A$pen: The Series is hardly the first venture to shine the cinematic spotlight on our fair mountain town. Numerous movies have been filmed here, as well as television shows and commercials. (Though perhaps the best-known depiction of Aspen on the big screen—Dumb and Dumber—was actually shot elsewhere in Colorado.) 

TV series and shows filmed in the Aspen area include:

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (filmed in Ashcroft): a Canadian Mountie, his horse, and his Alaskan malamute maintain law and order, 1955–1958

Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color: “Fantasy on Skis” episode, 1962

BBC’s High Noon: Hunter S. Thompson’s controversial run for Pitkin County sheriff, 1970

Edge of Ajax: satirical soap opera produced by Aspen’s GrassRoots TV, 1972

John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas special: 1975

Aspen: fictional mini-series about an Aspen man wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a teenage girl and trying to clear his name, 1977

The New Adventures of Heidi: Burl Ives plays Heidi’s grandfather in this TV movie set in Switzerland and New York City, 1978

John Denver’s Music in the Mountains special: 1981

John Denver and the Muppets’ Rocky Mountain Holiday special: Denver takes Kermit, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the gang camping, 1983

John Denver’s Christmas in Aspen special: 1988

Secrets of Aspen: short-lived reality show about six single women, 2010

The Bold and the Beautiful: the soap opera shot several episodes here, 2011

Movies with scenes filmed in Aspen include:

Devil’s Doorway: a Native American cattle rancher faces scheming white farmers in the post–Civil War era, 1950

The Searchers: John Wayne epic, 1956

Aspen: Frederick Wiseman-directed documentary on John Denver, 1991

Aspen Extreme: T.J. Burke and Dexter Rutecki—need we say more? 1993

White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf: a wolfdog searches for caribou to help a starving native Alaskan tribe in this Disney sequel, 1994

Vacanze di Natale ’95: Italian comedy with Luke Perry, 1995

For Love of the Game (also filmed in Glenwood Springs): Kevin Costner plays a baseball pitcher in the twilight of his career, 1999

Ski to the Max: Willy Bogner stunt-action film includes a skier going through Aspen Highlands’ Cloud 9 restaurant, 2000

Winter Break: four recent college grads head to Aspen for fun and shenanigans, 2003

Cougar Hunting: three twentysomethings hot on the trail of, yes, older women, 2011

The Frozen (filmed in Snowmass and Carbondale): a young couple tries to survive a harrowing snowmobile accident, 2012

Special thanks to Anna Scott and Mike Monroney of the Aspen Historical Society