Thursday, April 24, 2014

Little Hollywood: Frontier Movie Town in Kanab

The Kanab, Utah area has a long history in the movies beginning in 1924 when "Deadwood Coach" was filmed here.  The day of our Best Friends Animal Sanctuary tour, we stopped in here for a few minutes to take a look around.
Wayne standing in the doorway of a building used in the 1990 film "Desperate Hours"
Starring Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins
Well over 100 movies were filmed around here and a few of the old sets are maintained at this museum that's part of a gift shop in the downtown Kanab area.

A local family, the Parrys, is responsible for Hollywood's interest in southern Utah.  They offered a guide service to visitors and courted the filmmakers until finally, someone listened. Later, the Parry family enlarged their lodge to accommodate the desires of Hollywood stars.

I saw somewhere that the famous director William Wellman was the first to refer to Kanab as Little Hollywood.

Jackie Rife was a stand-in and stuntwoman on many movie sets.
The set museum is set up behind the gift shop and made to look like a western town.
That's Wayne looking into the store window while Lexie and Ozzie stay tucked safely in the stroller. 

Barn used in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"

This is a single level modular unit. It was built here in Kanab, trucked to Paria and used in "The Attic Door".
In the film, the dwelling was two story house. The upper level was just a computer graphic. 
The windmill in the photograph below was used in Kiefer Sutherland's 1996 "Truth or Consequences New Mexico". It was used again in 2007 in "The Attic Door".  A personal note, thanking the owners for allowing the windmill to be used in his movie, is signed by Sutherland. 



The set in the next photo was built in Kanab for use in the Jodie Foster / James Garner Disney film "One Little Indian".  A barn that's currently being used at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, was also in the film. 

From "One Little Indian" 

Though it looks like I'm suspended mid-air, there's a metal seat under me.
The old farming equipment I'm sitting on in the picture above were props in "John Carter of Mars" -- Disney / Pixar movie of 2010. Filming took place all around this area meant to be a "decrepit western town". 
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This photo is a backdrop built for a 1990 Kenny Loggins concert video shoot in the Grand Canyon. 
The next few photos are fiberglass structures built for "The Outlaw Josey Wales".

Inside the homestead of Clint Eastwood's "Outlaw Josey Wales" character 
Notice the crossed gunport in the window used in the final shoot-out! 



Wayne tried, without success, to order whiskey at the saloon. 

Lexie and Ozzie noticed a few "shady characters" hanging around.
Inside the "Made In The USA" gift shop, I snapped a picture of these Kachina dolls. They seem to be a popular souvenir item.

As always, the Native American work is beautiful... but too expensive for my accident-prone hands.
While Little Hollywood isn't a true "must see" attraction, it was a fun way to waste a quarter hour and the price was right... FREE.  If you're in the area, it's worth a stop, I think. 

3 comments:

  1. Looks like an interesting place to stop and look around. I like that it's free! The photo of Ozzie and Lexie peeking out of the stroller is adorable.

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  2. We agree - not a must see but a fun stop. However, I didn't know that the barn at Best Friends was from the movie.

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  3. Thanks for the tour- we almost went there last year and still hope to make it to that corner of Utah.

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