"Throw Momma From the Train"

Owen (Danny DeVito) goes to the movies at the Vista Theatre about twenty minutes into "Throw Momma From the Train" (Orion Pictures, 1987). He wants his mother bumped off and he's trying to talk his former teacher Larry (Billy Crystal) into doing it. In return he offers to kill Larry's ex-wife.

Yes, unlike Hitchcock's version, this is a comedy. DeVito directed a cast that also includes Oprah Winfrey, Rob Reiner, Kate Mulgrew and Branford Marsalis. 

 

Getting ideas from Robert Walker.

 

Another shot in the Vista.  

See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Vista Theatre for photos inside and out. It opened in 1923 and is still going strong as a single screen first run venue.

On IMDb: "Throw Momma From the Train"

There's a page about the film's shooting locations on Chas Demster's blog Filming Locations of Chicago and Los Angeles. 

Steven Brockelman has some fond recollections of the shoot at the Vista in his 2023 blog post "BITD in Hollywood: When I worked as a union extra, I loved calls for overnight shoots."