When family and friends are visiting, it is fun to take them around South Florida to show them the coolest and prettiest places, but don’t be surprised if they feel like they’ve “been there before” — there’s a lot of popular places in South Florida that have been featured in some very famous movies.
Check out these popular tourist destinations that have also been used in some of your favorite movies.
Ocean Drive
Ocean Drive is a hot spot for films with a Floridian theme and there have been many, many movies filmed there. Two very well-known movies that had memorable scenes on Ocean Drive are “There’s Something About Mary” and the classic gangster movie, “Scarface.”
“There’s Something About Mary” is a classic comedy starring Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz. Most of this movie was filmed in Miami and in in the movie Ted (Ben Stiller’s character) stays at the Cardozo Hotel on Ocean Drive. The hotel is featured in the movie several times, so it is pretty recognizable when you are strolling around on Ocean Drive on South Beach. Consider taking the family to lunch at this iconic hotel, who knows, you might see the owner Gloria Estefan!
Released in 1983 and still widely popular today, “Scarface” is a classic American movie featuring the legendary character — Tony Montana. One of the movie’s most iconic scenes — the chainsaw scene that takes place in a hotel and outside the hotel was filmed right on Ocean Drive. Unfortunately, the building is no longer the former apartment complex that it was during the time of filming — it has been turned into a Johnny Rockets.
Boca Raton Resort
The Boca Raton Resort is the location of many scenes used in the hilarious film, “Caddyshack.” You can see the Boca Raton Resort in the movie’s second club scene, where drunken dancing and debauchery takes place. You can still visit the resort, and walk through the room where that the scene was filmed. And, located about 30 minutes from the Boca Raton Resort is the Grande Oaks Golf Club, which was the golf course used in the movie. So if you have any visitors that are die-hard fans of “Caddyshack” grab something to eat at the resort and then buy them a round of golf and spend the day on the golf course, they will be SO happy!
Seven Mile Bridge
Another iconic South Florida location used in a few movies is the Seven Mile Bridge. This bridge was seen in two famous movies: “True Lies” and “License to Kill.” Aside for being famous because it is used in movie scenes, it is well-known because it is the only way to drive down to Key West, and for its absolutely beautiful views. While driving over this bridge to get to any one of the Keys, imagine these movie scenes.
The famous helicopter scene in “True Lies” with Arnold Schwarzenegger was not actually over the Seven Mile Bridge, however the scene in the movie was meant to look like it was. To many, it was filmed over the Seven Mile Bridge, because it was replicated extremely well. However, the bridge is still well known for being portrayed in this famous movie.
“License To Kill” is a James Bond film, in which the Seven Mile Bridge is featured in a driving scene. The bridge can be seen when Felix Leiter is riding with James Bond and Sharkey on the way to Leiter’s wedding. They are headed north on the Seven mile Bridge.
