Detroit History -- 'Old' Movies filmed in Detroit

**TIMT** · June-11-23, 06:42 PM

One of the movies that still fascinates me & gives me goosebumps is a rather bleak 1973 'cops & robbers' movie called 'Detroit 9000,' due to the phenomenal filming locations.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069966/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_9000

Watch it here for free:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2rvfqv

Note: I don't think the movie holds-up well unless you're interested in Detroit history -- in my case, seeing buildings that I only knew as abandoned eyesores back in their heyday, or at least when they were still in-use. For example, the opening scene of the movie shows the Book-Cadillac Hotel [[then called the Sheraton Cadillac). DPD HQ at 1300 Beaubien, the old Wayne County Morgue in Greektown, Belle Isle, Windsor Tunnel etc. are all featured as they were circa 1972/1973. Still a mystery to me, towards the end of the movie, someone decides to escape with something by taking a cruise ship [[Princess Cruise Lines, ship is the Italia) that seems to be docked at a terminal in Detroit. Around the 1+20 mark, there's some nice exterior & interior shots of the old railway terminal that was around Fort St & 3rd Ave -- Detroit Central terminal I believe it was called. A shootout that starts there eventually becomes a foot chase & shootout through it's old rail yard -- the exact spot of the Riverfront Towers apartment complex where I lived at when I first saw the movie around 1999. So image being in your living room, looking straight-ahead at the TV showing the movie, but then turning your head to the right, and looking at some of the exact same background scenery [[most prominent, the main Detroit Post Office sorting station) from the same distance away, the only different being I was about 250' up in the air, in my 23rd floor apartment.

Another movie which I just watched on HBO recently was called Kill the Irishman.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1416801/

It's available for Streaming if you have HBO Max.

The amusing thing about this 2011 movies is that the setting is Cleveland in the 1970s, but since Cleveland had apparently modernized itself so much, they actually filmed it in... Detroit. They used very tight shots, so prominent Detroit landmarks were never shown except for a split instant in the distance. My suspicious were first aroused when I saw a faded Nicholson Terminal sign in a beginning scene where they were supposedly at a Cleveland dock, then I saw what I sure recollected to be the main entrance area for Tiger Stadium. My hunch was quickly verified by doing a Google search on the names of other businesses and streets and addresses shown in the movie.

**Ray1936** · June-11-23, 07:35 PM

You have sharp eyes, TMT! Thanks for that post; enjoyed it greatly!

**Kathleen** · June-12-23, 09:28 AM

The 1998 film Polish Wedding starring Claire Danes, Gabriele Byrne, and Lena Olin was filmed in Hamtramck.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119910/

**GPCharles** · June-12-23, 09:36 AM

Scarecrow [[1973) with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. Scene filmed at Scott Fountain, among other locations.

**preserve** · June-12-23, 09:55 AM

The Rosary Murders was also filmed in Detroit, Holy Redeemer Church, the cemetary on Dix, house on Vinewood and more.

**mtburb** · June-12-23, 12:45 PM

All of the Beverly Hills Cop movies, including the upcoming Netflix one, begin with scenes set and filmed in Detroit before the plot shifts to California. The first one in particular has scenes filmed in Brush Park back when it was no-man's land, the east riverfront when it was still an industrial area, the old Ford Rouge silo on Dix in a shot that also shows the pre-rebuild Fort Street Drawbridge, the Viking Motel with its original sign, and the truck chase's conclusion on 30th Street off of Michigan.

**Dan Wesson** · June-12-23, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by GPCharles

Scarecrow [[1973) with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. Scene filmed at Scott Fountain, among other locations.

yes

also in hamtramck on caniff near lumpkin street

**1953** · June-12-23, 01:27 PM

The 1940 holiday film, 'Remember the Night,' starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, features a brief glimpse of the area around the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, as the lovebirds travel through the Motor City to Canada in order to escape lawmen previously wronged stateside.

1953

**401don** · June-12-23, 01:35 PM

There are a couple of similar threads that have been done before.
This might also save some time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...set_in_Detroit

**Danny** · June-14-23, 03:51 PM

Detroit 9000 where there was a chase scene involving a crook and the cop through Southwest Detroit to Woodmere Cemetery where the cop shot the crook.

**stasu1213** · June-14-23, 04:55 PM

Three the Hard Way starring Fred Williamson, Jim Kelley, and Jim Brown was filmed in Detroit

**Kathleen** · June-14-23, 07:18 PM

Red Dawn starring Chris Hemsworth was filmed around Detroit.

https://www.republicworld.com/entert...h-starrer.html

https://hollywoodfilminglocations.co...ing-locations/

And they "blew up" a building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtde8GOCbtI

**Lowell** · June-15-23, 07:44 AM

And of course the Transformers 4 mega set on the Statler Hotel lot. View from former DetroitYES 'World HQ' in the Michigan Bdlg.

**Vitalis** · June-26-23, 04:15 PM

A 2011 movie, "Kill the Irishman," had some Detroit locations, most notably in a parking lot behind the old UA theatre. Detroit was standing in for Cleveland in this flick. The Michigan Film Office's tax incentives were likely stronger than Ohio's back then.

**Ray1936** · June-26-23, 04:53 PM

I wonder, if in 2123, some internet [[or whatever it's called then) stumbles upon these Detroit entries and is stunned by whatever one gets stunned by in that year.

Of course, by then, Morka, the death star, will have totally wiped out our current solar system.

Jeez, am I in a foul mood today. Y'all help me out, you hear???