Scott gets his first crack at picking a film series theme, and he has chosen to honor the great city we live in -- St. Petersburg, FL. Films in this series must feature at least one of the following:

Use of St. Petersburg, Russia is allowable but really a cop-out.

Date Shown	Whose Pick	Film Title	What's the history?
August 19th	Scott	Seaquest DSV: Daggers	Where does St. Pete come in?
August 31st	Christina	Cocoon	Where does St. Pete come in?
September 7	Tanya	Coupe de Ville	Where does St. Pete come in?
September 21	Amy	Great Expectations	Where does St. Pete come in?
October 19	Jyotika	Bang the Drum Slowly	Where does St. Pete come in?

Seaquest DSV: Daggers

Parts of this tv-movie (actually two episodes forming one story for a season premiere of the show) was filmed on the Eckerd College campus -- which, coincidentally, is where we went to school. The school's then-new marine science building was turned into the Dagger prison. Also, the scenery at the beginning of the episode was shot at the Pier in St. Pete, and at the Fort DeSoto beach park.

Cocoon

If you were going to make a movie about a bunch of retired old farts, Steve Guttenberg, and some extraterrestrials on the coast of Florida, there's really nowhere else to go but St. Petersburg, possibly the largest retirement community in the United States. The entire film was shot on location in St. Pete.

As Ron Howard films go, this typically sentimental film does have some nice acting, particularly from Don Ameche and Wilford Brimley. But can we ever forgive Howard for validating the career of Guttenberg, who was unleashed upon the viewing public in the Police Academy movies?

Coupe de Ville

Who knew Daniel Stern could play such a tightass? Coupe de Ville chronicles the travels of three estranged brothers (Stern is the oldest) in 1963 as they drive a car from Detroit to Florida at the request of their father. The car is intended as a birthday present for their mother, and dad's intonations that there isn't to be a scratch on the car when it arrives positively guarantees its destruction.

St. Petersburg is most notably featured in the dog track scenes; the Greyhound Derby Lanes in the north part of town are used as the setting.

Great Expectations

Gwyneth Paltrow is nice to look at and all, but did we really need the pretentious Ethan Hawke mucking up the scenery in an otherwise tolerable movie? We quite liked De Niro's preformance as the shadowy figure from Finn's past, and the ending was nicely subdued.

St. Pete was featured in the early scenes featuring De Niro and the young Finn -- the beach is located at Fort deSoto.

Bang the Drum Slowly

This depressing baseball drama features Robert DeNiro as a terminally ill catcher whose illness brings together a team that initially has problems working as one. The fictional New York Mammoths have their spring training grounds in St. Petersburg, and so the Vinoy and Fort Harrison hotels are featured. St. Pete is also mentioned by name.

Christina points out that this film's most depressing feature is the fact that DeNiro's character dies during the 1970's. Would you want to live out the last years of your life in those fashions?