Which Hollywood blockbusters were filmed in Montana?

What movies were filmed in Montana? With towering mountains, alpine rivers, and freshwater lakes, Montana seems like a fitting location for a movie set. 

It turns out, 70+ Hollywood and independent films were shot in Montana. The Revenant, Forrest Gump, and A River Runs Through It are all Montana movies.

Read on for a list of the top 15 movies filmed in Montana, including their filming locations, release date, and plot summaries. 

In this article:

1. Forrest Gump
2. Beethoven’s 2nd
3. The Thing From Another World
4. The Revenant
5. The River Wild
6. A River Runs Through It
7. The Ballad of Lefty Brown
8. Iron Ridge
9. Broken Arrow
10. Northfork
11. The Shining
12. The Slaughter Rule
13. Heartland
14. Far and Away
15. Last Survivors

15 movies filmed in Montana

Here are the top 15 movies filmed in Montana, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent darlings. 

1. Forrest Gump

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1994
• Genre: Comedy-drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • When Forest is jogging across the country: Glacier National Park and Cut Bank, Montana

Forest Gump is a Montana movie based on the novel by Winston Groom. The story is about a man with a low IQ who lives an extraordinary life. The movie is so powerful it has you questioning the value of such metrics. 

This film is a tour de force and seemed to touch the hearts of most that watched it when it was released in 1994. It has also been recognized by the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.  

Several scenes when Forrest is running across the country were filmed in Glacier National Park and Cut Bank, Montana. 

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2. Beethoven’s 2nd (1993)

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1993
• Genre: Family 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Park scenes: Glacier National Park

This Montana movie follows the second adventure of the Newton family and their wonderful, fluffy, quintessential Saint Bernard named Beethoven. The first of these movies (entitled “Beethoven”) sees the family getting Beethoven as a puppy, while the father, George (Charles Grodin), begins to feel displaced. 

In Beethoven’s 2nd, Beethoven takes the family on another adventure by falling in love with a fellow dog, Missy, and having a family. Missy’s owner, Regina (Debi Mazar), has a plan to sell the puppies for profit, so the Newton kids spring into action and rescue the puppies. However, Regina plots to get them back.

The park scenes in this Montana movie were filmed in Glacier National Park, Montana.

3. The Thing From Another World (The Thing)

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1951
• Genre: Science fiction-horror 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Much of the film: Glacier National Park

This Montana movie tells the story of journalist Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer) and three members of the Alaskan Air Command who visit the Antarctic to investigate an unusual aircraft that crashed nearby. They discover a frozen spaceship and alien creature in the ice, which they bring back to their base.

As the team disagrees over what to do with their discovery, the alien creature thaws and comes back to life, bringing about chaos. 

Apart from interior sets built in an ice storage plant in Los Angeles, The Thing was partially filmed in Glacier National Park.

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4. The Revenant

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2015
• Genre: Action-drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • When Glass goes through rapids and over a Waterfall: Kootenai Falls

The Revenant is a story of revenge, survival, and endurance. It’s based on the Michael Punke novel of the same name, which describes frontiersman Hugh Glass’s experiences back in 1823. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sustains life-threatening injuries from a bear attack and his hunting team decides to leave him behind. 

Before leaving Glass, a series of conflicts arise which result in trapper John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) ending Glass’s son’s life. Glass treks through frozen terrain, fighting for his survival as he tries to track his hunting team down. He faces numerous challenges, from freezing weather to attacks from local Native American tribes as he pursues his journey across the frontier land.

The scene in this Montana movie where Glass floats through some rapids and over a waterfall was filmed at Kootenai Falls in Montana.

5. The River Wild

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1994
• Genre: Adventure-thriller 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Many of the whitewater scenes: Kootenai River

This is a harrowing story of deception and being trapped at the mercy of men with ill intentions. In this Montana movie, a married couple Gail and Tom Hartman (Meryl Streep and David Strathairn) take their 10-year-old son, Roarke (Joseph Mazzello), on a rafting trip for his birthday. 

They come across some other rafters, who plead for help, only to realize they are fugitives on the run. The fugitives force the mother to use her rafting skills to navigate the river through the wild rapids and help them escape.

Many of the whitewater scenes in this Montana movie take place on the Kootenai River in Montana. 

