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in Oh the Places You'll Go

“Oh, the places you’ll go.”- Paria Movie Scenes & Sets

Movie Scenes and Movie Sets from around the Paria Area:

Growing up in Page and Kanab area, owner of the Paria Sage Casitas, Terry Allen met numerous actors and actresses through the years. Stars such as Lucille Ball on vacation with her family, Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif and Ted Cassidy during the filming of MacKenna’s Gold, from The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill, Catherine O’Hara who played Calamity Jane met at the local bowling alley and Terry even played golf with James Garner of Maverick fame. Also his Grandfather Philo Allen was an extra in Sergeants Three.

For movie and old TV series buffs this area is such a treat. More Westerns were filmed in this area than anywhere else outside of California. Visiting the sites just to see where your favorite movie or episode was filmed is certainly one great way to visit the area.

The Paria Movie Set: This set was located at the bottom of a towering, multi-colored sandstone canyon only a few miles up the Paria River from Paria Sage Casitas. By car the site of the former Paria Movie Set can be accessed by taking Highway 89 west from the Casitas 5 miles or east of Kanab for 35 miles, and turning north into a dirt parking lot with a stone monument to the Pareah Townsite. The movie set was used to film western movies such as Sergeants 3 in 1961 and The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976 as well as TV shows from 1963-1991. According to Dixie Brunner in the Kanab guide.com: ”As a location, it was used for several episodes of Gunsmoke and Sergeants Three. Those willing to take the bumpy trip will be rewarded with interpretive displays and remarkable canyon views. While the movie set withstood gunfights and saloon brawls, it couldn’t withstand the ravages of nature. Flooding left a 20 foot gully running through the middle of the three-building town. Through a cooperative effort between local volunteers and the BLM, the buildings were dismantled and rebuilt on stable ground. Unfortunately, vandals later burned the buildings.”

paria-movie-set

Photo of the restored Paria Movie Set before it was burned by vandals.

Kanab’s Little Hollywood: Located in Kanab at 297 West Center Street. On the back lot is a western town comprised of original and maintained sets from the movies Desperate Hours, One Little Indian, and The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Johnson Canyon: The “Gunsmoke” TV series used the Johnson Canyon Movie Set for over 20 episodes shot between the ‘50s and ‘70s.

This picture from the visit Southern Utah Guide is of the Johnson Canyon Movie Set which is located about ten miles east of Kanab, Utah on Highway 89 and then five miles north on Johnson Canyon Road.

Kanab Canyon Movie Set: Located about five miles north of Kanab near Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the Kanab Canyon Movie Set was a location used for a number of movies including The Lone Ranger, Westward the Women and The Apple Dumpling Gang. Not far past the Best Friends turnoff is a barn from One Little Indian.

paria-movie-set-

Heather Rankin, former tour supervisor from Glen Canyon Dam, adds this information about movies closer to the Page area: “Castle Rock was Mount Sinai in Charlton Heston’s version of The Greatest Story Ever Told. Planet of the Apes, well, not much needs to be said there (shot all around Lake Powell). Crystal River City from Maverick was filmed around Warm Creek Bay and parts of the set are still in Big Water. The cave where John Travolta and Christian Slater had a major shoot out in Broken Arrow is now the site of the new Amangiri Resort.”

Also just three hours to the East from the Paria Sage Casitas is Monument Valley where many famous films were shot. Director John Ford fell in love with Monument Valley almost 80 years ago, filming his well-known Stagecoach there in 1939. It was the first western shot with sound. The film, starring John Wayne, would be the first of many to feature Monument Valley — Ford himself would shoot 9 more Westerns here. Even plots that were not located in Utah or Arizona (such as Ford’s “The Searchers,” which was set in Texas) would go on to take advantage of the Valley’s unique and dramatic landscapes. The 2013 version of The Lone Ranger caused some controversy as a non-native; Johnny Debb was cast as Tonto.

Some of the films made in Monument Valley include:

1939 Stagecoach

1946 My Darling Clementine

1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

1956 The Searchers

1962 How the West Was Won

1968 Easy Rider

1968 2001: A Space Odyssey

1975 The Eiger Sanction

1983 National Lampoon’s Vacation

1990 Back to the Future Part III

1994 Forrest Gump

2013 The Lone Ranger

old-western-movies-sets-utah

Many TV shows filmed episodes in this area. The list includes: The Lone Ranger, Death Valley

Days, Have Gun Will Travel, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, The Six Million Dollar Man, Grizzly Adams, Lassie, Wagon Train, F-Troop and How the West Was Won,

