Highlighting the biggest movies filmed in Monterey County, starring Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and more.

Monterey is no Hollywood.

But truth be told, a movie star pioneered political campaigns here well before Arnold Schwarzenegger left Hollywood to play governor in Sacramento.

Here's looking at you, Clint.

And right now people are looking at what Eastwood is doing—artistically and politically—a lot more than what the man behind Eraser, Raw Deal and Twins is doing, and deservedly so.

After all, Eastwood's breaking ground with pieces like American Sniper and Gran Torino, while Arnold is mining his legacy with Terminator 17. 

But let's focus on their similarities rather than their differences.

Both filmed movies here.

Junior and Play Misty for Me both appear on the list of major feature films set at least partly in Monterey County.

Much of the magic for many of them is drawn from the striking settings.

Hollywood, you're no Monterey.

The specific places and stars those films feature follow below, drawn from the Monterey County Film Commission's list of "Monterey County's Finest."

(Coincidentally, the deadline is nearing for Monterey County film students to apply for the Monterey County Film Commission’s Director Emeritus Richard Tyler Film Student Scholarship & Awards Program. A $2,000 award is up for grabs; applications must be postmarked by March 6, 2015. More at the commission's scholarship page.)

This list comes on the heels of the Weekly long-form feature by David Schmalz that explains how MCFC helps woo filmmakers to Monterey, "HBO’s True Detective is the latest buzz in a reel of epic films and shows set in the area."

Also, AMC television hit "Mad Men" recently brought Jon Hamm and the rest of his crew to Big Sur to shoot major chunks of the finale season, which kicks off April 5.

And finally, in chronological order, the most celebrated movies of the roughly 200 filmed in Monterey County all told:

1940

Rebecca

Actors: Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Studio: Selznick International Pictures

An Oscar-winning film, with scenes filmed at Point Lobos and Big Sur, tells the tale of a dark romance between a young wife (Fontaine) and a wealthy widower (Olivier) haunted by memories of his first wife.

1944

National Velvet

Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Anne Revere

Director: Clarence Brown

Studio: MGM

Elizabeth Taylor trains a horse that she won to enter the Grand National. A strong relationship develops between Taylor and her horse, showing scenes at Pebble Beach Golf Links, as they work towards their dream to conquer England’s famed race.

1955

East of Eden

Actors: James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet

Director: Elia Kazan

Studio: Warner Bros.

Based on John Steinbeck’s novel, the story of two brothers has scenes filmed in the Salinas Valley and outside Spreckels. 

1959

A Summer Place

Actors: Sandra Dee, Troy Donahue, Dorothy McGuire, Richard Egan

Director: Delmer Daves

Studio: Warner Bros.

A P.G. victorian mansion doubles as a Maine inn, and the backdrop for a double romance. The film tells the story of two teenagers and their parents falling in love, with scenes being filmed all around Monterey County: Colton Hall in Monterey, outside All Saint’s Episcopal Church in Carmel, at Point Lobos, Monterey Regional Airport, and Pebble Beach and Tennis Club’s pier.

1971

Play Misty for Me

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills

Director: Clint Eastwood

Studio: Universal Pictures

Eastwood fills this movie with scenes filmed all over the peninsula including: Carmel Highlands, Carmel Beach, the Windjammer Restaurant (not the Sandbar and Grill), KRML radio station (originally at the Carmel Rancho Shopping Center), the Monterey Fairgrounds, the Sardine Factory restaurant, and throughout Carmel-by-the-Sea. Eastwood plays the role of a disc jockey who starts to become involved with a female fan, only to find out that she is a psychopathic woman who later stalks him.

1986

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks

Director:Leonard Nimoy

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk and his crew must travel back to the 20th century to capture two humpback whales. Hicks plays the role of a cetacean biologist, who appears at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was described as the fictitious Cetacean Institute in Sausalito.

1989

Turner and Hooch

Actors: Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson

Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

A comic thriller set largely at the intersection of Pacific Grove’s Lighthouse and Forest Avenues, and along Ocean View Boulevard, stars Hanks as a detective who receives a murder case with one witness, the victim’s slobbery mastiff.

1992

Basic Instinct

Actors: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Studio: Carolco Pictures

Carmel Highlands, Carmel Valley Village and Garrapata Beach are the backdrop for the legendary psychological trip. Stone is a novelist who tries to capture the attention of a police detective as he investigates a murder case bearing a strong resemblance to a murder in one of Stone’s books.

1994

Junior

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Devito, Emma Thompson

Director: Ivan Reitman

Studio: Universal Pictures

A movie pregnant with possibilities, and scenes filmed in Pacific Grove, along Highway 1 and at Carmel Valley’s posh Stonepine Estate. The backdrop sets the scene for two male scientists who attempt to test an anti-miscarriage drug, which results in Schwarzenegger getting pregnant and bonding with his unborn baby.

2001

Bandits

Actors: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett

Director: Barry Levinson

Studio: MGM

A former bank in Oldtown Salinas at Main Street and Gabilan provides the backdrop for a scene in which Willis and Thornton play two fugitive bank robbers who travel through Oregon and California in order to finance their South-of-the-Border retirement dream.

2002

We Were Soldiers

Actors: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear

Director: Randall Wallace

Studio: Icon Entertainment International

The south portion of Monterey County stands in for Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the battles at Ia Drang occurred. Many locals played extras  for the war drama based on the first battle between the United States and North Vietnam.

Hannah Lonergan contributed to this story.