Washington Monument (Baltimore) - Cultural References

Cultural References

The monument is referenced by Herman Melville (as Ishmael) in Chapter XXXV (The Mast-Head) of Moby-Dick, "Great Washington, too, stands high aloft on his towering main-mast in Baltimore, and like one of Hercules' pillars, his column marks that point of human grandeur beyond which few mortals will go."

• In the show Ace of Cakes the star Duff does the ceremonial lighting of the Monument. He was quoted saying that Baltimore's monument was first, better, cooler, and lights up.

• In 2007, "Rad II: The Matthew Modine Challenge" was filmed on and around the monument grounds. The trailer for the 2008 release features a training montage centered around reaching the top of the monument.

• The Hollywood film ...And Justice for All all has a scene of Al Pacino running around the monument.

• The film The Bedroom Window, directed by Curtis Hanson, is set largely in Mount Vernon and is about an attempted murder that takes place at the base of the monument.

• In 1998, an opening scene to the movie Pecker was filmed in front of the Washington Monument. In audio commentary that accompanies the DVD, director John Waters states that the photo the film's titular character (played by Edward Furlong) takes of the monument is "the oldest dirty joke in Baltimore" due to the resemblance of Washington's extended arm to a large penis when viewed from the angle at which the photo is taken.