The Orange State: 10 Best Movies That Take Place In Florida

Florida is not just a home for making movies but as a fictional setting for films like Scarface & Citizen Kane. Here are the best movies in the state.

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Florida has a rich history with the film industry. Some of the award-winning classics like Creature From The Black Lagoon were filmed in the Sunshine State. Great movies aren’t just made in Florida, they’re set in Florida too.

Iconic landmarks and buildings from the citrus capital have graced the silver screen for years. Here’s a list of some of the best films made in the home of Disney World, alligators and beautiful weather. Some are funny, some are dark, but they all take place in the home of the everglades.

10 Scarface

Brian Dipalma directed this 1983 classic in which Al Pacino delivers a stellar performance. Tony Montana along with his 3 best friends are given green cards in exchange for murdering a former Cuban general. Montana begins working as a dishwasher in Miami. He feels frustrated and destined for greater things. He finds himself embroiled in a major cocaine deal.

One of his best friends is killed when the deal goes bad. Montana works his way up the ranks in the local drug scene. Power and paranoia take over Montana’s life. He’s fiercely protective of his mother and sister. When he finds his sister with his best friend he goes into a rage and kills him only to find out his best friend had just become his brother in law the day before. This tragedy is the catalyst for the climactic ending of the film.

9 Apollo 13

Apollo 13 follows the story of the 7th manned mission to space to launch from Kenedy space center. It was the third mission in the Apollo space program meant to land on the moon. The flight experienced technical malfunctions and the mission to the moon was aborted. From that moment on the ground, control struggled to get the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 safely back to earth.

Director Ron Howard worked hard to make the film as accurate as possible. He hired a team of advisors from NASA to approve every detail. The film captivated audiences with its deeply emotional story. The film was positively received by audiences and critics alike. It went on to win several awards.

8 The Longest Yard

When a former pro quarterback finds himself in a prison run by a sadistic sports fanatic one of the strangest plots in film history is born. The Longest Yard may be the world’s first sports prison comedy.

Burt Reynolds stars as Paul Crewe. Crewe is ordered to form a prison yard football team to take on the guards in an intense game. In exchange, Crewe is promised a pardon. Nearly 1/3rd of the film is dedicated to this intense game played in the Florida mud. Crewe is told he must throw the game and let the guards win or he’ll forfeit the pardon he’s worked for the whole film.

7 Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane has long been considered one of the greatest films of all time. It’s Orson Welles’ magnum opus. The film begins in a sprawling Florida luxury estate called Xanadu. The film’s protagonist lies on his deathbed. He stares into a snowglobe and utters a single word, “rosebud” as he takes his last breath and slips away.

Kane was an influential figure in the newspaper industry. Because of his position, the mystery of his last word becomes a minor obsession for a reporter covering his death. He spends the rest of the film digging into Kane’s past to discover the significance of “rosebud”. In the end, the reporter walks away with no answer but the audience learns the meaning of the enigmatic word.

6 Ernest Saves Christmas

The Ernest series of films absolutely dominated the 1980s comedy scene. They were wildly popular for their cheesy antics and over the top shenanigans. Ernest Saves Christmas is set in Orlando, Florida where the titular character is a taxi driver. He picks up an old man claiming to be Santa Clause as a fare. Santa has no cash on him so Ernest decides to let him off the hook in the Christmas spirit.

This move cost him his job. Ernest spends the rest of the film bringing Santa his lost sack of toys and helping him recruit a children’s TV actor to take over the job of Father Christmas. It’s a wacky ride from beginning to end. The film was the highest-grossing of the Ernest franchise though it met critical disappointment.

5 Midnight Cowboy

This film is a dark and emotional tale about two unlikely friends and their journey to Florida. Joe Buck quits his job in Texas and moves to New York City to become a prostitute. He doesn’t quite have the skillset for the business aspect of the profession and he quickly finds himself broke and alone in a strange new place.

Eventually, he befriends a conman named Rizo. The two squat together in a derelict building and try to make money hustling. Rizo dreams of moving to Maimai. The most dramatic parts of the film take place on their bus ride to the sunshine state.

4 The Truman Show

Jim Carey stars in this mind-bending drama. The film follows the life of baby Truman. He was born on the biggest TV set ever built. The giant dome containing his entire town and several landscapes we built just for him. He’s the star of The Truman Show, a fictitious reality show that exists only to observe Trueman as he grows. Every part of his life is staged and carefully controlled.

Family tragedies, triumphs, and random encounters are all scripted. Everyone around him is an actor. The sun, the moon, and the rain are all fake. Slowly Truman realizes his life has all been a lie. He begins to find cameras and sound equipment all around him. He plans his escape. Millions of people around the world are riveted and stay glued to their TV screens as they breathlessly wait to see if he makes it out of the set or not.

3 Cool Hand Luke

Cool Hand Luke is set on a prison work camp in Florida. Paul Newman plays Lucas “Luke” Jackson, a decorated war veteran. Luke decides to destroy several parking meters one drunken night and is later arrested. He’s sent to work on a chain gang. The prison camp is led by a ruthless warden and his henchmen. The men in his camp are demoralized until Luke shows up and rebels against the status quo.

2 Moonlight

Moonlight has been commonly referred to as one of the best films of the 21st century. It explores various stages in the life of one black man raised in Miami, Florida. The film is an emotional and beautiful look into some of the darkest struggles a young man can face.

1 Project X

Project X is a science fiction film made in 1987. Virgil the chimp learns sign language from an ambitious graduate student. When her funding is cut she’s forced to sell Virgil to the US military. Virgil is trained in a flight simulator but the project is planned to kill him with a lethal dose of radiation. The student who trained him and the pilot training with him help him to escape.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-movies-take-place-florida-scarface/