1996		IMDB: Two tabloid reporters checking out a report of the Archangel Michael living with an old woman find that it's true. But that's not the only surprise.
Miles from Home	1988	Cedar Rapids	IMDB: Two brothers who are forced off their farm in the debt stricken mid-west become folk heroes when they begin robbing the banks that have been foreclosing on farmers.
Miracle Man	1985	Des Moines	After a plane crash, a man faces life in bed only able to blink his eyes. He sets his mind to walk out of the hospital in eight months and does.
Music Man, The	1962		IMDB: A con man comes to a Midwestern town with a scam using a boy's marching band program, but things don't go according to plan. Written by Mason City's Meredith Willson and takes place in River City, Iowa
Nite Song	1978	Des Moines	Two teenagers struggle together to rid their neighborhood of the evils of drug use.
One Foot in Heaven: The Practical Life of a Parson	1941		IMDB: Episodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another. Based on the book by Hartzell Spence (1940) which in turn was the basis for the film nominated for Best Picture Academy Award (1941). Focuses on the life of William Spence, a Lake Mills pastor and his family.
Paradise Trail, The	1979	Des Moines	Blockbuster: Travel to the Old West with an evangelist who attempts to convert notorious outlaws.
Penitentiary	1938	Anamosa	About a district attorney who becomes a prison warden and his daughter falls for a convict.
Pennies From Heaven	1981	Dubuque	IMDB: In Chicago during the depression, sheet music salesman, Arthur Parker, is trying to sell his products, but it's not easy to convince unwilling music store owners to buy them. Although he's already married to the somewhat drab Joan, when he meets school teacher Eileen in a music store, he falls in love with her.
Prodigal Planet, The	1983	Des Moines	IMDB: Final and least well-known installment in the Mark IV series of fundamentalist apocalypse films. About to executed by the forces of the Antichrist, fundamentalist Christian guerrilla David is rescued by Connie, an Antichrist agent pretending to be a double agent for the Believers' Underground. Connie hopes to trick David into leading her to the dissidents' hidden base. Meanwhile, Armageddon and the Second Coming draw nigh.
Sammy	1977	Des Moines, Pleasant Hill
Saved by the Stars and Stripes	1914	Corning, Villisca	photoplay made by Tinsley Film Co. in Corning
Scoring	1979	Des Moines, Cedar Rapids	Slapstick comedy about a women's basketball team.
Shepherd, The	1984	Des Moines	Top Gun' style aerial action as a maverick fighter pilot with a mysterious war record faces death and a new life.
Singin' Happy	1973	Various around state
Sleeping with the Enemy	1991		IMDB: A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband. (Set in Cedar Falls, Iowa.)
Star Trek	2009	Riverside	IMDB: A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.
Starman	1984	Cedar Rapids	IMDB: An alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them.
State Fair	1933	Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines	IMDB: The Frake family attend the Iowa State Fair. Father Abel enters his Hampshire boar, Blue Boy, in the hog contents. Mother Melissa enters the mincemeat competition. And their children, Margy and Wayne, find love with newspaper reporter Pat Gilbert and trapeze artist Emily Joyce. But will everyone return home safe and happy or will hearts be broken?
State Fair	1962		Remake of the 1933 and 1945 films, based on Iowan Phil Stong's 1932 novel State Fair. This version was filmed in Texas.
State Fair	1945		IMDB: Farm family Frake, with discontented daughter Margy, head for the Iowa State Fair. On the first day, both Margy and brother Wayne meet attractive new flames; so does father's prize hog, Blue Boy. As the fair proceeds, so do the romances; must lovers separate when the fair closes? (Remake of the 1933 film, based on Iowan Phil Stong's 1932 novel State Fair.)
Straight Story, The	1999	Clermont, West Bend, Lansing, Laurens, New Hampton, Pocahontas, West Union	IMDB: An old man makes a long journey by tractor to mend his relationship with an ill brother.
Stranger in My Forest, A	1976	Des Moines
Survival	1974	Des Moines
Take This Job and Shove It	1981	Dubuque	IMDB: The Alison Group has bought four beer breweries in difficulties. The young but rising top manager Franck Macklin is sent to reorganize one of them - the one which happens to be the main company in his home town. At first his old buddies are reluctant to have him as new boss, but since he can't save all of them from the severe changes, the climate soon changes. Then he learns that he increased the profit so much, that the his bosses have decided to resell his brewery profitably to an incompetent Texas oil millionaire.
Terms of Endearment	1983	Des Moines	IMDB: Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Aurora's interludes with Garrett Breedlove, retired astronaut and next door neighbor are quite striking. In the end, different people show their love in very different ways.
Thief in the Night, A	1972	Des Moines, Carlisle, Red Rock Dam	A woman caught up in living for the present with little concern for the future, as she tries to elude the evil forces of a one-world government.
Thousand Acres, A	1997		IMDB: 'King Lear' set on a farm in Iowa. (Based on 1991 book by Jane Smiley, who taught at Iowa State University.)
Twister	1996	Ames, Boone, Eldora, Rippey	IMDB: A couple on the point of divorce keep meeting each other because both are researchers who chase tornadoes.
Union Pacific	1938	Council Bluffs	IMDB: One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
Warden, The	1968	Ft. Madison
What's Eating Gilbert Grape	1993		IMDB: Gilbert has to care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life. (Set in the nonexistent town Endora, Iowa.)
Whitcomb's War	1980	Des Moines, Jefferson
Whiteboyz	1999	Davenport, Maquoketa, Iowa City	IMDB: In a virtually all-white Iowa town, Flip daydreams of being a hip-hop star, hanging with Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre. He practices in front of a mirror and with his two pals, James and Trevor. He talks Black slang, he dresses Black. He's also a wannabe pusher, selling flour as cocaine. And while he talks about 'keeping it real,' he hardly notices real life around him: his father's been laid off, his mother uses Food Stamps, his girlfriend is pregnant, James may be psychotic, one of his friends (one of the town's few Black kids) is preparing for college, and, on a trip to Chicago to try to buy drugs, the cops shoot real bullets. What will it take for Flip to get real?
Wild Rose of Iowa	1917
Wonderful Thing, The	1921	Centerville	IMDB: Jacqueline Laurentine Boggs, the daughter of an American hog farmer, is schooled in France and comes to stay with an English family. There she brings a dose of reality to her snobby hosts. (First screened at the Majestic Theatre in Centerville.)
Zadar! Cow from Hell	1989	Iowa City	Wikipedia: The plot of the movie revolves around a struggling Hollywood director who wished to return to his home state of Iowa and create a successful horror film. However, upon arriving in Iowa, the young director is immediately distracted by old friends and family, a problem which will plague him throughout the making of his film, Zadar! Cow From Hell.

top of page