Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon at the Portland red carpet premiere of "Wild," in 2014. Photo: The Oregonian/file

Decades before "Wild," "Grimm," "Portlandia" or "The Goonies," there was "The Fisherman's Bride." While this particular effort, a silent film released in 1909, hasn't lived on in cinematic memory, it holds a significant place in local history. "The Fisherman's Bride," shot in Astoria, is considered to be the first movie filmed on location in Oregon.

It wasn't until 1968, though, that the Oregon film office – formally known as the Oregon Governor's Office of Film & Television – was created. Much has changed in the state and in the film and TV industries since then, but the mission of what's often called Oregon Film continues to be to support, promote and make connections for both home-grown productions and movies and TV projects that come from elsewhere to shoot here.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Oregon film and TV office. But, perhaps reflecting Oregon’s casual style, the celebration has been more low-key than glitzy.

“As an office, we’re not doing a big production,” says Tim Williams, executive director of the state film and TV office. ”We’re here for economic development, so there’s no reason for us to publicize us.”

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“We have spent a lot of time as an office talking about economic development and incentives,” says Williams, who joined the film office in 2014. But media production in Oregon also has a major cultural impact, he says, and influence on the state’s image, both within our borders and beyond.

It’s hard to measure how many people are motivated to explore Oregon because of movies or TV, Williams says. But from an anecdotal perspective, he points to “Wild,” the 2014 movie adaptation of Portland-based author Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

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Reese Witherspoon in "Wild." Photo: Anne Marie Fox/Fox Searchlight

“’Wild’ ended at the Bridge of the Gods,” says Williams, referring to the toll bridge that spans the Columbia River, located between Oregon’s Cascade Locks and Washington’s North Bonneville. “The year after ‘Wild’ came out,” Williams says, foot traffic across the bridge “went up 400 percent.”

The film and TV office 50th anniversary has also brought a film history mural and poster exhibit, installed in the Portland International Airport’s south pedestrian tunnel, connecting the parking garage to the terminal.

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David Giuntoli and Russell Hornbsy in "Grimm." Photo: NBC

The mural represents key areas of the Oregon landscape, including the coast, Portland, Mt. Hood, the Columbia River Gorge, Eastern and Central Oregon. The exhibit also features 21 posters, chosen from among the more than 450 movies and TV shows that have filmed in Oregon since “The Fisherman’s Bride” kicked it all off.

Notable Oregon-made movies have also been getting special screenings in the #OregonMade film series at Northeast Portland’s Hollywood Theatre.

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The series got off to an early start in November, 2017, with a 50th anniversary screening of “Paint Your Wagon,” a big-budget musical Western that filmed in 1968 outside Baker City, in Eastern Oregon.

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John Belushi in "Animal House." Photo: Universal Pictures

Other films so far shown in the series are director Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho”; the sensitive-adolescent classic, “Stand By Me”; and the multiple Oscar-winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Coming up in August is a 40th anniversary screening of “Animal House,” the college comedy that made the late John Belushi a movie star.

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Doug Whyte, executive director of the Hollywood Theatre, says that when Williams pitched him on the idea of showing classic Oregon-made films as part of a series for the film and TV office’s 50th anniversary, it sounded like a good idea.

“Any time we’ve shown a film that is Oregon-related, people really love to come out and see it,” says Whyte. “I think we’ve sold out every single screening of that series” in the 384-seat main auditorium.

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Whyte, who moved to Portland about 11 years ago, is struck by how much Oregon residents enjoy seeing Oregon onscreen.

“It’s pretty obvious that Oregonians love to watch our beloved state,” Whyte says. “When I lived in St. Louis, Missouri, I don’t feel like it was the same. This is such a beautiful state, and there’s this sort of pride people take in seeing these films on a big screen.”

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A behind-the-scenes photo of Lee Marvin, and members of the "Paint Your Wagon" crew in Oregon. Photo: The Oregonian/file

And that includes movies, Whyte says, that maybe haven’t aged too well -- or weren’t that great to begin with. “Even ‘Paint Your Wagon,’” he says of the musical that starred Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood and Jean Seberg, celebrities not known for their singing abilities

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Jean Seberg on the set of "Paint Your Wagon," in Oregon. Photo: The Oregonian/file

“People will still come out and see it,” Whyte says. “Maybe it’s not the best movie in the world. But, thankfully, there are some good Oregon-made films, too.”

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Doug Kenck-Crispin is resident historian with or.history.com, home of the "Kick Ass Oregon History" podcasts and tours. He has contracted with the state film and TV office to produce some podcasts and events in honor of the 50th anniversary, including a special podcast about the filming of "Paint Your Wagon."

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“That was the first film that the Oregon film office was involved with,” says Kenck-Crispin. The film office really started, he says, with Oregon Governor Tom McCall.

“He wanted to bring some industry to this state,” Kenck-Crispin says. “’Paint Your Wagon’ is a fantastic example of a financial boom in Baker County. All the hotel rooms were rented out, all the air conditioners in the county were purchased, cows and bulls were rented from local ranchers to essentially be living props in the film.”

