I was watching RoboCop for the millionth time and my girlfriend goes "wait is that Dallas City Hall?" YES IT IS. The entire movie was shot in Dallas even though it's set in Detroit. You can spot downtown buildings, the convention center, all of it. It's free on Tubi right now if you want to play spot-the-Dallas-landmark.
This sent me down a rabbit hole. Turns out DFW has more film connections than I realized.
Bottle Rocket (1996) is the big one. Wes Anderson's first movie, shot entirely in Dallas. Owen and Luke Wilson wandering around 90s Dallas. It's a time capsule of a city that doesn't exist anymore. Some of those buildings are condos now.
Boyhood was partially filmed around the DFW area over 12 years. If you grew up here in the 2000s you'll recognize random gas stations and strip malls. It's on Paramount+.
Logan has road trip scenes filmed around the outskirts. Not exactly DFW but close enough to claim.
The real move though is Texas Theatre film club nights. This is the theater in Oak Cliff where they arrested Oswald in 1963. Now they show indie and repertory films with actual discussions after the screening. Last month they did a horror double feature with themed cocktails and the whole crowd was into it. It's $10-12 and it's one of the best things happening in Dallas that nobody knows about.
Oak Cliff Film Festival in June is also legit for Texas indie cinema. And DIFF (Dallas International Film Festival) in April/May usually has some genuinely great stuff.
But seriously — what other movies have DFW connections that I'm not thinking of? This has been bugging me all week.
Bottle Rocket is essential Dallas cinema. The motel scene was shot at a place on Lemmon Ave that's a Starbucks now. Progress I guess.