Six times before, I’ve reeled off a series of movie and TV moments referencing New Haven.
Here’s part seven, which I hope you’ll agree, as far as seventh installments go, kicks the infamously awful Police Academy: Mission to Moscow’s zadnitsa:
Anchorman (2004), 1:07:38: The “Frat Pack” comedy built around the gender politics of a 1970s newsroom is filled with funny interjections, many of which were improvised on set before being repeated over and over by high school and college students across the land. One line, however, sailed right past the youth of America’s heads. After glass ceiling-breaker Veronica Corningstone attacks her gatekeeping co-anchor and former/future lover Ron Burgundy with a TV antenna, Burgundy yelps out the name of an institution born and bred right here in New Haven: “Knights of Columbus, that hurt!”
Lady and the Tramp (1955), 25:09: With a baby on the way, Jim Dear, the father, and Darling, the mother, start to neglect their adorable cocker spaniel, Lady. They also start to telegraph their hopes for the baby’s sex. While Darling tries out female baby names—Betty Ann, Betty Lou, Betty Lou Ann—Jim Dear hangs a humorously premature pennant on the wall, with four letters tapering down toward its point: “Y-A-L-E,” which only accepted male undergraduates back then. Post-script: A Disney fan wiki dubiously claims New Haven is the setting for this indubitably delightful animated classic.
30 Rock (2012), S6E3, 1:52: Married-to-her-job TV writer Liz Lemon is fuming over her boss and mentor Jack Donaghy’s attempts to throw cold water on her healthiest relationship to date. After Jack meets her boyfriend, Criss, who’s highest aspiration is to be a hot dog vendor, Liz lets slip that she didn’t want the two most important men in her life to meet. “You’re embarrassed of me?” Criss asks. “No! It’s not me, it’s him,” Liz says. “I didn’t want him to lecture me about how you don’t have a job and your name is spelled wrong and you went to Wesleyan.” “Wesleyan is the Harvard of Central Connecticut,” Criss argues, which Liz rebuts in a way that feels both obvious and false: “Yale is the Harvard of Central Connecticut.”
Another Earth (2011), 18:26, 1:25:18: A duplicate Earth appears in the sky above our own in this low-budget indie film, which was, for me, largely unwatchable. So why did I keep watching (okay, skimming)? Because most of the exterior shots were filmed in and around New Haven. Skip to the time stamps above to enjoy the novelty of seeing another Earth floating over a city that’s recognizably ours.
Broad City (2015), S2E8, 4:30: This funny dystopian fever dream both skewering and fêting Millennial Brooklyn culture sees co-lead Ilana taking on work as a nanny no parent should ever hire. Her new young charge is Oliver, an uptight child Ilana feels a characteristically misguided need to guide. “Oliver is at a tipping point right now, okay?” she explains to her best friend, Abbi. “If I don’t step in, he could go to Yale. And then Yale Law. And then kill a stripper…”
The Society (2019), S1E1, 3:20: All seems well in the fictional tony enclave of West Ham, Connecticut. Except there’s a foul smell on the air, and soon an ominous soundtrack. For some inexplicable reason, the National Parks Service swoops in and offers just the high school upperclassmen a free unchaperoned camping trip to escape the smell. And for some other inexplicable reason, the kids’ parents agree. The trip departs, but, hours later, purported rock slides force the buses back to town, which is suddenly devoid of all other people. Most of the students respond to this revelation by acting like Kevin McAllister on his first day home alone, shooting beers instead of a BB gun and spooning each other instead of an enormous pile of ice cream. “I’m gonna miss you so much when you go off to Yale,” lead character Allie says to her sister, Cassandra, but by the time a ragtag crew of hungover students discover every road out of town is blocked, we in the audience can already sense it: Cassandra’s never making it to New Haven.
Written by Dan Mims. Image features a still from Another Earth (2011).
