The Quad Cities are roughly 2,000 miles from Hollywood as the crow flies, but that hasn’t stopped various local communities from getting a mention on the big screen from coast-to-coast over the years.
Of course there’s 1989’s Field of Dreams, shot up the road in Dyersville, Iowa with Galena, Illinois subbing for a mystical Chisholm, Minnesota.
The city of Davenport was mentioned in 1994’s Dumb and Dumber, when Mike Starr, playing a hitchhiker, asked Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, “Say, uh, are you guys going to Davenport?”
Davenport also snagged a mention in 1995’s Tommy Boy:
However, Chris Farley wasn’t the first Saturday Night Live alum to bring the Quad Cities to the cinema, as John Belushi did so in 1979’s 1941, when Don Calfa’s character mentions, “I’m from Moline, Illinois,” and Belushi replied back, “Tough $&#@.”
Moline also got a similar mention in 1995’s A Walk in the Clouds, when Keanu Reeves proudly proclaims, “I’m from Moline– Moline, Illinois!” His love interest’s father, played by Giancarlo Giannini, unimpressed, bluntly replied, “Mmm. Wherever that is…”
More recently, Matt Damon’s character, in 2012’s Promised Land said, “Well, I’m from Eldridge, Iowa,” and “We had a Caterpillar plant down in Davenport, a few miles away.”
Rock Island plays a prominent role in Tom Hanks’ 2002 film “Road to Perdition,” and the first track on the soundtrack is titled, “Rock Island, 1931.”
Hanks’ 1986 film Nothing in Common, in which he co-starred with Jackie Gleason, featured a plug for the Quad Cities, calling it “[t]wice as good as the Twin Cities.”
Rock Island snagged the title in 1950’s Rock Island Trail, featuring Forrest Tucker, Chill Wills and Adele Mara– the world premier was actually held at Circa ’21 (then The Fort Theater).
Galesburg, or, more specifically, the “people who live there,” got a mention in 2006’s Hollywoodland featuring Ben Affleck as George Reeves/Clark Kent/Superman– “I’d like to thank the Academy and all the good people of Galesburg, Illinois, for making me who I am today.”
As for films shot in the Quad Cities and surrounding area, check out 1999’s White Boyz, 1981’s Take this Job and Shove It, shot it Dubuque, Iowa, 1991’s Bix, which was shot in Davenport, 2008’s Sugar, which featured Davenport, the Quad Cities and Burlington, Iowa, and the made-for-TV cult classic, 2009’s MegaFault.
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Did we miss any? E-mail Jason Fechner at jason.fechner@wqad.com, or hit him up on Facebook or Twitter, and we’ll add them to the list!
