Click on the links below the film then and nows for a YouTube film link about each movie.
‘Sudden Fear’ (1952) Joan Crawford discreetly sneaks into the Tamalpais Apartments at Hyde Greenwich Streets on Russian Hill to try to learn how Jack Palance plans to kill her.
‘Patty Hearst’ (1988) Patty Hearst during the 1974 Hibernia Bank robbery she participated in located in the Sunset District, and Natasha Richardson who portrayed Hearst in the film during the robbery scene.
‘Born to Kill’ (1947) Elisha Cook Jr. arrives at the Ferry Building ready to commit murder. However, his plans don’t work out, as you’ll see in the YouTube clip.
‘On the Beach’ (1959) In a depressing scene Gregory Peck’s submarine crew arrive in San Francisco from Australia searching for life after a fallout from a nuclear war has killed off most of the world’s population. They find only an empty San Francisco, such as this scene of the Golden Gate Bridge.
‘The Falcon on San Francisco’ (1945) Tom Conway (the Falcon) is accused of kidnapping the little girl on the right in front of the Ferry Building early in the film.
‘I remember Mama’ (1948) Liberty Street, where the Hanson family lived in the movie. Because it was supposed to be on Russian Hill used special effect for the Bay and Alcatraz, but Liberty Street is actually in the Castro District.
‘My Favorite Brunette’ (1947) Bob Hope getting mixed up with spies, murder and lovely Lamour at his baby photographer office on California Street in Chinatown:
‘Point Blank’ (1967) After being shot in a conspiracy between his wife and friend and left for dead in a cell on “Broadway”, what the inmates used to call the center cell block isle at Alcatraz, Lee Marvin recovers and seeks revenge.
‘Portrait in Black’ (1960) Plotting with Anthony Quinn to kill her husband, Lana Turner begins the first phase of their plan at the old I Magnin Department Store on Geary Blvd. across from Union Square.
‘The Towering Inferno’ (1974) Fred Astaire looks up at the special effects building that will eventually catch fire in the film. The dark Bank of America Building on California Street, where some of the movie was filmed, makes a nice comparison when the sun catches it just right.
‘What’s Up, Doc?’ (1972) Clumsy Barbra Streisand creates all kinds of trouble for Ryan O’Neal, who she has fallen in love with, like this motorcycle accident she causes by crossing the intersection at Jones and Bush Streets against the light.
I had forgotten that the ‘Towering Inferno’ was in San Francisco. I think of it as being in Los Angeles. I never saw the movie before. It is odd how that building from the 1970s utilized architectural qualities that did not develop until the 2000s, such as the beveled corners at the top. I saw that for the first time on the Devon Tower in Oklahoma City. It was finished around New Year’s Day 2013.
Good one! In the movie the building was supposed to be 134 stories high. That would put the Salesforce Tower to shame!
When I needed to drive the delivery truck, I went through San Francisco about monthly, maybe more. I remember one of those big towers in construction near the Bay Bridge. I have not been back since then, so have not even seen the new tower.
The TransAmerica Pyramid is still the most excellent tower in San Francisco!