Jeff Stein with the Iowa Almanac is in studio with us today to talk about a movie that was filmed in Iowa with a famous actor. On February 25th, 1977, residents of Dubuque learned they'd have some company that summer. A movie crew was set to produce a film with an $8 million budget, a major project for United Artists that year.
The movie was to be called "F.I.S.T.", an acronym standing for Federation of Inter-State Truckers, a fictional union. It told the story of Johnny Kovak, a Cleveland warehouse worker who becomes involved with the union and makes his way to the top of the leadership pack. In the starring role was Sylvester Stallone, fresh from writing and starring in "Rocky", which had won the Academy Award for best picture that year. SO THE MOVIE WAS SET IN CLEVELAND…WHY DID THE FILM'S PRODUCERS DECIDE TO FILM IN DUBUQUE?
Dubuque was selected because in some ways, it looked more like 1930s Cleveland than the real Cleveland did. That's because there were few rooftop television antennas on houses in Dubuque. The hilly terrain had always made receiving signals difficult, so the city was one of the first to embrace cable television...meaning no antennas.
Filming took place in May and June of 1977 in recognizable Dubuque locations such as the Dubuque Star Brewery, Sacred Heart Church, the Fourth Street Elevator, and the former Caradco manufacturing company. Stallone received a half-million dollars for his work--$350,000 for acting and $150,000 for rewriting the script. The next year, those reading the new official Dubuque City Directory found John and Anna Kovak listed--the fictional characters at the heart of the film, living at the address of the brick duplex used to portray their home in the movie.
Hundreds of citizens served as extras in the film, and they turned out to see themselves on the big screen, when the movie F.I.S.T. held its world premiere in Dubuque, the place it was filmed, on this date in 1978…45 years ago today.