Six picks for the best St. Louis flicks

I came this close to meeting Jessica Alba a couple weeks ago.

I was in line at Whole Foods Market when my cashier confided that Ms. Alba had passed through just a bit before. Had I not lingered so long at the meat counter, who knows? Maybe I could have reached past her to put one of those plastic bars on the checkout belt, separating our purchases. We could have shared a totally organic experience. Twin passions of food and film brushing past each other, almost ? but not quite ? touching.

Now, celebs with permanent residence on “sexiest people” lists don’t just show up in St. Louis to go grocery shopping, unless they’re working a Provel jones for all it’s worth. Alba’s in town filming “Bill,” along with similarly beautiful person Aaron Eckhart, and they should be in and around our fair city for at least a couple more weeks.

That got me thinking about St. Louis’ own reputation on film. While St. Louis has never achieved the cinematic ubiquity of Los Angeles, New York or even Chicago, every few years or so a production crew swoops into town, cameras rolling. So, in keeping with the theme of this month’s issue, here are the best of the best – six great flicks featuring (or filmed in) St. Louis.

“Meet Me in St. Louis”
It wasn’t filmed here, but no other movie has such a strong association with St. Louis as this brassy Judy Garland musical. Teenager Esther Smith (Garland) is just beginning to strike sparks with the boy next door when her father informs the family they’re moving to New York. Not only will Esther miss her beau, they’ll all miss the impending 1904 World’s Fair. What will Esther do? Sing, sing, sing! On the film’s release in 1944, Time magazine called it “a musical that even the deaf should enjoy” for its dazzling sets. “Meet Me in St. Louis” is also directly responsible for bringing us Liza Minnelli, as star Garland fell in love with director Vincente Minnelli while on the set.

“The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery”
While St. Louis icons like the Arch and (the late) Busch Stadium have had fleeting appearances on film, the Southwest Bank at the corner of Kingshighway and Southwest Avenue features prominently in an entire movie. Up-and-coming action man Steve McQueen starred as getaway driver George Fowler in the true story of the bank’s attempted robbery in 1953; dozens of city police and bank tellers played themselves in the 1959 movie.

“Escape From New York”
In 1981, back before Vancouver became the city of choice to “play” New York City, St. Louis got to take a bite out of the Big Apple’s film cred. And while the city certainly welcomed the revenue, the reasoning behind the civic substitution was on the ignominious side: downtown St. Louis had the right amount of actual decrepitude to pass as a post-apocalyptic New York. Scenes were shot at the Fox Theatre and the then-abandoned Union Station. Kurt Russell milks an eye patch for all it’s worth as the surly, swarthy Snake Plissken.

“White Palace”
In the original novel, Nora (Susan Sarandon) works at the White Castle at the corner of Grand and Gravois. Legal hassles forced the 1990 film’s setting to be called “White Palace,” and the production used a diner at 18th and Olive as a stand in. James Spader plays a young widower who gets dragged back to Nora’s Dogtown flat for a sex scene so steamy, you could grill sliders on your DVD player. A pity that the rest of the movie is just the typical romantic class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

“The Game of Their Lives”
With World Cup matches continuing into July, it’s the perfect time to check out this inspiring 2005 movie about the underdog U.S. team training to play against England’s squad in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Many of the actual players came from The Hill, so you’ll see many of the familiar Hill landmarks – albeit retrofitted to a ’50s style. Three of the team’s stars, Gino Pariani, Frank Borghi and Harry Keough, make cameo appearances in the wedding reception scene.

“King of the Hill”
Before everyone knew who Steven Soderbergh was, he was crafting intricate little dramas packed with character actors and sneaking them into theaters to critical acclaim. Audiences, for the most part, missed these films entirely. Set in Depression-era St. Louis, 1993’s “King of the Hill” is the story of Aaron Kurlander (Jesse Bradford), a boy separated from his parents and living on his own in a flop hotel. Soderbergh’s cast included half a dozen then-unknowns, including Adrien Brody in his film debut.

Usually I’d recommend a local eatery to pair with your movie about now, but you readers have already done that yourselves in the pages of this issue. Pick a great St. Louis movie and pick a great St. Louis restaurant; there are plenty to choose from in each case.