Chicago Film Tour

I meant to write about this day trip much earlier in the summer, but things happen and the summer tends to fly by. I wanted to get this out to let you know if you’ve got family in town for Turkey Day and you’re looking for something special and memorable for you all to do over the weekend, check out the Chicago Film Tour, led by John Brickman and Pat McDonald! See the sights made infamous in movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Dark Knight, The Blues Brothers, Divergent, Transformers and many more, and get ready to be filled to the brim with trivia about filmmaking in the Windy City. By the end of the tour you will be seeing the city in a whole new cinematic light. And not to worry about the cold, since the tour takes place all in the comfort of a clearly marked tour bus that you can catch downtown besides Rock N Roll McDonalds, right off of the Grand Red line stop. This bus is essential to the tour, since there are so many locations to pack in, from Uptown down to Chinatown and everywhere in between.

What do I look for in a good tour? Friendly and personable guides for one (funny is a plus!) and I got that with the charming Pat McDonald as my guide. Pat has been a guide with the Chicago Film Tour since 2009, and also works as a film critic and writer for Hollywood Chicago. I loved Pat’s energy and interjections about his filmmaker and celebrity interviews from his extensive experience in the field.

Pat McDonald lip-synchs to a tune from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

One thing that blew my mind on this tour was seeing and learning about the Essanay Studios located on Argyle in Uptown. This was one of the country’s very first premiere movie studios starting in 1907. The studio used natural light and produced many of the first silent films, and was even the resident studio of Charlie Chaplin in 1915!  

The outside of one of the country's very first movie studios

I recommend this tour to any local Chicagoan film buff and of course all of the out-of-towner movie fans. Get your tickets today for the final weekend (November 28th & 29th) and if you can’t make it out this weekend, don’t worry because the tour will resume the first weekend of April. 

The tour lasts 2 hours. Make sure to bring your camera and tip your tour guides! Happy Thanksgiving!