Best Movies Set in Chicago
Let’s face it, there’s no way to list every single one of the best movies set in Chicago. Our collection inevitably leaves out somebody’s favorite Chicago movie. The fans of Ferris Buller’s Day Off, for example, will be very disappointed in a Best of Chicago Movies list that focuses on gritty, edgy films like Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, which uses Chicago locations as a stand-in for Gotham, or the Clive Barker horror-fest Candyman.
Our list is more about the city than the genre or content of the film; there are plenty of movies where Chicago is just as much a star as any of the big Hollywood names who show up in the films. See below the Best of list if you want to see the full list of movies filmed in Chicago.
Best Movies Set In Chicago
The Blues Brothers
It’s a hoary old classic from the 1980s, but one that shows more of Chicago and the surrounding area than probably any other film ever made.
And it has an all-star cast including Carrie Fisher, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and too many other musical luminaries to name. John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd take their SNL characters to the big screen not realizing that they’ve accidentally started an entire film movement bringing small-screen comedy to Hollywood. And on that note…
Wayne’s World
SNL’s Mike Myers and Dana Carvey bring their lovable lunkheaded antics off the SNL set and onto the silver screen and somehow manage to pull off a feature-length movie out of the concept.
The fictional TV show Wayne’s World is set in Aurora, Illinois, which technically makes it a film for this list since Aurora is known to many locals as being part of “Chicagoland” which reaches far beyond the Magnificent Mile and into suburban Chicago areas such as Oak Park, Joliet, and Aurora, Illinois.
Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Batman
In the interest of space, it makes sense to lump all these Batman films together by virtue of how much they showcase Chicago and surrounding areas. Some of the most familiar sights of the city show up in these films, and in some cases the director chose not to CGI-out landmarks, signs, and other visuals that specifically tie the movies to Chicago, notably the Franklin Street Bridge and parts of Lower Wacker Drive. The film is not technically set in the city, but the real Chicago is definitely on display.
Chiraq
Director Spike Lee shot his film on gun violence for some five weeks in the Chicago South Side and Englewood, but also at well-known locations such as the now late-great Double Door, the General Jones Armory, and the Chicago Cultural Center.
If you have never seen Chiraq, consider the writeup the Chicago Tribune gave the movie, calling it a satire “based on the Aristophanes play ‘Lysistrata’ from 411 B.C.” In that play, the Tribune notes, “Grecian women withhold sex until their men put an end to the Peloponnesian War”.
Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon, TransFormers 4: Age of Extinction
Giant metal robots beating each other up in Chicago? Local residents loved it and hated it at the same time during the filming of these movies, which closed down big portions of Wacker Drive, Indiana Avenue, and North Wabash Avenue for filming. The annoyance of the road closures was replaced (for some) with fascination watching a major film production take over major city blocks for two Transformers films in a row.
High Fidelity
No monsters, villains, or giant robots; just John Cusak and Jack Black and their daily misadventures running a fictional major record store in Chicago. The record store in the film was only a few blocks from a real legendary Chicago record store, Reckless Records. Other great Chicago locations featured in this film include the Green Mill, a speakeasy-type watering hole and The Music Box Theater, which is a beautifully preserved old-fashioned mid-century modern movie house.
The Untouchables
Brian de Palma tells the story of Elliot Ness trying to put an end to the Al Capone crime empire. Union Station, the Chicago Cultural Center, and Roosevelt University are all locations used to tell the story. Fun real-life Chicago trivia about the people represented in this movie; one source claims that in 1923, the real-life Al Capone bought a home in the South Side of Chicago just five miles down the road from where a college student named Elliot Ness lived with his parents.
Breakfast Club and Ferris Buller’s Day Off
John Hughes was known as a “Chicago filmmaker” since most of his comedies are set in suburban Chicago as well as Chicago proper. Ferris Buller’s Day Off shows off Michigan Avenue, parts of Des Plaines and Northbrook, where Breakfast Club shows…the inside of a high school. But in spite of this, there’s something strangely Chicago about The Breakfast Club–it’s set in the burbs and shows nothing of the city, it’s true. But the John Hughes vibe is there.
