From 'Rain Man' to a James Bond hit, did you know these movies were filmed in Kentucky?

“Blockbuster hits” is not the first thing people think of when Kentucky comes to mind. Horses and bourbon, yes, but the Bluegrass State isn’t exactly known for attracting film crews and star-studded casts.

There are actually quite a few popular movies that have been filmed in Kentucky. For some films, like “Secratariat” and “The Coalminer’s Daughter,” the state was the obvious choice for the backdrop because of its connection to the story, but some films on the list may surprise you.

Here's a list of some of the top movies filmed in Kentucky:

"Raintree County" (1957)

"Raintree County" is based on the 1948 novel with the same title by Ross Lockridge Jr. and tells the story of an abolitionist (Montgomery Clift) who falls for a Southern belle (Elizabeth Taylor) during the Civil War. 

The film had several shooting locations, including Mississippi, Tennessee, and two Kentucky spots —  the Liberty Hall Historic Site in Frankfort and areas in and near Danville.

According to TVGuide.com, director Edward Dmytryk said Clift started exhibiting strange behavior during filming, especially while they were in Danville, after he was injured in a car crash in the middle of production. During a celebratory dinner in the Kentucky town, Clift ordered his steak "blue-rare," nearly uncooked, and smothered it with butter and pepper before eating it with his bare hands. He also reportedly was found running naked through the town, and a policeman was stationed outside his hotel room door for the rest of filming in Danville. 

"Goldfinger" (1964)

The classic 007 film starring Sean Connery as James Bond is set mainly in England and Switzerland, but it was partially filmed at Fort Knox.

The plot centers around villain Goldfinger's plan to contaminate the gold kept at the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. The exterior of the real Fort Knox is shown in the movie, but all sets for the buildings' interiors were re-created at Pinewood Studios in England, according to movie-locations.com. 

"Goldfinger" was the first Bond film to receive an Academy Award, winning for Best Sound Effects Editing in 1965.

"Harlan County, USA" (1976)

"Harlan County, USA," the winner of the 1976 Oscar Award for Best Documentary, covers the Brookside Strike against the Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County.

Documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple originally began filming in Harlan County with plans to cover Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle, president of United Mine Workers of America from 1963 to 1972. She shifted the focus of her film when miners at the Brookside Mine in 1973 went on a strike that lasted more than a year. 

"With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs," according to the Criterion Collection, which includes the documentary in its library. "Featuring a haunting soundtrack ... the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line."

"Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980) 

There was no better place to film the biographical film of country music star Loretta Lynn than her home state. The movie was filmed in Letcher County, a little over an hour away from Johnson County, where Lynn was born and grew up. The story follows Lynn from her teen years to her rise to fame.

Whitesburg, Kentucky, newspaper The Mountain Eagle reported dozens of Letcher County residents found temporary work on set as extras while the movie was being filmed, filling in the background behind Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Lynn.

Read:Why country music icon Loretta Lynn thinks the genre is dead

"Stripes" (1981)

The military comedy starring Bill Murray and John Candy began filming in Kentucky in 1980 before it moved to California. The movie shot scenes at Fort Knox to create the fictional Fort Arnold, as well as in Louisville and on site at the Old Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont. Jim Beam allowed the crew to run a tank through some of its old warehouses that were no longer in use, according to the Kentucky Film Office. 

"Rain Man" (1988)

Parts of this Oscar Award-winning comedy-drama were filmed in Cincinnati, where the story is set, but the film crew crossed the border a few times to shoot scenes in Northern Kentucky. 

Shooting locations included Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, Kentucky, where the funeral scene was filmed, as well as St. Anne Convent in Melbourne and Pompilio's Italian Restaurant in Newport. 

Sister Alice Gerdeman, provincial superior of Congregation of Divine Providence at St. Anne Province Center, said in an interview with Cincinnati station WCPO that the convent was looking to collect funds for a transportation vehicle for sisters who were missionaries in West Africa, "so it worked out very well" to receive the payment for filming. The convent served as the set for the mental institution where Dustin Hoffman's character lived. 

The movie won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Check out:Here are the 5 best places to get a chocolate chip cookie in Louisville

Also:Take a break from the city with these 5 hiking spots within 50 miles of Louisville

"In Country" (1989)

Starring Emily Lloyd and Bruce Willis, "In Country" is based on the novel by Bobbie Ann Mason and takes place in the fictional Hopewell, Kentucky. 

To prepare for her role as a recent Kentucky high school graduate searching for information about her dead father, Lloyd stayed in Paducah with a local lawyer and his family, according to an archived article from The New York Times. She also trained to speak with a Kentucky accent. 

Many film scenes were shot in the Jackson Purchase region, where Mason grew up. The walk-in doctor's office seen in the film is a dry cleaners that was renamed "Clothes Doctor" after its appearance in the film, according to IMDb. 

"The Insider" (1999)

"The Insider," which stars Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, is based on a true story about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry. It was partially filmed in Louisville, where Wigand lived with his family at the time the story took place. The film used the actual courtroom in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where Wigand testified in real life. 

"Seabiscuit" (2003)

This film is loosely based on the story of Seabiscuit, a champion thoroughbred racehorse whose small size and unlikely success made him a media sensation and symbol of hope during the Great Depression. 

The colt grew up on a farm in Paris, Kentucky, where several scenes of the movie were shot. Lexington's Keeneland race track was used as Maryland's Pimlico Race Course, where Seabiscuit beat 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral by four lengths.

The movie's world premiere was at Lexington's Kentucky Theatre on July 19, 2003. It was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costume Design.

"Secretariat" (2010)

Another story of a legendary race horse, "Secretariat" chronicles the life of the 1973 Triple Crown winner.

The crew shot on location in both Lexington and Louisville for three weeks. Ahead of the Disney film's debut, writer Bill Doolittle reported that director Randall Wallace knew the on-location scenes in Kentucky would be crucial, "not just for the place, but for the people.”

The Kentucky Derby was shot at Churchill Downs, and the Belmont at Keeneland, Doolittle reported. The stands were filled with extras, including some who said they had been there when the actual Secretariat won the Derby. Secretariat's owner, Penny Chenery, was also in the stands and appeared in the movie. 

"The Stand-In" (2020)

Here's a bonus No. 11 that's not exactly "famous," as it hasn't yet been released.

“The Stand-In,” directed by Jamie Babbit and starring Drew Barrymore, was supposed to premiere in April at the Tribeca Film Festival, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The comedy tells the story of a washed-up movie star named Candy who gets caught for tax evasion. She has to go to rehab but hires her former stand-in, Paula, to go in her place. Candy soon uses Paula as a stand-in for everything in life she wants to avoid, but Paula starts taking over Candy’s career and even moving in with her boyfriend. 

The movie was filmed in Versailles and Lexington in February 2019. Saban Films recently secured distribution rights to the film, Deadline reported.

Reach trending reporter Emma Austin at eaustin@gannett.com or on Twitter at @emmacaustin.