Oregon has been ready for its close-up for more than a century. The Oregon Film Museum identifies The Fisherman’s Bride, filmed in Astoria in 1909, as the first scripted commercial film made in the state. Today, Oregon Film counts more than 500 feature films and television shows that have used Oregon as a backdrop.
The Oregon Coast keeps earning repeat business. In a single drive, a location scout can find fishing towns, Victorian neighborhoods, working harbors, wind-bent forests, isolated beaches, lighthouses, headlands and enough fog to make any thriller immediately moodier. Many of the locations below are easy additions to an Oregon Coast road trip, while others are private homes that should be appreciated from a respectful distance.
Indian Beach at Ecola State Park. Photo by Loren Kerns via Flickr.
The Oregon Film Museum occupies the former Clatsop County Jail, seen during the opening jailbreak in The Goonies.
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1. The Goonies (1985)
The Goonies is the movie most closely tied to the Oregon Coast, and Astoria has never stopped embracing it. The opening chase runs through town, the Fratellis break Jake out of the old Clatsop County Jail, now the Oregon Film Museum, and Mikey’s family home sits above the Columbia River. Farther south, Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock and Ecola State Park help turn the treasure hunt into a full North Coast adventure.
The Astoria house used for the Walsh family home remains a private residence.
The Goonies house changed ownership in 2023 when fan Behman Zakeri bought it and made clear that respectful fans were welcome. That friendliness is not an invitation to treat the neighborhood like a movie set. The home is private, interior tours are not guaranteed, and visitors need to follow all posted parking and access rules, stay off neighboring property and keep driveways clear. For a broader self-guided outing, use our Goonies filming-location road trip.
A coastal scene from The Goonies filmed above Indian Beach at Ecola State Park.
Haystack Rock appears behind the truck rally during the opening chase.
The opening chase reaches Cannon Beach, one of the film’s most recognizable Oregon locations.
Astoria celebrated the film’s 40th anniversary in 2025 with a packed weekend of screenings, cast appearances and events. Four decades after the cameras left, the movie is still part of the town’s identity and one of the best reasons for film fans to explore our guide to things to do in Astoria.
Sunset over the Columbia River in Astoria. Photo by Rennett Stowe via Flickr.
2. Twilight (2008)
The first Twilight movie was released in 2008 and set in Washington, but one of its signature beach sequences belongs to Oregon. Indian Beach at Ecola State Park stood in for La Push, where Bella joins her classmates and hears Jacob’s story about the “cold ones.” The cove’s dark rock, forested slopes and gray surf needed very little help to look like the supernatural Pacific Northwest.
Indian Beach stood in for La Push during the conversation between Bella and Jacob.
The surfing-day scene in Twilight was filmed at Indian Beach, not at the real La Push in Washington.
Indian Beach is public, but it is inside a busy day-use park with limited parking and occasional weather or landslide closures. Check the official Ecola State Park page before driving in.
3. Point Break (1991)
Here is one of the Oregon Coast’s best cinematic disguises: the stormy “Australia” finale of Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break is unmistakably Oregon. Wheeler became the rainy town where Johnny Utah catches up with Bodhi, and Indian Beach at Ecola State Park stood in for Bells Beach. The truly enormous surf was filmed elsewhere, but the wet showdown on shore is pure North Coast.
Wheeler plays an Australian coastal town in the final act of Point Break.
Wheeler sits on Nehalem Bay, not the open Pacific, which makes the trick even better. Indian Beach is now marked as part of the Oregon Coast Film Trail, so fans can compare the view without attempting anything remotely Bodhi-like in the water.
4. Free Willy (1993)
Free Willy used Astoria, Warrenton, Ecola State Park and Portland, but its most famous Oregon moment belongs specifically to Hammond Marina in Warrenton. The production filmed the climactic jump at the marina’s breakwater, where Jesse guides Willy toward freedom. Live-animal footage, full-size and miniature animatronics, visual effects and careful editing combined to create the whale’s performance. The jump was not simply a real orca clearing the wall.
Hammond Marina in Warrenton was the location for Willy’s climactic escape.
Keiko’s later connection to Newport is a separate real-life story. The orca arrived at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in January 1996, lived there for about two and a half years while being rehabilitated, and departed for Iceland in September 1998. Visitors today can walk through Passages of the Deep, created from the habitat that once housed him.
5. Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s undercover comedy turned Astoria into the fictional town where Detective John Kimble becomes an elementary-school teacher. John Jacob Astor Elementary School supplied the memorable exterior, while downtown streets, the waterfront and other local buildings rounded out the setting. The school picnic and carnival used Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach.
