Real place hidden underneath
Set: Arkansas to the Grand Canyon · Shot: California, Colorado, Utah · 1990
Thelma & Louise
Engine idling at the side of the road.
Arkansas was Los Angeles. The Grand Canyon was a rim outside Moab. Peel off the signs, check the mirror once, and find where it all really is.
Where this comes from
Wrong state
Welcome to Arkansas.
Except it isn’t.
The story drives west from Arkansas. The film crew never went there. Peel each sign back from the corner.
Real place hidden underneath
Real place hidden underneath
Real place hidden underneath
Four state signs. None of them is telling the truth. Peel one.
Callie Khouri and Ridley Scott wanted the scenery to play a key part in the story.
Callie Khouri, in her first feature script, wins the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Tarzana, in Los Angeles, stood in for Thelma’s neighbourhood in Arkansas. The Arkansas diner where Louise works was shot at DuPar’s Restaurant in Thousand Oaks. The country-and-western bar where the two meet Harlan was the Silver Bullet Saloon in Long Beach.
A private residential neighbourhood: named here, not mapped. Please leave the residents be.
Where this comes from
From Lockwood Valley to the rim
Check the mirror.
Then drive on.
Drive the real route. Each place you leave slides into the mirror and shrinks; the odometer rolls the straight-line miles between real coordinates.
Nothing behind you yet
The road behind is empty.
miles, as the crow flies
Stop 1 of 9: Lockwood Valley. Nothing in the mirror yet. Drive on.
0 miles · Lockwood Valley, Ventura County, California
Lockwood Valley
Gorman and Lockwood Valley stood in for Arkansas.
Filming began around 11 June 1990 and ended on 31 August 1990, entirely on location in Southern California, Colorado and Utah.
A roadside stop near an oil field was shot in the San Joaquin Valley outside Bakersfield, a road near the Tehachapi Mountains was used, and a train sequence was filmed in Shafter.
Gorman and Lockwood Valley stand in for Arkansas.
Filming starts around 11 June 1990 and ends on 31 August; the cast and crew spend August in Moab.
A thinly settled valley north of Mount Pinos. Drive through on the public roads and stay off private land.
Where this comes from
Filming starts around 11 June 1990 and ends on 31 August; the cast and crew spend August in Moab.
Where this comes from
Off I-70, Grand County, Utah
Two towns
nobody stayed in.
North of Moab the interstate runs past places that emptied long ago. The film used the emptiness twice.
Thompson Springs: the tanker
Thompson Springs sits off I-70 between Green River and Cisco. It was remote enough to blow up an 18-wheeler for the film.
Visit Utah lists Thompson Springs for other shots in the film too.
Nearby Sego Canyon has petroglyph panels, with a marked parking lot and plaques.
A near-empty hamlet just off I-70. Look from the road; the old buildings are not open.
Where this comes from
Cisco: the chase
The police chase was shot in Cisco. Cisco is in Grand County near the Colorado border, where SR-128 meets I-70.
It began in the 1880s as a saloon and water stop, faded with the steam engines, and had taken its present shape, abandoned cars and buildings, by the early 1990s. That bleakness suited the chase.
Cisco has one resident, the caretaker for the Home of the Brave artist-in-residence programme.
About an hour from Moab. Look from the road and leave the ruins and vehicles as they are.
Where this comes from
Moab, August 1990
Three cars.
Three keys.
The production had three identical Thunderbirds for the last shot. Take a key off the ring.
Three identical turquoise 1966 Thunderbirds. Three keys. Pick one.
Where this comes from
There was no special effect: the cars were real, stripped to make them lighter, with dummies wearing plaster casts of the actors’ heads.
The AFI counts five 1966 Thunderbirds: a principal car, a back-up, a camera car cut open for equipment, and two stunt cars.
Where this comes from
The dummy is in the basement
The Thelma stunt dummy used for the final scene is on display here. The museum is on the lower level of Red Cliffs Lodge, on UT-128 at mile post 14. Entry is free.
