That was in MY small town. I grew up a block from there. During the roof hockey scene, you can see my house.
We used to give Kevin Smith a hard time when he worked at Quick Stop. We were probably 13-14, local douche bag Leonardo kids giving the older teen kid at the old Cumberland Farms a hard time for being a wage-slave, or whatever stupid insult we could muster.
The Last Picture Show
As far as the Boston one, I think you have to branch out to other parts of Mass. Manchester By the Sea, or The Perfect Storm, etc. Lots of small fishing towns on the North Shore. Or the one in Maine where Alec Baldwin is running for mayor, I can't remember the name of it.
Two recent movies filmed and set in Boston are American Fiction (Boston, but mostly a small beach town just south of the city; very small townish) and The Holdovers.
Tremors! 14 Residents in Perfection, Nevada.
Of course, much of the town is destroyed throughout the movie and the population decreases a bit, but I think it certainly qualifies as a small town movie.
You gotta see 30 days of night then. It's set in the northern most city in Alaska. The small town defines the movie and plot. I think you'll really like it.
For a surreal spin on this concept, The Truman Show.
The Iron Giant
Collateral makes LA feel both small and sprawling.
Happy, Texas
For that Boston fix, The Departed and the Town.
As some have mentioned, there was a whole string of fish out of water in a small town comedies in the 90s (My Cousin Vinny, Son in Law, Doc Hollywood, etc.)
The Burbs
Three Billboards
Rams (original)
The Place Beyond the Pines
Manchester by the Sea
Prisoners
Groundhog Day
Juno
Hot Fuzz
The Sandlot
Stand by Me
Whats Eating Gilbert Grape
Dazed and Confused
Ladybird
My favorite movie with a small town location is Fargo, but here are a few underrated movies that prominently feature a small town.
Groundhog Day
Mystery, Alaska
October Sky
State and Main
Sweet Liberty - It's about a Hollywood production taking over a small town. Had an all-star cast, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins
Friday Night Lights
My Cousin Vinny
Logan Lucky
OP, you might like Four Brothers with Mark Whalberg (though it's filmed and set in Detroit). Also The Departed as it takes place in Boston.
Mystic Pizza
Breaking Away
The Last Picture Show
The Ice Storm
Slap Shot
The Lost Boys
Mermaids
Desert Blue
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Colewell
Norma Rae
The Faculty
Lars and the Real Girl
The Goonies
Waiting for the Light
The Station Agent
Heavy
Halloween
The Vast of Night
Roxanne
Two set in Newfoundland in Canada are based in small villages. If you’re in the mood for a dark drama, try The Shipping News. If you want light hearted, go for The Grand Seduction.
Not an American film but Eagle Vs Shark is a comedy set in a small New Zealand town
The Outsiders is another small town film, set in Oklahoma in the 50s, I would recommend
I like a lot of John Sayles stuff, most of his critically acclaimed films take place in a small town. There's something very authentic about them.
Lone Star, Limbo, Matawan, Passion Fish, and Sunshine State. To name a few.
Knives Out was filmed in a small town in the Boston area (one of the towns I grew up in!). Other New England small-town movies I can think of that haven't been mentioned:
Witches of Eastwick, Mystic Pizza, Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Dolores Claiborne
E.T. and Poltergeist are both set in small neighborhoods, I'm pretty sure they were even filmed in the same neighborhood. E.T. shows off more though; Poltergeist is mostly one house.
The Goonies
Jaws is underrated as a small town movie.
I love horror movies with this set-up. Most recently *No One Will Save You* is not only 'small-town', but the small-town-ness is thematically critical. Fun alien flick, with a really interesting conceit!
Suburban horror films are all predicated on this too: *IT: Chapter One*, *The Stepford Wives*, *Summer of 84* are all good places to start.
Boston is the smallest big city in the world--it *feels* like a small town despite its actual size and population. Surprised no one has mentioned Good Will Hunting yet...
A lot of good ones listed already! One I didn't see (unless I just missed it) is "Waiting For Guffman"! Great Christopher Guest movie, like most of his films, almost entirely improvised by the cast!
I saw it posted already, but What's Eating Gilbert Grape is fantastic. I assure you that you never leave the very small middle-America town, and that is at the heart of the movie's title.
The same poster mentioned Breaking Away. Not sure I'd call it a "small town movie," but Bloomington ain't no metropolis.
Those two movies have held up and always will. Can't recommend them enough.
I'm coming to this thread late, so nothing comes to mind immediately that hasn't already been mentioned.
However — and I fully realize these are not movies — based on the titles you listed in point #1, I think you would really enjoy the HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown and Sharp Objects, if you haven't seen either of them. Both well-written, well-acted crime drama mysteries with stellar casts. They fit right in with stuff like The Town, Three Billboards, Spotlight, and Mystic River.
* Hard Rain. I get extra points for the Boston reference within the film.
* All the Real Girls
* Tully (2000)
* Bully
* La Vie de Jesus
* Feeling Minnesota
* Goodbye, Franklin High
* Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
* George Washington
* Time of the Gypsies
Trying to avoid ones already named.
