Breaking Down the Fourth Wall: A Visit to the Barringer Meteor Crater from ‘Starman’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​For long as I can remember, I have been outright fascinated by locations that have been featured in iconic motion pictures. Because there’s something supremely cool about the fact that a group of people huddled together near a particular part of our everyday world in order to create something that likely brought joy into people’s lives and my fascination with said locations has led to me seek out movie meccas through the years, to the point where I actually made a long and winding pilgrimage to visit the spot where my favorite movie of all time was filmed.
 
But that particular story and journey belong to another place and time, because today, I want to take a moment and geek out with all of you fine folks today about the genesis of my obsession with these amazing locales. Because before I started to seek out everyday places where stars stood before the cameras on my own, I had a helping hand from my equally geeky father, who quite frankly, did plenty to encourage my budding nerdiness while I was growing up, to the point where he once outright went out of the way to ensure that I saw one of the coolest movie locations to ever grace the silver screen; the Barringer Meteor Crater that was featured in the 1984 film, Starman.
 
For in that film, the crater in question is featured prominently in the third act of the story as (SPOILERS) the Starman and his newfound love Jenny Haden travel into its lowest point so that he can rendezvous with his people and return to his world, in turn saving his life. And well, I will never forget watching this movie on VHS growing up, with my father no less, and wondering aloud as to whether or not that crater was actually real or a movie set, and my dad was happy to let me know that it was real and that he knew exactly where the crater was in Arizona, since he was a native of the state and just like that, the light bulb went off in my brain and I didn’t even hesitate to ask as to whether or not I could see it the next time we drove toward Phoenix to visit my grandparents.
 
My father let me know that we just might, and at the time, that was all that I needed and since I often found myself digging into anything that I discovered in film, I made a point to learn more about the Barringer Crater by way of books from the library and any other materials I could get my hands on at the time since the internet had yet to be invented because hey, I’m old. But I digress. Because eventually, we started planning one of our bi-annual road trips to Phoenix, and of course, with the movie still on my mind I was quick to ask my dad once again if we would in fact get the opportunity to see the crater and all of its wonders. I of course, got the obligatory ‘maybe’, and let I be, but little did I know that my dad was already working out the route and the timing to make a visit to the crater happen.
 
Which naturally allowed for this voyage to grandpa and grandma’s seem like the usual road trip for my family, and while I had plenty of books to read and plenty of other things to keep my mind busy in the car, in the back of my mind I was still wondering if maybe, just maybe, we’d have time to stop in Winslow and see the crater in question. If anything, the early morning start we jumped upon after an evening stay in Albuquerque should have been a clue that something was up since we never hit the road at the absolute crack of dawn, but my cluelessness ended up working to my benefit, for a little while after we crossed the state line into Arizona, I couldn’t help but notice that my dad took the exit leading into Winslow. Of course, he said we needed gas, but my father loves to draw out a big moment in that fashion and once we pulled up to the little gift shop and restaurant that Jenny and the Starman visit in the film, ironically to enjoy some lunch with pie, my father revealed that the crater was our next stop and well, I was just over the moon.
 
Which meant that my face was glued to the window once we hit the road again, simply because I couldn’t wait to see it, and well…it was definitely worth the wait and the surprise. For it’s difficult to put into words the enormity of the Barringer Meteor Crater, which seemingly goes on forever once you step outside of the visitor’s center featured there, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the scientific learning available to me at the visitor’s center, nothing beats the fact that I was there. I was standing where the cast and crew of the movie did but a few years ago, as they crafted a beautiful story that resonated with so many and standing there and seeing that, allowed for movies to come to life in a way I never thought possible, and I am eternally grateful that my dad took the time to do this for me.
 
It’s a memory that quite frankly, hung out in the back of my mind until recently since I just picked up the new Shout Factory Collector’s Edition of Starman, and once they arrived at that gift shop in the film, those memories catapulted to the forefront of my mind and helped to remind me just how much I love visiting filming locations and well, this really is one of my favorite childhood memories, one that I clearly need to reflect upon more often since it helped for me to understand the power of a story, and how much I truly love the magic of cinema and what it does for an audience and this was truly the beginning for me. For there would be plenty more voyages to places where movies where filmed and we will discuss some of those, another time. Until then. 

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