Big Business Locations

Locations Manager(s): Stan Mendoza, Janice Polley, Ronald M. Quigley, Steve Rose

Big Business Filming Locations:

"Big Business" was also filmed on location in a wide variety of places including Kentucky, New York City, Ohio and Tennessee.

I do believe the river crossing scene, at the beginning of the film, the stone bridge, is at Cumberland Falls, in Corbin, KY. I recognized the overlook at Pinnacle Overlook on my first viewing of the film in the early 90's. The big rock on the left of the screen is/was a dead give-away; I've photographed the rock many times. Not only does the area provide a gorgeous view, one can also experience standing on three states at one time; on the top of the mountain... However, Steven Alexander Poff kindly updated to say that the beginning wasn't filmed in Corbin, Ky. It was filmed in Bell County/Calvin Ky.

I also believe one scene was filmed on old TN highway 63, between Carryville and Pioneer, TN; I am not positive about this however.

One thing is certain, the mountains of Eastern TN, Southeastern, KY and Southwestern VA are some of the best country on the eastern seaboard however, they are all too often overlooked... For the movie King Kong Lives, there were scenes that were filmed in the White Oak and Morley communities, of TN. These areas are south east of Jellico, TN and also provide some beautiful and breath taking scenery. I was a young child and in elementary school at White Oak Elementary, when huge helicopters were flying giant gorilla parts (arms and legs) around the area! It was too exciting for me and I was completely fascinated with this... I recognize the scene at "lover's lane", as being the main scene of movie in which the filming in the area took place.

This is prime country for mountainous scenes, beautiful foliage, friendly people, both as extras and even staring roles, interesting weather all year around and the best part, privacy for the stars and crew.

The Days Inn, in Jellico, TN, is where the cast and crew of King Kong Lives, stayed, back in the 1980's. I became the General Manager of the facility in 2006, after our GM retired. She had stories to tell about past experiences and told me when I came in as her assistant GM, that from time to time, we'd see a face or two, that was a celebrity. I didn't believe her, until I saw this with my own eyes... Thanks for reading! [Thanks to Roger Terry]

The scenes where both women are being driven to the hospital to have the babies were filmed in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee (made famous by Daniel Boone). It's a small town with a population of 210 and is located where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia all meet. The building on the corner used to be a bank, a general store and a hardware store and is now a restaurant called the "Ye Olde Tea and Coffee Shoppe" or "The Tea Room" as us locals like to call it. Also, the first shot of the movie was filmed in Cumberland Gap from a place called the Pinnacle which is a look-out on top of the Appalachian Mountains. [Thanks to Bethany]

Golden Oak Ranch off Placerita Canyon Rd Newhall, CA, used for the scenes of the Ratliff family farm house and the Jupiter Hollow fair. The often sighted covered bridge and pond can been seen in the background of a few shots at the fair. The bridge still stands at Golden Oak. While there are some location scenes of a real town, these are second unit shots not involving the principal cast at the fair. [Thanks to Greg Punch]

The Ratliff family farm house can also been seen as the Peabody house (Twin Pines farm) in the first Back to the Future movie (1988). It is no longer standing.

The hotel the sisters were staying in was the famous "Plaza Hotel" located on 58th Street and 5th Ave in New York -right next to Central Park. The interior Plaza Hotel scenes were filmed on soundstages in MGM Studios, Florida.

The toy store where Bette Midler runs into her sister's son and husband is none other than FAO Schwarz, which is located directly across the street from the "Plaza" and was also used in the film "Big". [Thanks to Mark Campbell]

The Plaza Hotel sets used in this movie later were used in the early 90s' Touchstone Television/NBC series "The Nutt House". Disney spent so much money on the sets that they felt they had to be used for future filming, and Mel Brooks (of "Spaceballs" and "Blazing Saddles" fame) had a deal at Disney at the time. The two met halfway, but the cost of set maintenance must've meant no money was left for good scripts. "Nutt House" was canceled after 6 episodes, and the sets went into storage at Disney-MGM Studios. [Thanks to John Edward Kilduff]

Can you help? Please Update This