Filming in Miami

The movie industry’s infatuation with South Florida’s exotic tropical landscapes and year-round sun started in the 1940’s with classics like Moon Over Miami and Key Largo. In the ’60s, Florida’s fun-in-the- sun image brought in movies like Where the Boys Are. During this time, the the Jackie Gleason Show was filmed in Miami Beach until the end of its run in 1970. Ivan Tors Studios’ Flipper, in the mid-’60s, and Gentle Ben, in the late ’60s, were also filmed here. By the late ’70s, Miami had become a land awash in crime, runaway immigration and fear. As the area’s  landscape changed, TV and filmmakers brought controversial projects such as Scarface and Miami Vice. Local politicians initially fretted that these productions – with their fixation on illegal drugs, prostitution and police corruption – would reinforce Miami’s checkered image. Instead, they helped fuel a cultural and economic renaissance.  During the 1990s, Miami-Dade teemed with film production, luring blockbusters like True Lies, There’s Something About MaryAce Ventura, The Bodyguard and Birdcage. The boom encouraged Broward and Palm Beach to build larger studios of their own.
Buy photos in the Herald store


Buy photos in the Herald store

Facebook Comments