Candyman, Candyman 2, and the 2021 Candyman
Clive Barker’s Candyman series, including the 2021 Candyman directed by Nia DaCosta, are all set in and shot in Chicago. The film’s events take place in Chicago’s Caprini Green district, which was once notorious for violence before it was heavily gentrified; the Candyman series is supernatural horror with a strong social commentary.
The 2021 film was shot in Chicago’s Near North district but also has the distinction of being possibly the first film shot on location at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The original Candyman films were also shot in Near North but also at locations on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Thief
This gritty film features James Caan and a host of Chicago locations including the Shedd Aquarium, Western and Irving Park, and Chinatown. Michael Mann’s feature-length debut is said to be his “most Chicago” film, and this one features a pulsating score by Tangerine Dream. It’s the classic “retired bank robber does one last job” plot, and stars Chicago actor Jim Belushi alongside Caan, Tuesday Weld, and Willie Nelson.
Eight Men Out
The story of corruption in major league baseball isn’t the draw for some; it’s the fact that it was a true-life story about a Chicago baseball team is the real attraction for fans of Chicago movies. The 1919 Chicago White Sox team will go down in sports history as being one of the most notorious; this film tells the story of eight players permanently banned from big-league baseball after throwing a World Series game.
We include Eight Men Out here because it is directly related to a real-life event central to Chicago’s identity as a city, but it’s also the joker in the pack because most of the locations used to tell this story were shot outside of Chicago; Cincinnati and Louisville being among the most notable. The fact that the movie was made without using the White Sox stadium in any way might have had more to do with aesthetics than anything else, but it’s interesting to note that this film shows up on most Best of Chicago movies lists in spite of it being shot elsewhere.
All Movies Filmed in Chicago
2021 | 1994 |
8-Bit Christmas | Dear St. Anthony |
Christmas …Again?! | Hoop Dreams |
Good Guy With A Gun | Lady Mary |
Hot Mess Holiday | Losing Isaiah |
Merry Switchmas | Men Of War |
The Batman | Miracle on 34th Street |
The Year Between | Objects Rhapsody |
2020 | Richie Rich |
All Jacked Up and Full of Worms | Strawberry Fields |
Christmas Again | Stuart Saves his Family |
2019 | The Best Short Feature Ever Made |
Candyman | The Joust |
I Used To Go Here | The Prodigy |
Thunder Force | While You Were Sleeping |
The Trial of the Chicago 7 | 1993 |
2018 | Baby’s Day Out |
Beats | Blankman |
Minding the Gap | Blink |
2017 | Dawn |
Book of Leah | Forever Yours |
Canal Street | Him |
Captive State | Hudsucker Proxy |
Rampage | I Love Trouble |
Pages | Little Big League |
Soul Sessions | Major League 2 |
The Christmas Gift | My Life |
Widows | Natural Born Killers |
2016 | Rudy |
Bad Santa 2 | Scenes from the Soul |
Death Wish | The Childhood Friend |
The Empty Man | The Fence Blue Chips |
Landline | The Fugitive |
Mercury in Retrograde | Thieves Quartet |
Office Christmas Party | Wayne’s World 2 |
Signature Move | With Honors |
2015 | 1992 |
Chiraq | A Man of Respect |
Imperfections | Captain Ron |
Jim Shoo | Dennis the Menace |
Operator | Groundhog Day |
Southside with You | Hoffa |