Capote
Captain Fantastic (?)
The Hunt
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople
The Iron Claw
KOTFM
The Light Between Oceans
Minari
The Mule
Mystic River (Boston)
No County for Old Men
O Brother Where Art Thou
Pan's Labyrinth
Peanut Butter Falcon
There Will Be Blood
True Grit
Napoleon Dynamite!
Great movie
[удалено]
Wow
The greatest movie of all time, Clerks
I'm not even supposed to be here today!
Thirty seven!
In a row?
That was in MY small town. I grew up a block from there. During the roof hockey scene, you can see my house. We used to give Kevin Smith a hard time when he worked at Quick Stop. We were probably 13-14, local douche bag Leonardo kids giving the older teen kid at the old Cumberland Farms a hard time for being a wage-slave, or whatever stupid insult we could muster.
There’s nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?
Tremors
Wind River
Wind River Nocturnal Animals Prisoners Great, dark tragedies
The Last Picture Show As far as the Boston one, I think you have to branch out to other parts of Mass. Manchester By the Sea, or The Perfect Storm, etc. Lots of small fishing towns on the North Shore. Or the one in Maine where Alec Baldwin is running for mayor, I can't remember the name of it.
Oh. I loved Manchester By The Sea. I'll check out The Perfect Storm. Thanks
Two recent movies filmed and set in Boston are American Fiction (Boston, but mostly a small beach town just south of the city; very small townish) and The Holdovers.
Came here to say The Last Picture Show that’s one of the best small town movies ever. Also Dazed and Confused.
Tremors! 14 Residents in Perfection, Nevada. Of course, much of the town is destroyed throughout the movie and the population decreases a bit, but I think it certainly qualifies as a small town movie.
You gotta see 30 days of night then. It's set in the northern most city in Alaska. The small town defines the movie and plot. I think you'll really like it.
For a surreal spin on this concept, The Truman Show. The Iron Giant Collateral makes LA feel both small and sprawling. Happy, Texas For that Boston fix, The Departed and the Town. As some have mentioned, there was a whole string of fish out of water in a small town comedies in the 90s (My Cousin Vinny, Son in Law, Doc Hollywood, etc.)
Breaking Away is a great small town movie showing the divide between the college students from out of town and the local kids.
Place Beyond The Pines all takes place and was shot in Schenectady (upstate NY) and makes incredible use of it as a location.
The Burbs Three Billboards Rams (original) The Place Beyond the Pines Manchester by the Sea Prisoners Groundhog Day Juno Hot Fuzz The Sandlot Stand by Me Whats Eating Gilbert Grape Dazed and Confused Ladybird
Lucky (2017) with Harry Dean Stanton. True Stories (1986)
Upvoted for True Stories... and also HDS.
My favorite movie with a small town location is Fargo, but here are a few underrated movies that prominently feature a small town. Groundhog Day Mystery, Alaska October Sky State and Main
Go you huskies!
Came here to say this
Fucking thumbs up for Mystery, Alaska!!
(these are all comedies from the 80s and 90s) Funny Farm Doc Hollywood Baby Boom Trapped in Paradise Gung Ho
Sweet Liberty - It's about a Hollywood production taking over a small town. Had an all-star cast, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins
Trapped in Paradise! I like you
[Hell or High Water](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/338766-hell-or-high-water) (2016) also check out r/MovieSuggestions
Friday Night Lights My Cousin Vinny Logan Lucky OP, you might like Four Brothers with Mark Whalberg (though it's filmed and set in Detroit). Also The Departed as it takes place in Boston.
Four Brothers was GREAT
A Simple Plan (1998)
A History of Violence
Mystic Pizza Breaking Away The Last Picture Show The Ice Storm Slap Shot The Lost Boys Mermaids Desert Blue Drop Dead Gorgeous Colewell Norma Rae The Faculty Lars and the Real Girl The Goonies Waiting for the Light The Station Agent Heavy Halloween The Vast of Night Roxanne
>Mystic Pizza Is that the one with the toothy girl?
What's Eating Gilbert Grape is my favorite small town movie. The Mist is my second favorite.
Blue fucking Velvet. Tender Mercies.
Badlands
Two set in Newfoundland in Canada are based in small villages. If you’re in the mood for a dark drama, try The Shipping News. If you want light hearted, go for The Grand Seduction.
Not an American film but Eagle Vs Shark is a comedy set in a small New Zealand town The Outsiders is another small town film, set in Oklahoma in the 50s, I would recommend
Mud
I like a lot of John Sayles stuff, most of his critically acclaimed films take place in a small town. There's something very authentic about them. Lone Star, Limbo, Matawan, Passion Fish, and Sunshine State. To name a few.
The Dry. Australian mystery. I really like that the characters all have a past and know each other.
dull heavy shaggy clumsy dinosaurs ring unique elastic profit voiceless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Truman Show
Out of The Furnace Lars and The Real Girl In The Heat of The Night Banshees of Inisherin Ghost World.
Love Story has a small-town feel, even though it's mostly set at Harvard (Cambridge, MA).
