Sunset Boulevard
Joe Gillis played by William Holden in the classic film “Sunset Boulevard” makes reference to his time at a Dayton newspaper.
“The time had come to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home. Maybe if I hawked all my junk there’d be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio. Back to that $35 a week job behind the copy desk at the Dayton Evening Post if it was still open. Back to the smirking delight of the whole office. ‘Alright you wise guys, why don’t you go out and take a crack at Hollywood.’”
It is far less known than the Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) line: “Alright Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
Across the Universe
Credit: Columbia Pictures
Credit: Columbia Pictures
Part of the 2007 film “Across the Universe” is set at fictional Dayton High School. The movie’s plot revolves around Beatles lyrics. Prudence (T.V. Carpio) is from Dayton and pines for a fellow member of the Dayton High Wildcat cheerleader squad.
Super 8
Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
A map of Dayton was used in the trailer for the 2011 sci-fi film “Super 8.”
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is mentioned in the film that follows a group of Ohio kids who witness a train derailment while filming a zombie movie with a Super-8 camera.
Gummo
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
The 1997 film “Gummo” was filmed in Nashville but set in fictional Xenia, Ohio. The film about the bored residents of a tornado-stricken town was made by Harmony Korine.
Blue Car
Directed and written by Karen Moncrieff, the 2002 film “Blue Car” about a gifted and troubled teenage girl from Dayton, was filmed here.
Hulk
Credit: Marvel.Com
Credit: Marvel.Com
Edward Norton is among the actors who has played Dr. Bruce Banner on the big screen.
Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s saner side, was born in Dayton
Road House
Cody (Jeff Healey), the band singer in the Double Deuce, goes way back with Dalton, Patrick Swayze’s character in “Road House.”
Cody: “Man, this toilet is worse than the one that we worked in Dayton.”
Dalton: “Really?”
Cody: “Oh man, it’s a mean scene around here, man. There’s blood on the floor of this joint every night.”
We’re Doing Fine
“We’re Doing Fine” shot at several Dayton locations
Written and directed by 2001 Stivers School for the Arts graduate Djuna Wahlrab, the indie movie is about two friends, one who moved from Dayton and the other who stayed.
Catch Me if You Claus
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
This seasonal Hallmark television movie from 2023 is set in Dayton.
The plot follows Avery Quinn, a highly competent researcher working for a news station in Dayton, Ohio.
Santa’s son, Chris, gets wrapped up with the TV news anchor and a burglar who also dresses like Santa.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a 1982 American science fiction horror film and the third installment in the Halloween film series.
At one point in the movie kids are seen trick-or-treating in Dayton.
National Lampoons Senior Trip
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
In this 1995 film, Dayton teens are invited to Washington by the President of the United States. While there, a scheming senator uses them to embarrass his rival.
Part of the movie takes place a fictional high school in the suburb of Dayton. The school is called Fairmount High, not to be confused with Kettering Fairmont.
One of the high school students is played by Jeremy Renner, who later starred in the Mission: Impossible and Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Credit: Lynch, Gregory
Journey 2 was the 2012 follow-up film to Journey to the Center of the Earth which came out in 2008.
The movie features the fictional family living in Dayton.
Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) partners with his mom’s husband (Dwayne Johnson) on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.
About the Author
