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Home , Back to School, Jack Palance, Marcello Mastroianni, Marjorie Main, Myrna Loy, Ned Beatty

Just For Fun The Greatest Real Estate Movies of All Time Stephen Malpezzi This publication is not one that readers Developing a Story Line only one . And Shelley Long typically associate with movie reviews. A subject often discussed in films is real as an ’80s Myrna Loy? Fuhgeddabahddit. But the idea is not so far-fetched; Roger estate development. My all-time favorite A better modern variant of classic screw- Ebert is an Illinois graduate whose late cinematic real estate developer is Lex ball real estate comedies is Housesitter, partner, Gene Siskel, was a lifelong Luthor, fabulously played by Danville, with and Goldie Hawn. Chicagoan. And let’s face it: everyone Illinois native in Super- Bad things can also happen when you loves movies. But why did we go to U of I man (a film whose hero is claimed as a renovate a house, as in Pacific Heights, rival Wisconsin to find someone to link native by Metropolis, Illinois). Lex plans although my personal favorite in this the cinema to our readers’ other great to “create value” for Nevada scrubland he category, also starring , love, real estate? Because we knew of no owns by bombing the San Andreas Fault, is Beetlejuice. Keaton’s slapstick turn as one able to do the job more credibly than sending plunging into the the manic title ghost, trying to scare new our friend, film buff Steve sea, and turning his land into beachfront owners out of the house he haunts, is hys- Malpezzi. And while we considered titles property. What a development concept! terical. See why I avoid rehab projects? like “Big Ten to Big Screen,” “Yes, I also contains this priceless And don’t forget: especially bad things Cannes,” and the obvious “Reel Estate,” scene between Lex, his inept henchman can happen when you develop atop old we all agreed that no one would pass up Otis (Ned Beatty), and his moll Miss graveyards. If in doubt, see Poltergeist. the chance to read about “The Greatest Tessmacher (Valerie Perrine), in Lex’s Happily, you don’t have to under- Real Estate Movies of All Time.” lair situated 500 feet below Park Avenue: take the renovations yourself to experi- LL: Thanks to the generous help of the US ence problems. You can hire Tin Men, Everyone enjoys a night at the movies, Government, we are about to be involved in the second in Barry Levinson’s Baltimore and everyone who reads the Illinois Real the greatest real estate swindle of all time! Trilogy. and Danny Estate Letter enjoys talking about real MT: Lex, what is this obsession with real DeVito play feuding aluminum siding estate. Have you ever thought about how estate? All the time, land, land, land. salesmen in a story set in the , closely the two subjects are connected? LL: Miss Tessmacher, when I was six years before technological advancements had Once you think about it, you come to old my father said to me… made it possible to get ripped off buying realize that almost every one of the best MT: Get out! vinyl siding. (Baltimore fans can also see movies is, at its heart, about real estate. LL: Before that. He said, son, stocks may the films of John Waters, if they don’t To begin with, virtually every rise and fall. Utilities and transportation mind plots with no real estate connection, Western ever made is about property systems may collapse. People are no damn and if their stomachs are up to it.) good. But they will always need land, and rights (“No sheep farmer gonna put no they will pay through the nose to get it. fence on that range,” as though the hardy Remember, my father said … You Can Also Rent the Video herders would meekly endure the threats The previous section involved films LL and O, in chorus: Laaaand! of a bunch of cattle ropin’ varmints). about single-family homes. Those more If the hero is not putting up a fence (or Of course, there are many develop- interested in multifamily should view taking it down), the villain is stealing ment movies, like Bugsy and Field of The Apartment, directed by . someone else’s land. The Big Country, Dreams. Frankly, Field is a bit sappy for lends his flat to boss Fred The Magnificent Seven, McCabe and my taste, but it has one of the all-time McMurray, for the latter’s affair with Mrs. Miller, The Sons of Katie Elder, great developer lines: “If I build it, they Shirley MacLaine. Naturally, Lemmon Giant, and even Cat Ballou and Blazing will come.” Sound like any developers falls for MacLaine, while learning about Saddles; the examples are too numerous you know? In a 1990s update, the hero life and lease provisions. Many rate to list. My personal favorite from this might utter: “If anyone will finance this, Lemmon’s and MacLaine’s performances genre is Shane, with Jack Palance even I will build it, and if the market is not as among the best of their careers. badder than in Batman (discussed below), already overbuilt they will come.” And Slightly less sophisticated – all right, and certainly more terrifying than in City don’t forget The Apprenticeship of Dud- a lot less sophisticated – is the view of Slickers, another property rights film. dy Kravitz, with Richard Dreyfuss cast multifamily living in Joe’s Apartment. A technique professors use to keep against type as a manic developer. The film’s stars are hundreds of roaches students interested is to tell them stories Another great development movie is that live in Joe’s digs. These are not about successful, creative professionals Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, ordinary roaches; they are – you guessed and their work. In real estate we have an in which the residential development it – party animals. In a different vein, the abundance of real world examples to use, process is explained by Cary Grant and famous demolition of Pruitt-Igoe’s large of course, and truth is often stranger than Myrna Loy. This classic is far superior public housing blocks is set to Phillip fiction. Still, many of us talk about real to its recent remake, The Money Pit. Tom Glass’s minimalist score in Koyaanis- estate and the movies in all of our classes. Hanks is a first rate actor, but there is qatsi (Hopi for “life out of balance”).

