There are many American cities that can make a case for the being the best ‘movie city’ in America. Here, Michael Thomas Leibrandt considers whether Philadelphia is truly the best…
Don Knotts, who starred in The Shakiest Gun in the West.
“I Have a Case.” The iconic movie line delivered from Tom Hanks in the Philadelphia-based hit movie Philadelphia, thirty years ago.
When it comes to being one of the most historic movie cities in the US — well — move over Hollywood. Last month, we learned that Rocky movie series star Carl Weathers passed away peacefully at his home.
Nearly one hundred and twenty years ago, my great grandfather — a true Philadelphia born and raised — was pulled to be an extra during the filming of The Great Train Robbery in 1903. He was a railroad engineer, who happened to be in New Jersey that day, and the production needed some extras for a scene.
The Great Train Robbery, a ground-breaking silent film from Director Edwin S. Porter, was a marvel for its time. Perhaps the basis for the introduction if the plot-based film, it would give rise to the American Western. Before the end of the 20th century, The Searchers, High Noon, A Fistful of Dollars, The Magnificent Seven, and The Wild Bunch would be some of our most treasured action westerns.
Some reasons
When it comes to iconic scenes, think Philly. It’s been fourty-five years since Rocky’s iconic run through the Philly streets in Rocky II, twenty-five years since M. Night Shayamalan’s thriller The Sixth Sense included St. Augustine’s Church, and sixty-five years since Paul Newman and Robert Vaughn starred in the The Young Philadelphians.
The 2024 Oscars had plenty of Philadelphia representation, too. Jenkintown’s Bradley Cooper who was nominated for Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay for Maestro. Coleman Domingo had a Best Actor nomination for Rustin, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Best Actress in The Holdovers, both of which are graduates of Temple University.
We made movies here from the beginning. At the beginning of America’s obsession with the motion picture industry, Lubin Manufacturing Company produced silent films from 1896–1916, and became a corporation in Philadelphia in 1902. Among the more than 3,000 films produced by Lubin were the 1912 films The Sheriff’s Mistake and The Bank Cashier.
Lubin actually purchased the Betzwood Estate, once the home of Philadelphia Brewer Joseph F. Betz, and utilized it to film what would eventually become known as “Betzwood Westerns.”
Even in the late 19th century, some veterans of the Wild West still existed. Harry Webb had been a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and those who actually had experience on a real western ranch such as Jack Wright. Jake May’s sons Harry and Jack were in charge of the saloon across the street from the Lubin studio in North Philadelphia.
The 1968 production of the film The Shakiest Gun in the West starring Don Knotts was the story of a Philadelphia dentist who travels to the frontier in 1870 and battles attacks from natives, a complete farce of a marriage proposal, and masked robbers.
In 2020, the film Concrete Cowboy told the story of the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club, which has an over 100 year history in North Philadelphia and takes horses from a livestock auction in New Holland that are cared for in stables between North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia.
The horses are often ridden in races in “The Speedway” in Fairmount Park and also ‘The Oval’ on 15th Street. For years, the horses have been favorites among the Temple University Diamond Band.
Location/Location
According to a Kuoni, Philadelphia is the ninth most popular location for filming a movie internationally, and ranks sixth in the US. The Pennsylvania Tax Credit is a big reason why. Tax credits of 25–30% to production which spend 60% or more of their total production cost within Pennsylvania.
When I began to immersive myself in film studies in college, my Dad recalled his grandfather’s pride about once having been a brief part of a film industry production. After all, he lived in Philadelphia, a city that will forever have great film-making in its blood.
It turns out that it’s in mine, too.
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Michael Thomas Leibrandt is a historian and writer and lives and works in Abington Township, PA.
