BAY AREA FILMS

The under-appreciated "So I Married an Axe Murderer" was playing on HBO Taiwan the other night...I watched about half of it and actually quite enjoyed how they shot San Francisco, especially the sections in North Beach. Got me thinking of some good Bay Area films:

"Zodiac/The Game"
David Fincher is a Bay-Area native so his take on the city is always very authentic, but what's really cool is that in the Game, he avoids San Francisco landmarks altogether and shoots the city mostly at a claustrophobic street level - the Financial Center at night is especially eerie. Michael Douglas jumps off the roof of the Palace Hotel. Sean Penn goes nuts somewhere near Nob Hill.

"Vertigo"
Alfred Hitchcock does it very picturesque. Nice views of the bay looking out from California.

"So I Married an Axe Murderer"
I liked the North Beach stuff (with all the beat poet stuff). The trip to Alcatraz is kind of lame.

"The Rock"
Sean Connery escapes from the Fairmont (or was it the Four Seasons). He tries to reconcile with his daughter inside the Palace of Fine Arts. VX nerve gas rockets aimed at San Francisco!

"The Conversation"
One of my favorite Coppola movies. The opening scene in Union Square is awesome - voyeuristic zooms with those creepy 70s sound effects. Also love the scene at Embarcadero Center with a young and dapper Harrison Ford.

"Sneakers"
Robert Redford gets thrown in the trunk of a car and has to rely on the repetitous sound of the bridge segments to retrace his steps (was it the Dumbarton Bridge? Who actually takes the Dumbarton Bridge?) I remember there also being a sweet shot of the Bay Bridge from around the Embarcadero and Market.

"The Presidio"
I don't remember anything about the Presidio.

"A View to a Kill"
Roger Moore fighting atop the Golden Gate Bridge!

"The Graduate"
Dustin Hoffman driving the wrong way on the Bay Bridge. That one frathouse on the corner of College and Durant in Berkeley...

"Innerspace"
Dennis Quaid tearing through the city in his sports car. I think the bad guys all lived in Silicon Valley.

"Harold and Maude"
Almost in my backyard...I think it was shot mostly in Hillsborough and San Mateo Park.

"Milk"
The Castro mostly - also cool shots inside City Hall...