Winter 1999 Illinois Real Estate Letter page 9 Just For Fun

It’s A Wonderful Flick, Too a living on the land; examples are The Real estate development and the A lump of coal for the stocking of anyone Grapes of Wrath and The River. In a government-provided infrastructure are who can’t name the greatest real estate lighter vein – very light – is one of my closely intertwined. That’s the theme of finance movie ever: ’s It’s A childhood favorites, on Chinatown (inspired by the Owens Valley Wonderful Life. Too complex to recount Old MacDonald’s Farm. Who can forget water grab that fueled the early Los in detail (but sufficiently well known that Percy Killbride and Marjorie Main? Angeles real estate boom), with corrup- there is little need), Life chronicles the Two more favorites in the farm genre tion and incest thrown in. S&L (“building and loan”) business the are based on novels by Pagnol: Jean de plays Jake Gittings, a hard boiled private way it was supposed to be. The scene of Florette and Manon of the Spring. The eye in best film noir style. Jack is rarely the run on the bank, with an impassioned eponymous Jean (Gerard Depardieu) upstaged, but old pro steals George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) explain- is an educated city dweller, a hunchback this movie as Noah Cross, one of the ing the prisoner’s dilemma facing the de- who has read about farming his whole most despicable and amoral villains ever positors, who have lent to each other, is life. He puts his life savings into a parcel to grace celluloid. It’s Polanski’s best priceless. No Charles Keatings in Frank of land in arid Provence, and ruthless film since The Fearless Vampire Killers Capra’s world, and no FSLIC-insured neighbor Le Patet () sec- (one of the few great movies not about brokered deposits! (But there is Lionel retly blocks the hidden spring on Jean’s real estate). Other films whose plots Barrymore’s evil-to-the-core Mr. Potter.) land. Ruin and death slowly overtake our revolve around land grabs of one type Capra’s depiction of how Bedford Falls noble hero, who struggles to haul enough or another include Mr. Smith Goes to becomes the depraved Potterville, when water to keep the farm. In the sequel, Washington (Edward Arnold is out to its citizens are renters instead of home daughter Manon takes her revenge. get Willett’s Creek for a song) and Who owners, surely warms the cockles of Framed Roger Rabbit? (greedy Christo- every Fannie Mae executive’s heart. Heartbreak Hotels pher Lloyd and his gang of weasels set Other real estate finance movies Think your landlord is nasty? See The out to take over lovable Toontown). abound, such as Lost in America, which People Under the Stairs. Slightly less shows what not to do with home equity. diabolical is in The Super. Of One Town that Won’t Let You Down Yuppies played by Albert Brooks and course, there are tenants from hell in Speaking of government and real estate, Julie Hagerty take out their capital gain, films, too, as in Pacific Heights (noted the whole plot (did you remember there quit their jobs, and travel across America above), and The Tenant, directed by – was a plot?) of The Blues Brothers is that in the biggest Winnebago seen since The and starring – . Ellwood and Joliet Jake Blues’ elemen- Long, Long Trailer (discussed below). A But many movies focus on other tary school was about to revert to Cook day into the trip, they stop in Las Vegas. kinds of property management. Grand County for nonpayment of property tax. Eight hours later, compulsive gambler Hotel and Psycho present divergent That plot and location should resound Julie has lost the entire stake; they have approaches to running hotels. Frank with Illinois Real Estate Letter readers! no jobs or money, and so the fun begins. Sinatra runs a motel in Hole in the Head, For those of us outside the Prairie State, as does Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (with any excuse will do to hear , Some Assembly Required Marjorie Reynolds and ). , and the late, great Cab Anyone interested in site assembly has Der Bingle introduces “White Christ- Calloway. Donald “Duck” Dunn, Steve to see Capra’s earlier, slightly less well mas,” the song, in that film, and then Cropper, and the rest of a band assembled known classic, You Can’t Take It With follows up with White Christmas, the from the great Stax/Volt revues of the You. Much of the cast of Life is here, movie. In the latter, Crosby and Danny sixties almost make John Belushi and but Barrymore is a good guy this time, Kaye croon with Rosemary Clooney Dan Aykroyd sound like they can sing. holding out on selling his property to a and Vera-Ellen at a New England inn Of course, New York, London, and determined Edward Arnold, and Jimmy’s owned by the boys’ old army general, Paris star in many movies. But the City love interest is Jean Arthur rather than . But my personal favorite of the Big Shoulders also has its share: Donna Reed. Another site assembly film hotel management movie is The Shining. besides