In the movie the Ripley's are stated to come from Chicago, and that they are vacationing in the great forests of the north. Have they crossed the border into Canada? Or are they in some remote wilderness retreat in Illinois? The home of the 96er restaurant, Connie is ordering some sort of Great Canadian type of soup, so I was figuring that they were in Canada... however everything was filmed in California.
shareif you take the back lot tour at Universal Studios in Holywood the cabin is actually situated there from memory, pretty sure it was there when i went myself
seem to recall it being positioned on a huge field across from the "pool" they use for shots where movies require them being at see, Jaws for example
hope this helps
I think the person wants to know where it is located in the film.
http://captain-smiley.livejournal.com/
It's supposed to take place in Wisconsin.
shareActually, this the correct answer. The cabin is located in Bass Lake, CA. It is about 40 mins from Yosemite's South entrance off Highway 41. The cabin is a real cabin built specifically for the movie. I go to Bass Lake every year. Look at the credits at the end of the movie and this will confirm my answer. Trust me I am right. Great movie.
shareThey also filmed the movie there. Some scence like the night fishing scence was in a studio. The bar in the movie is a real bar at Bass Lake.
shareI've always placed it northern Minnesota. Any Canadianity cues are probably realistic in that region, not to mention both Ackroyd & Candy are from Ontario, Dan still has a place in our cottage country region here.
To the story of the bear, there's a Clare county in central Michigan. They probably just threw a dart on a Great Lakes region map for that one.
...top 50 http://www.imdb.com/list/ls056413299/
They refer to it only as the "Northern Woods". It's really obscure regarding the place where this movie is set. Yeah, the story of hte bear is in Clare county Michigan(oddly enough, Crooked Lake and Lake George resemble Bass Lake the closest in this county), but they also say(when they are riding horses on the trail) to look out for Wisconsin Rattlers. I'm thinking it could be either Wisconsin(I'm guessing Lac Courte Oreilles, Chief Lake or Round Lake) or Michigan(especially considering John Hughes was born in Lansing, Michigan, despite having much love for the Chicago area).
Wisconsin has a lot of lakes, but to narrow it down, much of them are among farmland, not wilderness. The Great Outdoors is set in the wilderness, thick with forests and campgrounds, and as Bass Lake(in California) is also among dense woodland area, so would the lake and campground area(and town) be if it was located in Wisconsin or Michigan?
Though, regarding this topic, I'd have two questions:
1. Where about around Bass Lake was the exterior of the cabin located? The interior is a set, but we see the deck and before they go waterskiing, the exterior of the cabin behind them.
2. Where was the carnival located? If you Google Earth search Bass Lake, you can find the area where the A&W Restaurant was located(the place where Roman was looking at the jet boat and Chet was buying hot dogs), an icon called "The Pines" is located at the far end of that street. Unless it was a traveling carnival or existed back in the 80s, it isn't there anymore(though it could've been shot somewhere else entirely).