In a previous post, I talked about the things I’m doing to stay occupied and sane while I sit with my leg elevated in a cast. One of those things is locating places in Massachusetts where movies and TV series have been filmed and posting them on the SetJetters app.

This may sound frivolous, and I suppose it is, but the process does take me out of my living room by making me feel that I’m actually visiting the places that I’m researching. That brightens my day and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. (My user name is Boston Tour Guide).

Learning New Things

In the process, however, I have learned a few things—and I love learning new things.

Technical Skills: How to set a pin in Googlemaps (Yes, I’m sure you already knew that), find and copy the coordinates, and copy the URL of an appropriate YouTube clip at the precise point needed.

False front on Creek Square built for “Spirited”

Volume of Locations: The sheer number of TV shows and movies that have been filmed in Massachusetts in general and Boston in particular. You can probably name five, maybe ten without much thought. But, counting indy films, there are actually hundreds.

This is the Place: Companies set films and TV shows here for accuracy of location. The SetJetters map covers locations around the world. Many of these places stand in for other, more exotic or difficult-to-reach places such as Mars, Tattooine, Iran, the African veldt, North Korea, or the Moon. But when they film in Boston, they want Boston.

Local Connections

Books by Local Authors: That authenticity comes in part from the fact that many movies are based on books by local authors. Dennis Lehane has had 11 of his novels turned into big Hollywood movies and Boston is as much a character in them as any of the people.

I appreciate it when film companies come here for accuracy. Why? Because it’s important. Hollywood has made four versions of “Little Women,” starting in 1949. One was filmed in Ireland, one in Canada, and one in Hollywood studios. Only in the most recent version did the film company actually come to Massachusetts. They did it right and you can find several of those locations on the SetJetters map.

Five Degrees of Kevin Bacon

On location at Faneuil Hall

Five Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Mr. Bacon has done a lot of filming in Boston. My quick count comes in at 5. They are:

• “Mystic River” (2003)
• “City on a Hill” (2019-2022)
• “Patriots Day”
• “Black Mass” (2015)
• “R.I.P.D.” (2013)

But I could have missed a few. It seems that every time I research film clips, I find Kevin Bacon, usually playing a police detective or an FBI agent. I guess he just has that kind of presence.

Finding the Right Movie Clip

Part of the process involves finding clips, usually on YouTube, of a particular part of the movie that shows the specific location to advantage, Often, however, no clip exists for the part of the movie that I remember best.

The “Friends of Eddie Coyle” offers one example. To my mind that is still the best crime movie ever made in and about Boston. I remember most vividly the scene where his “friends” are taking him from a Bruins game at the old Boston Garden to Dedham, where they will kill Eddie and dump his body.

We saw this movie in a Manhattan theater when it was released. When it reached this scene and I saw the crooks drive into the Callahan Tunnel, I said out loud, “You can’t do that!” Because, of course, Dedham is south of Boston and the tunnel goes northeast to East Boston. It took some searching, but I finally found a clip of that scene.

Accident on the Tobin Bridge

Another one is the accident scene on the Tobin Bridge in “Mystic River.” I remember this part of the movie because I know the actor playing an angry motorist and recognized him immediately. Patrick Shea has for many years been a stalwart in the Boston theater community with a long run in Shear Madness. Many years ago, I hired him on several occasions for work in trade shows and sales meetings. He always did a great job.

I still haven’t found that clip. Now, I expect someone will tell me I can make it myself, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. If you do comment, please include instructions.

Movies, Fun and Instant Gratification

Currently, I focus on movies outside of Boston, because so much work has been done in the city itself and the SetJetters map is getting crowded there. Some locations have been used so often, they’re even more jammed: Fenway Park and Crane Beach, for example. But I just added Bova’s Bakery in the North End for its scenes in “The Instigators” as well as Route 93 north and south for the chase scene in “Knight and Day.”

Will I keep this up once I’m back on my feet? Probably—but not as frequently. This morning I got my tour guide assignments for the cruise ships coming to Boston this year. That will take up a lot more of my days. In the meantime, however, finding movie locations in Massachusetts gives me some fun and instant gratification.