The Blues Brothers (your state is the charming Local Hero. Charged “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!” should disown the sequel), Some Like It with buying a Scottish village sitting on Hot, Risky Business, Ferris Bueller’s Day a pile of oil, Peter Riegert encounters a ...and I’m Here to Help Off, The Sting, and The Untouchables all cast of characters that change his world We all know that government profoundly rely heavily on Windy City settings. The view. As Riegert’s astronomy-obsessed affects the real estate process. One of my truly under-appreciated In Old boss, the estimable gives favorite real estate films, Gone With the (1938) revolves around the Great Fire of a wonderful supporting performance. Wind, shows the effect of government 1871. Alice Brady won an Oscar for her intervention – here, Sherman’s march to portrayal of Mrs. O’Leary, whose sons Does It Seem Grainy to You? the sea – on Atlanta’s property market. were played by and Don Many of the great real estate movies And, of course, it’s a toss-up whether Ameche; Alice Faye also starred. The cli- focus on agricultural land. A common Scarlett O’Hara is more obsessed with mactic scenes of the fire and its aftermath theme is the risks involved in making her man (Rhett Butler) or her land (Tara). were great special effects for their day. page 10 Illinois Real Estate Letter Winter 1999 Just For Fun

GIS, the Old-Fashioned Way Reeltors? It’s the Real (Estate) Thing A hot topic in real estate today is Geo- Movies about real estate brokerage have The classic definition of real estate is graphic Information Systems. A number always been popular. Glengarry Glen land, and things more or less permanently of movies revolve around GIS – well, at Ross is an obvious example. A great film, attached to the land. Bad things happen least around maps and mapping, such as despite typical Mamet language (leave when big things are not permanently Raiders of the Lost Ark. A less celebrated the kids at home) and an overly bleak attached to the land; see Titanic, or Alien, example is the vehicle, The view of the profession. My personal fav- or Aliens. (But skip Alien 3, and run away Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and orite real estate brokerage movie is The if anyone shows up with a video of Alien Came Down a Mountain. A Welsh Stepfather. Jerry Blake (played by Terry Resurrection.) My own favorite of this village’s identity is threatened when O’Quinn) is a homicidal maniac who particular “real estate – not” genre is Grant arrives to survey their mountain also happens to sell real estate. When- Lifeboat, a Hitchcock classic. Leonardo and finds it qualifies only as a hill. The ever his family of the moment deviates di Caprio and Kate Winslett are fine, but villagers’ harebrained schemes to keep from his idea of perfection, Jerry goes they can’t stand up to Tallulah Bankhead Grant around while they try to “grow” a little berserk. I watch this one every and William Bendix. the hill back into a mountain recall the Christmas with my own stepsons – it’s Another “real estate – not” genre is classic British comedies from the 1950s. good for instilling family discipline. the search for real estate by those with- In the Marx Brothers’ The Coconuts, out it. Recent riffs on this theme include Finally Getting Some Respect Groucho demonstrates the art of real Down and Out in Beverly Hills and The After years of training, I no longer call estate brokerage in Florida, with Chico Fisher King. But the master will always manufactured housing “mobile homes.” Heaven help me if I ever called them “trailers,” as we did growing up – which “Stocks may rise and fall. Utilities and transportation systems brings to mind The Long, Long Trailer. may collapse. People are no damn good. But they will always Lucy and Desi and a 20-foot trailer offer a recipe for disaster, and for laughs. need land, and they will pay through the nose to get it.” As the baby boom ages and family – Developer and evil genius Lex Luthor incomes rise, leisure real estate, as is true of recreational vehicles, takes on ever- greater importance. There have been as his shill in running the only auction be . In most of his 81 many golf movies, like Tin Cup. But in history more hilarious than those run films, including such classics as The none has the sophistication and subtle wit by the Resolution Trust Corporation. Kid, Modern Times, and City Lights, the of . ’s Another Marx Brothers movie with a Tramp “was always looking for a place second best movie, Caddyshack also fits real estate theme is A Day at the Races. to live, and never found one,” as Chaplin the property management genre; worth If Maureen O’Hara does not pay her scholar Gerry Molyneaux puts it. In watching again and again just for Bill property taxes on time, she will lose Easy Street he saved a whole city block. Murray’s turn as a lunatic groundskeeper. her family’s sanitarium. Enter Dr. Hugo Of course, there are other kinds of leisure Quackenbush (Groucho) and friends to