O’Hare Airport

Home Alone, Sleepless in Seattle

It’s kind of hard to avoid this location when visiting Chicago, especially travelling internationally. O’hare might be the bane of some traveler’s existence, but it’s also home to a few movie scenes. Remember the movie Home Alone? Of course you do! The scene where the family was rushing through the airport was shot there. Many travelers are forced to reenact that scene on a daily basis. Also there’s a scene from Sleepless in Seattle where Sam and Jona leave for Seattle to start a new life.

Lasalle Drive in the Loop

The Dark Knight

The picture above was not actually from the film, but we just thought it was a really cool picture and was relevant to this particular location. In the movie The Dark Knight, Batman uses his 360 able wheeled motorcycle to flip over a semi truck. That scene was filmed on LaSalle Street and they actually really did flip over a semi truck on LaSalle Street for that scene. If you look in the background you will see Series statue on top of the Chicago Board of Trade building  (which is next on our list!). We put a link to the video below because it’s just too great of a scene to not.

The Chicago Board Of Trade

Ferris Bueller’s Day off, Batman Begins

You’ll notice that most of these locations will include the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. that’s because it pretty much was an ode to what a typical tourist can do in Chicago. Luckily it was a classic and made Chicago look fantastic. Anyways, the scene where Ferris proposes to Sloan and Cam is making that cool water droplet noise was filmed in the upper booths of the Chicago Board of Trade. You can see all the traders doing their funny hand signs. Also, the Chicago Board of Trade was depicted as the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises in Batman Begins (it was switched to Richard J. Daley Center for the Dark Knight).

Biograph Theater

Public Enemies, High Fidelity

This was where they filmed the scene (which actually happened in real life!) where John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) was shot and killed by FBI agents. They turned the entire street into a 1930’s Chicago. When they weren’t filming, pedestrians could actually walk down Lincoln Ave. and see the old style cars and fake window shops. There was also a scene in the movie High Fidelity where John Cusack tells the quick story of John Dillinger getting shot because his girlfriend tipped off the FBI.

Wrigley Field

Ferris Bueller, the Break Up, A League of Their Own


Ferris Bueller once again making an appearance on this list. The scene is pretty obvious to pick out… It’s the one where Ferris, Sloan and Cam are at a baseball game and Ferris catches a foul ball. Rooney almost saw him on the TV. The score was nothing nothing and the bears were winning. Wrigley Field was also home to the opening scene in the Break Up with Vince Vaughn ( who actually goes there quite a bit in real life) and Jennifer Aniston.

E 95th Street Bridge

Blues Brothers

There were a lot of famous scenes from the classic film The Blue Brothers. We thought the best was the East 95th Street Bridge where the Blues Brothers jumped over a bridge was the winner. The bridge still looks the exact same. Car’s got a lot of pickup.

Art Institute of Chicago

Ferris Beuller

Yep Ferris again. This one is really fun to visit. Check out the Marc Chagall’s America Windows and that’s the scene where Ferris and Sloan kiss. It’s a good Instagram photo shot for couples.

Chicago Union Station

Public Enemies, The Untouchables

Coming to Chicago via Train? then you’ll get to see Chicago Union Station where once again the movie Public Enemies with Johnny Depp makes an appearance as well as the movie The Untouchables. Both are gangster movies, which makes sense since that was kind of our thing.

We’re going to run through some lesser known locations, but ones that were featured in some bigger films (minus Richie Rich which was the editor’s choice and will never back down on that choice)

Prudential Plaza
Richie Rich

In the movie Richie Rich the Rich industries building was Chicago’s Prudential Plaza. It wasn’t a major scene or anything but we think it’s a really pretty place and totally forgot about Richie Rich until doing research for this post.

Hotel 71
Dark Knight

The fancy dinner where Batman informs the Joker he is going to love him.

The Drake Hotel
My Best Friend’s Wedding

Quite a few scenes were shot at the Drake for the film My Best Friend’s Wedding. The more memorable one where they tell Julia Robert’s she can’t smoke.