On Location: Possums

Previously:

The Adventures of Jurassic Pet  - -  Where the Red Fern Grows

Thunderstruck  - -  Bringing Up Bobby

Nowata is the quintessential Oklahoma small town.  Located in the northeast part of the state, it's biggest claim to fame for years was that guy's "bowling ball art" he displayed in his yard.  But fate finally came a' callin' when the 1998 film "Possums" cast the town to play itself.

The movie stars country music singer Mac Davis as the radio announcer for the town's high school football team.  When the school cancels the football program (the "Possums") due to lack of funds, Mac continues to announce imaginary games every Friday night.  The town get swept up in the fake games and wackiness ensues.

Of course, the fun part for me is checking out the town to see how much it has changed from the time of the movie's production.  You can see above that the town's mural has faded since the vibrant 90s.  The town has the standard "small town look" and if you drive around Oklahoma as much as I do, they all start to blend together.  But I was able to match a few buildings I saw.

You can see the Nowata County courthouse in the background in a few scenes.  Most of downtown gets shown off throughout the film.  But since it's a football movie the main location is the High School football field.

So the fake games of the fake team eventually go to the fake State Championship and win!  Since the fake games became so popular, word spreads to the actual State Champs and they're not happy.  So they all pile into the school bus and head to Nowata.  Check out who plays the coach:

Yep, that's legendary OU football coach Barry Switzer as the coach of "Prattville Pirates."  As far as acting goes, he does a pretty good job.  It's a small part but he did well enough that I'm surprised he didn't do more acting.  The only other things I've seen him in include a cameo in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" (as an announcer) and as himself in an episode of the OKC-based series "Saving Grace."

Well, the Pirates challenge the nonexistent Possums to a game to decide what's what, so Mac Davis and his pals have to scramble to get a team together.  Eventually they play and one of them wins.  It all seems to work out...roll credits.  It's not a bad little movie.  But it's definitely a great claim to fame for a small town.

On Location: Bringing Up Bobby

"Bringing Up Bobby" was a fairly unsuccessful independent film from 2011 starring Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman.  It was written and directed by former X-Man Famke Janssen but, most importantly, it was filmed in Oklahoma...which is essentially the only reason it got my attention.

The cast and crew utilized several locations in the Sooner State so if you end up watching it, at the very least, you can have fun spotting the Oklahoma locations.  In fact, let's do that now, starting with this great big cross:

The beginning of the movie tries to set the tone by showing off this big boy.  You can see it along I-35 at the Life.Church in Edmond.  Next up, our characters decided to get some dinner at a very familiar location along Route 66 (and not too far from the church):

Yep, that's Pop's 66 Soda Ranch in Arcadia, the world famous locale that sells over 700 different kinds of soda.  I guess the crew couldn't resist such a unique looking exterior and they couldn't stop at just one because right down the Mother Road they shot a scene at...

...the historic Arcadia Round Barn.  It's one of the few round barns in the U.S. and has lasted (in various states of repair and disrepair) for over 100 years.  It's currently a tourist attraction and rents out their "Upstairs Loft" for events, which we get to see in the movie:

After a while, the film moves away from the showy tourist attractions and towards the showy office buildings in downtown Oklahoma City.  Here's the office of one of the main characters:

Leadership Square houses tons of businesses and is recognizable by the red sculpture "Galaxy" outside.  These are only a few of the locations the film utilizes.  If you catch it on TV, keep your eyes open and maybe you'll see some places you recognize.