Brooke Shields in Davenport:

that's amore-ay! (Like a big pizza pie...etc etc)

Jan 11, 2025

When you think of Italy—the beauty, the culture, the romance (real or imagined)— your mind immediately goes to the muddy Mississippi, right?

Ok, yeah no.

But!

There is actually a (cinematic) connection between Italy and the QC, I recently learned.

One of my favorite things about seeing films at the Last Picture House—and there are many!—is that you get to see a surprise teaser at the start. I’m referring to short, custom-created, comical reels that you definitely won’t get see at a cineplex. If you’ve been to the LPH, you know what I’m referring to: the Buster Keaton one, or the the SNL-alum-featuring one. I suspect these pre-preview clips are created by the Bettendorf-native writer/director pair who built the business. I don’t know this for sure. [ed. note: get on it, McGaughey!)

The newest one teaches audiences members about the fact that Italian directors have shot a number of films on location around the QC.

Set to a dramatic song being sung in Italian, the mini-movie shows snippets from these films, pointing out the local places that make an appearance. While you can’t see this mini “film” online (I tried to find it for you out-of-towners), you can get a tiny taste by clicking on the link in the caption to this screenshot below:

Catch a snippet from the LPH Facebook page.

While I had no idea these Italian-directed films existed, there are a few American actors referred to in the reel, the most recognizable and surprising of which Brooke Shields. I did a bit of Googling to discover that her cameo is from a scene in “An American Love,” TV movie. (Was 1994 perhaps a low point in Shields’ career?)

Either way, there’s a second-long clip of her standing outside a building in downtown Davenport — literally about two steps away from the building that is now the Last Picture House. (MIND BENDER, RIGHT? OMG.)

For more, see this 1991 local news item, or read Jonathan Turner’s (current-day) article “Italian filmmakers to return to shoot in QC.”

(Or better yet, come see the whole montage at the LPH!)

NEXT: a pop-culture ‘plus’ (especially for my Gen X friends)

From last week’s roundup of great reads featured in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, I recommend

Shifting Gears with Phoebe Wall Howard

for a quick hit of vehicular nostalgia.

Key words:

“Clark Griswold,”
“KITT,” and
“Cameron”!

AND FINALLY: Would you like to receive a ‘postcard’ from my trip home to Forgottonia?

(You know you would).

Paid subscribers will be receiving a video snippet about my visit to another small town in rural, west-central Illinois (I mean ‘another’ in addition to Carthage); an explanation of what I was doing there; and a somewhat embarrassing accusation I made against some people involved!

If you’d like to receive small bits of additional content as a thank-you, sign up for (or upgrade to) a paid subscription for $5/month or $50/year. These nods of encouragement help me more than you’d realize. But even more importantly, they give YOU a very “members-only” vibe!