Table Of Content
- Lights, Camera, Montana! Explore the Filming Locations of Movies Made in Billings
- Far and Away – US Box Office: USD$58,883,840
- Little Big Man – US Box Office: USD$31,559,552
- Nebraska – US Box Office: USD$17,654,912
- The Missouri Breaks – US Box Office: USD$14,000,000
- Josh and S.A.M. – US Box Office: USD$1,640,220
Lights, Camera, Montana! Explore the Filming Locations of Movies Made in Billings
Lights, camera, action! Are you ready for an adventure like no other? Welcome to Billings, Montana, where the Big Sky Country meets the Silver Screen.
Imagine strolling through the same streets that your favorite actors once graced. As you walk, you can almost hear the echoes of their laughter and feel their energy in the air. The city of Billings has served as the backdrop for countless movies, immersing viewers from all corners of the globe in the rugged landscapes and captivating charm of Montana.
Key Takeaways:
- Unleash your inner movie critic as you explore the film locations of your favorite movies shot in Billings.
- Embark on a journey through iconic scenes, from thrilling action sequences to heartwarming family dramas.
- Experience the thrill of recognizing familiar spots onscreen and then seeing them come to life right before your eyes.
- Get ready to snap some Instagram-worthy photos as you explore the picturesque landscapes that drew filmmakers to Billings.
- Discover hidden gems and local hotspots that may not have made it into the final cut but are worth exploring nonetheless.
- Immerse yourself in the rich history and diverse culture that make Billings a must-visit destination for movie enthusiasts and adventure seekers alike.
Visiting movie filming locations is like stepping into a world where fiction and reality entwine. It’s a chance to see how movie magic transforms ordinary places into extraordinary settings.
Think about it: that quaint coffee shop you love? It might just be the spot where your favorite character had their pivotal, life-changing conversation.
But it’s not just about the fame and excitement of seeing it on the big screen. When you visit movie filming locations, you get the opportunity to discover the beauty of the places where these movies were brought to life. And in the charming city of Billings, that beauty is beyond compare.
So, my fellow adventure-seekers and movie buffs, grab your map and get ready to embark on an unforgettable journey through the reel and real worlds of Billings, Montana.
Are you ready to chase the silver screen and walk in the footsteps of your favorite actors? Explore the movies filmed in Billings, Montana and create memories that will last a lifetime. Your Hollywood-worthy adventure starts now! Lights, camera, Montana!
Now, without further ado, dive into the listicle below and let the movie magic unfold before your eyes. Enjoy!
Far and Away – US Box Office: USD$58,883,840
Director: Ron Howard
Main Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson, Robert Prosky, Barbara Babcock, Cyril Cusack, and Eileen Pollock
Release Date: May 22, 1992
Filming Locations: Billings, Montana, USA; Ma’am Cross, County Galway, Ireland; Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland; Kilruddery House, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland; Temple Lane, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Main Plot: Upon his father’s death, a young Irishman tries to exact revenge on his landlord, Daniel Christie. To assassinate Christie, he is injured and sentenced to a battle with Christie’s egotistical manager, Stephen Chase. Meanwhile, Shannon, Daniel’s daughter, is growing unsatisfied with her parents’ generation’s traditional values and longs to be modern. She plans to leave for the United States, and Joseph can flee with her assistance. They get work and start saving money after landing in Boston. Joseph becomes a local bare-knuckle boxer, while Shannon works in a chicken processing plant and eventually as a dancer at the social club. Everything is fine until Joseph loses a fistfight, at which point their money is taken away. Joseph and Shannon are abandoned in the bitter cold of winter. Shannon’s parents, still in Ireland, suffer a heartbreaking loss and decide to visit her in America. Chase, who joined them, has launched a search for her, but his efforts are futile. After an accident, Joseph takes Shannon to them. After that, Joseph travels west to work on the railroad.
Famous quotes:
Shannon Christie: “She’s got an awfully large chest to be going to church.”
Joseph Donnelly: “Shannon, all chests are equal in the eyes of the Lord.”
Joseph Donnelly: “I tried to prove myself to you, But I know nothing of Books, or Alphabets, or Sun, or Moon, or… All I know is Joseph Loves Shannon”
Shannon Christie: “Pretend you love me.”
Joseph Donnelly: “I pretend I love you.”
Fun Facts about Far and Away:
- Due to the extremely poor “Oirish” accents, this film has become a cult classic comedy for some in Ireland.
