The twin buttes of Monument Valley ("the Mittens"), the "Totem Pole", and the "Ear of the Wind" arch, among other features, have developed iconic status. They have appeared in many television programs, commercials, and Hollywood movies, especially Westerns.[citation needed]
Monument Valley Panorama, taken from the Visitor Center and showing "the Mittens", Merrick Butte and the road which makes a loop-tour through the Park
Motion pictures
Films
John Ford's Point in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, has had an enduring influence in making the Valley famous. After that first experience, Ford returned nine times to shoot Westerns — even when the films were not set in Arizona or Utah (see The Searchers, set in Texas, but filmed here). A popular lookout point is named in his honor as "John Ford's Point". It was used by Ford in a scene from The Searchers where an American Indian village is attacked.[2][3][4][5]
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), directed by Sergio Leone, although shot for the most part in Spain and Italy, features two scenes shot on location in Monument Valley. Ruins of the movie set can still be seen.
Easy Rider (1969), directed by and co-starring Dennis Hopper, includes some footage of Monument Valley towards its beginning.
The Eiger Sanction (1975), directed by Clint Eastwood, was partly filmed in Monument Valley; both Eastwood and George Kennedy were filmed on top of the Totem Pole, which has been off-limits to climbers since the movie was filmed here.
Wild America (1997) features scenes of Monument Valley.
The Return of Navajo Boy (2000), a documentary about uranium contamination of Navajo lands, was shot largely in Monument Valley where its central characters live. Additionally, the film deconstructs historical media depictions of Navajos and the land where they live (including Monument Valley).
The opening scene of Vertical Limit (2000) features several rock climbers in Monument Valley.
In Windtalkers (2002), the opening and closing scenes are filmed in Monument Valley.
In Cars (2006), a spoof of Monument Valley called "Ornament Valley" is shown as a once-popular side trip for cars entering Radiator Springs from U.S. Route 66. In keeping with the automotive theme of the film, the peaks are shaped like the hood ornaments of cars. A map shown in a flashback places Radiator Springs in a Peach Springs, Arizona-like position with respect to US66/I-40, but depicts the valley as local instead of 175 miles further north at the edge of the state.
Alex Cox's film Searchers 2.0 (2007) is about a road trip to Monument Valley. The final scenes feature a rare depiction of the area covered in snow.
Jacques Mesrine and his mistress were arrested near Monument Valley in the film Mesrine (2008).
Location sequences for the documentary Reel Injun (2009), on the history of Native Americans in the movies.
The Lone Ranger (2013) filmed numerous scenes in Monument Valley.
In The Lego Movie (2014) it is depicted in the early part of the movie
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) - One of the ending scenes shows a convoy of trucks, one of which contains an Allosaurus traveling through Monument Valley.
The rugged desert scenery for the Coyote and Road Runner (1949-) cartoons takes much of its inspiration from Monument Valley.
In the 1978 Super Friends episode "The Pied Piper from Space", alien space ships abduct children, including the Wonder Twins, and they board the spaceships at Monument Valley.
In the 1980s American action/espionage television series Airwolf, a hollowed butte is portrayed as the secret hiding place ("The Lair") of the eponymous high-tech military helicopter. Monument Valley is renamed the "Valley of the Gods" in this series. The actual Valley of the Gods is a few miles north in Utah. The shots of The Lair were actually a mix of matte paintings and shots from three locations within close proximity of each other.
The MacGyver episode "Eagles" (Season 2, Episode 8) has shots in the Valley. MacGyver is gathering eggs from an eagle's nest on top of a butte.
In their final television series De Reis vol Verrassingen, the Dutch duo Bassie en Adriaan spend an entire episode in Monument Valley. Among other things, clown Bassie performs a rain dance in front of The Three Sisters.
In the made-for-TV movie 10.5: Apocalypse, Monument Valley is flooded from seismic activity.
The 2011 Doctor Who episodes "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" contain sequences shot in Monument Valley (although not in the exact location given in the episode). This was the first time Doctor Who has filmed principal photography on location in America. Past episodes that take place in America were never shot in the US, including the 1996 TV film which takes place in San Francisco but was shot in Vancouver.
In a 2014 Adult Swim bump Monument Valley was shown with lights going through the trails.
Numerous scenes from the HBO series Westworld were filmed in Monument Valley.
Monument Valley appears in the third-season premiere of the television adaptation of The Man in the High Castle, titled "Now More Than Ever, We Care About You." In this alternate history, the Empire of Japan tests an atomic bomb there.
Advertising
The implied association with John Wayne's tough, macho character made the buttes a natural choice as the background for the Marlboro Man in the marketing of Marlboro-brand cigarettes from the 1950s.[citation needed]
Fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar used Monument Valley as a backdrop for a fashion editorial shot by Yasuhiro Wakabayashi for the January 1969 issue.
Games
The video game AeroWings for the Dreamcast console has a stage set in Monument Valley.
In the video game F29 Retaliator, the American Desert area includes a base set in Monument Valley.
Bone County featured in GTA: San Andreas is based on Monument Valley.
The PlayStation 3 video game MotorStorm released JP:December 14, 2006 NA:March 6, 2007 PAL:March 23, 2007 is an aggressive off-road racing game set in Monument Valley.
In the video game Need for Speed: Shift and its sequel Shift 2: Unleashed, the fictional track Ambush Canyon is situated in a region strikingly similar to Monument Valley.
There is a stage that features Monument Valley in the video game Tekken.
In the video game The King of Fighters '96, the Art of Fighting Team stage is set in Monument Valley.
In the video game Red Dead Redemption, the region Diez Coronas, Nuevo Paraiso strongly resembles Monument Valley.
In the video game Counter-Strike, the outside of the map fy_pool_day resembles Monument Valley.
Rock band Eagles used Monument Valley on the cover of their 1985 UK Best of album. It shows the U.S. Route 163 heading south towards the East and West Mittens
The 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD features the West Mitten of Monument Valley on the cover.
The cover of Christian rock group Petra's 1989 album Petra Praise: The Rock Cries Out shows the band posing on top of one of the rock formations in Monument Valley.
Panoramas of Monument Valley were frequently shown in Kanye West's music video Bound 2 in November 2013.
^Movshovitz, Howard (1984). "The Still Point: Women in the Westerns of John Ford". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 7 (3, Women on the Western Frontier). University of Nebraska Press: 68–72. doi:10.2307/3346245. JSTOR3346245.
^Darby, Ken. Hollywood Holyland The Filming and Scoring of The Greatest Story Ever Told. Rowman and Littlefield. The late Ken Darby, a three-time winner for musical adaptation, presents a behind- the-camera portrait of the late George Stevens' 1965 "Holyland", which he built in Utah's Monument Valley in order to film The Greatest Story Ever Told: 160 prefab aluminum bungalows housed over 400 artisans, actors, and technicians
