List of SEPTA-related films and TV programs

I was thinking of this today, so I tried preparing this (imcomplete) list of films with SEPTA footage:

Rocky-M3s
Trading Places-M3s, fishbowl buses, 1981 Kawasaki LRVs (on #11 or 36?), 30 Street station
Witness-30 Street station
Unbreakable-30 Street station
Daddy Who? (aka Kimberly)
The Happening-Regional Rail, Comet IIs

I'm not so sure about TV programs and commericals, though.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: Trading Places-M3s, fishbowl buses, 1981 Kawasaki LRVs (on #11 or 36?), 30 Street station

the Kawasaki was on route 10, Lancaster Ave.
30th St, I think was upper level, and so would make the SEPTA criterion, but they tried to make it seem like Amtrak Washington DC.

Witness-30 Street station

my memory is that there was no SEPTA, just Amtrak

Unbreakable-30 Street station

I don't remember 30th St, just University City and some high platform outside station I couldn't identify, Warminster or Trenton I suppose, which they tried to make look like Amtrak.

I can add
Blowout-30th St Amtrak, Reading Terminal which may have been Conrail operated at the time, with voiceovers to make it sound like Amtrak, 15th St eastbound subway surface platform made to look like 30th St
Birdie-Septa PCC's made to look like predecessor Phila Transportation Co

If you're just looking for Philly, I can add
The King of Marvin Gardens-predecessor PTC 15th St westbound subway surface station, 40th and Woodland portal.

gardendance wrote:

R36 Combine Coach wrote: Trading Places-M3s, fishbowl buses, 1981 Kawasaki LRVs (on #11 or 36?), 30 Street station

the Kawasaki was on route 10, Lancaster Ave.
30th St, I think was upper level, and so would make the SEPTA criterion, but they tried to make it seem like Amtrak Washington DC.

Witness-30 Street station

my memory is that there was no SEPTA, just Amtrak

Unbreakable-30 Street station

I don't remember 30th St, just University City and some high platform outside station I couldn't identify, Warminster or Trenton I suppose, which they tried to make look like Amtrak.

I can add
Blowout-30th St Amtrak, Reading Terminal which may have been Conrail operated at the time, with voiceovers to make it sound like Amtrak, 15th St eastbound subway surface platform made to look like 30th St
Birdie-Septa PCC's made to look like predecessor Phila Transportation Co

If you're just looking for Philly, I can add
The King of Marvin Gardens-predecessor PTC 15th St westbound subway surface station, 40th and Woodland portal.

Hi Garden, pretty good list, except you forgot to add that in Birdie, you also see the underside of the Market Street El with the el entering a station.
Rocky 1-2-5 had the M3's while Rocky 6 had the M4's
Another great 80's Philly movie was Fighting Back with Tom Skerrit. Plenty of bus and MFSE shots plus a fight scene I belive in front of PCC cars on Germantown Ave I think. Thats all I have for now...

There's been plenty of SEPTA rail equipment featured on the television show Cold Case, as its set in Philly. Usually it's MFL or trolleys (both SSL and the Girard Street ones). There was one episode about a tunnel worker killed back in the 1940s whose body was found in a subway tunnel under the Schuylkill. However, the shots of the subway yard equipment and the tunnel entrance were clearly Broad Street Line, which doesn't go under the Schuylkill . I suspect it was filmed at Fern Rock. They also had an episode a while back about an unsolved murder that happened in a subway station; the subway cars shown were clearly not SEPTA and had MTA markings fro New York, if I remember right.

Ummm...Rocky? Many shots of the El...

"Stealing Home" from 1988 featured, if I remember correctly, Mark Harmon riding a SEPTA train across the Manayunk Viaduct. I forget whether or not it was still in service at that time or not, and my memory of the scene is fuzzy, but I think it was the Ivy Ridge Line.

Technically it's not SEPTA 'cause it was filmed in 1981, but there's a scene in the movie Taps where the rebelling military-school cadets drive a tank under the North Wayne Avenue bridge of the R-5 just as a Silverliner pulls into the station.

I'd love to know what the passengers must have been thinking when they saw all the military equipment.

JeffK wrote:Technically it's not SEPTA 'cause it was filmed in 1981, but there's a scene in the movie Taps where the rebelling military-school cadets drive a tank under the North Wayne Avenue bridge of the R-5 just as a Silverliner pulls into the station.

I'd love to know what the passengers must have been thinking when they saw all the military equipment.

Technically Jeff, it was Septa even in 1981. Septa owned the railroad and equipment since the late 60's I believe but I think it was the early 70's and the service was contracted out to Conrail and when Conrail exited the passenger business, Septa ran the service themselves.

The 1981 film "Blow Out" featured the characters getting on a PCC painted in red, white, and blue (for the bicentennial?) in the Subway-Surface tunnel as well as some other SEPTA vehicles. It's been a while since I've seen it but I remember that distinctly.

Dear Flababo, I mentioned it first

gardendance wrote: I can add
Blowout-30th St Amtrak, Reading Terminal which may have been Conrail operated at the time, with voiceovers to make it sound like Amtrak, 15th St eastbound subway surface platform made to look like 30th St

Which Rocky movie has the most MFSE footage??? Are the El scenes in West Philly, along the Frankford El or both?

While I'm not a Rocky expert, I believe it was seen in the first one...Frankford El...wasn't Rocky supposed to have lived in Port Richmond?

I thought he was supposed to live in South Philly. I think I remember he said he welcomed a match at the Spectrum because he could walk there.
I also remember the El shots were around Kensington and Erie, do you call that the Kensington El?

You can't get to heaven on the Frankfor El cause the Frankford El goes straight to Frankford.

Per Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky)
Rocky's residence
The small apartment that Rocky lived was shot at 1818 East Tusculum Street in the Kensington section of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

cpontani wrote:Per Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky)
Rocky's residence
The small apartment that Rocky lived was shot at 1818 East Tusculum Street in the Kensington section of North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

And we know that wikipedia never lies... Without going too overboard into Rocky trivia, my impression was that it was implied that Rocky was from an Italian area of South Philly. Based on his run montages, he's all over the place though. I'm not an expert by any means on those movies though, so I'll defer to the fanatics.
Maybe we should expand the thread to include music as well? Gardendance had a good one. Any Septa references in G Love's or Will Smith's work?