Penn Street Bridge, Rabbit Run - Reading, PA - Movie Locations on Waymarking.com

50 years after Rabbit Run was filmed in John Updike's home town of Reading, Pennsylvania, there is little that looks the way it did during the filming. However, the clip that shows James Caan running away from his responsibilities took place on the Penn Street Bridge. The right side of the photo that I took shows the old fire house that sits on the corner of Penn Street and Front Street and matches up to the right side of the James Caan photo. It is identifiable by the windows which have not changed. The building was painted at the time Rabbit Run was filmed but the paint has been removed since then. In the background of both photos we can see Mt. Penn, home of the Reading Pagoda. If the picture of James Caan had shown a little more of the mountain, the Pagoda would be visible as it is in my picture. The grey building on the left side of the movie photo has been replaced with buildings belonging to Reading Area Community College. Aumen's Funeral Home and the Reading Eagle newspaper office are visible today but were hidden by the grey building in 1970.

There is currently construction on the Penn Street Bridge which is scheduled to last until 2020. There is also scaffolding around the old firehouse.

Out of curiosity, we rented the movie on Amazon and it was truly awful. It starred James Caan and co-starred Carrie Snodgrass and Jack Albertson. It is the story of a man who is bored with his life with an alcoholic wife and seeks to escape. Apparently there were several discrepancies with the locations in the movie as was posted in this video. (visit link) We could see even more discrepancies as we watched the movie but the Penn Street Bridge was definitely used.

Movie or TV Show: Rabbit Run Year Released or First Aired: 1,970.00 IMDB Link: [Web Link]

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