- Nicole Kidman’s facial response during the filming of the scene in which her character lifts the bowl hiding Joseph’s Crotch irritated director Ron Howard.
- 800 extras, 400 horses, and 200 carts were used to reconstruct the Great Land Rush. The extras were all recruited from The Re-enactors, a re-enactment club.
- As shown in the film, three of Ron Howard’s great-grandparents participated in the 1893 Great Land Rush.
- Despite having over 17 years of expertise as a dialect coach, this was the first time he had to teach his cast to talk in an Irish accent.
Little Big Man – US Box Office: USD$31,559,552
Director: Arthur Penn
Main Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Jeff Corey, and Aimee Eccles
Release Date: December 23, 1970
Filming Locations: Billings, Montana, USA; Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Lame Deer, Montana, USA; Hardin, Montana, USA; Lame Deer, Montana, USA; Nevada City, Montana, USA
Main Plot: In 1970, 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman), the world’s oldest living man, recounts his long and colorful life story to an interested historian (William Hickey). Crabb claimed to have been a Cheyenne captive, a gunslinger, an associate of Wild Bill Hickok, a scout for General George Armstrong Custer, and the last white survivor of Custer’s command at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Crabb tells the Historian that having been adopted by the Cheyenne and raised in their culture, he has a unique viewpoint on Caucasian and Native American life in the nineteenth century. In 1859, Jack, 10, and his older sister Caroline (Carole Androsky) survived the killing of their parents’ wagon train by hostile Pawnee warriors. Jack and his sister are returned to a Cheyenne tribe after being discovered by a Cheyenne warrior.
Famous quotes:
Old Lodge Skins: “Let’s go back to the teepee and eat, my son. My new snake wife cooks dogs very well.”
Jack Crabb: “All right, Grandfather.”
Old Lodge Skins: “She also has a very soft skin. The only trouble with snake women is they copulate with horses, which makes them strange to me. She says she doesn’t. That’s why I call her Doesn’t Like Horses. But, of course, she’s lying.”
Jack Crabb: “Grandfather, I have a white wife.”
Old Lodge Skins: “You do? That’s interesting. Does she cook and does she work hard?”
Fun Facts about Little Big Man:
- Dustin Hoffman stayed in his dressing room for an hour, screaming at the top of his lungs, to get the raspy voice of 121-year-old Jack.
- The character of Old Lodge Skins was initially given to Marlon Brando, who declined.
- Little Big Man was the name of a historical character.
- Chief Dan George was the first Native American to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting.
- One of the very few two-and-a-half-hour films from that era that did not have an intermission.
Nebraska – US Box Office: USD$17,654,912
Director: Alexander Payne
Main Cast: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Mary Louise Wilson, and Rance Howard
Release Date: January 24, 2014
Filming Locations: Billings, Montana, USA; Norfolk, Nebraska, USA; Rapid City, South Dakota, USA; Mount Rushmore National Memorial – Highway 244, Keystone, South Dakota, USA
Main Plot: The Grants live in Billings, Montana, with their father, Woody, mother, Kate, and adult sons, Ross and David. Woody is nearing dementia. Despite the family’s belief that he only thinks what appears on the surface, Woody’s delusions are aggravated by a lifetime of excessive drinking. Woody’s most recent fantasy is that he has won $1 million, which everyone in his family knows is one of those magazine subscription scams. As a result, Woody does not trust the United States Postal Service. To deliver his “winning” certificate and resolves to trek to the company’s headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, to collect his $1 million. All he wants to do with the money is buy a new pickup truck. Something he’s never had, although he shouldn’t be driving. He’d like to rebuild the air compressor stolen from him decades ago and leave a small legacy for Ross and David.
Famous quotes:
Kate Grant: “That’s Ed Pegram singing.”
Ed Pegram: “And his momma cried, ’cause if there’s one thing that she doesn’t need, it’s another hungry mouth to feed… in the ghetto. people don’t ya understand.”
Kate Grant: “He always did have a nice voice. It was the only nice thing about that bastard.”
Woody Grant: “It’s all right.”
Kate Grant: “All right? Did you know… he was always trying to get into my bloomers?”
Sequel: Nebraska 2001
Fun Facts about Nebraska:
- Since cameras were installed on both doors, Bruce Dern and Will Forte claimed they were trapped in the car for hours while filming the driving scenes.
- Alexander Payne’s first foray into black-and-white photography, using digital cameras and anamorphic lenses.
