Intelligent Travel: Cinematic Road Trip: Kansas

John Ur clicks his heels and takes us to Kansas for this week's issue of Cinematic Road Trip.

Think of the words "Kansas" and "movie." What's the immediate thing that comes to mind? If you're like 99.9 percent of Americans, I'd guess that The Wizard of Oz was the first film you thought of. And while the Sunflower State is more than willing to accommodate your instincts for Judy Garland memorabilia, if you’re on the road in Kansas searching for locations from the film, you’re in the wrong spot: The film was shot entirely on set in Culver City, California, and not in Kansas.

Kansas is arguably the symbol of the American Heartland. It contains the geographic center of the lower 48 states and is one of the country’s leaders in agricultural production. This is due to the large amount of flat, arable land in the western two-thirds of the state. The eastern third tends to be a bit more hilly and forested, with more of the big cities located in this trident: Topeka, Wichita, and Lawrence among others.

In Paper Moon, we get to see both areas of the state. In Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 Great Depression Era period piece, Ryan O’Neal stars with his real-life daughter, Tatum, as Moses and Addie, an unlikely pair of con artists as entertaining to watch as Newman and Redford in The Sting. A novice actress, Tatum O’Neal became the youngest person to ever win an Academy Award when she took home the Best Supporting Actress statue.

Most of the film was shot in Hays, Kansas, a small town off of I-70 about 200 miles due west of Topeka. But the duo also take a road trip of their own. Moses intends to drive Addie to her only known kin in St. Joseph, Missouri. Along the way, Addie quickly picks up on the scams that Moses is running. Their journey takes them through the north-central plains of Kansas, picking up money and tramps and running from the law. At a certain point, they need to get rid of their car, which is now hotly pursued. They end up at a remote farm in the hilly, forested eastern section of the state where Moses has to wrestle a young Randy Quaid for his vehicle. Only in Kansas.

Kansas has had a few other major movies shot around the state. Tim Burton’s black comedy, Mars Attacks!, shot a few scenes in Burns, Lawrence, and Wichita, Kansas. In this kitschy flick, Jack Nicholson plays the President as we make contact with alien invaders who end up torching our homes and defacing some of the world’s most famous sites including Easter Island, the Eiffel Tower, and Mount Rushmore.

This is a great movie for aficionados of the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. The film has numerous A-list actors in a number of speaking and cameo roles including: Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening (a Kansas native), Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Natalie Portman, Pam Grier, and Jack Black.

The scenes shot in Kansas include the trailer park home of Richie Norris (Lukas Haas) and Richie’s workplace—a doughnut shop that was built in Burns, Kansas (about 40 miles northeast of Wichita). Richie, a family outcast, eventually saves the world with the help of his grandmother’s Slim Whitman record. Just goes to show you should stick with those country yodeling lessons that your grandmother gave you when you were younger. You never know when they might be needed to spontaneously combust the overgrown head of a four-foot-tall martian.

Also recommended: In Cold Blood

Read More: For other movies shot in Kansas: The Kansas Film Commission site. Previously on CRT: Nebraska, The Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.