Forget about the Washington D.C. and New York City backdrops seen in the poster, Chuck Norris' 1985 action-packed blockbuster INVASION USA was filmed right here in Atlanta, Georgia. To be a bit more accurate, quite a bit of it was also shot in south Florida, but let someone else document the Florida footage, we're here to check out the Atlanta filming locations as they appeared in the mid 1980s.
Filming took place in College Park, several locations in downtown Atlanta, Avondale Mall and East Atlanta. I'm pretty sure they filmed in a few other local settings, but no place I could specifically put my finger on.
Today's update features an extensive look at a scene shot on Flat Shoals Avenue in the heart of East Atlanta. The scene, the only one shot at that location, offers a good opportunity to see what the neighborhood looked like long before the neighborhood was dotted with gift shops, restaurants, nightclubs and bars. I remember driving down Flat Shoals Avenue around 1989 or so and finding an abundance of boarded up establishments, storefront churches, and a variety of businesses occupying the lowest rung of the retail world, the sort of places that sold used mattresses for instance.
Future updates will feature some of INVASION USA's other Atlanta locations. If you enjoy looking back on how Atlanta has been used as a film location, I should probably mention a local blog known as the Pecanne Log - where the ladies running the show have done some fine work along the same lines, including a look a Sharky's Machine (1981), The Slugger's Wife (1985) and Freejack (1992).