Who Get’s the Dog? | Home Alone 2 |
2014 | Judgement Night |
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Meet the Parents |
Sinister 2 | Rookie of the Year |
Insurgent | Rudy |
Unexpected | Sleepless In Seattle |
2013 | 1991 |
Divergent | A League of Their Own |
Jupiter Ascending | An American Love |
Transformers 4 | Candy Man |
2012 | Curly Sue |
Dhoom3 | Dutch |
Drinking Buddies | Folks |
Johnson | Gladiators |
Warren | Hero |
2011 | How U Like Me Now? |
Altered | Just a Matter of Time |
Broken & Beautiful | Mad Dog & Glory |
Directors | Mo’ Money |
Just Like a Woman | Prelude to a Kiss |
Marching Banned | Public Eye |
Melody & Old Sock Nate & Margaret | Rapid Fire |
Rose White | Stand-Up |
Roundabout American | Straight Talk |
Superman: Man of Steel | The Babe |
2010 | Watch It |
Alive | Wayne’s World |
Bad Teacher | 1990 |
Colombiana | Backdraft |
Contagion | Bix Beiderbecke Pastime |
Crave | Child’s Play II |
Get a Job | Critical Action |
Laughing Out Loud | Curly Sue |
Life Lessons | Heaven is a Playground |
Lino’s Late | Home Alone |
Motivational Growth | Johnny Ryan |
One Small Hitch | Kid Who Loved Christmas |
Salvaging | Only the Lonely |
Shakey | V.I. Warshawski |
Sin Bin | 1989 |
Source Code | Cold Justice |
The Alumni Chapter | Flatliners |
The Dilemma | Geronimo |
The Interrogation | Miss Missouri |
The Trio Project | Music Box |
The Vow | Opportunity Knocks |
Transformers 3 | Shaking the Tree |
Turkish Coffee | The Package |
Victim of Gravity | Uncle Buck |
2009 | Victimless Crime |
A Nightmare on Elm Street | 1988 |
Bluegrass Run | Child’s Play |
Couples Retreat | Limit’s Up |
Distortion | Major League |
Einstein’s God Model | Men Don’t Leave |
Happily After | National Lampoons’ Christmas Vacation |
Janie Jones | Next of Kin |
Polish Bar | Taxi Killer |
Return of Joe Rich | The Tender |
Schzigo Chicago | War Zone |
The Last Rites of Joe May | When Harry Met Sally |
The Moleman of Belmont Avenue | 1987 |
Trust | Above the Law |
What’s your Raashee? | Adventures in Babysitting |
2008 | Afterlife with Father |
Ameeka | All Set Mr. Pootski |
Baby on Board | Butterscotch & Chocolate |
Desertion | Midnight Run |
Distortion | Planes, Trains & Automobiles |
Eagle Eye | Poltergeist III |
Everybody’s Fine | Red Heat |
Fallen Souls | Betrayed |
Fancy Pants | Switching Channels |
Five Star Day | The Couch Trip |
Formosa Betrayed | The Untouchables |
Go For It | Things Change |
Hannah Free | Vice Versa |
Horsemen | 1986 |
Hunter | A Night in The Life of Jimmy Reardon |
LAID: Life as it’s Dealt | About Last Night |
Midrange | Big Shots |
Neighborhood | End of the Line |
Nothing Like the Holidays | Goodbye Judy |
Public Enemies | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer |
The Helix | Light of Day Native |
The Informant | Son No Mercy |
The Landlord | Raw Deal |
The Rotogravure | Rent-a-Cop |
The Suitcase | She’s Having a Baby |
The Unborn | The Big Town |
They Came from Upstairs | The Color of Money |
Traitor | The Messenger |
Waiting | 1985 |
2007 | Club Paradise |
Actually, Adieu my Love | Datenight |
Chicago Overcoat | Death in California |
Diacritical | Ferris Bueller’s Day Off |
Diminished Capacity | Lucas |
Eagle Eye | Nothing in Common |
Farewell Darkness | Outtakes |
Fred Claus | Raw Deal |
Jerry for President | Red Dragon |
Kit Kittridge: An American Girl | Running Scared |
Make it Happen | The Car Thief |
Meet the Browns | Wildcats |
My Friends Told Me About You | 1984 |