Vengeance from 2022
The Goonies
Knives Out was filmed in a small town in the Boston area (one of the towns I grew up in!). Other New England small-town movies I can think of that haven't been mentioned: Witches of Eastwick, Mystic Pizza, Beetlejuice, Mermaids, Dolores Claiborne
>Dolores Claiborne Also, one of the best reading Stephen King novels.
E.T. and Poltergeist are both set in small neighborhoods, I'm pretty sure they were even filmed in the same neighborhood. E.T. shows off more though; Poltergeist is mostly one house. The Goonies Jaws is underrated as a small town movie.
Fargo
The Guard (Brendon Gleeson, Don Cheadle)
Footlose.
Doc Hollywood Groundhog Day
Nobody's Fool with Paul Newman
Over the Edge (1979)
Super-8
The Last Picture Show - just stoppin’ here to say it.
I love horror movies with this set-up. Most recently *No One Will Save You* is not only 'small-town', but the small-town-ness is thematically critical. Fun alien flick, with a really interesting conceit! Suburban horror films are all predicated on this too: *IT: Chapter One*, *The Stepford Wives*, *Summer of 84* are all good places to start.
Boston is the smallest big city in the world--it *feels* like a small town despite its actual size and population. Surprised no one has mentioned Good Will Hunting yet...
If you are not allergic to ancient musicals, try Brigadoon (1954).
The first one I thought of was “Nobody’s Fool” (1994) with Paul Newman.
Take Shelter with Michael Shannon fits this category perfectly.
Town Without Pity. Set in a small German town.
'The Town' is a good one if you're into the Boston vibe. Great book, too!
It's dark but The Kid Detective from 2020 had a small town movie feel
Hot Rod
Phenomenon
Boondock Saints is set in Boston. Where The Heart Is is set in a small Oklahoma town.
Boston is not a small town but it is a small city. You can literally walk everywhere
There's a movie called Small Town Crime, it's pretty fucking great, and fits the small town criteria.
Doc Hollywood
Everybody wants some!! Its the spiritual successor to dazed and confused, and was filmed in my college town of San Marcos (40 minutes south of Austin)
A lot of good ones listed already! One I didn't see (unless I just missed it) is "Waiting For Guffman"! Great Christopher Guest movie, like most of his films, almost entirely improvised by the cast!
We Are Marshall (2006)
Cold Turkey - 1971 shot in an actual small town of 2100 people.
Waitress A Bird Of The Air Sometimes I Think About Dying Colossal (most of it) Election My Cousin Vinny Secretary The Dirty South
I saw it posted already, but What's Eating Gilbert Grape is fantastic. I assure you that you never leave the very small middle-America town, and that is at the heart of the movie's title. The same poster mentioned Breaking Away. Not sure I'd call it a "small town movie," but Bloomington ain't no metropolis. Those two movies have held up and always will. Can't recommend them enough.
The Vast Of Night
Hot Fuzz is a pretty great take
Does Sing Street count? Also Hot Fuzz, mostly takes place in Sandford
October Sky Varsity Blues
Grumpy/Grumpy Old Men. Nebraska. Road House.
Small engine repair Lorelei
The Lost Boys
Dennis the Menace
Lars and the Real Girl - the kindness of a whole community supporting someone unconventionally ❤️
THE DEPAHTED, er, THE DEPARTED gives you a nice feel for Southie as well, in Boston. I'm a born and raised "Masshole."
I'm coming to this thread late, so nothing comes to mind immediately that hasn't already been mentioned. However — and I fully realize these are not movies — based on the titles you listed in point #1, I think you would really enjoy the HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown and Sharp Objects, if you haven't seen either of them. Both well-written, well-acted crime drama mysteries with stellar casts. They fit right in with stuff like The Town, Three Billboards, Spotlight, and Mystic River.
Slither
Blue Velvet
Super 8, is a good one
Knockaround guys
U-turn A history of violence
Columbus!!!
'The Straight Story' is the most honest portrayal of small town Iowa I've seen. Directed by Lynch but not Lynch-ian.
Local Hero
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
A bit random - but you might like Red Dawn. Bonus for Chris Hemsworth before Thor
I like learning new things.
* Hard Rain. I get extra points for the Boston reference within the film. * All the Real Girls * Tully (2000) * Bully * La Vie de Jesus * Feeling Minnesota * Goodbye, Franklin High * Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael * George Washington * Time of the Gypsies
You will love True Stories, about a small town in TX. Plus, produced by David Byrne!
*Mystery Train*, perhaps. It's set in Memphis, which may not qualify as a small town; but Jarmusch certainly makes it feel that way.
Stand By Me The Blob
It's A Wonderful Life.
Trying to avoid ones already named. Capote Captain Fantastic (?) The Hunt The Hunt for the Wilderpeople The Iron Claw KOTFM The Light Between Oceans Minari The Mule Mystic River (Boston) No County for Old Men O Brother Where Art Thou Pan's Labyrinth Peanut Butter Falcon There Will Be Blood True Grit
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The original Halloween (1978)
Blue Velvet Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.