Jump to content

Filmed in Houston

houstonsemipro

By houstonsemipro
in Houston and the Media

Recommended Posts

Hunter

Hunter

Posted
Posted
the site of the former gilley's is soon to be turned into a high school.  i wonder if they will at least put up a marker or something commemorating it's place in houston's history.  read more details.

I am so glad that they are finally going to do somethign with that old site. But it is not a part of Houston it is part of Pasadena.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 168
  • Created
  • Last Reply
bruce_oneal

bruce_oneal

Posted
Posted
Can you help me out and just post the story? I hate having to go to the barnacle's website only to be told I'm going to have to register first if I want to read their lop-sided stories.

Feb. 28, 2005, 12:58PM

Middle school to go up where Gilley's once stood

Associated Press

PASADENA - A quarter-century after Gilley's Club became the world's most famous honky-tonk, local school officials plan to turn the site into a middle school.

The Pasadena Independent School District bought the nearly 15-acre site where the club -- which with its mechanical bull ride became an international tourist draw after it was featured in the 1980 movie "Urban Cowboy" -- once stood in this Houston suburb.

The club, named after country singer Mickey Gilley, shut down in 1989 after Gilley and partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after.

The Pasadena school district agreed to pay nearly $440,000 in back taxes to purchase the property.

"We plan to, someday, build a middle school on that site that will serve the Park View Intermediate School attendance zone," said Kirk Lewis, deputy superintendent for the school district.

A pavilion remains on the property but Lewis said it will probably be cleared when the new school is built.

"I think that all of the kids that will go to school on that property will have a lot to talk about," said Gilley, who still lives in Pasadena and runs a restaurant there.

An upscale version of the old Gilley's nightclub opened in Dallas in 2003.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hunter

Hunter

Posted
Posted
Feb. 28, 2005, 12:58PM

The club, named after country singer Mickey Gilley, shut down in 1989 after Gilley and partner Sherwood Cryer feuded over how to run the place. A fire destroyed it soon after.

If I remember correctly many believe that Cryer is the one that set fire to it. And one of the reasons that it was shut down was becuse he was employing illegals to run the place and not paying all of his taxes! There is quite a bit more to the story but that is the main meat of the story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Parrothead

Parrothead

Posted
Posted

I can't believe it took so long for someone to finally mention "Urban Cowboy" :P

"Armageddon"'s main scenes were filmed here as well. My best friend was an extra.

"Rushmore" is one of my favorite movies. Bill Murray was just genius. :lol:

TBS's first season of "House Rules", a competitive home improvement show (that I was addicted to!!) was filmed in West Houston/Katy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bruce_oneal

bruce_oneal

Posted
Posted
If I remember correctly many believe that Cryer is the one that set fire to it. And one of the reasons that it was shut down was becuse he was employing illegals to run the place and not paying all of his taxes! There is quite a bit more to the story but that is the main meat of the story.

yeah, kinda funny how after the 'fued' the place burned down. very interesting...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
skwatra

skwatra

Posted
Posted

this site may be a good reference in the future:

http://texas.southwestmovies.com/Armageddon/

if you click on harris county it says coming soon.

the scene in armageddon when they show them first getting to JSC definitely was not JSC. but other scenes were shot here.

and in independence day, if i remember correctly the billboard they showed just before nuking houston does not exist (it said university of houston and galveston or something).

also, don't forget space cowboys, i tried to be an extra for that and much of it was filmed at JSC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dubya

dubya

Posted
Posted
and in independence day, if i remember correctly the billboard they showed just before nuking houston does not exist (it said university of houston and galveston or something).

The sign said "University of Houston" and "South Houston." I only remember that because the first time I saw it, I thought, "Hey! That's not a real sign!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
don_mynack

don_mynack

Posted
Posted

Back in the early 90's, when I was fresh out of UH with my communications degree, I worked on a few films shot here. The first was called Simple Men, by the New York director Hal Hartley. It was set in Long Island, but they filmed it out in the Richmond/Rosenberg area, with a few scenes downtown and in the Galleria area. When you see the film, you can tell if you are familiar with that area, but it does do a good job of approximating the more remote areas of Long Island. I also did some crew work on the unforgettable Sidekicks. At that time, they were shooting a lot of commercials here, too, mostly international stuff, because the economics of doing so made sense. Also, the Houston Film Commission was actively recruiting production companies to come here, touting the low overhead and variety of locations. A lot of that stuff has gone to Canada now, but we do get our fair share.

Also, don't forget Robert Altman's Brewster McCloud, about some guy who lives in the Astrodome (and filmed there). And who can forget the Bad News Bears: Breaking Training, with the immortal William Devane? I sure can't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
don_mynack

don_mynack

Posted
Posted
Give us all the details.

Well, the thing I most remember is that Joe Piscopo appeared to be, well, high most of the time. He was very "medicated". Other than that, I barely met Chuck Norris, since he was only in a few scenes. The tournament scenes at the end were shot at the gym at TSU, which was only a couple of years old at that point. That is really the only part of the film I worked on - I helped wrangle the extras for those scenes, which took over week to shoot, and they had to wear the same clothes every day. You really get to know the best of humanity when you work up close with extras who would, for $250/week, guarantee to show up every day, and to wear the same clothes all week. One guy was a midget wrestler. He gave me an autographed picture and invited me to one of his matches. I guess he thought I had Hollywood connections or something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bruce_oneal

bruce_oneal

Posted
Posted

it could include:

  • movies made here
  • little known historical facts
  • buildings/factories that once existed, but are no more
  • famous people (celebs) that used to live here, but don't
  • roads or buildings that have changed names
  • 'do you remember?' kinds of things

those are just a few of my thoughts. i am sure others could name more topics that could be discussed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Subdude

Subdude

Posted
Posted
it could include:
  • movies made here
  • little known historical facts
  • buildings/factories that once existed, but are no more
  • famous people (celebs) that used to live here, but don't
  • roads or buildings that have changed names
  • 'do you remember?' kinds of things

those are just a few of my thoughts.  i am sure others could name more topics that could be discussed.