The Astoria house used as Joyce’s home still stands. This photograph was taken in 2015.
John Jacob Astor Elementary School supplied the exterior of Kimble’s school.
The production left behind playground equipment and commissioned local artists to paint school murals, a detail noted on the Oregon Film Trail marker. The school remains an active campus, and Joyce’s house is a private home, so sightseeing should stay quiet, legal and outside.
6. The Ring (2002)
Most of Gore Verbinski’s American remake of The Ring was filmed in Washington, but its creepiest beacon came from Newport. Yaquina Head Lighthouse was used as the Moesko Island lighthouse and incorporated into a visual-effects composite. The real structure stands within the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a public BLM site just north of town.
The film transformed Yaquina Head into the fictional Moesko Island lighthouse.
The real Yaquina Head Lighthouse near Newport.
Unlike the fictional island, Yaquina Head is straightforward to visit. There is an interpretive center, paved viewpoints, short trails and access to the lighthouse grounds, with interior access dependent on staffing and conditions. Pair it with our Newport travel guide for a full day on the central Coast.
7. The Ring Two (2005)
The sequel’s proper title is The Ring Two. It filmed in Astoria and around Clatsop County during 2004 before its 2005 release. The city’s steep streets, weathered houses and broad Columbia River views give Rachel and Aidan’s attempted fresh start a suitably uneasy atmosphere. A nighttime panorama of Astoria was shot from McClure Park, and the Astoria-Megler Bridge is among the familiar local landmarks.
The Astoria-Megler Bridge has appeared in several productions filmed around Astoria. Photo courtesy of Victor Solanoy via Flickr.
8. 1941 (1979)
Steven Spielberg opened his World War II comedy 1941 with a joke on the beginning of Jaws, even bringing back swimmer Susan Backlinie. Portions of that opening submarine sequence were filmed on the Oregon Coast. Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach appear in the establishing imagery, while production records also place opening-sequence work at Gold Beach. Oregon is standing in for Northern California, so it is safest to credit both Coast locations without assigning every cut to one beach.
Haystack Rock is visible in the Oregon-filmed opening of 1941.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)
The third live-action Turtles movie sends its heroes to feudal Japan, but much of that world was built on Oregon’s North Coast. Oregon Film confirms Astoria and Youngs River Falls, while production location records also identify a Tongue Point hangar as a studio and Ecola State Park for horseback scenes on the beach. A Japanese village set was constructed near Saddle Mountain.
Youngs River Falls, about eight miles south of Astoria, appears during a fight between the Turtles and Japanese warriors. The combination of waterfall, forest and Coast Range weather did a surprisingly convincing job of playing another country and century.
10. Short Circuit (1986)
Johnny 5’s road to becoming “alive” runs through several Oregon locations, and Astoria supplies some of the movie’s most memorable scenery. The Astoria-Megler Bridge and riverfront appear on screen, and the former Clatsop County Jail, now the Oregon Film Museum, was also used. Other Oregon work took place around Portland, The Dalles and Cascade Locks.
The exterior of Stephanie’s home was filmed at 197 Hume Avenue in Astoria.
Stephanie’s house exterior at 197 Hume Avenue is easy to recognize, but it is privately owned. See it only from public space and follow any posted guidance rather than walking onto the property.
11. The Road (2009)
John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road was filmed across several states, so Oregon should not get credit for the entire bleak journey. Oregon Film records Portland-area work and filming at Fort Stevens. The old military landscape, dunes and gray North Coast sky fit the movie’s post-apocalyptic world with almost uncomfortable ease.
The Peter Iredale shipwreck stands on the same Fort Stevens shoreline used during Oregon filming for The Road. Photo by Serenity Ibsen via Flickr.
The park is much friendlier in real life. Our Fort Stevens guide covers the historic batteries, trails, campground and beach access around the Peter Iredale.
12. Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Paul Newman directed and starred in this adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel about an independent Oregon logging family. The production worked in Lincoln County communities including Kernville, Toledo and Newport, with the Siletz River and nearby beaches giving the fictional town of Wakonda a real Oregon backbone. The film earned two Oscar nominations.
The Stamper house built for the production still stands along the Siletz River.
The famous Stamper house still stands along the river, but the old claim that travelers can rent it is no longer reliable and the former booking link is dead. Treat the house as private property. A safer public connection is the Oregon Film Trail stop near Gleneden Beach, along with the beaches and towns that surrounded the production.