Visit Utah calls it a free Movie Museum, with props from films shot round Moab, including this one.
Where this comes from
Red Cliffs Lodge
Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage
Moab · Free · listed daily 8am–10pm, call to check
Posters, scripts, production photographs and props from films shot round Moab, including the Thelma stunt dummy.
Museum detailsRed Cliffs Lodge
Red Cliffs Lodge
Moab · Rates on booking · 435-259-2002
On the Colorado River at mile post 14 of UT-128, minutes from Arches. The free film museum, with the Thelma stunt dummy, is downstairs.
Check roomsDead Horse Point State Park, Utah
Not the Grand Canyon.
A rim outside Moab.
The cliff Louise calls the Grand Canyon is really Dead Horse Point State Park. Visit Utah says the final scene was shot at Fossil Point, outside Moab, which you can see from Dead Horse Point State Park.
The Utah Film Commission says the crew drove out on the Shafer Trail to a spot now called Thelma & Louise Point. The Thunderbird’s last shot was the last scene filmed before the wrap.
The film ends here, and we leave it here. What you will find today is a park, a view and a marker.
A Utah Film Trail marker stands at the park for the film’s best-known moment. Each marker carries a QR code. The Utah Film Commission and the Utah Office of Tourism launched the trail in March 2025 with 20 sites.
Open 6am to 10pm all year; visitor centre 7am to 5pm. $20 a private vehicle, no entry reservation needed.
Where this comes from
The film opens in Los Angeles and New York on 24 May 1991. The film is added to the National Film Registry.
Where this comes from
Utah State Parks
Dead Horse Point State Park
Moab · $20 a private vehicle · no reservation needed
The rim that played the Grand Canyon, with a Utah Film Trail marker. Open 6am to 10pm; visitor centre 7am to 5pm.
Plan a visit
Utah State Parks
Yurts and camping at Dead Horse Point
Dead Horse Point · Yurts $150 · RV sites $60 peak, $50 off-peak
Sleep on the mesa above the rim. Yurts include the day-use fee; Moenkopi yurts take pets, Wingate yurts do not.
Plan a stayKeep going.
Here is where it all is now.
Where it is now
9 places you can visit, from Lockwood Valley in California to the rim at Dead Horse Point. Thelma’s street in Tarzana is private: named, not mapped. Fossil Point is seen from the park and not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A thinly settled valley north of Mount Pinos. Drive through on the public roads and stay off private land.
Lockwood Valley from the Mount Pinos road, California. David Prasad · CC BY-SA 2.0 Lockwood Valley, Ventura County, California
Lockwood Valley
Gorman and Lockwood Valley stood in for Arkansas.
A thinly settled valley north of Mount Pinos. Drive through on the public roads and stay off private land.
Where this comes from
Stay
A lodge on the river, a yurt on the rim.
Red Cliffs Lodge, with the film museum downstairs, and the yurts and campsites at Dead Horse Point.
Red Cliffs Lodge
Red Cliffs Lodge
Moab · Rates on booking · 435-259-2002
On the Colorado River at mile post 14 of UT-128, minutes from Arches. The free film museum, with the Thelma stunt dummy, is downstairs.
Check roomsUtah State Parks
Yurts and camping at Dead Horse Point
Dead Horse Point · Yurts $150 · RV sites $60 peak, $50 off-peak
Sleep on the mesa above the rim. Yurts include the day-use fee; Moenkopi yurts take pets, Wingate yurts do not.
Plan a stayGo there
Two parks, a museum, a canyon road.
Dead Horse Point, Arches, the Moab film museum, the Unaweep/Tabeguache byway, and tours out of Moab.
Utah State Parks
Dead Horse Point State Park
Moab · $20 a private vehicle · no reservation needed
The rim that played the Grand Canyon, with a Utah Film Trail marker. Open 6am to 10pm; visitor centre 7am to 5pm.
Plan a visit
National Park Service
Arches National Park
Moab · $30 a private vehicle
Courthouse Towers, where the trooper ends up in his own boot, is on the main road just inside the entrance.