Of Boys & Men | Code of Silence |
Seven Soles | Savage Beliefs |
Sex Drive | Touch & Go |
Silent Shame | 1983 |
Squeal | Come Around |
The Dark Knight | Heartbreaker |
The Disappearance of Daniel Dodger | Here’s Chicago |
The Express | Sixteen Candles |
The Merry Gentleman | Streets of Fire |
The Poker House | Sunny |
The Root of All Evil (The Cache) | The Big Score |
The Time Traveler’s Wife | The Naked Face |
Wanted | 1982 |
Were the World Mine | Bad Boys |
Witless Protection | Class |
2006 | Dr. Detroit |
Actually Adieu my Love | I Was a Mail Order Bride |
Arithmetic Lesson | National Lampoon’s Vacation |
August Rush | Risky Business |
Beau Jest | The Apprentice |
Black Mail | Things Are Tough All Over |
Counting Backwards | Windy City |
D.O.A.P. | 1981 |
Diacritical | Continental Divide |
Fred Claus | Pennies From Heaven |
Grace is Gone | They Call Me Bruce |
Grudge 2 | 1980 |
He’s Such a Girl | Endless Love |
License to Wed | Escape From NY |
Love, Blood Cryptonite | Four Friends On The Right Track |
Osso Bucco | Ordinary People |
Providence | The Blues Brothers |
Shattered | The Hunter |
Sketches | The Music Box |
Stash | The Perfect Circle |
Tapioca | The Psychotronic Man |
The 1/2 Life of Mason Lake | Thief |
The Break-Up | 1979 |
The First Breath of Tengan Rei | 1941 |
The Promotion (formerly Quebec) | My Bodyguard |
2005 | Ordinary People |
Batman Begins | Roar |
Chasing Robert | Somewhere in Time |
The Lake House | The Hunter |
39 – A Film by Carroll McKane | 1978 |
The Door | Dreamer |
A Rain of Blood | Promises in the Dark |
Drunk Boat | Towing |
Stranger than Fiction | 1977 |
Dimension | A Piece of the Action |
Crime Fiction | Damien-Omen II |
The Gift | Stony Island |
Riff Raff | The Fury |
Say Hello to Clive for me | The Wedding |
Cousins | 1976 |
Rollover | Looking for Mr. Goodbar |
Let’s go to Prison | Monkey Hustle |
Get Pony Boy | Silverstreak |
Flags of our Fathers | Whisper the Sounds Roller Coaster |
Dustclouds | 1975 |
All Fall Down | Cooley High |
Get a Life | Mahogany Brannigan |
A Voice from the Grave | 1973 |
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 | The Sting |
Fool’s Gold | Three the Hard Way Harry and Tonto |
In the Name of God | Tough Guys |
The Pack | Uptown Saturday Night |
Spinning into Butter | 1972 |
2004 | The Gore Gore Girls |
The Weather Man | The Naked Ape |
Bad City | 1971 |
Under the City | Rocco Papaleo |
Ocean’s Twelve | T.R. Baskin |
Windy Field | 1970 |
Roll Bounce | Prologue |
Finding Preet | 1969 |
Bloom | Finney |
Relative Strangers | Gaily Gaily |
Amityville Horror | Medium Cool |
Christmas with the Kranks | The Monitors |
Poetic Emancipation | 1968 |
The Vessel | Bullitt |
Regretful Decision | The Young Runaways |
American Gun | 1967 |
The Trouble with Dee Dee | Country Western Hoedown |
Proof | Fearless Frank |
Derailed | In the Heat of the Night |
Welcome Back to the Barrio | The Busy Body |
The Long Goodbye | 1966 |
A Series of Small Things | Nashville Rebel |
I Want Someone to eat Cheese With | Something Weird |
Surviving Christmas | 1965 |
2003 | Mickey One |
Barbershop 2 | 1964 |
Blank Verse | Goldstein |
Cheaper by the Dozen | 1963 |
Connie & Carla | How the West was Won |
Cup of my Blood | 1962 |
Even Trade | 1964 |
I-Robot | 1969 |
Legally Besi | American Revolution 2 |
Mr. 3000 | Route 66 |
No More Mondays | The College |
On the One | The Inheritance |
Outing Riley | Wilderness Calling |
Proof | 1961 |
Repetition | Raisin in the Sun |
