A Dozen Favorite Arkansas Movies
(Some of these movies were shot in Arkansas, some set in Arkansas, and some both. I’ve arranged them in chronological order.)
A Face in the Crowd (directed by Elia Kazan, 1957)
Smokey and the Bandit (directed by Hal Needham, 1977)
Biloxi Blues (directed by Mike Nichols, 1988)
One False Move (directed by Carl Franklin, 1992)
Sling Blade (directed by Billy Bob Thornton, 1996)
Daddy and Them (directed by Billy Bob Thornton, 2001)
Come Early Morning (directed by Joey Lauren Adams, 2006)
Shotgun Stories (directed by Jeff Nichols, 2007)
War Eagle, Arkansas (directed by Robert Milazzo, 2009)
Mud (directed by Jeff Nichols, 2012)
Antiquities (directed by Daniel Campbell, 2018)
Minari (directed by Lee Isaac Chung, 2020)
Bonus Entry: The Brian Bosworth action vehicle Stone Cold (directed by Charles Baxley, 1991) doesn’t rise to the standards of the rest of these—even the pulp standards of Smokey and the Bandit—but was filmed in Little Rock during my senior year of high school, and I can’t help but love it for the location shots.
— March 30, 2021