Fees and passesRed Cliffs Lodge
Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage
Moab · Free · listed daily 8am–10pm, call to check
Posters, scripts, production photographs and props from films shot round Moab, including the Thelma stunt dummy.
Museum details
Visit Telluride
Unaweep/Tabeguache Scenic Byway
Western Colorado · Free · self-drive
133 miles on Highways 141 and 145 from Grand Junction to Telluride, through Unaweep Canyon. Allow at least three hours.
Route details
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Moab jeep and canyon tours
Moab
Live marketplace results for tours round Moab and Canyonlands. None is a Thelma & Louise tour as such: check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
A weekend in Moab.
The Moab Folk Festival, 6–8 November 2026. Not a film event, but a good reason to be there.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
The poster, the memoir, the soundtrack.
An original 1991 one-sheet from our store, Geena Davis’s memoir and the soundtrack album.
Printed Originals · Our poster store
Thelma & Louise — one-sheet (1991)
An original 1991 one-sheet, 27 x 40 in, rolled; mint condition.
In stock
View poster
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Dying of Politeness
Geena Davis
Geena Davis’s memoir, in the 2023 HarperOne paperback.
Find the book
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eBay · Ad / affiliate
Thelma & Louise: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various Artists · CD, MCA, 1991
The soundtrack album, released by MCA on 30 April 1991.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Keep going.
Where this comes from
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 20 of 20 Moments
Thelma’s street, Tarzana
Tarzana, Los Angeles (private homes)
Arkansas
Tarzana, in Los Angeles, stands in for Thelma’s Arkansas neighbourhood.
The screenplay
Callie Khouri, in her first feature script, wins the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Lockwood Valley
Lockwood Valley, Ventura County, California
The road out
Gorman and Lockwood Valley stand in for Arkansas.
Ten weeks on the road
Filming starts around 11 June 1990 and ends on 31 August; the cast and crew spend August in Moab.
Opening day
The film opens in Los Angeles and New York on 24 May 1991.
Thompson Springs
Thompson Springs, Grand County, Utah
The tanker
An 18-wheeler is blown up in the empty country round Thompson Springs.
Cisco
Cisco, Grand County, Utah
The chase
The police chase is shot in the ghost town of Cisco.
Unaweep Canyon
Highway 141, Mesa County, Colorado
The phone call
Hal Slocumb tries to talk them into giving themselves up, with Unaweep Canyon behind.
Paradox Valley
Paradox, Montrose County, Colorado
Arizona
Grand Junction and Paradox Valley stand in for Arizona and New Mexico.
The La Sal Mountains road
La Sal, San Juan County, Utah
Opening credits
The opening credits play over a black-and-white view of the La Sal Mountains.
Courthouse Towers
Arches National Park, near the entrance
The trooper
Pulled over for speeding, they take the trooper’s gun and lock him in the boot of his car.
New Mexico
Utah stands in for New Mexico, where the women are pulled over.
Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage
Red Cliffs Lodge, mile post 14, UT-128, Moab
The dummy
The Thelma stunt dummy from the final scene goes on show at the museum in Red Cliffs Lodge.
Fifty miles from Moab
About half the film is shot within 50–60 miles of Moab.
Dead Horse Point State Park
Dead Horse Point, San Juan County, Utah
The Grand Canyon
The cliff Louise calls the Grand Canyon is Dead Horse Point.
On the Film Trail
A Utah Film Trail marker goes up at Dead Horse Point.
National Film Registry
The film is added to the National Film Registry.
Fossil Point (“Thelma & Louise Point”)
Below Dead Horse Point, near Moab
The last shot
The Thunderbird’s flight off the rim is the last scene filmed before the wrap.
Three Thunderbirds
Three identical turquoise 1966 Thunderbirds: the first goes over in a nose dive, the second gives the flying shot, and the third is still seen on Moab’s streets.
Five, by another count
The AFI counts five 1966 Thunderbirds: a principal car, a back-up, a camera car cut open for equipment, and two stunt cars.