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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 
filming locations (1988)


Beaulieu-sur-Mer

Riviera Locations:  • Grand Casino de Beaulieu, Avenue Fernand Dunan, 06310 Beaulieu-sur-Mer
 •  La Rotonde Lenotre, Avenue Fernand Dunan 06310 – Beaulieu-sur-mer

 

• Director : Frank Oz • Cast : Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly • Genre : Comedy • Runtime : 110 min • Country: USA
• Production year : 1988 • Rating : PG • Distributed by Orion Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shot over the June and July of 1988, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels served in the film as “Beaumont Sur Mer”, a fictional town with perhaps more than just a nod to Beaulieu, where several scenes were filmed.  Production notes tell us that the first casino scene was shot in The  Rotunde, a few yards from the actual Grand Casino de Beaulieu. Anton Rogers and Michael Caine appear on the magnificant terraces overlooking the marina. Built in 1898, this magnificant building, once a grand hotel, is a prime example of Belle Epoch architecture and now serves as a conference centre and museum. 
On the corner of Avenue Fernand Dunan and Avenue Albert 1er, Steve Martin makes some purchases at Claude Bonucci, an upmarket clothes boutique which was housed in the Grand Casino de Beaulieu. Today the shop has gone, but the building remains the same and now houses adminstration offices for the casino. The telephone box in the background was removed in early 2014.

 

Then and Now

Cannes

 

Riviera Locations:  • Aéroport de Cannes – Mandelieu, 2
45 Avenue Francis Toner, 06150 Cannes La Bocca

Cannes Airport, officially Aéroport de Cannes – Mandelieu, featured in several scenes, notably when Steve Martin first opts to leave the Riviera on a TWA flight to the USA. In reality, the airport is focussed on business aviuation and attracts smaller, private jets. The airport, liveried in the film with signs suggesting it is Beaumont-Sur-Mer Airport, is located 5km west of Cannes.

Anchor 7

Then and Now

Cap Ferat


Riviera Locations: Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, 06230 Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Boulevard du General de Gaulle, Cap Ferrat
Grand Hotel du Cap Ferat, Boulevard du Général de Gaulle, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

 

Numerous scenes were filmed at the Grand Hotel Cap Ferrat, one of the Riviera’s most exclusive and expensive hotels. Renamed in the film as the Grand Hotel Beaumont Sur Mer, the five star hotel is located in an enviable position on the peninsula of Ferrat, and has counted Charlie Chaplin, Paul McCartney and Gerard Depardieu among its guests. Extensively renovated in 2009, the hotel still remainsthe destination for wealthy cosmopolitan clientele, as it did when it was opened in 1908.Caine had been a regular visitor to Cap Ferrat in years gone by as he was good friends with actor David Niven, who had a house on the peninsula, which can still be seen today. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake of Bedroom Story, a film that David Niven played the lead role in.

 

Later on the film, a wheelchair-bound Steve Martin and Glenn Headly
share a drink by the Grand Hotel’s swimming pool. A brief scene shows
Michael Caine and Steve Martin, as Ruprecht, driving in a Rolls Royce
along Boulevard du General de Gaulle on Cap Ferrat.

 

 

Anchor 8

Further north along the peninsula, Steve Martin and Michael Caine visit The Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild, which becomes a leading art gallery in the film and one to whom Caine has donated much of his precious money (“Mrs Everson’s brooch paid for its preservation). With pink columns and marble arches aplenty, and the early 20th century villa’s gardens are classified by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France. Evocative of an Italian palazzo, the façades of the Villa are rich in references to the Florence and Venice schools. It is open to the public year-round for an admission price of 12.5 Euros, and affords wonderful views across the bays of Villefranche on one side, and Beaulieu on the other.

Then and Now

© Riviera On Film 2014

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