Lewis, director of the Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office, said the shot isn’t taken on the actual PCT. Sean Penn, who directed Into the Wild, was meticulous about shooting on location in each of the places McCandless visited in his itinerant wanderings that led to his unfortunate demise in the Alaskan wilderness. Based on the book by the great Jon Krakauer, Penn’s film does both the book and McCandless’ life justice. While much of the commentary has inanely focused on McCandless’ lack of preparation for his Alaskan adventure, the film deftly shows that incandescent life of Alexander Supertramp was about so much more than how it ended.
BIG-NAME STARS IN THE SEVENTIES, EIGHTIEs & NINETIES
However, after World War II, when much of the railroad infrastructure was torn up and used as scrap metal, the steady stream of movies shot in Truckee/Tahoe dried into a trickle. Beverly Lewis, director of the Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office, said one probable factor is the rise of the highway system and automobiles as a replacement for the railway system. “Hollywood’s first choice now (for mountain or winter scenes) is Big Bear or Mammoth because the drive is a little easier,” she said. This accounts for why after 1938, Tahoe/Truckee served as a location only once every couple of years, sometimes a couple of times a decade, rather than four or five a year. Nevertheless, what the region lacked in quantity of films produced, it made up for in quality. “Out of the Past,” staring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas, was shot in and around Lake Tahoe in 1946. The film is a chiaroscuro-shaded slice of quintessential Hollywood film noir, replete with strong but terse private detectives, distressed damsels with troubled pasts and sinister tycoons making their crimes pay for sprawling estates at Lake Tahoe. The film features sweeping shots of the oft-photographed Emerald Bay. Then of course came “The Godfather: Part II.” Director Francis Ford Coppola selected the Fleur du Lac, an expansive estate formerly owned by Henry Kaiser on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore, for a location shoot long critical sequences for the film. A bevy of critics argue “The Godfather: Part II,” released in 1974, is actually superior to the original, which is also hailed as one of the greatest films in cinematic history. The film’s grandiose with Michael Corleone celebrating the first communion of his son while attempting to cut deals with corrupt Nevada senators and stave off challenges to his protection racket in New York is offset by the serene setting of Lake Tahoe’s calm and clear waters, which serve to open and close the classic film. Since, several movies have used the Truckee/Tahoe region as a backdrop, including huge commercial hits such as “Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984), starring Harrison Ford; “Misery” (1990), featuring Kathy Bates in a chilling Academy Award-winning role; “True Lies” (1994), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis; and “The Bodyguard” (1992), starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner; and “Jack Frost” (1998), starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston.
RECENT HISTORYs
Despite these big-name films and their Sierra success, Lewis said the Truckee/Tahoe region has gone through a recent spate of trouble attracting filmmakers due to economic, rather than geographic, reasons. Beginning about 20 years ago, Canada starting providing significant tax incentives to production companies, meaning filmmakers could save enormous amounts of money by shifting locations to north of the border. “For a while, Canada was the only game in town, but they were so wildly successful that about 40 states adopted similar incentives,” Lewis said. The state of California was slow to adopt the practice and lost not only business, but the type of exposure that films can lend to its unique and enthralling geography. However, in recent years, the California State Legislature ratified similar incentives for film, television and media production and Truckee/Tahoe has reaped the rewards. “Into the Wild” (2007), starring Emile Hirsch; Smokin’ Aces (2007), starring Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck and a slew of other well-known actors; and “Her” (2013), starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, are examples of studios' recently renewed willingness to return to the region. The region has also hosted solid efforts from independent cinema, including an underrated thriller starring Tilda Swinton, “The Deep End” (2001), and the recently released “Last Weekend” (2014). These commercially successful films and small independent vehicles demonstrate that location scouts in Hollywood, cinematographers and directors alike will continue to seek out Truckee/Tahoe’s dazzling terrain as an ideal backdrop for their stories. Whether the craftsmen and women of cinema will be able to match the artistic achievements of some of the greats that have been shot within the confines of the Northern Sierra is another question altogether. But judging by both the quantity and quality of the fare the region has produced so far, they got work to do.
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TRUE LIES (1994) “You’re fired,” says Harry Tasker as he fires a Harrier missile from which the stereotypically Arabic villain is dangling. It is these type of corny one-liners for which Arnold Schwarzenegger is at once revered and reviled. But you know what? “True Lies” is an entertaining movie that delivers what it promises. Directed by James Cameron (yes, the same man who directed Schwarzenegger in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” as well as Oscar winners “Titanic” and “Avatar”), the movie centers on a marriage that is deteriorating due to general boredom, but is resuscitated, when Helen Tasker, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, realizes her husband is not merely a drab salesman, but a terrorist hunting, bad-ass secret agent. It is the story’s surprising heart (and an unlikely hilarious turn from Tom Arnold, of all people) that rescues this film from being another run-of-the-mill mindless action flick. That and the fact Arnold was still at his peak as arguably Hollywood’s greatest ever action hero. This movie cannot be rightfully included in the ranks of the films at the top of this list, but it was entertaining, fun and definitely worth the time investment. THE BODYGUARD (1992) Ditto for this film as far as its aspirations for cinematic greatness. But in its way, the romantic thriller starring Kevin Coster as an ex-Secret Service agent hired to protect a famous Whitney Houston, who pretty much plays herself, is thoroughly satisfactory. There is a nice little chase seen that takes place at Fallen Leaf Lake. This move may be remembered more, however, for its soundtrack and Houston’s powerful rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” originally written and sung by — wait for it — Dolly Parton, than any cinematic achievement. THE NAVIGATOR (1924) Buster Keaton is not as well known as Charlie Chaplin, but he is just as crucial to the development of cinema and the modern concept of comedy. A innovator in film stunts, Jackie Chan perhaps unwittingly owes much to the deadpan actor known as “The Great Stone Face.” “The Navigator” is on this list because it was filmed in Truckee. This is not to say it’s a poor film. In fact, it’s excellent. But it caters to devout cinephiles or devoted local historians rather than your casual movie-goer. That said, everyone can better enjoy Keaton’s most famous movie, “The General,” which is not only a classic of the silent era, but an American classic. The American Film Institute recently rated it at 18 on its 100 Greatest American Films list. It’s that good folks. TAHOE MAGAZINE
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