Urban – And Suburban – Jungles real estate, for example Jurassic Park. save the day, after a fashion. See also Many films tackle the urban development Dangerfield’s best movie, even better It’s A Gift, with W. C. Fields discovering landscape’s bleaker aspects. First, and than Caddyshack (though it is a close the pitfalls of buying a California orange still greatest, is Fritz Lang’s masterpiece call), is Back to School. Thornton Melon grove through the mail. Metropolis (not about scenic southern (guess who), rich owner of a chain of Not to whine, but why are real estate Illinois). The many films derived from “Tall and Fat” clothing stores, goes back professionals so often the “heavies” on Metropolis range from Anton Furst’s fan- to school to keep his son Jason company. screen, even giving Father Bing a hard tastic set designs for Batman’s Gotham It’s a particular favorite of mine because time in Bells of St. Mary’s and Going City to any number of sci-fi representa- I regularly threaten to take a sabbatical, My Way (even lawyers are sometimes tions, from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner stay with my stepsons Piet and Zach at portrayed sympathetically)? Let’s face it, to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil to John Carpen- school for a year, and lecture all their real estate people, especially brokers – ter’s Escape from New York. Who can friends on real estate. Back to School has like college professors – rarely get their forget their first glimpse of the ruins of some marvelous real estate moments in due in the movies. Any real estate broker New York in Beneath the Planet of the it, such as when Thornton explains to the not portrayed as a heavy is shown doing Apes? And when the producers of The pompous B-school professor (I’ve never something really stupid. Consider Joan Truman Show wanted that claustropho- met one), and the rest of his class, what Collins’s real estate agent character, bic, cookie-cutter feel for the set where sorts of problems real-world developers who takes potential buyers to an island ’s character spends his first 25 face in New York that don’t make it into about to be the site of a nuclear test. years, they did not build a Hollywood set. the syllabus. The “Grand Lakes College” The subsequent atomic mutations turn They shot at Seaside, Florida’s famous scenes were shot here at UW-Madison. the island into the Empire of the Ants. neo-traditional development.

Winter 1999 Illinois Real Estate Letter page 11 Just For Fun

Scarier Than Reassessment Notices Castles in the Air like the best. And I’ll see you at the the- Interested in horror? The haunted house Many other movies’ settings rely on dis- ater – located in a downtown, cineplex, is de rigueur for any self-respecting tinctive real estate. What would Citizen mall, or other real estate of your choice. horror film: The Haunting, Dr. Terror’s Kane be without Xanadu? Everyone House of Horrors, Bordello of Blood. knows that the central character Charles Dr. Malpezzi is a Professor in the De- We could do an entire separate essay just Foster Kane (Orsen Welles) is based on partment of Real Estate and Urban Land on the houses featured in the films of the William Randolph Hearst, and Xanadu Economics at the University of Wiscon- great Vincent Price: House on Haunted is based on Hearst’s San Simeon. The sin-Madison. He thanks many colleagues Hill, Fall of the House of Usher, and long shot of the forbidding Xanadu in the and students, notably Doug Carlson, House of Wax, just to name three. If beginning of the film strongly resembles Carolyn Dehring, Richard Green, Keith haunted seaside cottages give you night- the long shot of the Queen’s palace that Ito, Lesley Klein, Roderick Matthews, mares, beware The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. opens the earlier Snow White. In turn, Kathleen Molla, Gerald Molyneaux, FSC Or why not haunt an entire street: Elm Disney animators seemed to return the (who teaches The Film as Art), and Kerry Street, where nightmares can kill? And compliment by drawing the bad witch’s Vandell for providing helpful comments. can you imagine a listing sheet describ- castle in the opening shot of the subse- $2,000 Grants Available ing ’s The Exorcist bedroom? quent Sleeping Beauty as a dead ringer The Office of Real Estate Research offers grants in In fact, the greatest horror film ever for the matte shot of Xanadu. And did support of research that will generate results suitable for made was not just about real estate – you know that Welles saved a bundle by publication in the ILLINOIS REAL ESTATE LETTER. While this offer extends to all academic researchedrs, it starred real estate. The Empire State using Son of Kong footage for his Ever- industry-based researchers, and real estate profession- Building deserves, at least, second billing glades shots? (Some lose money buying als, special consideration will be given to authors to King Kong himself (and ahead of Fay Florida swampland; others save it buying residing