13. Overboard (1987)
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s romantic comedy is set in the fictional Oregon town of Elk Cove, but most of the production took place in California. Oregon Film and location records confirm additional filming in Newport. That makes Overboard a genuine Oregon Coast credit, just not a movie that was made entirely here.
Newport’s working bayfront is a natural fit for the film’s harbor-town identity. If you visit, the sea lions, fishing boats, Yaquina Bay Bridge and shops are all real, even if Elk Cove is not.
14. Cthulhu (2007)
The spelling is Cthulhu, and this low-budget independent horror film found its Lovecraftian mood along the North and central Coast. Oregon Film lists production in Astoria, Florence, Gearhart and Seaside, and contemporary reporting also describes work at Sea Lion Caves and in an Astoria house.
The story follows a Seattle history professor who returns to his family’s Oregon Coast community after his mother dies. What begins as an uncomfortable homecoming grows into a confrontation with his father’s apocalyptic cult. It is a far stranger slice of Oregon filmmaking than the family classics, but the stormy shoreline is exactly the point.
15. Cry for the Strangers (1982)
This made-for-television horror movie, adapted from John Saul’s novel and starring Patrick Duffy, used the Florence area to create an ominous seaside community. Location records identify Heceta Head Lighthouse, the beach below what was then called Devil’s Elbow State Park, and Florence. The park is now Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint.
Other location reporting connects the production to a house near Tokatee Klootchman State Natural Site north of Florence. That house is private, so the public lighthouse viewpoint and beaches are the responsible way to get the film’s atmosphere. Our Florence travel guide makes a good starting point for exploring this stretch of Highway 101.
16. The Rental (2020)
Dave Franco’s feature directing debut brought a modern psychological thriller to the Bandon area. The Rental follows two couples whose weekend in a secluded oceanfront house begins to feel dangerously exposed. The less said about what happens next, the better.
The real star, before the trouble starts, is the South Coast setting. Franco has described scouting up and down the Coast before finding the right place near Bandon, and the cliffside house, beach, wind and fog make the landscape essential to the film’s tension. The house itself is private, but visitors can find the same dramatic rock formations, broad sand and sea views along public stretches of the area. Use our Bandon guide to plan a trip around Face Rock, Old Town and other public stops.
17. Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023)
Astoria’s film story did not end with 1980s nostalgia. Rachel Lambert’s quiet 2023 drama Sometimes I Think About Dying, starring and produced by Daisy Ridley, was shot prominently in Astoria, with some additional Oregon work in St. Helens. Ridley plays Fran, an isolated office worker whose carefully controlled routine begins to shift when a new colleague makes an effort to know her.
Director Rachel Lambert said the script called for a coastal town and fishing-industry context but left the visual world open. Astoria supplied both atmosphere and texture: gray winter light, industrial spaces, old streets and the constant presence of the Columbia River. The film uses those places as lived-in surroundings rather than nostalgic landmarks, proving the city can still play something entirely new.
Bonus: TV Shows Filmed on the Oregon Coast
Bates Motel
Bates Motel is set in the fictional Oregon town of White Pine Bay, but the A&E series was produced primarily in British Columbia, where the motel and house set were built. Oregon’s contribution was limited coastal footage, including views along the winding Highway 101 corridor around Yachats and Florence. Those establishing images helped sell the Oregon setting; the main Bates property was not on the Oregon Coast.
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
Oregon Film’s current filmography lists the 1977 television series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries at Yaquina Head. The lighthouse is associated with the Nancy Drew episode “The Mystery of Pirate’s Cove,” in which a supposedly abandoned beacon becomes the center of a case. The old article repeated a claim that state authorities sued the production for damaging the lighthouse, but we could not verify that story in a trustworthy contemporary, government or court source, so it has been removed.
Plan an Oregon Coast Movie-Locations Trip
The easiest cluster is on the North Coast. Astoria gives you the Oregon Film Museum, riverfront and public viewpoints near several recognizable locations; Warrenton adds Hammond Marina and Fort Stevens; Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park complete the loop. Newport works well for The Ring, Free Willy history and Sometimes a Great Notion, while Florence and Bandon carry the movie trail farther south.
Start with our complete guide to exploring the Oregon Coast, then check official park pages for closures, parking and current access. Oregon weather can change quickly, tides matter, and a location that appears public on screen may be someone’s home in real life. Bring the movie memories, leave the production-sized commotion behind.