Shall we Dance | Tomboy and the Champ |
Strange as Angels | 1960 |
Street Thief | The Prime Time |
Sullivan | 1959 |
The Evil One | North by Northwest |
The Icing on the Cake | 1957 |
The Lot | Beginning of the End |
The Weather Man | 1955 |
To Kill a Killer | Chicago Syndicate |
Wicker Park | 1953 |
2002 | City That Never Sleeps |
Bad Meat | The Joe Louis Story |
Barbershop | 1951 |
Bobbie got Grounded | Chicago Calling |
Chicago: The Musical | Native Son |
Dark | 1950 |
Diagnosis Trauma | The Golden Gloves Story |
Insanity the Movie | Union Station |
Meditations on Trafficking | 1948 |
Midnight Mass | Call Northside 777 |
Players and Pawns | The Babe Ruth Story |
Skin Complex | 1947 |
Solaris | Citizen Saint |
Spider-Man 2 | 1946 |
Steps | The Life and Miracles of Blessed Mother Cabrini |
Surviving Christmas | 1944 |
That Defining Moment | Roger Touhy, Gangster! |
The A-Game | The Navy Navy |
The Company | 1931 |
The In-Laws Clothe your Soul | Three Exile |
The Kiln | Three Girls Lost |
The Lot | 1929 |
The Weather Man | King of the Rodeo |
Uncle Nino | 1928 |
Westside | Chicago After Midnight |
2001 | 1927 |
A Ball in the House | Faith of Millions |
Ali | Lightning |
Design | 1926 |
Dragonfly | International Eucharistic Congress |
Eye of Cruelty | Sweet Adeline |
Hale Bopp | 1923 |
Joshua | Adam’s Rib |
Language Barrier | Gentle Julia |
Missing Brendan | The Little Girl Next Door |
Ocean’s Eleven | 1920 |
On the Line Stolen Summer | Do the Dead Talk? |
The Acedia Thing | In the Depths of our Hearts |
The Misanthrope | Within our Gates |
The Road to Perdition | 1919 |
Twelve Minutes to Love | Breed Of Men |
Constructing Mulligan Stew | The Challenge of Chance |
Design | The Homesteader |
Dragonfly | Through Hell and Back with the Men of Illinois |
Dreamcatcher | Where’s Mary? |
Driven Present Perfect | 1918 |
Experiment Me | A Busted Romance |
Harbored Thoughts | A Milk Fed Hero |
Hardball | And the Children Play |
High Fidelity | Are Working Girls Safe? |
Imagine This | Barnacle Bill |
Israel in Exile | Billy the Janitor |
John Q | Black Sherlock Holmes |
Life Sentence | Fixing the Faker |
Love Relations | Good Luck in Old Clothes |
Mr. Id | Mercy, the Mummy Mumbled |
Novacaine | Movie Marionettes |
One Week | The Birth of a Race |
Save me a Seat (Liar’s Club) | The Bully |
Save the Last Dance | The City of Purple Dreams |
Short Hairs | The Comeback of Barnacle Bill |
Stray Dogs | The Painters |
Tenfold | 1917 |
The Rest of your Life | A Reckless Rover |
Unconditional Love | Cracked Ice |
Vanilla City | Spooks |
What Women Want | Spying the Spy |
1999 | The Frozen Warning The Baseball Revue of 1917 |
Adrift in the Heartland | The Penny Philanthropist |
All The Rage | The Small Town Guy |
Brothers 2 | When You Hit-Hit Hard |
Bruised Orange | When You’re Scared, Run |
Dilemma | 1916 |
Dreamers | Cousin Jim |
Just Visiting | Dreamy Dud has a Laugh on the Boss |
Kwik Stop | Dreamy Dud in the African War Zone |
Lana’s Rain | Dreamy Dud Joyriding with Princess Zlim |
Life Sentence | Dreamy Dud, Lost at Sea |
Light it Up | Power |
Madison Tricks | The Little Girl Next Door |
No Tomorrow | The Misleading Lady |
One Week | The Right to Live |
Return to Me | The Sting of Victory |
Rocky & Bullwinkle | The Truant Soul |
Smile | Three Pals |
Soul Survivors | Two Knights in Vaudeville |
The Watcher | Uncle Sam Awake |
Two Weeks, One Year | Vernon Howe Bailey’s Sketch Book of Chicago |
Unconditional Love | 1915 |
