Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100 Years of Chicago & the Movies

Second city and my second home on film! Once I was stuck in traffic on Wabash Ave. and the late great John Belushi raised his eyebrow and waved at me when I spotted him filming "Continental divide." This book is good but now I want more. I actually had the privilege of sitting with Ebert and the late great Siskel once in a little room in the Chicago theater. We were reviewing a film! Great memory of a great city and great films!

What a delightful gripper this book is, chock full of impressive facts and tasty trivia rolled into a well researched sampler that's part cinematic history, part travel guide. You can thumb through for location addresses set off in bold type, followed by brief descriptions of the films associated with each, and then you can plan a proper movie maniac's pilgrimage. Just don't expect directions to private residences: You won't get to ring the doorbell where Macaulay Culkin was left "Home Alone" (1990) or hang out at the house where Tom Cruise ran his "Risky Business" (1983). You can, however, eat breakfast where Timothy Hutton and Dinah Manoff met for coffee in "Ordinary People" (1980) or have a "cheezbooga, cheezbooga" at the Billy Goat Tavern, made famous by John Belushi on "Saturday Night Live" and revisited in his 1981 romantic comedy "Continental Divide."Bernstein delves into the early years of moviemaking, before Hollywood's crass monopolization of it, when the burgeoning film industry was nurtured in Chicago. Among the developmental milestones: the invention of the first cameras and projectors, the establishment of two of the world's first film studios, the practice of creating movie adaptations out of contemporary news events, the first African-American owned and operated film productions in the United States, the genesis of the independent film community, the weekly film serial, and the gore flick that typified the drive-in era. The book covers an amazing list of films and TV shows shot in Chicago and traces the contributions to celluloid history by actors, writers, and directors who have roots in the city -- an illustrious roster too long to post here. Rounding out this special chronicle are interviews, film profiles, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of a specialized Chicago art, the innovative technology it demanded, the visionary gumption that birthed an industry, and the tough dreamers behind it all.

Having lived in the Chicago area for most of my life, I really didn't need this book. However, I enjoyed it anyway. It does not contain everything (and doesn't tell you interesting stuff like how they distort locations in movies by traveling in the wrong direction in movies, etc.), but it does provide accurate information on shooting locations, etc. and how Chi played a minor role in the early film industry. The problem is one of Chicago being used in many movies.....so many, in fact, that you can't cover everything (and this book doesn't try to do it, either). Obviously, one of the great things about living here is that anything can happen. You can get off an early train and see Robert DiNiro looking like Al Capone.....or find out they are shooting a Tom Hanks movie two miles from your house. The really positive aspect of what this book does, is that it reminds you of the regional prominence Chicago has played in the movie industry. It makes me appreciate something I have always taken for granted. Wonder if Angelenos feel the same way? This is a book a Chicagoan or a traveler to Chicago can enjoy.

I can honestly say once I picked this book up, I didn't set it down until every page had been read! I'm not a film buff, but I was fascinated to learn about Chicago's rich past in the movies!