- Bruce Dern is a teetotaler who used to run marathons. In his late 70s, he is still running.
- Alexander Payne cast June Squibb because of her modest appearance in About Schmidt (2002), another film he wrote and produced. He thought she was such an underappreciated performer that he wanted to cast her in a larger role in one of his next films.
- For several years, Alexander Payne attempted to get the film made.
The Missouri Breaks – US Box Office: USD$14,000,000
Director: Arthur Penn
Main Cast: Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, and John P. Ryan
Release Date: May 19, 1976
Filming Locations: Red Lodge, Montana, USA; Virginia City, Montana, USA; Billings, Montana, USA; Bovey Restorations, Nevada City, Montana, USA; Nevada City, Montana, USA
Main Plot: Tom Logan steals horses. David Braxton, a rancher, has horses and a daughter worth stealing. However, Braxton has just hired Lee Clayton, an infamous “regulator,” to track down the horse thieves one by one. Logan’s men do a daring rail robbery, losing a large portion of the money. The gang responds to Braxton’s actions by hanging his foreman Pete Marker (Richard Bradford), on the same noose. As a cattle rancher, Logan purchases an abandoned ranch next to Braxton’s to act as a relay station for transporting stolen horses over the plains. Logan produces crops at their new farm and begins a romance with Braxton’s virginal daughter. Jane, while his men ride over the Missouri River and toward the border to steal Canadian Mounted Police horses (Kathleen Lloyd). He knows how to romance a woman in the Wild West by preparing Chinese tea.
Famous quotes:
Jane Braxton: “I forgot, you do have your whores, don’t you?”
Tom Logan: “Sure do. Like ’em, too.”
Jane Braxton: “Well, I’ll tell you something. If you want them more than you want me.”
Tom Logan: “I keep telling you, I want them a lot. I don’t want you at all.”
Jane Braxton: “Well, why are you being so mean to me?”
Fun Facts about The Missouri Breaks:
- The acting of Marlon Brando in this film was mostly improvised. Arthur Penn eventually gave up on him and decided to let him act however pleased.
- Marlon Brando’s usage of cue cards throughout filming irritated Jack Nicholson.
- The title alludes to the film’s principal scene. In this harsh north-central Montana region, the Missouri River “breaks,” cutting into the ground due to the river’s violent rising.
- According to the original press, Marlon Brando improvised so much. A professional stenographer had to be sent from California to record Brando’s impromptu poetry and spontaneous speech.
- Marlon Brando accepted the offer of $1 million for five weeks of work plus 11.3 percent of total revenue above $10 million.
Josh and S.A.M. – US Box Office: USD$1,640,220
Director: Billy Weber
Main Cast: Jacob Tierney, Noah Fleiss, Martha Plimpton, Stephen Tobolowsky, Joan Allen, Chris Penn, and Maury Chaykin
Release Date: November 24, 1993
Filming Locations: Arches National Park, Utah, USA; Billings, Montana, USA; Laurel, Montana, USA; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Price, Utah, USA
Main Plot: Brothers Josh and Sam are tired of life at home, let alone each other, so Sam becomes friends with his father’s stepsons while Josh feels left out. This spells war! Josh employs his artistic abilities to convince Sam that he is a genetically enhanced mutant trained to fight in battle. So their plan to go home is camouflaged as a secret effort to bring Sam to Canada so he won’t have to serve in an African war. Along the journey, they steal the car of a drunk who attempts to kill them and meet Alison, whom Josh informs Sam is the Liberty Maid who can help them travel to Canada. While fleeing cops and other individuals, Josh and Sam realize that life at home is better.
Famous quotes:
Sam Whitney: “You’re not my brother anymore!”
Josh Whitney: “What?”
Sam Whitney: “I just decided it, the same way Dad isn’t Mom’s Husband anymore”
Josh Whitney: “You must be dumber than Dad’s stepsons, you can’t divorce me”
Sam Whitney: “uh-huh, he can take you away like he took the lawn mower and the barbeque”
Fun Facts about Josh and S.A.M. :
- The premiere was attended by Jacob Tierney, Noah Fleiss, and their families. Still, no other actors or staff members were present.
- The storyline for Josh and S.A.M. is based on real-life events in the lives of Josh and Sam Rosen in 1990.
- Billy Weber, a lifelong editor, directed his first and only picture.
- Harry Caesar’s final film.
- A deer is seen crossing the road while traveling down the road in the red Grand Prix near the film’s end, and the actors react to it.
