Jonathan Nadler is a movie buff and native of Philadelphia. See which major blockbuster movies were filmed in the Philly area with this presentation.

1. F O U R M O V I E S F I L M E D O N L O C A T I O N
I N P H I L A D E L P H I A
B Y J O N A T H A N N A D L E R

2. T H E C I T Y O F B R O T H E R L Y L O V E
When most people think of things that are iconic to
Philadelphia, the film Rocky immediately comes to
mind. Released in 1976, the rags-to-riches sports drama
about a working-class boxer interweaves the streets,
markets, and staircases of Philly into its visual narrative
so well that the city itself feels like a character in the
movie. But Rocky isn’t the only movie filmed against the
backdrop of the City of Brotherly Love. These four silver
screen hits also shot on location in Philly.

3. N A T I O N A L T R E A S U R E
( 2 0 0 4 )

4. This Nicolas Cage action movie features so many Philly
hot spots that National Treasure tours became
popular in the city after the movie’s release. Of all the
historic Philadelphia landmarks Cage’s historian
Benjamin Franklin Gates visits, perhaps none is more
iconic than the bell tower at Independence Hall.

5. T H E S I X T H S E N S E
( 1 9 9 9 )

6. This spooky thriller about a boy who can see dead
people and the psychologist who helps him come to
terms with his paranormal gift was set and shot in
Philadelphia, which happens to be director M. Night
Shyamalan’s hometown. The church where young
Cole (Haley Joel Osment) hides is St Augustine’s
Roman Catholic Church on 4th Street at New Street,
and Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) meets his wife for a
dinner date at the Striped Bass on Walnut Street (now
a different restaurant called the Butcher and Singer).

7. T W E L V E M O N K E Y S
( 1 9 9 5 )

8. James Cole (Bruce Willis) volunteers to go back in time
to stop a deadly virus from eradicating most of the
human population. Assumed to be crazy by the
people who encounter him in the past, Cole is placed
in a mental institution and must escape in order to
fulfill his mission. The movie’s asylum scenes were shot
at of the Eastern State Penitentiary, a visually stunning
site containing the ruins of one of the most famous
prisons in American history.

9. P H I L A D E L P H I A ( 1 9 9 3 )

10. This moving courtroom drama was not only filmed in
Philadelphia but also takes its title from the city’s
name. Tom Hanks puts in an Oscar-winning
performance as a lawyer who, after being dismissed
from his law firm because he is gay and has AIDS,
takes his former employers to court for wrongful
termination. The iconic courtroom scene that is the
centerpiece of the movie was filmed at Philadelphia’s
City Hall.

11. V I S I T J O N A T H A N N A D L E R . N E T