Funny Farm (1988) - Filming Locations

Let's Talk - Movies
Episode 24: Funny Farm (1988) - Filming Locations

Jason Connell discusses his experiences of visiting the Vermont filming locations of the classic movie and much more.

Synopsis: A couple swap city life for the country, but their picturesque new hometown turns out to be just a little bit different to what they were expecting.

Director: George Roy Hill
Writer: Jay Cronley (book), Jeffery Boam (screenplay)
Cinematographer: Miroslav Ondricek
Composer: Elmer Berstein
Cast: Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith Osborne, Kevin O’Morrison, Joseph Maher, Jack Gilpin, Mike Starr, Glenn Plummer

Original Episode: S01E24

Recorded: 05-16-22
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

Jason Connell: 4:35:22

Whoa, just curious. Welcome to Just curious media. This is let's talk movies. And I'm Jason Connell, on the show. Today I'm talking about funny farm 1988 Filming locations. And the reason this came about is because I was always in have always been a fan of this movie. And it dates back to my getting to know the author of the book, also entitled funny farm, Jake Crawley, which I'll get into here shortly. And the fact that it was filmed in Vermont, and now since moving to the east coast, the Boston area. I have been, you know, waiting for an exploration of Vermont to discover in all the different filming locations of this movie. So I did my research, got everything I could. And this weekend, we headed to Vermont, and we're still here into Monday. And I have discovered even more than I had bargained for. So I'm super excited to break that down. But before I do, I want to give a quick backstory on this movie, the synopsis, the creators and then kind of into my experiences here, which I'm still experiencing. So here we go. Let's jump in. funny farm came out in 1988. The synopsis for the movie is a couple swaps city life for the country. But their picturesque new hometown turns out to be just a little bit different to what they were expecting. I'd say it's a classic fish out of water story, I must say and so well executed and here's why. It's directed by George Roy Hill rest in peace. We lost Mr. Hill in 2002 at 81. But he was a very well known filmmaker. He did movies helmed movies such as Slaughterhouse Five slapshot, one of my favorite sports, comedy movies. The World According to Garp Oscar, nominated for Best Director for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 incredible film, Oscar winner for Best Director, the Sting 1973. These are phenomenal movies. There's a reason funny farm looks the way it does. I mean, he is an incredible director. They were lucky, fortunate enough to get him to do this film. Now it was written by Jake Crowley, as I just mentioned, unfortunately, rest in peace. We lost Mr. Crowley in 2017 at 73. I mentioned I got to know him, really more email exchange. Jay Crowley and I are both from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Obviously he's much older, but as I moved up the ranks via sentifi cinephile. I actually read a few of his books because beyond funny farm, he wrote Quick Change, which became a movie with Bill Murray and Gina Davis. And Randy Quaid. Love the movie Jason Robarge. And then he also wrote good vibes, which turned into let it ride with Richard Dreyfus and Terry gar, about a guy down in his locker, pressing his luck at the racetrack. So, as I started my film career, and I started a film festival in Tulsa, I started reaching out to Jay because he had come back to Tulsa. He also had written for the Playboy magazine back in the day. And so when he wrote these three movies I just mentioned, it was like, bam, bam, bam, within the span of either like two or three years, it was like back to back to back. His books were being turned into screenplays being turned into movies. And wow, what a meteoric ride that was so he was always really kind to me. One of my ideas was after my first documentary, strictly background was to potentially develop a narrative. I mean, you don't know where your career is gonna go. I didn't know I'd make nine more documentaries. And Jay was telling me like, hey, these books were never developed. And I would go on eBay because they were out of print. And I was starting to get those and read them. And then, you know, unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago. But this being my favorite film of the bunch, I gotta say, and so that's how I got to know Jay Crowley now. Jeffrey Boehm B. Oh, a m is the screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay. Unfortunately, as well. Rest in peace. He died in 2000, at the very young age of 53. Now he was a very prolific screenwriter, he wrote movies like The Dead Zone, Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon two Lethal Weapon three interspace, the loss boys, Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade. So a very well accomplished screenwriter in his own right. And let's look at