Shot in Montana: A History of Big Sky Cinema

For nearly a century, movies have been made in Montana. The state played itself in Cattle Queen of Montana, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Winter in the Blood, and the iconic A River Runs Through It, and it doubled for an Arctic ice pack in Firefox, Nebraska in Nebraska, the authentic Old West in Heaven’s Gate, and even heaven in What Dreams May Come.


Montana’s Kootenai River swallowed up Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep in The River Wild, a stunt double for Leonardo DiCaprio tumbled down Kootenai Falls in The Revenant, and Forrest Gump ran through Glacier National Park. The city of Butte played itself in Evel Knievel, substituted for San Francisco’s Chinatown in Thousand Pieces of Gold, and hosted a zombie apocalypse in Dead 7. Charles Bronson’s Telefon blew up a school in Great Falls, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando battled in the badlands of The Missouri Breaks, and Far and Away’s Oklahoma land rush with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman actually thundered across Montana prairie.


From megahits with the biggest Hollywood stars to acclaimed independent films and forgettable flops, nearly a hundred movies have been made, in whole or in part, in Montana, and for the first time this treasure trove of filmmaking has been thoroughly researched and documented. Montana author Brian D’Ambrosio (Warrior in the Ring) describes every movie, including the actors, directors, and shooting locations, and reveals fascinating stories and incidents that took place behind the cameras.


Featuring 120 photos and interviews with actors and filmmakers, Shot in Montana is a blockbuster adventure through the Treasure State’s cinematic history.