Memphis movie locations: 10 spots film fans should visit, from The Arcade to the Pyramid

Accompanied by hoopla and social-media second-guessing, the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday.

So, with the aura of movie magic lingering in the air like last week's freezing fog (and with Memphis recently named No. 21 in MovieMaker magazine's annual list of the top 30 "Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker"), we figured we'd present a list of Memphis movie locations — 10 places for film fans to peep at, now that ice is off the roads and wanderlust is in the soul.

Not all these movies were recognized by Oscar, but four of them were — for a total of 10 nominations and three wins.

The Arcade

Founded in 1919, Memphis' oldest operating restaurant, with its famed "Elvis booth," is perhaps the one must-visit location for film-fanatic tourists in the Bluff City. Situated near Central Station in the South Main Historic District, The Arcade has been showcased in seemingly every significant movie shot here, including but not only "Great Balls of Fire!," "The Client," "The Rainmaker," "The Firm," "Elizabethtown" and "Walk the Line" — which explains why a Shelby County historic marker commemorating "Modern Movie-Making in Memphis" was placed outside the restaurant.

The diner's best "performance," however, may be in the movie that more or less launched what that historic marker celebrates: Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" (1989), which was shot in many mostly seedy Memphis locations but includes an extended sequence in which an oddball Arcade customer (Tom Noonan) spins a lengthy Elvis ghost yarn for an Italian widow (Nicoletta Braschi). No wonder the film's production manager, Kathie Hersch, described The Arcade as "the center of the 'Mystery Train' universe" during a 2018 cast-and-crew reunion at the restaurant.

Ernestine & Hazel's

Kitty-corner from The Arcade squats a similarly venerable and photogenic establishment, a former jazz café and brothel turned beloved corner dive bar, notable for its old-school jukebox and its mouthwatering "Soul Burgers." Ernestine & Hazel's functioned as a makeshift juke joint for a scene in Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan," but perhaps its key starring role was in "My Blueberry Nights," a 2007 romantic drama that marked the English-language moviemaking debut of the lauded Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai ("In the Mood for Love," "Chungking Express"). In her first acting role, singer Norah Jones stars as an Ernestine & Hazel's waitress/bartender; Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn also appear in the movie's Memphis scenes. (In sequences shot outside of Memphis, the cast included Jude Law and Natalie Portman.)

Mud Island monorail

Although it no longer is in operation, the monorail that connects the Mud Island river park with Front Street and Downtown Memphis is perhaps the most easily recognizable Memphis-movie structure: Watch director Sydney Pollack's hit 1993 adaptation of John Grisham's legal thriller, "The Firm," and you'll see Tom Cruise ride the monorail, run down its escalators, race across Front Street and blaze past Jefferson Plaza. You'd run, too, if you were in his polished shoes: The "Nordic" hitman on his heels is played by Tobin Bell, the future maniacal mastermind of the "Saw" horror-torture franchise. "The Firm" was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (Holly Hunter) and Best Original Score (Dave Grusin).

Sun Studio / Graceland

Honestly, the fact that the "Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll" and Elvis' Memphis mansion have appeared in several movies is low on the list of reasons to visit them. However, if you are a documentary aficionado or a fan of U2, perhaps you remember the sequences in Phil Joanou's "Rattle and Hum" (1988) that find the Irish rock band attempting to osmose some Memphis mojo via visits to these hallowed haunts of musical royalty. Opines boyish drummer Larry Mullen Jr. after a visit to the Presley grave: "I wish he hadn't been buried in the back garden."

Former headquarters of The Commercial Appeal

In 2007, the ink-stained wretches, harried pencil-pushers and jaded siren-chasers of Memphis' daily newspaper were infiltrated by such glamorous interlopers as Kate Beckinsale, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda and Noah Wyle when journalist-turned-filmmaker Rod Lurie filmed his original newspaper drama, "Nothing But the Truth," in the newsroom at 495 Union.