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6. A River Runs Through It

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1992
• Genre: Drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Most of the movie: Livingston and Bozeman; Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Boulder Rivers

This Montana movie, based on the semi-autobiographical novella of the same name by Norman McClean, tells the tale of family relationships, separation, and strife. Two brothers, Paul (Brad Pitt) and Norman (Craig Sheffer), live relatively calm lives in rural Montana. Norman is studious, while Paul is rebellious, though they are closely bonded and spend many days fishing the local rivers.

The two brothers are separated when Norman leaves for college at Dartmouth. Upon Norman’s return, the brothers reunite at new stages of their lives, but Paul ends up finding himself in a world of trouble. Confrontations with local gamblers and other events ensue, revealing a tragic story that teaches about unconditional love. 

The movie takes place in Missoula, Montana, but it was filmed in Livingston and Bozeman, Montana. River scenes were filmed on the Yellowstone, Boulder, and Gallatin Rivers.

7. The Ballad of Lefty Brown

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2017
• Genre: Western 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Most of the movie: Bannack State Park, Dillon, Virginia City, Ennis

This Montana movie tells the long, dramatic tale of a man named Lefty Brown (Bill Pullman) who is seeking revenge for his partner’s passing, no matter the cost. This is a modern Western filled with drama, tension, and violence. 

The film takes place in Montana and was filmed in some of the state’s most spectacular areas, including the well-preserved ghost town of Bannack and the beautiful towns of Dillon, Virginia City, and Ennis.  

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8. Iron Ridge

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2008
• Genre: Wilderness-survival-drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Entire movie: central and northwestern Montana, Great Falls, Monarch, Glacier National Park

This Montana movie does a great job of telling how fast things can go wrong in the backcountry, which is useful insight for anyone visiting Montana.

William Price (Stu Brumbaugh) and his friend Jake Munro (Casey Anderson) head off into the backcountry on a hunting trip. While on a deer hunt, Price gets lost and, despite his lack of survival skills and supplies, must find his way back to civilization. He is hunted by an enormous grizzly bear along the way.

This is a 100% Montana movie – filmed in Montana with a crew entirely consisting of Montanans. It was filmed in the central and northwestern parts of the state, including Great Falls, the small town of Monarch, and Glacier National Park.

9. Broken Arrow

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1996
• Genre: Action-thriller 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Ending scene in the train: on the privately owned Central Montana Rail, Inc. (CM) in Fergus County, Montana

In this Montana movie, two men, Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Riley Hale (Christian Slater), set out on a top-secret, overnight military assignment with nuclear weapons onboard their plane. Deakins changes the plan in mid-air and attempts to hijack the warheads to sell them for profit. 

The plane crashes, both men survive, and Deakins pursues his mission of selling the warheads. Hale meets park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis) and together they set out to thwart Deakon’s plan. 

The movie was filmed across Utah, California, and Arizona, but the scenes on the train were filmed on the privately owned Central Montana Rail, Inc. (CM) in Fergus County, Montana.

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10. Northfork

Fort Peck Damn – Filming location for Northfork

Harry Weddington, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2003
• Genre: Fantasy-drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Entire film: Fort Peck Dam, Fort Peck, Augusta, Great Falls, and Glasgow, Montana

This Montana movie consists of several interwoven subplots, all of which take place in the town of Northfork, Montana in 1955. Northfork is threatened by the looming construction of a nearby dam that will flood the town. The film focuses on several residents who, for various reasons, have yet to evacuate. 

Willis (Mark Polish) and his father, Walter (James Woods) lead an evacuation team for Northfork residents in Northfork. Of the many characters they meet is Irwin (Duel Farnes), a young boy too ill to evacuate. In Irwin’s comatose state, he receives four angelic visitors who hope to find a way for him to evacuate.

Northfork was filmed in Fort Peck Dam, Fort Peck, Augusta, Great Falls, and Glasgow, Montana.

11. The Shining

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1980
• Genre: Psychological-horror 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Opening aerial shots: Glacier National Park

One of Stanley Kubrick’s well-known films also happens to be a Montana movie. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) takes up a position as winter caretaker at the remote Overlook Hotel in Colorado with the goal of curing his writer’s block. He brings his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), along with him.  

As Jack’s writing stalls, Danny experiences overwhelming psychotic premonitions. Jack discovers the hotel’s dark secrets and slowly begins to lose his mind. The story unravels horrifically.

The Timberline Lodge in Oregon served for the exterior shots of the hotel, while many of the interior shots were on studio sets. However, the opening aerial shots, including the Volkswagen Beetle driving along a mountain road, were filmed in Glacier National Park, Montana.

