Favorite San Francisco movies?

[HollywoodGolightly]

Again, in no particular order:

 

1. *Vertigo*

2. *Time After Time*

3. *Dirty Harry*

4. *Bullitt*

5. *D.O.A.*

6. *The Towering Inferno*

7. *Pal Joey*

8. *It Came From Beneath the Sea*

9. *The Conversation*

10. *The Maltese Falcon*

[DownGoesFrazier]

How about DARK PASSAGE? What is TIME AFTER TIME?

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}

> What is TIME AFTER TIME?

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080025/

 

It's a 1979 movie with Malcolm McDowell playing H.G. Welles - only in this movie, he actually does invent a time machine, which he has to use to pursue Jack the Ripper (Jack Warner), who escapes into modern-day San Francisco.

 

McDowell and Mary Steenburgen fall in love in the movie - and they did, too, in real life!

[mrroberts]

I have never been to San Fran, but you have to include The Lineup 1958 with Eli Wallach. Great action and all on location.

[kingrat]

TIME AFTER TIME is a charmer, even for those of us who don't ordinarily care for Malcolm McDowell.

 

Other San Francisco movies:

 

THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL

ANGEL FACE

FLOWER DRUM SONG

POINT BLANK

FOUL PLAY

MILK

 

Not to mention PBS' wonderful TALES OF THE CITY, with its own echoes of VERTIGO.

[HollywoodGolightly]

> TIME AFTER TIME is a charmer, even for those of us who don't ordinarily care for Malcolm McDowell.

 

And it is still probably one of his most endearing parts. Having seen him previously in A Clockwork Orange, it really blew me away to see he could be so good at playing a sympathetic, rather introverted character.

 

Plus, the chemistry with Steenburgen is quite real, because you know they fell in love for real.

[Poinciana]

Loved Jeanette and Clark in San Francisco ("open your Golden Gate...").

 

Also, enjoyed Pacific Heights tho it made me crazy - which I think was what the director intended.

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=Poinciana wrote:}{quote}

> Loved Jeanette and Clark in San Francisco ("open your Golden Gate...").

 

I thought about including that one, but I'm not really sure they filmed much of the movie in SF at all; even the effects shots were probably done at MGM in Culver City. So, even though it's set in SF, it doesn't feel so much like a SF movie to me (yes, I know, it's ironic).

 

> Also, enjoyed Pacific Heights tho it made me crazy - which I think was what the director intended.

 

Yes, and he succeeded brilliantly, though much of the credit also goes to Michael Keaton.

[CharlieT]

Not to be picky, but it was David Warner who played Jack the Ripper in *Time After Time*.

[mrroberts]

The Robert Mitchum movie, Angel Face, was done in LA. A good movie showing San Francisco is the James Bond movie, A View To A Kill, the last Roger Moore Bond movie. We get a birds eye view of the Golden Gate.

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=CharlieT wrote:}{quote}

> Not to be picky, but it was David Warner who played Jack the Ripper in *Time After Time*.

 

You're absolutely right, Charlie, it was a typo on my part. Oddly enough, even though he is one of my all-time favorite screen villains, I sometimes type the name of one of the Warner brothers by mistake when it's actually him I'm thinking of.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Did anyone else hear RO's outro to Bullitt ?

 

Seems like Steve really wanted to shoot it in SF, even though WB would have liked it better if they'd filmed on the Burbank backlot. And apparently (according to RO, anyway) Mayor Alioto really "rolled out the red carpet".

[CharlieT]

Yeah. Not only would it have looked like a TV production if done on the backlots, you wouldn't have had the fantastic chase scene. I remember watching it in the 5th row at a local theater and felt like I was on a rollercoaster during that scene.

[HollywoodGolightly]

OMG! Lucky you, I can't imagine how exciting the movie must have seemed watching it in the theaters when it was brand new.

[visualfeast]

For me it will always be *BULLITT*. Although I lived there when filming on the streets was a common thing, I lived in the apartment across the street from the building used as McQueen's place. In one scene, you can see my kitchen window. Somehow, this film brings me closer to those familliar days more than any other SF film does...even *VERTIGO*.

[audreyforever]

> {quote:title=Poinciana wrote:}{quote}

> Loved Jeanette and Clark in San Francisco ("open your Golden Gate...").

 

Me too, that was such a good movie!

[HollywoodGolightly]

> {quote:title=visualfeast wrote:}{quote}

> For me it will always be *BULLITT*. Although I lived there when filming on the streets was a common thing, I lived in the apartment across the street from the building used as McQueen's place. In one scene, you can see my kitchen window. Somehow, this film brings me closer to those familliar days more than any other SF film does...even *VERTIGO*.

 

Wow, visualfeast, that's AMAZING! I can't believe you lived so close to where they filmed. Did you ever get to see Steve down in the street? Or any other of the main actors?

[visualfeast]

Yes, I saw Steve in the little grocery store across the street (used in the movie) and on the street talking with the crew. They filmed for a long time, considering how little footage was used. Kept looking for Bissett, but no luck.

[HollywoodGolightly]

Well, even if you didn't get to see her, it must still have been an awesome experience. I can't imagine how excited you must have been when you finally got to watch the movie on the big screen.

[Jenetico]

Since I don't know SF at all, want to ask. Was Chinatown a SF movie, or am I wrong?

[HollywoodGolightly]

No, Chinatown is very much an L.A. picture (see the L.A. movies thread). I suppose there's a few cities that have a "chinatown" neighborhood.

[HollywoodGolightly]

The Maltese Falcon just started. Although I suppose much of the movie was shot at the WB studios, it is still at heart very much a San Francisco story, just look at all the establishing shots near the beginning - the Golden Gate bridge, the Embarcadero, etc.

[DownGoesFrazier]

NY and Philly both also have a "Chinatown" neighborhood. There may be others. I'm sure Shanghai does.

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=HollywoodGolightly wrote:}{quote}

> Did anyone else hear RO's outro to Bullitt ?

>

> Seems like Steve really wanted to shoot it in SF, even though WB would have liked it better if they'd filmed on the Burbank backlot. And apparently (according to RO, anyway) Mayor Alioto really "rolled out the red carpet".

 

 

I lived in San Francisco back in those days, and there was a lot of local controversy about the increasing number of wild car chases in the city, which began to take place right after ?Bullitt? became popular. While shooting one film in front of City Hall, one of the cars chipped some of the City Hall steps, and that made a lot of local politicians mad.

 

Alioto liked all these films, because they brought tourists and tax dollars into the city, but unfortunately, they also brought in many people who wanted to live and work in the city, and that gradually drove the house and apartment prices sky-high.

 

I rented a whole house in the Sunset District back in the early ?70s for about $250 a month, and it was a $65,000 house at that time. Now those houses rent for $5,000 a month and they are worth about a million dollars each.

[FredCDobbs]

> {quote:title=CharlieT wrote:}{quote}

> Yeah. Not only would it have looked like a TV production if done on the backlots, you wouldn't have had the fantastic chase scene. I remember watching it in the 5th row at a local theater and felt like I was on a rollercoaster during that scene.

 

It is rather strange to realize that modern car-chase movies go back only about as far as ?Bullitt?.

 

Even though the old gangster films had car chases in them, the old type cars would turn over if they made fast turns, and they weren?t very good at jumping up in the air when they went over hills.

 

Seeing the ?Bullitt? chase now, it seems so simple, but back when it first hit the theaters, it was fantastic. Those of us who lived in hilly cities always tried to drive slow enough so our cars would never jump up in the air, but when the cars did it in that movie, we in the audience almost passed out from excitement!