Since I can't travel now, looking for movies that might make me feel I'm there...
 

I just watched "The Harder They Come" last night and had a wonderful with the soundtrack and listening to the dialogue. Watching "Countryman" did the same thing for me.

Anybody have recommendations for other films out there that truly evoke a sense of place for the Caribbean? I'm less interested in the "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" variety (that is, movies that showcase fabulous resorts but not so much the islands themselves), but certainly willing to give them a try.

Just looking for another way to keep that cold weather at bay. Thanks!

The Mighty Quinn is pretty good, if you can get past the fake Jamaican accents :)

Another one is "Joey Breaker", featuring Cedella Marley, who was (IMHO) luminous in her role.

Lord of the Flies is a good film. Nice scenery , although not a cheerful film. Filmed on Frenchmans Cove Beach in Port Antonio . Also where The Mighty Quinn was filmed ( Trident Hotel ) etc. And what about Tommy in Coctail .... Fimed at Dragon Bay in Port antonio . This is a hard one , hmmmm.....

Hi EJ,

As always I'm slightly *off-topic*, but what about "Out Of Africa" ? It might inspire you to plan an African adventure. At the very least, it is one of the most romantic movies ever filmed. Quite a nice Saturday night trip for you and your husband :-)

Find your most beautifully fragranced shampoo...or go buy one ;-) The sensuality of that scene haunts me, in a very positive way :-) !

I guess that's enough from the single woman in COLD Maine :-) !

Marion

I do the same thing, when can't get there, I try to watch movies on location. Here are some of my favourites:
Wide Sargasso Sea (Jamaica)
After the Sunset (Nassau/PI)
Pirates of the Caribbean (SVG)
Cool Runnings (Jamaica)
Captain Ron (Virgin Islands/Puerto Rico

Yes, some of these are silly, but they give me my fix.

We really liked "After the Sunset". It was a good movie and had some great views of Paradise Island.

One movie we did watch and now wished we hadn't was "Open Water". It was filmed in the Bahamas and was quite thought provoking.

I agree with Bosoco - there is great scenery from St. Vincent in Pirates of the Caribbean - Walliabou, Tobago Cays, Fort Duvernet (in a view from our heroine's bedroom), and the vistas from Fort Charlotte above Kingstown. I think the Dominican Republic is in there too !

I thought Open Water was filmed in Barbados ? Perhaps both places , they oten do that !!!

For the new Pirates movie , a great deal was filmed in Dominica .... I can't wait for that , Dominica looks amazing .

Wow, I have to say that it feels quite gratifying to check in on my lunch break to see so many responses, especially on a Saturday. Thanks!

Marion, I just LOVE Out of Africa. My mom had loved the movie for years and I finally sat down and watched it with her after having teased her mercilessly throughout my youth for her obsession with it. Well, after the credits rolled I found myself eating crow. Delightful film. One day I'll make it Africa. Everyone seems to go to Kenya or S. Africa for their first trip, but I find that Botswana calls to me.

As for Open Water, I knew I'd never snorkel again if I saw that movie. No, thanks! It was bad enough listening to Bill Bryson narrate the story on which that film was based in A Sunburned COuntry (his books are great, for those of you who enjoy good travel writing with a large dose of humour).

Keep 'em coming. The good, the bad, and the cheesey.

'Wide Sargasso Sea' is possibly the most sensual movie made about Jamaica -- it's the prequel to Jane Eyre.
'The Lunatic', 'Dance Hall Queen' are 2 other little known Jamaican movies in the same vein as 'Countryman'.

'Indochine', 'The Lover' and
'Three Seasons' will also give your armchair travel a wider range. Ditto the old classic 'Tokapi' and the new classic 'The Talented Mr.Ripley'.

Off topic..again ;-) I thought I'd mention to a fellow reader that you might enjoy some of the published works of Karen Blixen (Streep's character in "Out of Africa " :-))..but also might research Isak Dinesen...which was her given name.

Two names, same person...but good reading :-)

Marion

I've not a clue as to where that stupid emoticon came from !

Seems especially silly, because I'm talking about some srious reading.

Marion

It may not be the Caribbean, but after seeing Under the Tuscan Sun I wanted to run out of the movie theatre and visit Tuscany..WE DID LAST MONTH...Orvieto, Pienza, Montepulciano and that's all I want to do now is buy a house and enjoy the bright light, clean air, ambience and food...Our pictures and Parrot Pop took allot of picture do not do Tuscany justice. The cobblestoned streets, the flowers, the homes, the people, the mall-less roads, the orchards of olive trees, grape vines....the scenery, the landscape... oh my...I'm going back one day...to Tuscany...

"The Deep" with Nick Nolte. Filmed mostly in Bermuda, but the underwater wreck is actually in the Virgin Islands.

I looked up "Open Water". The shark scenes were filmed in the Bahamas with the help of Stuart Cove Dive Operation. Those were real sharks. ooooooohhhhh. I'm glad we don't dive and now we will probably never do it. We snorkeled last week in St. Lucia and I keep my eye on the boat. We were close to shore, so that helped.

