Welcome To San Francisco Movie Magic
Great films. Real history.
Our starting point:
San Francisco City Hall
Grove Street doors
1) High Crimes
Starring Ashley Judd and your new favorite tour guide!
2) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Notice when the running man just reaches the sidewalk, you can hear screaming in the background. That’s the sound the Body Snatchers make. The man playing the banjo is an actor (Joe Bellan had small parts in The Streets of San Francisco, High Anxiety, EdTV, Sudden Impact, Bicentennial Man, and others. Joe has been in slightly fewer San Francisco movies than the Golden Gate Bridge). But - the actual banjo music was played by Jerry Garcia. Elizabeth Driscoll walks into the Department of Public Health, which looks identical today.
3) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Rolling Stone called the film, "Easily among the greatest remakes ever made." The movie's ending is still terrifying.
4) Milk
Filmed in San Francisco's City Hall with the War Memorial Opera House visible across the street. Harvey Milk's last public appearance was attending a San Francisco Opera performance of Puccini's "Tosca" featuring the legendary Italian soprano Magda Olivero, on Saturday, November 25th, 1978. In honor of that appearance the filmmakers used "Tosca" for all the operatic music heard in the film.
5) Milk
However you feel about Dianne Feinstein, Sean Penn deserves an Oscar just for this face
6) View to a Kill
Roger Moore's final appearance as James Bond
7) Dirty Harry
The first of the five Dirty Harry titles starring San Francisco native Clint Eastwood
8) The Rock
9) 625 Polk St.
Here San Francisco Police Inspector 'Dirty" Harry Callahan explains his nickname
10) Eddy & Leavenworth
Frightening scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Union Square
Here's a map view to help you stay oriented
11) The Conversation
This tense psychological thriller was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost out to The Godfather Part II - Francis Ford Coppola's other nominated movie that year.
The Fatty Arbuckle Scandal
In 1921, Roscoe Arbuckle was the most popular film actor in America. He was a mentor to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and Paramount Pictures paid him $1,000,000 a year.
The Fatty Arbuckle Scandal
On Setp. 5, 1921, Roscoe and two friends checked into the St. Francis Hotel. At a party that night, a young actress died, and wild rumors spread that Arbuckle was responsible.
This is a photo of Suite 1221 after the party. Coincidentally, Al Jolson died in the same room in 1950.
The Fatty Arbuckle Scandal
After three trials, he was cleared of all charges. The jury foreman of his third trial said, "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him. It was only our plain duty to give him this exoneration for there was not the slightest proof of a crime."Nevertheless, his career was ruined. He died 11 years later.
12) High Crimes
Union Square decorated for the holidays
13) Enrico's
This is the hungry I nightclub, and the man in the beret is its owner, Enrico Banducci. Enrico and his venue helped launch the careers of Phyllis Diller, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, Woody Allen, The Smothers Brothers, Bob Newhart, The Kingston Trio, Dick Gregory, Maya Angelou, and Barbara Streisand. Later he owned San Francisco’s first sidewalk café, Enrico’s, on Broadway. Cary Grant was there for opening night and Frank Sinatra always stopped in when he was in town. Enrico’s was also the setting for a scene in Bullitt.
14) Enrico's
Bullitt meets his source at Enrico's. It was one of the last holdouts of North Beach's jazz and beatnick legacy, closing in 2006.
Enrico Banducci
Enrico was a real San Francisco character. His real name was Harry Banducci, and he came from Bakersfield. He went by Enrico because he loved opera. He was married five time and made (and lost) $10 million in his various endeavors.
American Zoetrope
Francis Ford Coppola's building in North Beach
15) Romolo Place
Cameo by noted director Don Siegal. Many of the places you see on Broadway are still there: The Condor, Big Al's, The Roaring 20's.
16) Broadway & Columbus
This intersection, with the big neon signs for The Condor, Big Al's, The Roaring 20's, is often used to evoke a 'Times Square' atmosphere
17) Vesuvio
Beautiful old-school San Francisco saloon where Allen Ginsburg, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac hung out.
18) Green Street
In Big Eyes
19) Green Street
In Mrs. Doubtfire
The Malloch Building
This is where Lauren Bacall hid Humphrey Bogart, an escapee of San Quentin, in Dark Passage.
The Malloch Building
Lauren Bacall's character lived in Apartment #10. A former resident was obviously a fan.
20) Julius' Castle
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
21) Washington Square
In Dirty Harry
22) Washington Square
In Big Eyes
23) Washington Square
In Just Like Heaven
24) 940 Filbert
The Hillard kids' school in Mrs. Doubtfire
25) 940 Filbert
Here's the same school in Bullitt. Steve McQueen is definitely driving too fast in a school zone
26) 1660 Mason
Just Like Heaven
27) Broadway and Taylor
"The Order of the Rose" from The Princess Diaries
28) Clay and Taylor
Frank Bullitt's apartment
29) Clay and Taylor
San Francisco Police Inspector Dave Toschi.
30) Grace Cathedral
Bullitt's boss gets pressured. Nice views on the Pacific Union Club and The Masonic in the background.
31) The Pacific-Union Club
Founded in 1881, it's an exclusive, secretive men's club. Vertigo is the only movie filmed inside it.
32) The Mark Hopkins Hotel
Home of the Top of the Mark, a classic cocktail lounge on the 19th floor with spectacular views of the City.
33) The Mark Hopkins Hotel
Even Jimmy Stewart recommends it!
34) The Fairmont Hotel in The Rock
35) Brocklebank Apartments
Madeleine Elster's home in Vertigo.
36) Broadway and Steiner
Let's have a few laughs on our way to the Doubtfire house.
37) Broadway and Steiner
The Hillard home where Mrs. Doubtfire cared for the kids.
38) Green and Lyon
The Princess Diaries
39) 2700 Vallejo
This mansion is now owned by the Consulate General of Japan.
40) 2700 Vallejo
The house also appears in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? That movie and Bullitt were filmed within a few months of each other in 1967.
41) Town School
Here's where Lily and Mia played basketball on the rooftop.
42) 1709 Broderick
Filmed in San Francisco for eight seasons, this show is still popular.
43) Washington & Cherry
A grim moment from the excellent film Zodiac. We're not only at the spot where it was filmed, we're at the spot where Paul Stine was murdered Oct. 11, 1969.
44) Washington & Cherry
Dave Toschi returned to the scene of the crime every year on Oct. 11.
Celebrity sighting!
Recognize the man on the right? John C. Reilly
Celebrity sighting!
Chicago, The Aviator, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Talladega Nights, The Hours, Step Brothers, Holmes & Watson...
Celebrity sighting!
I chose to leave him alone
45) Fort Point
Scotty rescues Madeleine.
46) Legion of Honor
Scotty follows Madeleine to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, one of San Francisco's most beautiful buildings.
47) Kezar Stadium
Dirty Harry gets the Scorpio Killer.
The Painted Ladies
48) Raiders of the Lost Ark
Even most San Franciscans don't know that the final scene of this classic was filmed in our own City Hall