Alabama has a rich film history, from Oscar-winning milestone movies that will forever stand the test of time like “Forrest Gump” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” to cult favorites like “Hooper” and “Talladega Nights.”
Some are classics. Some are, well … beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Audience scores don’t always match up with critics’ reviews, after all.
And because you know about long-celebrated and claimed Alabama-connected movies like “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Norma Rae” and “Selma,” we want to dive a little deeper to share a handful of titles you maybe didn’t know filmed in (or very close to) our home state.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
Sacha Baron Cohen’s outrageous mockumentary Kazakh Ministry of Information reporter Borat Sagdiyev traveled all over the U.S. of A to learn everything he could about the “greatest country in the world” for his homeland. That included a stop in Alabama where Borat sought advice from an etiquette coach who suggests Borat attend the private gathering of a dinner club. The movie was a critical and box office hit, skyrocketing Cohen to A-list fame, winning him a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy and earning him an Oscar nomination for co-writing the script. The sequel, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” was released in 2020.
Cobb (1994)
“Bull Durham” writer/director Ron Shelton also made this lesser-known and highly underrated biopic about a reporter (Robert Wuhl) who is hired to write the official biography of Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), as he discovers just how dark the baseball legend’s real story is. One of the ultimate “you should never meet your heroes” stories, thanks in large part to Jones’ wild performance as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Fresh off of his Oscar win for “The Fugitive,” Jones remained at the peak of his acting powers, giving everything the had to a deeply flawed character. “Cobb” is one of many Hollywood productions to have filmed period baseball sequences as the historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham. In this film, Rickwood stood in for Philadelphia’s Shibe Park and Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. Look quick for a cameo from the late great Jimmy Buffett as a heckler!
Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning directorial debut remains as relevant today as it did the day it opened in 2017. The weekend getaway/meet the parents story that takes a sinister turn was partially filmed in Fairhope. Daniel Kaluuya (“Sicario”) stars as a man who visits his white girlfriend’s cursed family estate, where things get very weird and dangerous. It earned Oscar nominations for best picture, director and actor and won the best original screenplay award. Allison Williams, one of the film’s stars, posted a photo on Instagram during film saying she “fell in love” with Fairhope while filming the movie.
A New York Magazine piece featured Peele, Kaluuya, Williams and others reflecting on their time spent in Alabama, including the director’s own assumptions about the area. Peele said he quickly learned they weren’t all true. “I went to Alabama with my own stereotypes and preconceived notions about getting chased out,” Peele said. “There’s definitely a feeling that you’re in Trump country. But I have to say, the stereotypes were proved wrong. People were very sweet, very open, and there’s a lot of film lovers there who are very intelligent. Ultimately, I loved Alabama.” Some of the cast stayed in the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa during production, while also spending time at a house Williams rented for the duration of filming, which she said helped to create a bond within the team that may not have existed had they stayed in Los Angeles.
The Green Berets (1968)
This is a minor cheat. Even if John Wayne didn’t actually enter the state, Alabama felt the presence of the legendary actor, who filmed “The Green Berets” just across the border in Georgia in 1968. While the film took place at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, it was shot at Fort Benning next to Columbus, Ga., and right on the Alabama border during the summer of 1967. The movie was released during the Vietnam War in June 1968, the same year as the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam. Wayne served as star and co-director (with Ray Kellogg) on the film, which sought and obtained full military cooperation from President Lyndon B. Johnson and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Wayne plays Col. Mike Kirby, who assembles two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam, first to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy, and then to kidnap a North Vietnamese General. It co-stars Jim Hutton, David Janssen, Aldo Ray, Raymond St. Jacques, Bruce Cabot and George Takei. Birmingham News staff photographer Tom Self gained unique access to the set at Fort Benning where he took an array of black-and-white photos of Wayne in action.
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Two FBI agents with wildly different styles (Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe) arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists in 1964. The investigation is met with hostility and backlash by the town’s residents, local police and the Ku Klux Klan. The movie received seven Oscar nominations including best picture, director, actor and supporting actress (Frances McDormand). After filming in Mississippi towns like Jackson and Vaiden, production moved to LaFayette, Alabama, standing in for the fictional Jessup County area. While roundly criticized by many for its fictionalization of history and Black activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the brutal confrontation of the South’s past seems like a breath of fresh air compared to more schmaltzy efforts to do so these days.
Stone Cold (1991)
Former football star Brian Bosworth (aka “the Boz”) pursued acting after his NFL career ended prematurely. He made his big debut as tough Alabama cop Joe Huff, who is blackmailed by the FBI into going undercover in a violent Mississippi biker gang. The movie was mostly filmed on the Gulf Coast, including sequences in and around Mobile. They also shot a few scenes in Jackson and Little Rock. “Stone Cold” got bad reviews and flopped at the box office, but it did win a Razzie for Worst New Star. Bosworth would continue acting for the next three decades, landing parts in “Three Kings,” “The Longest Yard” and “What Men Want.” (The only place it’s streaming: Pluto TV via Rifftrax)
Sword of Trust (2019)
Marc Maron, the stand-up comic and “WTF Podcast” host, starred in this independent movie set and filmed in Alabama. The New Jersey native told AL.com the 12-day shoot gave him more time to get to know the Birmingham area, its people and an unfamiliar state. Directed by the late Lynn Shelton (who was also Maron’s partner), the film follows two women who show up to collect one’s inheritance from her deceased grandfather. However, the only item she’s received is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War. Maron plays the owner of a pawn shop. The film was shot in Birmingham and Argo in just 12 days.
Tom and Huck (1995)
Tweener superstars Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro play the titular best friends who witness a murder and embark on a series of adventures in order to prove the innocence of the man wrongly accused of the crime. Another Disneyficaton of Mark Twain’s characters hasn’t exactly held up as a classic, but it caught the stars at pivotal points in their careers, when Thomas tried to turn “Home Improvement” into a movie career and Renfro rode the wave of his big debut in “The Client.” It filmed in several northern Alabama cities including Decatur, Huntsville and Mooresville. (Streaming on Disney+)
Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
More than a decade before he’d win an Oscar for playing Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Gregory Peck starred here as the hard-nosed General Savage who takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale. His character whips them into fighting shape in this Darryl F. Zanuck production directed by Henry King. The film’s technical advisor, Col. John De Russy, was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base and suggested Ozark Army Air Field near Daleville (now Cairns Army Airfield) in Dale County to film B-17 takeoffs and landings.
Under Siege (1992)
Steven Seagal’s best movie? He plays Casey Ryback, an ex-Navy Seal turned cook who is the only person who can stop a group of terrorists (led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey) when they seize control of a U.S. battleship. From Andrew Davis, director of “The Fugitive,” so you know it rules. (We can confirm, it does.) While it takes place on the battleship USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, it was actually filmed aboard the USS Alabama in Mobile. The USS Drum, a museum ship also located in Mobile, stood in for a North Korean submarine. While Seagal doesn’t have the best career batting average, Alabama can safely claim his best work. (Cool fact: Harrison Ford watched “Under Siege,” which convinced him to hire Davis to direct “The Fugitive.” So no Alabama, no “Fugitive,” y’all.)
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