The deal was mutually beneficial: Lurie got an all-but readymade set for his movie; the newspaper got a new conference room with transparent walls, constructed by the film crew after it was determined the actual meeting rooms were dull as a farm report from Crockett County.

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In the film's dramatic highlight, Vera Farmiga is slain by an assassin's bullet (the killer is played by Memphis journalist Jon W. Sparks); even sadder, the movie itself essentially had its throat cut when its distributor, Yari Film Group, filed for bankruptcy. As a result, "Nothing But the Truth" bypassed theaters and went straight to DVD in 2009. A decade later, The Commercial Appeal moved into a space off the Main Street Mall.

Bass Pro Pyramid

Walk inside the Bass Pro Pyramid. Check out the taxidermied bears, the live alligators, the central free-standing elevator leading to the observation deck and aquarium bar. Then remember those desolate years after the construction of FedExForum but before the arrival of Bass Pro, when the Pyramid was hollow, echoing and in need of a job. In 2005, it got one, when Memphis director Craig Brewer transformed the cavernous space into a soundstage.

On the arena floor, Brewer's "Black Snake Moan" crew constructed interior sets for the North Mississippi home occupied by a farmer/bluesman played by Samuel L. Jackson in the film. So, yes, that means that almost two decades ago, somewhere in in the vicinity of Bass Pro's flannel shirts and toy monster trucks, Christina Ricci was chained to a radiator. The cast also included a young pop star near the start of his acting career: recent Orpheum-free-concert-giver Justin Timberlake. (P.S. —Jackson will reunite with Brewer this year in Atlanta to shoot "Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist," a Peacock limited series.)

RockHouse Live

Speaking of Craig Brewer, a music club at 2586 Poplar that once was the favorite watering hole of Black Oak Arkansas' Jim Dandy became "Arnel's," a club owned by a sage-like character played by Isaac Hayes, in the Memphis director's 2005 breakout film and Sundance hit, "Hustle & Flow."

The stand-alone building was known as the Poplar Lounge when Brewer borrowed it for several key scenes that united Hayes, rapper-turned-actor Ludacris, original Trick-Whooper Al Kapone, and lead actor Terrence Howard, who was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of a pimp with musical aspirations who receives encouragement and advice from Hayes' Arnel. (Howard lost the Oscar to "Capote" star Philip Seymour Hoffman, but Memphis hip-hop artists Juicy J, DJ Paul and Frayser Boy earned Best Original Song Academy Awards for their contribution to the "Hustle" soundtrack, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp.")

Under new owners, the Lounge became the RockHouse in 2014.

Pipkin Building

Situated at Tiger Lane, this 27,000-square-foot low-slung rectangle has served as an exhibit space for the Mid-South Fair and a COVID vaccination site. But some 20 years ago, it became Folsom Prison for director James Mangold's "Walk the Line," the 2005 film that cast Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter.

Crowded with extras in blue "inmate" shirts, the sequence recreates the 1968 "At Folsom Prison" concert that became Cash's most iconic album. The film earned Oscar nominations in five categories, including Actor and Actress, but the only winner was Reese Witherspoon; Phoenix eventually would nab a Best Actor trophy, in 2020, for "Joker."

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Joe's Wines & Liquor

Famous for its neon Sputnik sign, the liquor store at 1681 Poplar plays a significant role in Prentice Penny's Memphis-set 2020 Netflix drama, "Uncorked," which casts Mamoudou Athie as a young man more interested in grape than pig: He longs to be a master wine steward — a sommelier — rather than to follow in the footsteps of his father (Courtney B. Vance) and take over the family's barbecue restaurant. In the movie, Amethie's character works at Joe's — until he gets a chance to move to Paris. (Can you blame him?)

Manassas High School

An underdog football team became an underdog Oscar-winner when "Undefeated" won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2012. Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, the movie spends a season with the Manassas Tigers, as volunteer coach Bill Courtney imparts football and "life" lessons to a group of young men burdened with a society's low expectations and a school's losing reputation. The school is at 1111 N. Manassas.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Movies filmed in Memphis: 10 spots film fans should check out