Texas Hollywood: Filmmaking in San Antonio Since 1910

More than 250 movies have been filmed in San Antonio since the first movie studio in Texas opened in the city in 1910. They range from silent flickers to major Hollywood productions, off-beat independent films, low-budget horror films and everything in between. Some of history's most honored and loved films have been filmed in San Antonio, including the winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture.

A broad San Antonio presence is obvious in some: Cloak and Dagger (1984), Still Breathing (1998), Evenhand (2000). Others draw on the city's longstanding relationship with the military: Wings (1927), West Point of the Air (1935), Air Cadet (1951), plus a host of Alamo films beginning with The Immortal Alamo (1911). San Antonio also substitutes for such places as the Old South (The Warrens of Virginia, 1924), Chicago (The Big Brawl, 1980), even Africa (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, 1995).

Frank Thompson sorts it all out in this entertainingly written, dramatically illustrated (109 illustrations) and thoroughly researched work, concluding with a landmark San Antonio filmography. He leaves no doubt about the richness of the filmmaking heritage that gives San Antonio claim to the title "Texas Hollywood."