in Illinois. Topics should relate to real estate’s financial or Wray). Yes, ’t’was Beauty killed the Florida swampland footage.) Look for the economic aspects, including appraisal, property rights, Beast – with the help of a 102 story drop. animated bats, still in from the original. brokerage, and regulation. While the focus need not The noble ESB wins my award for “best One of the most historically important be specifically on Illinois markets, the output should be of interest to Illinois readers. Because our articles movie performance by a building,” hands cinematic treatments of real estate is the are designed to be accessible to students and other non- down over the World Trade Center in late Akira Kurasowa’s Hidden Fortress. technical readers, no submission should contain material Dino DeLaurentis’s pathetic remake, and Released in 1958, it has always been a that could be understood only by those with highly specialized knowledge. However, a submission can be even over The Towering Inferno. The favorite of fans of Japanese films. But it a non-technical version of technical work, as well as an Empire State Building plays major roles takes on a whole new aura after you have original creation. in films from An Affair to Remember to seen Star Wars. Jedi is derived from the The author of any article accepted for publication will receive a grant of up to $2,000 (split among On the Town to Sleepless in Seattle. Japanese jidai geki (samurai movie). It’s co-authors). Anyone interested in submitting work all there in the Japanese original: R2D2, for consideration, or in obtaining further information, Stars and Bars C3PO, Princess Leia, the struggle with the should contact Carolyn Dehring at the street or e-mail address, or the phone or FAX number, shown with We decry our high divorce rate. But di- Empire, the Jedi knight (samurai) ethic editorial information on page 2. vorce sometimes happens, and real estate embodied by Toshiro Mifune, swordplay is often at the center of it. If you are faced (light sabers), and the forbidding, inac- Policy on Educational Use with this distressing situation, see War cessible death star (fortress) itself. The Office of Real Estate Research continues to receive of the Roses. Kathleen Turner, Michael Another distinctive house plays a role requests from collegiate faculty wishing to assemble Douglas, and Danny DeVito teach us in a classic Italian film. Fellini fans recall course reading packets. ILLINOIS REAL ESTATE LETTER (formerly ORER LETTER) articles are intend- how not to handle a property settlement. the fantastic scene of Fellini’s alter ego ed to be readily available for student use. Any original Speaking of how real estate bears on Guido (Marcello Mastroianni), facing all article appearing in this, or any past, ORER LETTER/ social issues, we must take note that our in his life, set in his boyhood ILLINOIS REAL ESTATE LETTER may be reproduced IN ITS ENTIRETY by a faculty member (or vendor stock of prison real estate is increasing. home in 8 1/2. acting at the faculty member’s direction) in quantities Of course, lockups have always been sufficient to serve student needs. ORER does not hold with us, and this darker aspect of human- You Bring Popcorn; I’ll Bring Candy the copyright to articles identified as reprints from other publications; professors wishing to reproduce ity has not been neglected by our movie This short list of great real estate movies such articles should contact the original publishers. makers. Some favorites over the years just scratches the surface. To learn more, include Cool Hand Luke, Escape from you can do what I did in preparing this Accuracy of Articles Alcatraz, and The Shawshank Redemp- article: surf some Web sites, rent the The Office of Real Estate Research makes every effort to tion. We could name another half dozen films you’ve always wanted to see, and assure the accuracy of all statements in ILLINOIS REAL about Alcatraz alone, most recently The watch some old favorites again. My ESTATE LETTER articles prepared by ORER staff mem- bers. However, the reader should note that legal and Rock, but my own favorite in this genre is preferred reference work on film is regulatory matters, which occasionally are discussed in John Carpenter’s Escape from New York. TLA Film and Video Guide, a 1997 book ILLINOIS REAL ESTATE LETTER articles, are subject See Kurt Russell, Donald Pleasance, edited by David Bleiler and published to change and to varying interpretations. Articles in this publication do not purport to provide legal or investment and in the not-too-distant by St. Martin’s Griffin. I welcome you advice, and the Office of Real Estate Research shall future, when the entire island of Manhat- to e-mail me at [email protected], not be held responsible for damages resulting from tan has been converted into a prison. and tell me which real estate movies you inaccuracies or omissions appearing in the ILLINOIS REAL ESTATE LETTER or other ORER publications. page 12 Illinois Real Estate Letter Winter 1999