John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, Heddy Lamarr, Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, James Stewart, Glenn Ford, Sterling Hayden, and Henry Fonda. "Billy the Kid," "Tall in the Saddle," "Angel and the Badman, "Desert Fury", "Blood on the Moon", "Copper Canyon", "Broken Arrow," "Pony Soldier," "Johnny Guitar," and "The Rounders". These are but a few of the over fifty western movies and their stars that were filmed in Sedona between 1930 and 1965. We can still see many of them on television today. Sedona has doubled for "Virginia City," "California," "The Texas Trail," "Cheyenne," "Albuquerque," Colorado, Montana, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Although the Kings Ransom Quality Inn now sits where the Sedona Lodge for the motion picture companies once stood, the nearby Sound Stage is gone, and all that remains of the western town set near Coffee Pot Rock is a residential subdivision where streets are named after these western movies, the "Call of the Canyon" continues to bring producers and visitors alike to the red rocks of Sedona.
Since the Sedona Film Office opened in 2005, past location scouts have included recent period films such as "Seraphim Falls," "Appaloosa," and the remake of "3:10 to Yuma." But many modern productions that scout and shoot in Sedona are drawn to what they have imagined as the epitome of the American West. This is particularly true for the many international projects that film in the area.
Catalog and print shoots, commercials and television shows from the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, India, Canada and Japan have all come here to capture the natural beauty and western flavor of Sedona that is then seen all over the world. Sedona was chosen for the "western" location for one of German television station ZDF's most popular television feature-length series "Dams Traumschiff". The show has been on the air since 1981 and is seen in several other countries. Although the title of the series translates to "The Dreamboat" and is based on the old American TV series "The Love Boat," the show now films at three resorts and on three cruise ships per year. The Sedona episode was titled "Arizona Honeymoon" and although a modern day story, contained several western elements including cowboys, horses and a Native American Pow Wow.
US productions also shoot in Sedona for its southwestern flavor. From cable television shows seeking Santa Fe-style homes and romantic southwestern bedrooms to catalogs, magazines, commercials and independent films, all are drawn to our well preserved wide open red rock locations, scenic roads, western-style Uptown and southwestern architecture.
To complete the economic cycle, these many projects that are viewed throughout the globe in turn bring tourists that have seen Sedona on line, in print, on television and in films.
Though maybe only subconsciously, the influence of these old western films that continue to be shown generation after generation bring productions and visitors alike to Sedona to experience the classic American West.
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