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12. The Slaughter Rule

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2002
• Genre: Drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Entire movie: Great Falls, Montana, and surrounding smaller towns

In this Montana movie, Roy (Ryan Gosling) learns of his father’s passing and, shortly afterward, is cut from the high school football team. He isn’t close to his mother and ends up receding into drinking with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs, and sparking up a relationship with a girl named Skylar. 

All of this, until Gideon (David Morse) comes along, a man who lives on the fringes of society, looking to recruit Roy for his six-man football team, the Renegades. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps Roy with his confidence, tension arises in his relationship with Gideon.

This Montana movie is set in the fictional town of Blue Springs, Montana. The majority of it was filmed in Great Falls, Montana, and smaller surrounding towns. 

13. Heartland

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1979
• Genre: Drama 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Entire movie: Central Montana

A classic frontier tale. Elinore Randall (Conchata Ferrell) and her seven-year-old daughter, Jerrine (Megan Folson), move to a remote land in Montana in the early 1900s, where Elinore takes up a caretaking position for a staunch rancher named Clyde Stewart (Rip Torn). Together, the mother and daughter enter a life of unknowns on the Western American frontier.

In this Montana movie, the rough days of the wild west have passed, but life on the ranch proves difficult – the weather is extreme, and the work is grueling. Elinore and Clyde develop a loving bond in the face of immense adversity.

The film is set in southern Wyoming but was filmed in central Montana.

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14. Far and Away

Quick facts:

• Release date: 1992
• Genre: Western-romance-adventure 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Much of the movie: Billings, Montana

While seeking revenge against Daniel Christie (Robert Prosky), the man who burned his home down, Joseph (Tom Cruise) is injured and finds himself in the care of Daniel’s family members, Nora (Barbara Babcock) and Shannon (Nicole Kidman). Joseph ends up fleeing Ireland with Shannon, chasing the promise of free land in Oklahoma. 

From part-time work as a boxer to homeless stints, there is no short of dramatic turns all the way to Oklahoma, where the two push against the odds to stake their plot of land. 

Much of Far and Away was filmed in Billings, Montana. 

15. Last Survivors

Quick facts:

• Release date: 2021
• Genre: Thriller 
• Scenes in Montana:
  • Much of the movie: Butte, Montana

The Last Survivors is a Montana movie that tells the story of a father, Troy (Stephen Moyer), and his son, Jake (Drew Van Acker), who live off-grid in the wake of an apocalyptic event that has crippled civilization and left humanity hopeless. Troy drills Jake on the necessity of protecting himself at all costs, trusting no one, and treating any outsider as an immediate danger. 

After Troy is shot, prompting Jake to voyage into the outside world, Jake begins questioning what his dad told him about the outside world. 

Much of the movie was filmed near Butte, Montana.

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FAQ – Montana movies

Below are answers to common questions about movies filmed in Montana.

What movies were filmed at Old Montana Prison?

According to IMDb, five movies have been filmed at Old Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Montana. They are: 

• Fast-Walking (1982), starring James Woods
• Runaway Train (1985), starring Jon Voight
• Diggstown (1992), starring James Woods
• The Real Things (1996), starring James Russo
• Pellett, staring Isabel Glasser

Which actors have done movies in Montana?

More than 100 actors have done movies in Montana, including Stephen Moyer (Last Survivors, 2021), Drew Van Acker (Last Survivors, 2021), Rip Torn (Heartland, 1979), Robert Prosky (Far and Away, 1992), Tom Cruise (Far and Away, 1992), John Travolta (Broken Arrow, 1996), Christian Slater (Broken Arrow, 1996), and Mark Polish (Northfork, 2003). 

Which movies were filmed in Butte, Montana?

According to IMDb, 70 movies have been filmed in Butte, Montana, including Last Survivors (2021) starring Drew Van Acker, and Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990) starring Rosalind Chao.

Which movies were filmed in Livingston, Montana?

According to IMDb, 70 movies have been filmed in Butte, Montana, including A River Runs Through It (1992) starring Craig Sheffer, Broken Arrow (1996) starring John Travolta, Wildlife (2018) starring Ed Oxenbould, and The Year of the Dog (2022) starring Rob Grabow.

What TV shows were filmed in Montana?

Numerous TV shows have been filmed in Montana, including Yellowstone (2018 – present) starring Kevin Kostner, Frontier House (2002) starring Kristen Brooks, and Return to Lonesome Dove (1993) starring John Voight.