Nice idea!

Add streets that are no longer here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PigsWalkUpright

PigsWalkUpright

Posted
Posted
Props to Mattress Mack for getting that one to Houston. Also, remember that Stevens and Pruett were in that flick. (I think they were the announcers during the final karate showdown.)

"Thank YOU, Chuck Norris!"

In Reality Bites, when Winona's character is stilling working on Good Morning Grant and they are coming back from a commercial break, the commercial playing in the background is Mattress Mac's saying his famous quote, "Save You Money!" And who could forget the "Conversation" conversation between Winona and Ethan after she was fired that was filmed at the Water Wall at the Williams Tower (formerly Transco).

Sidekicks was a strange movie and the young boy who starred in it committed suicide last year. I remember Bull from Night Court played the coach at Lamar. The movie must not have made much money because Mac hasn't produced another movie since, but I know he and Chuck Norris are still on good terms.

In Rushmore, the plane / kite flying scenes are filmed at Delmar Stadium across from Northwest Mall (18th street @ Loop 610). Also Max's father's barber shop is across the street from a washateria in the Heights (11th street I think).

This is a longshot but does anyone remember a show from the 80s that tried to ride the coattails of Dallas' Texas connection. It was a detective show called "Houston Knights." I don't think it lasted a full season and only had a few shots of downtown in the episodes I remember. They drove a fancy sports car, maybe a Ferrari or something equally exotic -- Magnum PI wannabees. Maybe they were rogue cops.

In "Evening Star" (Terms' sequel), they use one of the Jester units in Sugarland as a substitute for Huntsville prison (I could tell because of the beautiful pecan trees that border the road). The book talked extensively about how Aurora would crave "The Pig Stand" after she'd passed the Goodyear Blimp building on her way home from visiting her grandson in prison. When they filmed the movie the Blimp building was long gone and its not mentioned in the movie.

Stephen Spielberg directed his first movie here called "Sugarland Express." After Goldie Hawn breaks her husband out of prison they are in a police chase on Hwy 90 in Richmond right at the Brazos River bridge (if you're familiar with the area right by Larry's Mexican restaurant and the Diamond Shamrock in the film is still there). Unfortunately the movie started in Sugarland (at one of the prisons) but the plot of the movie had the couple on the run TO Sugarland and the background became progressively more "tropical" as the movie went on, as if Sugarland were seaside.

I remember when they filmed "The Chase" here because they had the beltway dressed up with signs about Welcome to Mexico and palm trees. If you watch the movie in the background (much more interesting than the dialogue) you see the same background almost through out the entire movie. Some was the beltway and some was the Hardy tollroad. Henry Rollins (Black Flag, Rollins Band), Flea and Anthony Keidis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) are in the movie and a few of my friends had their pictures taken with them and autographs when they were here for filming and eating at restaurants near the Woodlands and FM 1960.

Most of the scenes for Tin Cup were filmed here and at Golf Courses in Champions, Kingwood and The Woodlands.

There were a few years where Houston was booming for movies, mostly independent. Something happened here and suddenly Vancouver was replacing everything "urban". I think it was some kind of union trouble.

My personal favorite, Dazed and Confused, was filimed in and around Austin but was actually based on Richard Linklatter's high school experience at Bellaire High School and friends he made while attending Sam Houston State Univ in Huntsville.

I am full of useless knowledge and incurable insomnia. Jim Pruett is trying to make a deal to come back on the radio on 97.5 the rock station they are promoting as a replacement for KLOL.

I also watch A&E and between the Wanda Holloway "killer-cheerleader-mom" and Andrea Yates and the I-45 serial killer (still not caught) and numerous others we get lots of play. Now that they are televising interventions I'm sure we'll get our share of those as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bruce_oneal

bruce_oneal

Posted
Posted
Well, I guess it depends on whether you prefer looking at looking at naked men vs naked women! ;)

For the record, I saw the women of Enron. Typical Playboy, they went out and found 5 or 6 girls that would do it, and I doubt if any of them were more than a secretary. :rolleyes:

either.

i thought they were all gonna be bigtime execs and managers.

lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
bruce_oneal

bruce_oneal

Posted
Posted

on last night's episode of 'boston legal' one of their cases (they represented a death row inmate) took place ... you guessed it! in HOUSTON.

now, i realize i am no cowboy or country music fan, but what nightspots here still have mechanical bull. also what's up with the texas 'motifs' such as desktop figurines of bucking broncos, long horns over doors, etc.

they really make houston look like it is still stuck in the 1980s. hello, we've heard of IKEA and crate & barrel too ... LOL well, at least the show's highlighting of texas' backwoods mentality on death penalty was accurate

nevertheless, they had some interesting shots of:

  • downtown
  • the sam houston beltway (8)
  • williams tower
  • etc.

but then halfway through the episode they show a night skyline shot of dallas. like, were they trying the case in houston and sleeping in a hotel room in dallas? LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
All of the HAIF
None of the ads!
HAIF+
Just
$5!


×
×
  • Create New...