The 1973 film Badlands is set in South Dakota and Montana, but it was actually filmed primarily in southeastern Colorado.

Main Filming Areas

Most key locations were in small Colorado towns and surrounding countryside.

  • Las Animas, Colorado – Used as the town of “Fort Dupree, South Dakota,” including Holly’s house at 505 Locust Avenue.
  • Rocky Ford, Colorado – Streets and local buildings stand in for parts of the couple’s hometown; also the “McKenzie School of Music” exterior at 400 Main Street.
  • La Junta, Colorado – Various road and town scenes; La Junta Municipal Airport was used for the airport sequence.
  • Swink area (along the Arkansas River) – Riverbank and campsite scenes were filmed off County Road 24.5 north of Swink.
  • Trinidad, Colorado – The Bloom Mansion (historic Frank Bloom Mansion) in Trinidad provided the rich man’s house exterior.
  • Pueblo, Colorado – The Rosemont Museum in Pueblo was used for the interiors of the rich man’s house.
  • Delhi, Colorado (on Route 350) – Old gas-station/roadside stop where Kit refuels and is spotted by police.

Although the story references the “Badlands” and even “mountains of Saskatchewan,” those landscapes on screen are actually parts of south‑central Colorado , including the Spanish Peaks in the Sangre de Cristo range.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.