Florida: The Keys to movie success
The Florida Keys is one of the world’s most beautiful series of islands connected to central Florida by the extension of U.S. Highway One, which runs some 113 miles from Miami to Key West, the southernmost tip of the continental USA.
The drive south over the shallow sea and many islands of the Keys is one of the most spectacular in the USA, and includes the crossing of the seven-mile long Marathon Bridge. The Keys attracts millions of tourists each year and contains some of the USA’s most wonderful flora and fauna. Boasting such gorgeous scenery, natural light and year-round sunshine it is easy to see why this sub-tropical paradise has also been the setting for many film blockbusters, including epics such as True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Speed 2: Cruise Control and the 1989 James Bond classic Licence to Kill, to simply name but a few.
Indeed, U.S. Highway One featured heavily in the 1994 blockbuster ‘True Lies’ starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. In one memorable scene, involving a limo and assorted attack vehicles and aircraft, hero ‘Arnie’ and his team battle it out with villainous terrorists almost blowing the Marathon Bridge in the process. The 1997 blockbuster Speed 2: Cruise Control, which although condemned as a critical flop made over $160million at the box office also features extensive damage to a fictional Florida Keys landmark at the climax of the film as an out of control cruise liner runs aground.
Ironically, one movie that wasn’t shot in the Keys actually bears the name of one of the islands. The 1948 classic dark thriller Key Largo, originally released in melodramatic black and white starred some of the biggest stars of the era; Humphrey Bogart, Edward G Robinson, Lionel Barrymore and Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall. In an attempt to glamorise the film’s production the studio claimed it was shot at the Caribbean Club in Key Largo. However, the entire production was completed in a mere 78 days on the Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood. Perhaps post-war austerity meant the film’s producers couldn’t afford the first class flights to Miami and top-class hotel accommodation that the film’s stars would have inevitably demanded!
But, despite the fact that the entire film was shot in Hollywood, The Caribbean Club still benefits financially from the kudos of being associated with the film classic, attracting a fair number of tourists each year anxious to follow in the fictional footsteps of their cinematic heroes.
The information contained within this article is the opinion of the author and is intended purely for information and interest purposes only. It should not be used to make any decisions or take any actions. Any links are included for information purposes only.