the cinematographer Morris love, Andre, check, rest in peace 2015 He passed away at 80. This happens with older movies, a lot of people have moved on. They were, you know, middle age at the time of making it but his resume again, it's like a murderer's row of great films, Slaughterhouse Five and The World According to Garp. So he's also worked with George Roy Hill before Silkwood, FX awakenings illega there around such great movies Oscar nominated for Ragtime in 1982 and Amadeus in 1985. To round out the crew. Here's the composer. You may have heard of one Elmer Bernstein, rest in peace passed away in 2004 82. Now I could name 100 200 movies that he composed but here's a few in my faves list. Airplane stripes American Werewolf in London Trading Places Ghostbusters Spies Like Us three amigos my left foot. He was a 10 time Oscar nominated composer and Oscar winner for Thoroughly Modern Millie in 1967. Again, an incredible, incredible crew. Quickly on the cast, I'm mainly just going to highlight the two leads the farmers Chevy Chase, you may know that name plays Andy farmer. Chevy was coming off an incredible hot streak. Caddyshack seems like old times National Lampoon's Vacation European vacation Spies Like Us three amigos, and then funny farm. So he's like Top Dog and Hollywood or one of carrying movies to the box office. And then there was Madeline Smith. Now she's Madeline Smith Osborn. She married an ex NHL hockey player. And she plays Elizabeth farmer. And you may best recognize her besides funny farm in Urban Cowboy, great film in 1980. Also all of me and the caller, and there is a great cast beyond the farmers I gotta say like Kevin o Morrison, Joseph Mayer, Jack Gilpin, Mike Starr, Glen Plummer, Alice Drummond, Brad Solomon, and Reiner sheeny. If I'm saying that right, he might have the best line in the entire movie, maybe in a lot of movies, but they're at the diner, and Andy farmers eating what he doesn't know lamb fries or testicles. And this guy's this guy being Reiner is watching him from afar. And he's like, Well, that's a man who knows when he's got something good in his mouth. And it is just every time I watched a movie, I'm floored by his delivery and the line itself. So I also read there's a lot of Vermonters a lot of local extras made their way to these bigger Christmas scenes. The movie was released on June 5 1988. And again, this episode is just focusing on the filming locations. There is a scene in New York City at the App Store building. That's the farmer's apartment, but really they're just getting you out of New York very quickly. And most of the film is in Vermont, and to be specific Grafton Townshend and Windsor make up the fictional town of Redbud. And so where am I now? We are actually in Townshend at a beautiful solar cabin on the big picture farm. It's an Airbnb we found this is a beautiful cabin, very modern, and it truly is run by solar power. But we are one mile from the Townshend komen. And as we drove in, I was like, Oh my gosh, there it is. There's the beautiful white church. It's magnificent looking, they have the town meeting. They're right next to the park with the gazebo, and the gazebo still stands. I read that it was built for the film, township loved it, they kept it. I also read about I don't know 10 or so years ago, there was a drunk driver in their 70s also with a cat, loosen his car and he slammed into the gazebo ruining it, and the town then built it back. The steps are on the different side though now so and it's kind of rundown now, I must say. Now in between these two things. The gazebo in the church is the antique shop which you definitely see in the movie. Elizabeth befriends the shop owner and discovers Andy the stuffed squirrel, which was inspiration for her children's book in the movie. So it's really neat. I mean, it still says antique on the front of fortunately, I don't know if it was the pandemic that shut it down, but it's closer business. And the Townshend common is a little bit run down. It's magnificent in the movie, it becomes the Christmas Wonderland. And I haven't read that the film crew. This is kind of sad, painted a lot of the trees in the common. And then after the production ended 10 or more trees actually died because of the stuff they put on there to make it look like snow. So there's that that wasn't a good idea in the long run. And we're down the street from the township calm and it's fun just to do this loop and go around it and relive the scenes in there. And there was a big Christmas tree of course that's not there. Now about 10 to 15 minutes away there's Grafton and I gotta say that is a very picturesque town. We drove there yesterday I was floored by How beautiful it is. They didn't shoot any of the town scenes there. But the Farmers Home, by the way, they're not actually farmers. It's just their name. It's a clever title. The Cape Cod that they reside and built in 65 is there, it's just off the main town square, but it's on private property. So we drove there yesterday to get a look at it, and you can't see it. Like you just see the tip of the house. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I'm not driving up this long, private driveway to encounter we don't know what. So I started thinking. And so we came back to the cabin here and did some research, got a hold of the homeowner had a great conversation explained, you know how important the movie was to me, and could I just potentially pop by for a quick photo and, and be on my way, and he acquiesced? And let me come over. So we set a time, and I was elated. I pulled up the long driveway, I filmed the whole thing. By the way, I may be posting some of this on our YouTube channel, as well as footage from the township common, but I go up the long driveway. Just like the movie, he has a dog or he has two dogs, but one dog greets me driving up so I stopped my jeep and I keep going and he's like, Oh, no go and park by the house. And I swear this is like so meta. It's like an out of body experience. I drive a white Jeep Cherokee. In the movie, when the farmers are selling their house or potentially selling their house. The prospective buyers have a white Jeep Wagoneer. Now I used to have a wagon here, but that's a whole other story. But I pull up and I'm parked in the exact same spot the wagon here parked. And he's like, Hey, I look around, do whatever. And I'm telling you, it's even more impressive in person. It's just like it looked in the movies, but it's been incredibly well kept. They have 200 plus acres up there. The pond is just off the house just like in the movie. When I was walking around filming and just taking photos. Their dog was like flying around the pond. I swear just like the first dog, the Irish setter in the movie that never became their dog. He just ran all the time and ran away. And I just wanted to live there. I mean, it was incredible. The day was perfect. The weather was in the 70s. cloud coverage was minimal and it was just everything I could have ever expected or hoped it would be. And then I had a long chat with him and he told me about the production, how long it took. And he also told me some interesting tidbits because in the movie, they go to this downers covered bridge. By the way lots of covered bridges in these parts. We went to a few and I kept thinking Is this the one in the movie that the Triborough movers go over and the bridge starts to collapse? And finally does no you trick yourself but the actual one is in weathers filled Vermont. I haven't been there yet. But when it collapses in the movie, they did that at the property where the Cape Cod resides because there's 200 acres that used another area. And they just did the stunt there was like, Oh, that makes complete sense. So I highly recommend any and everyone to first see funny farm of course, I actually watched it again yesterday after I got back to the cabin. Having experienced the farmer's home, I didn't go in the home just to be clear. But I think any and everyone should see the movie and visit Vermont. We've enjoyed our time here so much. There's great beer, great maple syrup, great eggs, great everything. And again, Townshend is very different than grafting, I think you should experience them both. There's also Windsor, I haven't made it there yet. That's where the scenes happen where he's on the water. So we may or may not have time this trip, but I really wanted to get to the house. That's the crown jewel. I mean, so much of the movie takes place there all those memorable scenes where they dig up the body of the person who owned the home that they bought it from, to you know, he drags the snake in the house from the pond to the dog running all over the place to Christmas carolers come in and helping them try to sell the house because and he's given everyone a $50 bonus to show kindness to the prospective buyer. So that's really funny scenes and they decided to stay the basically they create the world that they always wanted because when they moved to Red Bird, they were fish out of water and nothing went as planned. Nothing. But that's about it. The movie does hold up. I mean, I watched it yesterday, and you can just tell how well crafted it is. There's no extra fat scenes to seamlessly go together the movie moves very quickly. And I'm glad they didn't even come back and make a new funny farm. It's just kind of left alone to age on the vine as it should. So without further ado, please enjoy funny farm. So thank you so much for listening and please be sure to subscribe to the let's talk movies podcast as well as the let's talk movies YouTube Live Channel. You can also really help us by giving the show a five star rating on Apple podcast. And for all you'll listeners that enjoy sharing your thoughts you can leave us a review on Apple podcast send us a direct message or post a comment on any let's talk movies social media platform we also highly recommend checking out our other podcast and visiting just curious media.com