As a loyal Louisiana native son, I am amazed at the number of things I take for granted as part and parcel of life and life’s environs that seem to be strange and unusual to so many not from here. Granted that within the last 2 or 3 decades the effects of marketing have broadened at least people’s awareness of some of them. It seems that enough curiosity is piqued to support producing shows for film and television that feature Louisiana culture, history and her people, very often including sets on location here. The pragmatist will, of late, attribute generous tax incentives offered to companies to bring a production here. I believe the lure of the culture, history and hospitality have more than a little to do with it.
I made a quick search and culled a small sample of television shows and films about and/or shot in Louisiana. Some of the television shows include: Tremé, K-Ville, Frank’s Place, Bourbon Street Beat, Billy the Exterminator, The Big Easy, Swamp People, Sons of Gun, The Feast of All Saints and Louisiana. That list omits all the wonderful Ken Burns’ features.
Movies include a very, very long list so I pared it pretty hard. My examples include: Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951), The Adventures of Jim Bowie (1956), All the King’s Men (2006), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), Band of Angels (1957), Blaze (1992), Bonnie and Clyde (1957), The Buccaneer (1938), The Client (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995), Docks of New Orleans (1948), Double Jeopardy (1999), Evangeline (1913, 1919, 1929), The Farm: Angola, USA (1998), Fletch Lives (1989), A Gathering of Old Men (1983), Hurry Sundown (1967), Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), JFK (1997), Kingfish (1995), King Creole (1958), Louisiana Purchase (1941), The Pelican Brief (1994), Pretty Baby (1978), Storyville (1992), A Streetcar Named Desire (1996), Taking Back Our Town (2001) and WUSA (1970).