Under the Bus | A Black Sheep |
1998 | Dreamy Dud at the Old Swimmin’ Hole |
Aftermath | Dreamy Dud in King Koo Koo’s Kingdom |
Betaville | Dreamy Dud in Love Dreamy Dud in Swim |
Blessings from the Food Court | Dreamy Dud Lost in the Jungle |
Desperation Boulevard | Dreamy Dud Resolves not to Smoke |
Following Paula | Dreamy Dud Sees Charlie Chaplin |
Fool’s Gold | Dreamy Dud Visits the Zoo |
Goodbye Spaceship Al | Dreamy Dud, a Visit to Uncle Dudley’s Farm |
Idea Men | Dreamy Dud, Cowboy |
Lamb | Dreamy Dud, Goes Bear Hunting |
Lawrence Melm | Dreamy Dud, up in the Air |
Love and Action in Chicago | Graustark |
Marilyn | His New Job |
Merlot | In the Palace of the King |
Message in a Bottle | Should a Woman Divorce |
My Father’s Shoes | The Crimson Wing |
Never Been Kissed | The End of the Road |
Notes From the Field | The House of 1000 Candles |
Postmortem | The Whirl of Life |
Private Dick | 1914 |
Pushing Tin | Chicago Herald Movies |
Resurrection | Golf Champion Chick Evans Links with Sweedie |
Serious Business | Joliet Prison |
Stir of Echoes | The Adventures of Kathlyn |
The High Line | The Jungle |
The Sphinx File | The Pit |
Three to Tango | 1913 |
Time Served | Famous Illinois Canyons and Starved Rock |
Two Brothers in a Dope Car | 1912 |
Two Rivers | Brotherhood of Man |
Under the Bus | Nepatia, The Greek Singer |
Whiteboyz | The Starbucks |
1997 | 1911 |
A Lover for My Husband | The Coming of Columbus |
Apples and Oranges | Winning an Heiress |
Blues Brothers 2000 | 1910 |
Casting Judgement | Gotch-Zbyszko Wrestling Match |
Chicago Cab | Hank & Lack: Lifesavers |
Deep End of the Ocean | Henry’s Package |
Don’t Flush | Levi’s Dilemna |
Down in the Delta | The Wizard of Oz |
He Got Game | 1909 |
Hope Floats | Hunting Big Game in Africa |
I Do | Ten Nights in a Barroom |
Junk | The Magic Melody |
Kissing a Fool | 1908 |
Kitchen Erotica | Gotch-Hackenschmidt Wrestling |
March in the Windy City | The Baseball Fan |
Mercury Rising | The Confession |
My Best Friend’s Wedding | The Count of Monte Cristo |
Night of the Running Boys | 1907 |
Oak Street Beach | An Awful Skate/The Hobo on Rollers |
On Becoming Blonde | The Dancing Night |
Pardesi | The Grafter |
Payback Tom & Jerry | 1906 |
Return of the Life | The Tramp and the Dog |
Sacrifices | 1904 |
Superman Lives | Humpty Dumpty |
Temporary Girl | The Tramp Dog |
The Call | 1903 |
The Negotiator | A Hot Time on a Bathing Beach |
U.S. Marshals | Business Rivalry |
Young Americans | Chicago Fire Run |
A Kick Inside | Chicago Fireboats on Parade |
Chain Reaction | The Girl in Blue |
Cold Night Into Dawn | Trip Around the Union Loop |
Do You Wanna Dance? | View of State Street |
Eating LA | 1901 |
Err on the Side of Caution | Chicago Police Parade |
Home Alone III | Dewey Parade |
Hoodlum | Gans-McGovern Fight |
Love Jones | 1900 |
Michael | Lincoln Park |
My Name is James | 1898 |
Primal Fear | A Chicago Street |
Reach the Rock | Illinois Central Terminal |
Sketches Three Days | Soldiers at Play |
Soul Food | 1897 |
Spaceman | Corner Madison & State Streets, Chicago |
The Blank Page | 1896 |
The Book of Swords | The Tramp and the Dog |
The Chamber | |
The Jackal Weird Karma | |
You Gotta See This | |
1995 | |
A Family Thing | |
Comedy Shorts | |
Conflicts of Interest | |
Freak Occurrences | |
Heaven’s Breath | |
Paradise Lost | |
Reasons | |
Shiva’s Rain | |
Space Jam | |
The American Way | |
The Commission | |
The Relic | |
The Vagrant |