Can't Buy Me Love Locations

Locations Manager(s): Anne McCaffrey

Can't Buy Me Love Filming Locations:

In usual Hollywood fashion, at least 3 separate locations were used coming together to portray the airplane "graveyard" in Can't Buy Me Love.

We are proud to be able to exclusively reveal that Ronnie and Cindy peer over a wall to view the Air Force Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC). The Pima Air Museum (next door) actually provides a tour of the facility. Located on the East side of Kolb in in the Arizona desert near Tucson on Kolb Rd, the next main intersection when traveling east of the Pima Air Museum. AMARC is the Air Force's storage yard for decommissioned aircraft. Nearly 4,400 airplanes and helicopters await recommissioning, recycling, resale, or refurbishment for museums.

The date itself in the cockpit of the helicopter was filmed at the Pima Air Museum. See the trivia section for more details on the actual chopper they sit in!

As for the wall itself... The wall that Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson peer over to see the airplane boneyard is a wall located just north of Ft. Lowell road between Dodge and Country Club on Edith Blvd. (in Tucson,Az.) concealing a storage area for a local construction company. [Thanks to Dave] A genuine wall located near to the AMARC site on Kolb Rd may have been used to get the shots of the planes that they see. According to Chris, the wall that Ronald and Cindy look over to see the planes is now painted beige and the box that they are standing on is no longer there as it was only a prop.

Dave Hall adds: In reference to confirming the wall that Dempsey and Peterson look over in the airplane graveyard scene: If you look behind the two actors, you see telephone wires and a tree that line the opposite side of Edith. It's true that the wall is now beige. It was painted in the late 90's to cover up graffiti. The wall is just a few miles from many of the other locations. Hill Farm (Cindy's House) is just East of the wall on Ft. Lowell. Tucson High is a stones throw to the south. I'm not positive, but the house that the jocks attack on Halloween I believe is in Winterhaven subdivision about a half mile West of the wall. [Thanks to Dave Hall]

Cindy's house was filmed at a housing community called Hill Farm in North Central Tucson. It's on Ft. Lowell between Swan and Craycroft. The house they used was the main 'club house' called Hill Farm House. It is found at the intersection of Willow Creek and Hill Place Dr. [Thanks to Jessica E.]

I believe the exact location for Cindy's house is at the corner of Hill Farm Dr & N Hill Farm Dr. There is a wagon & fountain in the yard. [Thanks to Kirk Bowman]

The scene where the cheerleaders are practicing was shot on a field that is no longer in existence. Since the movie was shot, Tucson High had a new building erected in that location, on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Euclid.

The pizza place (Scoop's) was at 2910 E Speedway Blvd, Tucson. That location was a KFC for years and is now occupied by Los Betos Mexican Restaurant. [Thanks to Robert Charles]

The scene where the football players and Donald are driving in the van is also on Speedway Blvd. -Named "ugliest main street in America" by Life magazine in 1972. As they are driving you can see a movie theater in the background called The Twin Theaters, it is now known as The Loft (an indy theater).

The scene in the mall (Tucson Mall) where Donald's brother walks up to Cindy and she tries to scare him away by putting make-up on him use to be a make-up store, but is now a Cinnabons. [Thanks to Marie Ward]

The rest of the movie was filmed in and around Tucson, Arizona including The (at the time brand new) Tucson Mall and Tucson High School, whose students provided most of the extras in several scenes, including the dance scene.

UPDATE: At last! Locations maestro PaulH has finally put us all out of our misery by finding Ronald's House: Ronald's house is located at 4250 N Camino Arco, Tucson, AZ. "I recently found this for the 'Then & Now Movie Locations' website, who have visited and taken photos." [Thanks to PaulH]

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