To McCall’s credit, Kenck-Crispin says, “He was thinking, Oregon has everything that’s needed for these big Hollywood productions, including gorgeous scenery, that ruggedness, the natural beauty. That’s one of the things that appeals to me in these classic Oregon films, ‘Paint Your Wagon’ and ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’ being two great examples. The scenery is almost a character within the plot and the story of those films.”

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Matt Dillon on the Portland set of "Drugstore Cowboy," in 1988. Photo: The Oregonian/file

Movies filmed in urban areas also carry messages about Oregon history, Kenck-Crispin says. “In ‘Drugstore Cowboy,’ (director) Gus Van Sant gives a gritty look at junkies.” Though the movie came out in 1989, “As I walk around Old Town today, that’s still very relevant,” Kenck-Crispin says.

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Similarly, Kenck-Crispin says, the 1985 movie, “The Goonies,” made a lasting cultural impact, and continues to draw visitors to Astoria, where the movie filmed on location.

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Noah Wyle, Rebecca Romijn, John Harlan Kim, Lindy Booth and Christian Kane in "The Librarians." Photo: TNT

Recent years have also shown that Oregon is an effective location for TV series, with such shows as “Grimm,” “Portlandia,” “Leverage” and “The Librarians” building fan followings and focusing attention on Portland.

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Timothy Hutton, Christian Kane and crew members on the set of "Leverage" in Portland, in 2010. Photo: Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian Beth Nakamura

David Cress, a veteran producer whose credits include “Portlandia” and the Gus Van Sant movies, “Paranoid Park” and “Restless,” says the state film and TV office is “really invaluable” in helping promote and develop Oregon as a location and workers here as a resource.

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Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, filming "Portlandia" Season 7 in Portland. Photo: The Oregonian/file

“I’ve been watching the film office for 25 years with interest, and what’s happening now is very exciting,” says Cress. He credits the last three executive directors of the office – Steve Oster, Vince Porter and Williams – “for evolving it in a very smart way.”

Oregon's production incentive programs, which can rebate 20 percent of Oregon-based goods and services, are modest compared to states like Georgia, or British Columbia, Cress says. Thanks to efforts by Oster, who was a producer on "Grimm," and by Porter, the film office increased the focus on TV series production, Cress says, which was a good fit for the state.

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Davdi Giuntoli in "Grimm" Season 6. Photo: NBC

“’Grimm’ was a real perception change to the world,” Cress says, “that this was a place where you could get things done.”

Of Williams, Cress says, “The way he promotes the state feels very much more like it’s promoting the resources within the state. He creates a showcase to show what the state is capable of.”

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Cress remembers when locals used to talk about an “Oregon curse,” bemoaning the fact that movies shot in the state weren’t that great. That’s no longer the case, he says, thanks to well-received films such as the recent releases, “Lean on Pete” and “Leave No Trace.”

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And though such locally filmed series as “Grimm,” “Portlandia,” “The Librarians” and the one-season efforts, “Everything Sucks!” and “Here and Now” are gone, other projects have kept the Oregon production scene busy.

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Among the TV series to shoot in Oregon this year are Season 2 of the Netflix series, “American Vandal,” Season 3 of IFC’s “Documentary Now!,” an episode of the TBS comedy, “Angie Tribeca,” an ABC pilot, and Season 2 of the Netflix series, “The OA.”

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Coming soon are the “Pretty Little Liars” spinoff, “The Perfectionists,” a series set to air on Freeform; “Timmy Failure,” a Disney Studios adaptation of the book series by Stephan Pastis; and a TV version of Lindy West’s “Shrill,” which will star Aidy Bryant, of “Saturday Night Live.”

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Janel Parrish and Sasha Pieterse in "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists." Photo: Allyson Riggs/Freeform

Maybe they’ll eventually be included in a retrospective of Oregon-filmed projects, like the one the film and TV office shows at 50th anniversary movie screenings.

“We created this three-minute trailer of projects filmed in Oregon,” Williams says. “Literally every time we show it, people applaud.”

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Paul Newman and Henry Fonda on the Oregon set of "Sometimes a Great Notion." Photo: The Oregonian/file

Related: Our 50 favorite stars of Oregon-filmed movies and TV shows

Well before the establishment of the Oregon film and TV office, stars were coming to the state to film. Here's a round-up of some of our favorites, through the years, including James Stewart ("Bend of the River"), Paul Newman ("Sometimes a Great Notion"), Brad Pitt ("The Favor"), Angelina Jolie ("Foxfire") and Jennifer Aniston ("Management").

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Related: 25 best movies made in Oregon

What's your favorite filmed-in-Oregon movie? Do you admire the silent movie daring of Buster Keaton in "The General"? Swoon over the human-vampire love story in "Twilight"? Or prefer the adventures of "The Goonies"? Here's our list of the 25 best movies filmed in Oregon (OK, we'd probably add a few that have been released since we first wrote the list; feel free to share your suggestions).

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