The Wikipop Blog

In anticipation of Adam Carolla’s movie “The Hammer“, I am putting together a list of the top movies about the Valley. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

1. Paul Thomas Anderson’s San Fernando Trilogy - Boogie Nights, Magnolia (least Valleyish), Punchdrunk Love. Who would ever thought an A-list director would create a trilogy about the Valley.
2. Karate Kid - my favorite line “Are you from Encino Daniel?”, “Nooo, Reseda”. No respect.
3. Fast Times at Ridgemont High- pretty iconic. Set in the Sherman Oaks galleria.
4. Valley Girl - I never saw this so can’t comment. Minus points for not shooting in a mall in the valley.
5. The 40 Year Old Virgin - the Ebay store is there, next to Versailles, but there’s no electronics store across the way.
6. Safe -My favorite Todd Haynes movie. Julianne Moore develops an life threatening allergy to modern life. Anybody with breathing problems should avoid this movie.
7. Bad News Bears - this might be more LA than the Valley
8. 2 Days in the Valley - great movie
9. Terminator 2 - the mall scene apparently was a combination of Northridge Fashion Center and Sherman Oaks Galleria. Although the foster parents seemed more Inland Empire.
10. 44 Minutes - a movie made about the real life shootout in North Hollywood based on the fictional movie Heat
11. Down in the Valley - another movie I haven’t seen
12. ET - I always thought this was shot in some Bay Area suburb. There are no Redwood forests in the Valley.
13. Poltergeist - I’ve been told some of the scenes were shot in my present hometown of Agoura Hills. The cookie cutter housing development depicted in the movie fits the cookie cutter housing in Agoura. The former Indian burial ground not so much. I hope

Thanks to - IMDB for reference.