Movie Made around Lake Powell, Page and Big Water

1962 ~ Greatest Story Ever Told1967 ~ McKenna’s Gold

1967 ~ Planet of the Apes

1967 ~ Bandolero

1969 ~ Again a Love Story

1973 ~ Standing Up Country

1974 ~ The Man Who Would Be King

1975 ~ The Outlaw Jose Wales

1976 ~ Damnation Alley

1976 ~ The Car

1976 ~ The Heretic

1978 ~ Wanda Nevada

1978 ~ Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

1978 ~ Montezuma’s Lost Gold

1978 ~ Bible Stories

1982 ~ Birds of Prey III

1982 ~ Superman III

1989 ~ Highway to Hell

1990 ~ Dragon Fight

1984 ~ Thunder Warrior

1990 ~ Beastmaster II

1990 ~ Riders on the Storm

1990 ~ Motorama

1991 ~ Grand Canyon

1992 ~ Benefit of the Doubt

1993 ~ Flintstones II

1993 ~ Ravenhawk

1993 ~ Maverick

1993 ~ Broken Arrow

1993 ~ Disney’s “Tall Tale, The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill.”

1995 ~ Point Break

2001 ~ Evolution

2001 ~ Planet of the Apes

2003 ~ Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle

2003 ~ The Hulk

2012 ~ John Carter of Mars

2013 – Gravity

Movie Made Around Kane County: The Visit Southern Utah Guide includes this list (note: there is some overlap from the previous list. It is also interesting that the list from Kane County begins so much earlier. At times we forget that Page and the Glen Canyon Dam did not exist before 1960.)

1924 Deadwood Coach

1929 In Old Arizona

1930 The Big Trail

1934 Dude Ranger

1936 Romona

1937 The Bad Man of Brimstone

1938 The Lone Ranger

1938 Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock

1939 The Kanab Kid

1939 Swanee River

1939 The Mormon Conquest

1939 Drums Along the Mohawk

1939 Westbound Stage

1939 Stagecoach

1939 Feud on the Range

1939 Union Pacific

1939 Lure of the Wasteland

1940 Brigham Young, Frontiersman

1940 Wagon Train

1940 Kit Carson

1940 The Fargo Kid

1941 Billy the Kid

1941 Western Union

1942 Arabian Nights

1943 War of the Wildcats

1943 The Desperados

1943 The Desert Song

1943 My Friend Flicka

1944 Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

1944 Tall in the Saddle

1944 Buffalo Bill

1945 Thunderhead, Son of Flicka

1947 Thunder in the Valley

1948 Black Bart

1948 Fort Apache

1948 Green Grass of Wyoming

1949 The Big Cat

1949 Calamity Jane and Sam Bass

1949 Red Canyon

1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

1950 The Outriders

1951 Oh, Susanna

1951 Cattle Drive

1951 Best of the Badmen

1952 Ride the Man Down

1953 Ride, Vaquero!

1954 Yellow Tomahawk

1954 Southwest Passage

1955 Fort Yuma

1955 No Place To Ride

1955 Santa Fe Passage

1956 Ghost Town

1956 The Lone Ranger

 

1956 Quinncannon, Frontier Scout1956 The Rainmaker

1957 The Badge of Marshall Brennan

1957 Copper Sky

1957 War Drums

1957 Dragoon Wells Massacre

1957 The Dalton Girls

1957 Ride a Violent Mile

1957 The Girl in Black Stockings

1957 Revolt at Fort Laramie

1957 War Drums

1957 Tomahawk Trail

1957 Raiders of Old California

1958 Fort Bowie

1959 Timbuktu

1961 The Misfits

1962 Sergeants 3

1963 The Greatest Story Ever Told

1964 Ballad of a Gunfighter

1965 Fort Courageous

1966 The Plainsman1966 Duel at Diablo

1966 Ride in the Whirlwind

1966 The Shooting

1967 El Dorado

1967 The Long Ride Home

1967 A Rough Night In Jericho

1967 Ride to Hangman’s Tree

1968 Bandolero!

1968 Planet of the Apes

1969 The Despardos

1969 Mackenna’s Gold

1973 One Little Indian

1974 Run to the High Country

1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales

1976 Across the Great Divide

1977 Brigham

1977 The Car

1977 Exorcist II: The Heretic

1979 The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

1980 Windwalker

1990 Desperate Hours

1990 Devil’s Highway

1991 Beastmaster II

1991 Point Break

1993 Angel Eyes

1993 Motorama

1993 Benefit of the Doubt

1994 The Flinstones

1994 Maverick

1995 Tall Tale

1995 Wind Runner

1996 Broken Arrow

2001 Evolution

2001 Planet of the Apes

 

By: Sarah Kraner Allen

« “Oh, the places you’ll go.”
Oh the Places you’ll Go! The Adventure of Getting to Go to ‘The Wave’ »

11245 Paria Valley Rd.

Paria Valley, Utah 84741

801-310-3725

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Paria Sage Casitas seeks to offer a memorable retreat for you and your family here in beautiful Paria Utah. Explore, Relax and Play!

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