As we wrap up "Setting Up Home" month, we thought it would be fun to come up with a list of films that have to do with moving in, starting out, and settling down. From an Arizona mobile home to an Irish cottage, here are 10 of our favorite first apartments, houses, and trailers from the big screen.
- Big (1988): A Manhattan loft outfitted with bunk beds, video games, and a trampoline!
- Barefoot in the Park (1967): Robert Redford and Jane Fonda share a "bridal lovenest" in Greenwich Village.
- The Quiet Man (1952): John Wayne and Catherine O'Hara shack up in an Irish cottage.
- The Break-Up (2006): A couple fights over who gets their shared Chicago condo when they split.
- The Long, Long Trailer (1953): Lucy and Dezi are newlyweds living it up in a trailer.
- The Money Pit (1986): Tom Hanks and Shelly Long move into a disastrous fixer-upper.
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946): A classic "first home" with a famous broken banister knob.
- Raising Arizona (1987): Nearly every line in this film is well crafted and hilarious: "These were the happy days, the salad days as they say...and Ed felt that having a critter was the next logical step."
- Une femme est une femme (1961): A young couple's Paris apartment is simple, sixties chic.
- Amelie (2001): Her Paris starter apartment often makes our list of the best movie interiors.
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Photos: (1) Big screenshot via DVD Beaver, (2) screenshot from Barefoot in the Park Trailer, (3) The Quiet Man screenshot via Total Film, (4) The Break-Up still via IMDB, (5) The Long, Long Trailer still via IMDB, (6) Screenshot from The Money Pit via MacTaggart Married, (7) It's a Wonderful Life still via IMDB, (8) Screenshot from Raising Arizona Trailer, (9) Screenshot from Une femme est une femme via l'express.fr, (10) Amelie still via IMDB
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Rob Gordon's apartment in High Fidelity is also a pretty good one. It inspired me to use hanging picture frames as room dividers.
ohsweetcentral,
wasn't that lisa bonets apartment, not cusacks, that used the hanging window frames as dividers.
Great post! Clocking the Apartment snap of Tom Hanks skating - one of all time favourite movies, +one hell of a fantastic space!
Who doesn't want a trampoline in their apartment!?
Good stuff!
Don't forget Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy (similar to but better than The Money Pit).
My favorite scene is when she's describing her paint colors to the painter, "I want it to be a soft green, not as blue-green as a robin's egg, but not as yellow-green as daffodil buds..." and on and on. And the painter says, "Red, green, blue, yellow, white."
how about "reality bites," "honey" or "someone like you"
Oddly enough I like the apartment Mia Farrow and movie husband move into in Rosemary's Baby after they fix it up.
I just watched Love Story and they have a pretty amazing NYC apartment for being fresh out of law school!
ChrisGal, I completely agree with you about Rosemary's Baby! I also love Michael Showalter's apartment in The Baxter.
The actresses name in The Quiet Man was Maureen O'Hara - not Catherine.
The loft in "Big" was my true fantasy space growing up... On some levels it still is. The crazy thing is that a SoHo loft was already stratospherically expensive even in 1988.
I nominate Ana Pascale's apartment in Stranger than Fiction. It's so perfectly bohemian/romantic.
Hah! I thought I recognized The Money Pit. I love that movie.
Aw... I've always loved the apartment from Barefoot in the Park.
While not a personal fave, I can't forget the expensive, fugly trendiness of Bud Fox's uptown apt in Wall Street.
OTOH, I loved Jerry's tiny little studio in an American in Paris.
It's gotta be Bud and Darien's Manhattan loft. I still laugh out loud every time I think about the scene where Gordon Gecko went to put his drink on the coffee table and it fell to the ground because, in this case, functionality was slightly compromised due to cutting edge design. But it was entertaining to see them (her) decorating their loft with everything that was "now" in the late 1980's.
What about Molly Ringwold's apartment in "For Keeps"? It had a tent over the toilet (sitting in the middle of the apartment) and they called it the jacuzzi.
Nina Moseley's (Nia Long's character) apartment in 'Love Jones" is my all-time favorite movie apartment.
I love Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson's Bungalow in You, Me & Dupree.
Speaking of Tom Hanks, how about "Sleepless in Seattle" with the Boat House and Sam's client who wanted a larger refrigerator in her new house? So they would have to move the supporting wall.
lucycferguson - I loved that bungalow! I also remember loving the houses in Monster-in-Law and I Love You Man.
Rosemary's baby was shot in the Dakota was it not?
@funstraw - It definitely was!
However, Rob and Laura's apartment, with its little eat-in area in the kitchen and the wall-to-wall bookcases absolutely dripping with albums (arranged autobiographically!) is a good choice, too.
Gil's apartment behind her shop in 'Bell, Book and Candle'.
I liked the apartment from P.S I love you (I can't believe I just admitted I have seen that movie)
Tom and Summer's apartments from (500) Days of Summer come to mind immediately.
Going on to TV shows, I still am in love with Logan's loft at Yale in Gilmore Girls.
the apt. in rosemary's baby known as the bramford but is actually the dakota, famous for its celebrated inhabitants, esp. john lennon.
In the 1968 film Wonderwall, Dutch design collective The Fool built beautiful sets for hippie hottie Jane Birkin's character and nebbish prof Jack MacGowran's unrequited love affair.
Conducted from the vouyeristic perspective of MacGowan's introverted art nouveau pad into the psychedelic wonderland of Birkin's fashion photographer boyfriend, the incredible interiors are a living, evolving character in the film.
Bonus: score by George Harrison.
Only a starter house in that Birkin has (apparently) just moved in.
Hey, what about that amazing apartment on Ghost? That was so spectacular and gets me every time (the apartment, not the movie, hah).
School of Rock had a cool place.
OMG the apartment in Ghost, was awesome!
Oooh I thought of another and luckily AT had pictures of the house from a past post. The house from Help (a Beatles movie) http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/inspiration/help-movie-inspiration-029932
And we danced by the light of the moon!
Great post! We only came up with two of the same out of ten, I guess we're two different types of tennant ;) Check out my list http://www.aspensquare.com/blog/archive/2010/09/15/top-ten-apartments-on-the-big-screen.aspx
and let me know what you think! Why does Tom Hanks alllways get the cool apartments? lol