Thanks for more suggestions. I loved the idea of Wide Sargasso Sea, but I thought the idea was better than the way the novel was executed. Maybe I'll enjoy the movie, though. I'm a sucker anytime someone writes a book from secondary character's perspective--Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Bertha Rochester before she was the mad woman in the attic.

Marion, I'm a reader by calling and a moderate collector, so after I enjoyed the movie so much I bought reading copies and first editions of much of Isak Dinesen's work. I've not read or collected anything under her real name, though.

Keep an eye out for these oldies that air every now and then on TV: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and Swiss Family Robinson.
Both were filmed at Bacolet Beach on Tobago.
We've visited Tobago several times; there's a recently refurbished hotel there (the Blue Haven) that boasts that Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr stayed there during filming. Mitchum supposedly tore up the bar in a drunken rage. Bar has been repaired :-).

The shark scenes from the Open Water movie were indeed filmed in the Bahama's, although I don't know where in the Bahamas. I have a shark phobia to begin with and when I watched that movie, I didn't know the outcome. That fear of not knowing what and where some creature is, shudders... It creeped me out so much that I did some research on the actual circumstances upon which this story was loosely based. Interesting story. The divers actually went missing in The Great Barrier Reef.

We always like to watch the opening scenes (first twenty minutes or so) of 'The Spanish Prisoner'. I think this part was filmed in the Bahamas or Florida Keys, and it really takes us back to the Caribbean... That walk along the beach, and the part where Steve Martin lands (or does he?) in his little waterplane... wonderful!!

Also, for an older movie with a very 'old-Caribbean' feel, watch 'Dr. No', the very first James Bond movie. I believe it was filmed in Jamaica.

Don't forget "Club Paradise" This was filmed in Jamaica with a terrific cast including Robin Williams, Jimmy Cliff who acts AND sings, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Adolph Cesar, Twiggy, eetal. Its very funny. :-)

Since I love Hawaii...50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore..was a cute movie and it showed alot of the beautiful scenery of Hawaii.:)

Christie

Papillon ..... Great movie with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen I believe , also filmed in Jamaica !!!!

A movie with both Eugene Levy and Robin Williams? O happy day! I'll definitely check it out.

I first heard/read the original "Open Water" story reading Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country, his wonderful travelogue on Australia. Chilling story with eerie details that just don't seem to add up. Bill Bryson is wonderfully funny and informative, for all you folks who might now know him yet.

Carola, I thought The Spanish Prisoner was one of the best movies I saw the year it was released. I love heist movies like that that aren't necessarily action movies. If you enjoyed that, you might enjoy the movie called 9 Queens.

That film ( with Robin ) is also filmed in beautiful Port Antonio .... The main part on Winnifred Beach .

Some trivia about "Open Water", while the "open water" scenes where shot in the Bahamas, the rest of the movie was shot in a variety of locations (e.g. St. John, Mexico, Barbados, even Hawaii) for two reasons: 1. budget, the footage was basically home movie video shot while the directors were on holiday 2. the directors did not want the film to be associated with a particular island because of the negative impression it might leave.
My husband was furious at me for taking him to see that movie about 2 weeks before we were supposed to go to the Bahamas, but he got over it.

I was sure I had read parts were done in Barbados ..... thanx !! lol

bosoco, Thanks for the interesting trivia. That is what was great about the film was that it was very low budget, but oh so effective at scaring the crap out of me.

ej, Bill Bryson sounds like some vacation reading I would enjoy. Think I will "surf" around later and see what info I can find about his books. Any website that you know of?

Thnak you ejcrowe, for your recommendation! I'll definitely check it out. Yes, we love the Spanish Prisoner, have watched it again and again. It's one of those movies that's got so much 'mystery' and you have to watch so closely - every time you see it you notice something new!

Brenandg, you should be able to find Bill Bryson's book and audio books (he reads his own work and he's fantastic) at any independent bookstore. If you'd like to find them second hand online, take a look at www.abebooks.com, which stands for Advanced Book Exchange. It's a Canadian based company that's a great resource for books. The prices are usually better than Amazon and the best part is that you're supporting an individual bookseller somewhere in the world rather than a massive corporation.

My Bill Bryson faves are A Walk in the Woods, which is about his hike on the Appalachian Trail, and the Australian book. He's a funny writer who spreads his facts around enough so that you're learning something while enjoying a helluva story.

I very much enjoyed Bill Bryson's "Neither Here Nor There" (about a trip thorugh Europe) and "Notes From a Small Island" (about Great Britain).

The movie "Against All Odds was filmed in and around the Mayan Riviera and at Chitchen Itza and at the beautiful beaches in this area. 8-)

Weekend at Bernies
Many Bond Films.

If you like Caribbean music, check out "Buena Vista Social Club". Both the CD and the movie...the story of how this wonderful documentary came to be made is fascinating. It also reveals some hard facts about the dastardly Fidel Castro.