The natural beauty of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding Sierra Nevada have made the Tahoe Basin a prime filming location for more than 70 movies and countless television commercials since the early 1920s. Imagine yourself on set as you follow our guide to Tahoe's top 10 movie/film scene locations.

1. Sand Harbor in The Deep End
While this beautiful, sandy beach sees its fair share of drama every mid-July through August as the host of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, its waters also play the eerie role of an onscreen, underwater grave in the 2001 thriller The Deep End. Margaret (Tilda Swinton), a mother of three, races to conceal the corpse of Darby Reese (Josh Lucas) who she assumes was murdered by her 17-year-old son Beau (Jonathan Tucker). See if you can sleuth the dumping spot.
Getting there: Sand Harbor is located three miles south of Incline Village on State Route 28. Entrance fee $8; $15 with a boat and an extra $2 to launch.

2. Donner Pass Road in Misery, True Lies, Cobb, and Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Be careful driving this steep, winding section of road during a snow storm or you just might end up like the ill-fated Paul Sheldon (James Cann) who crashed his car off Donner Pass Road in Stephen King's chilling Misery and wound up a prisoner in a cabin held hostage by the psychotic Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). You may also recognize this winding pass from the opening scene in True Lies.
Getting there: Follow Donner Pass Road out of Truckee along the north side of Donner Lake. The road climbs steeply after leaving the lakeside. From I-80 Eastbound, exit Soda Springs/Norden.

3. Cave Rock State Park in Smokin' Aces
Stop in to launch and you might get offed in the parking lot at Cave Rock State Park, the scene of Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) and Pistol Pete Deeks' (Peter Berg) demise in Joe Carnahan's 2007 action-packed Smokin’ Aces. This spot is one of the many stops the movie crew made in South Lake Tahoe during its filming.
Getting there: On Highway 50, three miles south of Glenbrook, just south of the Cave Rock tunnels. Taking a photo will cost $2 through Oct.15, parking is $6 and launch fee is $12. Through April 14 park for only $2, photo stops are free.

4. Horizon Casino lobby in Smokin' Aces
Want to hob nob with the likes of movie mafia moguls? Many of the the Smokin' Aces cast found themselves checking in at the front desk of the Horizon Casino lobby at Stateline, NV.
Getting there: On Highway 50, Stateline, NV at the intersection of Kingsbury Grade. (800) 648-3322

5. MontBleu Resort & Casino in Smokin' Aces
While the name of the casino was Caesar's when they shot the movie in 2006, not much else has changed on the roof top level of what is now the MontBleu Resort & Casino parking garage. In this scene, one of the Tremor Brothers is shot and killed by Henderson.
Getting there: MontBleu is located at 55 Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe, NV. Enter in the parking garage and drive up six levels to the top.

6. Shoreline Café in Smokin' Aces,
Life-long musician and 11-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys made her feature film debut at South Lake Tahoe's Shoreline Cafe as "lethal lady" Georgia Sykes in several scenes which she and Taraji Henson (Sharice Watters) are contracted to kill Buddy Israel before the mobsters do.
Getting there: 3310 Lake Tahoe Blvd. South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150

7. Fleur du Lac in The Godfather II
Michael Corleone carries on the family business in Al Pacino's 1974 sequel The Godfather II from his hub of white collar criminal activity at the original boathouse in Fleur du Lac on Tahoe's West Shore between Tahoe City and Homewood.
Getting there: Take the bike path south along the lakeshore from the "Y" at the mouth of the Truckee River. You can stop and walk your bike toward the lake along the south side of the complex wall to see the original boat house. A better view, of course, is from the lake…but you need a boat to do that!

8. Highway 89 in The City of Angels
A troubled Maggie (Meg Ryan) transports from her Los Angeles operating room to pedal her bike in the midst of Lake Tahoe's beauty near Fallen Leaf Lake in a scene from Brad Silberling's 1998 hit movie The City of Angels.
Getting there: From the "Y" in South Lake Tahoe travel approximately three miles north on Highway 89 to the left-hand turn off onto Fallen Leaf Road.

9. Ehrman Mansion in Things Change
The summer home of the Hellman-Ehrman family at Lake Tahoe's Sugar Pine Point sets the standard for West Shore elegance and the scene for Gino (Don Ameche) and Jerry"s (Joe Mantegna) Lake Tahoe weekend getaway-gone-awry in David Mamet's 1988 comedy/drama Things Change.
Getting there: 7360 Westlake Blvd. Tahoma, CA 96142. (530) 525-7982

10. Spooner Lake and Prey Meadows in The Bonanza - Second Generation
Of course this list would be amiss if it were to not include the infamous Ponderosa Ranch, home to the adventurous, all-male Cartwright family for almost 14 years on NBC's hit Sunday-night series The Bonanza. Countless scenes of Lake Tahoe and its surrounding mountains were filmed from this epicenter as television crews made this area outside of Incline Village their summer homes. The Ponderosa Ranch amusement park was open to the public from 1967 until 2004 when it was purchased by billionaire David Duffield into private ownership. Spooner Lake and Prey Meadows were often seen in segments of the last five seasons of the popular Western drama.
Getting there: Drive east on State Route 28 from Incline Village approximately 12 miles to arrive at Spooner Lake on the left.

Haven't scene enough? Stop in at the Gatekeepers Museum in Tahoe City, home of the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society, www.northtahoemuseums.org, to find more information about Tahoe's movies.

What do you think? Do you know of another prime Tahoe film location that we missed? Leave a comment below!