Continental Divide (film)
Encyclopedia
Continental Divide is a 1981 American romantic comedy
. It was directed
by Michael Apted
from an original screenplay
by Lawrence Kasdan
and produced
by Steven Spielberg
and stars John Belushi
and Blair Brown
; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.
An attempt was made during the promotional phase of the film's release to sell Belushi and Brown as "the new Hepburn and Tracy", calling to mind the gutsy creative chemistry and double-act performances of those yesteryear actors. This impression was not successfully carried off and Belushi's death less than six months after the film's release ensured that potential would never be.
This is also the first film from Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment
.
corrupt city councilman. After doing an expose on some corrupt land
dealings by the councilman, he is assaulted by two crooked police
officers sent by the councilman and ends up in the hospital.
Souchak's editor decides to send him out of town for his own safety. A city boy, Souchak
reluctantly travels to the Rockies to interview the reclusive Dr. Nell Porter
(Brown), who has been conducting research on bald eagles for several
years.
The two are at odds at first. After finding out he is a
reporter, she is reluctant to let him stay, but realizes he is not able
to survive in the mountains without his guide, who is not scheduled to
return for two weeks. He is skeptical about her work, but comes to admire
Porter for her strong character and dedication. Eventually, they fall in love.
Souchak returns to
Chicago with her still very much on his mind. When he finds out
that one of his sources has been "accidentally" killed, he once again
pursues the investigation until the day the councilman flees the country.
The same day, Souchak finds out that Porter is
coming to Chicago to do a presentation at a symposium. With some
uncertainly, Souchak decides to attend the presentation. They rekindle their relationship. Happy as
they are together, they cannot reconcile the different paths each has
taken in life, and so they reluctantly decide to part again.
Souchak,
seeing her off on the train, ends up traveling with her all the way
back to Wyoming. After getting off at her stop, they decide that they
cannot do without each other, and decide to marry. The movie ends with
him catching the train back to Chicago, and the newlyweds promising to
meet again very soon.
performed the ending
theme, "Never Say Goodbye".
The Ernie Souchak character was loosely based on longtime Chicago
newspaper columnist Mike Royko
.
Many of the mountain scenes were filmed in Colorado
:
Other scenes were filmed at:
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
. It was directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...
from an original screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...
and produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and stars John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
and Blair Brown
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.
An attempt was made during the promotional phase of the film's release to sell Belushi and Brown as "the new Hepburn and Tracy", calling to mind the gutsy creative chemistry and double-act performances of those yesteryear actors. This impression was not successfully carried off and Belushi's death less than six months after the film's release ensured that potential would never be.
This is also the first film from Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
.
Plot
A Chicago newspaper reporter, Ernie Souchak (Belushi), is investigating acorrupt city councilman. After doing an expose on some corrupt land
dealings by the councilman, he is assaulted by two crooked police
officers sent by the councilman and ends up in the hospital.
Souchak's editor decides to send him out of town for his own safety. A city boy, Souchak
reluctantly travels to the Rockies to interview the reclusive Dr. Nell Porter
(Brown), who has been conducting research on bald eagles for several
years.
The two are at odds at first. After finding out he is a
reporter, she is reluctant to let him stay, but realizes he is not able
to survive in the mountains without his guide, who is not scheduled to
return for two weeks. He is skeptical about her work, but comes to admire
Porter for her strong character and dedication. Eventually, they fall in love.
Souchak returns to
Chicago with her still very much on his mind. When he finds out
that one of his sources has been "accidentally" killed, he once again
pursues the investigation until the day the councilman flees the country.
The same day, Souchak finds out that Porter is
coming to Chicago to do a presentation at a symposium. With some
uncertainly, Souchak decides to attend the presentation. They rekindle their relationship. Happy as
they are together, they cannot reconcile the different paths each has
taken in life, and so they reluctantly decide to part again.
Souchak,
seeing her off on the train, ends up traveling with her all the way
back to Wyoming. After getting off at her stop, they decide that they
cannot do without each other, and decide to marry. The movie ends with
him catching the train back to Chicago, and the newlyweds promising to
meet again very soon.
Production
Singer Helen ReddyHelen Reddy
Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...
performed the ending
theme, "Never Say Goodbye".
The Ernie Souchak character was loosely based on longtime Chicago
newspaper columnist Mike Royko
Mike Royko
Michael "Mike" Royko was a newspaper columnist in Chicago, who won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary...
.
Filming locations
Many of the scenes were filmed around Chicago:- Belushi's character works for the Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
with many scenes filmed in and around the now demolished Chicago Sun-Times Building on the Chicago RiverChicago RiverThe Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of the same name, including its center . Though not especially long, the river is notable for being the reason why Chicago became an important location, as the link between the Great Lakes and...
(now the site of the Trump International Hotel and TowerTrump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago)The Trump International Hotel and Tower, also known as Trump Tower Chicago and locally as the Trump Tower, is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building, named after real estate developer Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill...
). - Belushi and Brown's character meet in Chicago while she is giving a lecture at the Field Museum of Natural HistoryField Museum of Natural HistoryThe Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
next to Lake MichiganLake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
.
Many of the mountain scenes were filmed in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
:
- Custer County, ColoradoCuster County, ColoradoCuster County is the tenth least populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 3,503 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Westcliffe.- History :...
- Crystal Mt, Washington
Other scenes were filmed at:
- The train depot where Belushi's character says goodbye to Blair's character, but later gets back on the train is the Michigan Central Railroad Niles DepotNiles (Amtrak station)Niles is a train station in Niles, Michigan, served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system.The Amtrak station is located along the main line east of the former Benton Harbor Branch crossing and west of the former junctions with the South Bend and Air Line Branches...
in Niles, MichiganNiles, MichiganNiles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near South Bend, Indiana. The population was 11,600 at the 2010 census. It is the greater populated of two principal cities of and included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...
about 90 miles east of Chicago. It's a large sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
building built in 1892. The depot appeared in Midnight RunMidnight RunMidnight Run is a 1988 American action comedy film starring Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as his prisoner....
with Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Only the LonelyOnly the Lonely (film)Only the Lonely is a 1991 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Columbus. It starred John Candy, Ally Sheedy, Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn. The plot is similar to the earlier award-winning film Marty.-Plot:...
with Maureen O'HaraMaureen O'HaraMaureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...
and John CandyJohn CandyJohn Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
. - Glacier National Park, MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. - Crystal Mountain, Washington which is 40 miles south of the city of EnumclawEnumclaw, WashingtonEnumclaw is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,669 at the 2010 census.The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 years ago....
. - Although often portrayed as having been "filmed in the Rockies", all of the tent scenes were filmed in the Cascades at Crystal Mt. with the magnificent Mt. Rainier standing 14,410' in the background. As rustic as it looks, the reality is that ten feet behind the cameras, the crew were sitting inside the Summit House restaurant drinking hot cocoa. It was still 6872' elev., and the snow was real. It was a cold shoot with lots of time spent warming up people and equipment. Many local kids participated in the making of the film and mourned Belushi's passing too soon thereafter.
- The final scenes of the movie were filmed in an old train station in Cedar Falls, Washington with an added AmtrakAmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
station sign (a movie prop) that read "Victor, WY".