KPRC 2′s Daniella Guzman, Randy McIlvoy and Zach Lashway are on assignment in Los Angeles, covering Super Bowl LVI . When they’re not busy reporting at SoFi Stadium, the trio is enjoying their off hours at Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, the city’s largest hotel and one of its most recognizable buildings.
Naturally, as one of the most distinctive buildings in the the Entertainment Capital of the World, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel has been featured in several movies over the years. Daniella offers a look at the hotel’s many cameos.
Scroll below for details on the films.
Blue Thunder (1983)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Sony Pictures’ description: “Roy Scheider stars in this intense action thriller as a courageous police officer pilot battling government fanatics planning to misuse an experimental attack helicopter. Chosen to test BLUE THUNDER, Frank Murphy (Scheider) is amazed by the high-speed, high-tech chopper. It can see through walls, record a whisper or level a city block. Distrusting the military mentality behind BLUE THUNDER, Murphy and his partner Lyman Good (Daniel Stern) soon discover that the remarkable craft is slated for use as the ultimate weapon in surveillance and crowd control. Jeopardized after being discovered by sinister Colonel Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), Murphy flies BLUE THUNDER against military aircraft in a spellbinding contest over Los Angeles.”
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s YouTube’s description: “You’re about to get personal with one of music history’s greatest and loudest heavy metal bands, Spinal Tap! Whether or not you’re a die-hard fan of the group, you’ll love this detailed “rockumentary” of England’s legendary Spinal Tap. Acclaimed commercial director Marty DiBergi takes you behind the scenes for an intimate look at a band whose time has come and gone and come again and.... Through interviews, rare footage and lots of music--including classic Tap tunes like “Big Bottom” and “Hell Hole”--you’ll get acquainted with David St. Hubbins (lead guitar), Nigel Tufnel (lead guitar), Derek Smalls (lead bass) and every drummer who ever lived--and died--for this renowned rock band. Be a part of the sights, sounds and smells of this celebrated heavy metal phenomenon. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.”
Rain Man (1988)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s YouTube’s description: “When Charlie Babbitt goes home to the Midwest for his estranged father’s funeral, he learns not only that he’s been cut out of his inheritance, but that he has a grown brother...Raymond...who has been sheltered almost all of his life in an East Coast institution for the developmentally disabled. Raymond is an autistic savant...a person who is severely limited in most mental areas but extremely gifted in others. After traveling to the institution, Charlie kidnaps Raymond but then finds that Raymond will only fly Qantas. The two then begin a long cross-country odyssey in their father’s 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible...a trip that will lead them to understanding and love, and for Charlie a kind of redemption.”
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Warner Bros.’ description: “This high-voltage sequel continues the adventures of Los Angeles detectives Riggs and Murtaugh (Oscar-winner Mel Gibson and Danny Glover) as they try to thwart a smuggling ring of blond South African diplomats. Gibson finds romance this time around, and Academy Award- winner Joe Pesci (Goodfellas, My Cousin Vinny) joins the team as fast-talking con artist Leo Getz. At the Movies calls this ‘Pure dynamite!...a summer blockbuster with enough humor, excitement and action for two movies,’ while Roger Ebert praises ‘Terrific... entertaining from one end to the other. Gene Shalit sums up all the cheers, calling it “even more fun than the original ...directed at a mile a minute by Richard Donner...lots of laughs’”
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Sony Pictures’ description: “A gripping, gut-wrenching thriller that delivers suspense in almost unbearable doses, IN THE LINE OF FIRE showcases Clint Eastwood at his finest. In a performance that won universal acclaim, Eastwoodstars as Frank Horrigan, a veteran Secret Service agent haunted by his failure to protect John F. Kennedy from assassination. Thirty years later, he gets a chance to redeem himself when a brilliant psychopath threatens to kill the current president and take Horrigan with him. Taunting him by phone and tantalizing him with clues, the assassin (John Malkovich) lures Horrigan into an electrifying battle of wits and will that only one man can survive. Co-starring Rene Russo as Horrigan’s risk-taking Field Chief, IN THE LINE OF FIRE is a high-wire balancing act of searing suspense, explosive action and surprising romance.”
Nick of Time (1995)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Paramount’s description: “The clock is ticking for Johnny Depp in Nick Of Time, a twist-filled, race-against-time thriller directed by John Badham (Drop Zone, Saturday Night Fever). And indeed it is a race, filmed in “real time” so that onscreen events unfold minute by nail-biting minute as they would in real life. No sooner does accountant Gene Watson (Depp) arrive at L.A.’s Union Station with his six-year-old daughter than he’s plunged into a nightmare. Two shadowy strangers (Christopher Walken, Roma Maffia) separate Watson from his little girl, slap a gun into his hand and present a devil’s bargain: kill a top government official before she leaves a nearby political rally... or never again see his beloved child. The clock starts now.”
Strange Days (1995)
Forget Paris (1995)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Warner Bros.’ description: “Mickey knows about marriage. He knows it won’t work if one partner is happy and the other miserable. No, a successful marriage requires both to be miserable! Love is such sweet misery in the witty story of when basketball referee Mickey (Billy Crystal) met airline employee Ellen (Debra Winger). They fall head over croissants for each other in Paris, then reluctantly move on to pursue their careers, only to reunite passionately and make feverish domestic-bliss arrangements. Now the sticky part: making sure marriage doesn’t cure their love.”
Heat (1995)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s 20th Century Pictures’ description: “Academy Award-winners Robert DeNiro (‘Showtime,’ ‘Analyze This’) and Al Pacino (‘Insomnia,’ ‘Any Given Sunday’) -- together for the first time since ‘The Godfather Part II’ -- head a stellar cast in this taut psychological drama about an obsessive detective and a brilliant thief whose fates are linked in the aftermath of a high-stakes securities heist.”
Escape From LA
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Paramount’s description: “The man with the patch is back. Call him Snake. Kurt Russell rejoins filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill to do to the Big Orange what they did to the Big Apple in Escape From New York, with even more futuristic thrills and slam-bang action! Into the 9.6-quaked Los Angeles of 2013 comes Snake Plissken (Russell). His job: wade through L.A.’s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device. Don’t miss the excitement as Snake surfs Wilshire Blvd., shoots hoops at the Coliseum, dive bombs the Happy Kingdom theme park, and mixes it up with a wild assortment of friends, fiends and foes (Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, George Corraface, Cliff Robertson, Pam Grier and more). Escape From L.A. is a “go-for-broke action extravaganza!” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).”
Mission Impossible III (2006)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Paramount’s description: “This is Mission: Impossible...like you’ve never seen it before! Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt in this pulse-pounding thrill ride directed by J.J. Abrahms (Lost, Alias). Lured back into action by his agency superiors (Laurence Fishburne and Billy Crudup), Ethan faces his deadliest adversary yet - a sadistic weapons dealer named Owen Davian (Oscar® winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman). With the support of his IMF team (Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q), Ethan leaps into spectacular adventure from Rome to Shanghai as he races to rescue a captured agent (Keri Russell) and stop Davian from eliminating his next target: Ethan’s wife, Julia (Michelle Monaghan).”
Hancock (2008)
Haven’t seen it? Here’s Sony Pictures’ description: “Academy Award® nominee Will Smith (Best Actor, The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006) stars in this action-packed comedy as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public. When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman, Juno), his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again--until he meets a woman (2003 Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron, Best Actress, Monster) with similar powers to his and the key to his secret past.”