October Sky
The opening of October Sky in February 1999 marked the debut of one of the most notable—and positive—portrayals of West Virginia in cinematic history.

The Universal Pictures film tells the story of Hickam's (portrayed by actor Jake Gyllenhaal) upbringing in late-1950s Coalwood, W.Va., and his desire to create a future for himself very different to the mining life of his father and most other Coalwood residents.

After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, a dream unfolds for Homer and his friends, and the movie illustrates the perseverance of the "rocket boys" in making that dream come true. (October Sky is an anagram of Rocket Boys.)

Perhaps because the movie is based on a memoir, it avoids West Virginia stereotypes common in popular culture. The film is peopled with recognizable and sympathetic characters: Hickam's friends, their inspiring teacher (portrayed by Laura Dern), Hickam's supportive mother (Natalie Canerday), and his proud, practical-minded father (Chris Cooper).

October Sky even includes a mention of WVU—sort of. In one scene, Homer's brother is recruited as a football player by "the University of West Virginia." Recently, Hickam told an interviewer that he tried to get the producers to correct that mistake, but they did not re-shoot the scene.

Patch Adams
Released last December, Patch Adams has a less obvious West Virginia tie-in than October Sky.

The popular Robin Williams comedy-also released by Universal—explores the medical career of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams and his efforts to emphasize love, laughter, and hope in the healing process.

Dr. Adams went on to found the Gesundheit! Institute, a 40-bed free hospital in Hillsboro, W.Va. He spoke at WVU several years ago about his hoic approach to wellness.

Making Movies Here
Though they relate to West Virginia directly or indirectly, neither October Sky nor Patch Adams did any filming in the state. The October Sky producers recreated Coalwood in Tennessee.

West Virginia is no stranger to movie cameras, however. Most recently, a couple of small films brought lights, camera, and action to the Mountain State.

Shot partially in Wheeling over a five-week period, 1998's Whatever is a girl's coming-of-age story set in the early 1980s. Michelle Yahn, a producer of the film and a native of Wheeling, suggested shooting the movie—set in New Jersey—there.

Mothman, according to its creators, is "a live-action film about a young artist and an urban legend from Point Pleasant, W.Va." Shot partially on location in Point Pleasant, the film—currently in need of a theatrical or video distributor—was written and directed by Douglas TenNapel and produced by Mark Russell and Jay Holben.

A brief history of other movies filmed at least partially in West Virginia includes:

• Chillers, a 1987 horror film directed by West Virginia State College communications faculty member Daniel Boyd, used Kanawha State Forest as a filming location. Boyd also directed 1990's Invasion of the Space Preachers and 1991's Paradise Park, both filmed in West Virginia.
• Sweet Dreams, a 1985 biography of Patsy Cline that starred Jessica Lange and Ed Harris, was shot partially in Martinsburg.
• The 1984 romance Reckless, starring Aidan Quinn and Darryl Hannah, was filmed partially in Weirton.
• Weirton was also one of several locations used in 1978's powerful Vietnam War story The Deer Hunter, which won five Academy Awards. The film's cast included Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken.
• The classic 1955 thriller The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum, was filmed in Moundsville.
  
  Four-Star Flicks
  Two memorable films that are about West Virginia and were filmed in the state are:
  
• John Sayles's acclaimed 1987 film Matewan—filmed in Thurmond—explored the struggles of 1920s Mingo County coal miners to form a union. The cast included James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, and Jane Alexander. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for cinematography.
• The 1991 PBS documentary film The Dancing Outlaw, about Boone County eccentric Jesco White.

Yes, They Said 'West Virginia'
October Sky and Patch Adams are only the most recent films to give cinematic recognition to a place called West Virginia. Other films that make reference to West Virginia, but were not filmed here, run the gamut from 1991's Academy Award-winning Silence of the Lambs to forgettable fare such as the 1985 movie A Killing Affair, which Leonard Maltin described as "dreary goings-on in the Southern backwoods."

The 1994 Paul Newman vehicle Nobody's Fool featured a fictional WVU English professor trying to establish a better relationship with his rebellious father.

And of course, there was the excited character in the 1983 Tom Cruise movie All the Right Moves who, at the end of the movie, announces that he has been accepted to WVU on a football scholarship.

TV: Real to Surreal
On television, West Virginia had the somewhat dubious distinction of being the home of The Real McCoys ("from West Virginny, they came to stay/in sunny Californ-y-a"), but recently no series has mentioned West Virginia as often as The X-Files. Since its primary characters, FBI agents Mulder and Scully, are based in Washington, D.C., references to nearby West Virginia make sense.

Among the episodes that most memorably feature West Virginia are 731, in which Scully discovers a leper colony in the state that hides more sinister secrets, and Small Potatoes, a humorous episode that begins when several babies are born with tails in Martinsburg. Last season's One Son also included West Virginia references.