Fort Bragg played movie set in May 1987, welcoming Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell for the romantic comedy Overboard, directed by Garry Marshall. Hawn and Russell had worked together previously. They met on the set of The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), but did not begin their romantic relationship until they co-starred in Swing Shift (1984).
The film depicts Joanna Stayton (Hawn) as a wealthy socialite who falls off her yacht during a vacation to the Oregon coast and develops amnesia. She is taken in by Dean Proffitt (Russell), a widower father of four and carpenter, whom Joanna had hired previously but refused to pay.
In March 1987, the Mendocino Beacon reported that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Productions was scouting locations in the Fort Bragg area for a film titled “Contemporary Insanity.” In late April, the Beacon reported that a privately owned yacht, the S.S. Immaculata, was rented for this film and was set to arrive from Oregon in the first week of May, but dock space had yet to be found.
Cast and crew began arriving on April 29, staying at the Tradewinds Lodge in Fort Bragg. Hawn and Russell rented a home on the Comptche Ukiah Road for themselves and their family. Hawn’s sister, Pattie, was the film’s publicist, and regularly reported the film’s progress to local papers. The couple had four children, and at least one was on set during filming: Wyatt Russell, born in 1986, made his film debut as a baby in the golf course scenes.
Local spots used for filming include the Noyo Bowl and Restaurant, Purity Market, Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, a mobile home trailer park, Fort Bragg’s Veteran’s Hall, and the Hidden Pines Campground. An estimated 250 locals were hired as background actors at a rate of $50 a day, and by the time filming wrapped on June 10, an estimated $3-4 million had been added to the local economy.
Overboard released on December 16, 1987, the same year it was filmed. A premiere was held at Coast Theatre in Fort Bragg, with all proceeds going to the Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation’s fundraiser for a mammography unit. $6,000 was raised in one day.
Reportedly, Hawn does not rewatch her movies, but in an interview, she recalled watching Overboard with Russell in 2020. She said “It was so fabulous…how we started looking at what we did together. It was great!”
Averee McNear is the curator at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino, Calif.