Capitol Assets

By Peter Bowen

Perhaps no American city is as recognizable as Washington DC. But, as George Pelecanos rightly points out, the cinematic Washington is in a different world than the real one. The fictional one is for the most part constrained to a few square miles of national monuments. Crystal Palmer, director of the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and TV Development, pointed out to the Washington Post that part of the problem with shooting the capital is that Washington symbols work so well that people rarely want anything else. "When you show them something off the beaten path, typically it ends up on the cutting room floor. They come in specifically to show what the moviegoer expects."

Even then, the real Washington is not necessarily in the film. In early films, most scenes set in Washington were actually shot on Hollywood sound stages with the city appearing via the magic of rear projection. More recently, a number of cities have stepped up to mimic Washington, especially after the tightened security that has affected the city after 9/11. Toronto, for example, has been so successful in being used in a number of films (Breach, Talk to Me), that the city provides a website of films that have subbed the Canadian city for the US Capitol. In all, there have been about 185 features that occur in Washington (including the Coen Brothers’ recent Burn After Reading.) Below is a select list of them:

The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot
Year: 1914
Director: Bertram Harrison
While actually shot in Philadelphia, this silent thriller revolves around a Treasury Department Agent breaking up a counterfeiting ring.

Gabriel Over The White House
Year: 1933
Director: Gregory La Cave
Gregory La Cave directed this remarkably strange film whose politics are as confusing as its plot. A do-nothing President (Walter Huston) is commanded by the arch-angel Gabriel to do away with the constitution and become a benevolent dictator. The populist sentiments veer ominously close to endorsing European fascism.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Year: 1939
Director: Frank Capra
Frank Capra made this classic tale of a ordinary Joe (James Stewart) who, when suddenly thrust into the role of US Senator, ends up teaching a corrupt Washington establishment the real meaning of democracy. The film makes full use of DC monuments, especially as points of inspiration for the beleaguered novice politician. Now considered sentimental, the film ruffled quite a few feathers when it was released. Kentucky Senator Alben Barkley labeled it “grotesque” and “silly and stupid.” Conservatives condemned its negative image of Congress and the press corps for putting American in a bad light.

The More the Merrier
Year: 1943
Director: George Stevens
The housing shortage in Washington DC during World War II is the engine that runs this George Stevens’ comedy. When Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn split the patriotic Jean Arthur’s apartment, hilarity ensues. While the film’s humor attempted to soften the very real shortages felt by Americans, another 1943 film, Sherlock Holmes in Washington, inspired others to join the fight. Never mind the impossible timeline, the film borrows the great English sleuth to help in the war effort. As Holmes and Watson drive by the heroic Washington monuments, they register their deep respect.

Born Yesterday
Year: 1950
Director: George Cukor
Judy Holliday shines as the dumb girl friend of a corrupt tycoon (Broderick Crawford) who has hired a tutor (William Holden) to polish his diamond in the rough. But a little education is a dangerous thing as Holliday and Holden unveil the dirty politics and bribery taking place around them. The fictional film turned oddly real a year later when Holliday was dragged before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and answered their questions in the ditzy voice and logic of her character.

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Year: 1951
Director: Robert Wise
Robert Wise’s tale of aliens in Washington was perhaps the first and most famous of a tradition by which citizens from another galaxy feel obliged to visit the chief executive with either peaceful and destructive motives. While all Washington scenes were done by rear projection, the film includes a range of DC spots, from Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and the People’s Drug Store.

Strangers on a Train
Year: 1951
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
In Alfred Hitchcock’s creepy thriller about two men who supposedly swap murders on a train, Washington becomes a major figure. Hitchcock was often effective in putting iconic monuments to good use––North by Northwest (Mt. Rushmore), Saboteur (the Statue of Liberty) –– and here Washington’s monuments serve an ironic backdrop for the film’s conspiracies.

Advise and Consent
Year: 1962
Director: Otto Preminger
Based on Allen Drury’s novel, Otto Preminger’s film focuses on the human costs of political wrangling. When liberal Henry Fonda is nominated to be Secretary of State, the vicious flesh trading among senators over the nomination ruins careers and forces one man to commit suicide. While many Washington interiors (like the Senate Chamber) were recreated on LA stages, the film includes a number memorial sights, including Treasury Building, the (now) Reagan National airport, and Washington Monument.

The Exorcist
Year: 1973
Director: William Freidkin
Based on Georgetown alum William Peter Blatty’s novel, William Freidkin’s horror show was also set in Georgetown (although the case that inspired Blatty was supposedly in Maryland). The Exorcist is one of the few Washington films that had nothing to do with the Federal Government. Or did it?

All The President’s Men
Year: 1976
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play Washington Postreporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein respectively in Alan J. Pakula’s story of the dynamic duo who broke the Watergate scandal. While the Washington Postpressroom was meticulously built on a sound stage, the film boasts many other Washington sites, including the Watergate apartment building, the Washington Memorial, the Library of Congress, the Washington Post parking lot and more.

St. Elmo’s Fire
Year: 1984
Director: Joel Schumacher
The kids from The Breakfast Club are all grown up and apparently have just graduated from Georgetown––although the film had to sub University of Maryland in College Park because the Catholic university objected to several of the sex scenes.

Good to Go
Year: 1985
Director: Blaine Novak
One of the few films to portray the other Washington DC, Blaine Novak’s thriller sets up a tale of a reporter (Art Garfunkel) on the trail of corruption mainly as a way to showcase DC’s indigenous go-go music.

Mars Attacks!
Year: 1994
Director: Tim Burton
Tim Burton’s spoof of fifties sci-fi ends up, of course, with aliens invading the White House and annihilating the US Congress. This was the first in a string of of big budget films (Independence Day, X2) that delighted in blowing up the capital.

Absolute Power
Year: 1996
Director: Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood directed and starred in this thriller of a cat burglar who witnesses a drunk president involved in the killing a woman he’s having an affair with. While most of the movie was actually shot in Baltimore, there are a few classic sites, including the Watergate, the site of another burglar story. The next year Murder at 1600 again linked the executive office with murder.

Dick
Year: 1998
Director: Andrew Fleming
Andrew Fleming (who also directed Hamlet 2) helmed this hilarious satire of two high school girls (Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst) who accidentally set Watergate into action. While the film was shot mostly in Toronto, the story conveys the feeling of growing up in that political town.