You're sitting in a movie theater and suddenly it's deja vu. That mansion or that long stretch of beach looks incredibly familiar. Were they places where you lived in a former lifetime? Not exactly. You're just recognizing landmarks on Long Island, often transformed into fictitious estates or towns by Hollywood film makers. Here are the Top 10 movies filmed on photogenic Long Island, NY. Buy or rent some of these films, sit back and the next time an out-of-towner tells you that the Glen Cove of Hitchcock's North by Northwest features high cliffs, you can set them straight.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberThe Orson Welles masterpiece tells the tale of the rise and fall of a fictitious newspaper tycoon, thinly based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. The fictitious Kane lived in an opulent estate called Xanadu. If those opening shots of the estate look familiar, that's because they were filmed at Long Island's
Oheka, the former estate of financier Otto Herman Kahn. (Scenes from the 2008 film,
What Happens in Vegas, were also shot here.)
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberCary Grant and Eva Marie Saint starred in this Alfred Hitchcock thriller. When Grant's character is brought to an estate --supposedly in Glen Cove-- it's actually the Phipps mansion and estate, now Old Westbury Gardens. Scenes from The Age of Innocence, Love Story, The Manchurian Candidate, Cruel Intentions and Hitch were also filmed here.
Remember that scene that's supposed to be Glen Cove, with high cliffs and the surf crashing below? It was shot in California.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberJim Carrey's character undergoes a medical procedure to erase memories of his lost love, but you won't forget the scenes from this motion picture that were shot in Montauk.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberWill Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back together in this sequel to
Men in Black. Does that post office remind you of someplace? Doesn't it look a little like..... the
Fire Island Lighthouse? It should. That's where one scene was filmed.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberHarry Guggenheim was a fan of horse racing, but luckily, he never found a horse head in his bed. But during the filming of
The Godfather, the living room of Guggenheim's former mansion, Falaise, was the scene of that infamous equine head-in-the-bed shot. Falaise is now open for tours, and is located on the grounds of the
Sands Point Preserve. This location was also the backdrop for scenes in
Scent of a Woman,
New Jack City and
Malcolm X.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberWhen Ben Stiller's character meets his future father-in-law, played by Robert De Niro, there's lots of comedy... and lots of Long Island. Recognize Louie's Oyster Bar & Grille in Port Washington? How about the place where they shop for a tuxedo? That's Victor Talbots on Glen Cove Road in Greenvale.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberLong Island isn't exactly the Australian Outback. But Paul Hogan, as Crocodile Dundee, explores the outer reaches of the Eagle's Nest, a Spanish Revival style mansion, in this motion picture. The former Gold Coast mansion and surrounding estate were originally owned by William K. Vanderbilt II and is now the site of the Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium in Centerport.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberTake a close look at the shots of Wayne Manor's facade, where Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, resides. Maybe you'll notice that it's actually the magnificent
Webb Institute in Glen Cove. Formerly the property of Herbert L. Pratt, the original estate was called The Braes. It is now a college of naval architecture and marine engineering.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberIn this movie by Martin Scorsese, the character of Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta), relaxes with Karen (Lorraine Bracco) at an idyllic beach club. In reality, it's the Catalina Beach Club in Long Island' s Atlantic Beach.
Photo courtesy of PriceGrabberSeeing spots before your eyes? Maybe you're looking at one of Jackson Pollock's abstract expressionist paintings. The motion picture
Pollock, about the tumultuous life of the artist, starring Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden, was filmed right here on Long Island in the town of East Hampton at the
Pollock-Krasner House, now a National Historic Landmark.
