San Francisco Noir: The Top 10
Apr 04 '01
The Bottom Line Los Angeles and New York come immediately to mind when we think of film noir; locales like San Francisco have nonetheless done much to contribute to the genre.
There's something about San Francisco that makes it the quintessential setting for a certain kind of film noir. In no other city (except perhaps for New Orleans) are good times and tragedy so closely interwoven in the civic self-image. Exquisite taste reigns, and might be reduced to rubble at any moment. Social circles are small and insular; who knows who lives in those big Pacific Heights mansions, and who cares? And as far as dark and sinister urges are concerned, everything here is permitted - and more often as not takes place in a quaint Victorian flat. Make no mistake, though. For all its picturesque "views," this is a town where really really bad things happen to good and bad people alike. The following motion pictures are merely fictional examples. Most available on home video.
Fog Over Frisco (1933) - Not really a film noir, although it does tune into the local atmosphere of sexual licentiousness, so well portrayed in Hammett's early short stories, with Bette Davis as a very young, fast, and wild Pacific Heights heiress who comes to a bad end.
Out of the Past (1947) - Don't forget to note the decadent, Victorian décor of the San Francisco settings.
Raw Deal (1948) - Raymond Burr's character is turned on by fire. He gets his kicks by tossing a chafing dish of flaming cherries jubilee in his girlfriend's face in his spacious South-of-Market flat.
Impact (1949) - You won't believe what the evil wife (Helen Walker) does to her husband in this one. Such cruelty could only take place here.
Undercurrent (1946) - This time it's Katharine Hepburn who gets sucked into one of those insular, creepy upper-class San Francisco social circles.
Born to Kill (1947) - Claire Trevor to Lawrence Tierney: "You're strength. And excitement. And depravity. There's a kind of corruptness inside of you, Sam." And what a turn-on that is for this San Francisco Cinderella.
Sudden Fear (1952) - In which muscular Jack Palance becomes Joan Crawford's downfall.
Experiment in Terror (1962) - No way out for lovely Lee Remick in this chiller enhanced by a creepy Henry Mancini score.
Point Blank (1967) - It's really a Los Angeles film noir, but if you believe the cineastes the whole story is imagined from a cell in abandoned Alcatraz prison. In any case, a masterpiece of filmmaking that transcends genre.
Jade (1995) - "Bullitt" meets "The Big Sleep." The critics didn't care for it, but the last line, belonging to Chazz Palmintieri, is delicious with meaning: "Next time we make love, I wancha to introduce me to Jade."
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Location: San Francisco, California
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