• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1136 0

as Lost in Translation, is headquartered in North Beach’s historic Columbus Tower, where a ground-floor bistro also sells Coppola wines and bland Italian food – though you might order dessert just to say with a smirk, ‘I’ll take the cannoli.’ Coppola’s tenants in the tower include filmmaker Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing, 1982; Smoke, 1995; Because of Winn Dixie, 2006) and Sean Penn, director and Academy Award–winning actor for his title role in 2008’s Milk. Philip Kaufman, director of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Right Stuff (1983) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), also lives and frequently works in San Francisco. Just across the bay, in Berkeley, is the company headquarters of producer Saul Zaentz, who has won three Oscars, for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Amadeus (1984) and The English Patient (1997).

* * *

SAN FRANCISCO’S MUST-SEE MOVIES

Comedy Classics

City Lights (1931) – filmed in San Francisco by star-director Charlie Chaplin, this poetic silent masterpiece has SF’s landmark bookstore Click here named in its honor.

Harold and Maude (1971) – the ultimate May-December romance features metaphorically apt SF locations: the eternal spring of the Conservatory of Flowers and the fabulous ruin of the Sutro Baths.

Tales of the City (1993) – PBS’ most popular miniseries stars Laura Linney unraveling a modern mystery amid the swinging SF ‘70s disco scene.

Mysteries

Maltese Falcon (1941) – Dashiell Hammett’s classic noir tale features Humphrey Bogart as tough-talking private dick Sam Spade.

Vertigo (1958) – the Golden Gate Bridge sets the stage for dizzying drama when acrophobic Jimmy Stewart watches Kim Novak leap into the bay at Fort Point.

The Game (1997) – packing more twists than Lombard St, Michael Douglas plays a deadly game with Sean Penn.

Documentaries

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) – this Oscar-winning documentary recounts city supervisor Milk’s rise as a gay community leader and his murder alongside Mayor Moscone by deranged former supervisor Dan White – an assassination Milk had eerily predicted.

The Cockettes (2002) – follow the glittering trail of SF’s gender-bending, psychedelic performance group that became a 1970s pop-culture phenomenon in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner.

Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple (2006) – with rare footage and first-hand interviews, relatives and survivors recall the principles and practices of the Bay Area cult that committed mass suicide in 1978.

Cops & Robbers

Bullitt (1968) – the plot has something to do with underworld kingpins, but it’s all about supercool Steve McQueen’s GTO flying over the crest of Nob Hill in hot pursuit and landing in SoMa (hence that editing Oscar).

Dirty Harry (1971) – think you can mess with flinty detective Clint Eastwood? Go ahead: make his day.

Zodiac (2007) – a real-life whodunit, David Fincher’s star-studded film tracks the mounting obsession of reporters, detectives and Bay Area citizens with finding the 1970s Zodiac Killer.

Local Drama

The Conversation (1974) – in Francis Ford Coppola’s tense drama, surveillance expert Gene Hackman spies on an unwitting couple from the Westin St Francis Hotel, only to get stalked himself by Harrison Ford and Robert Duvall.

Patty Hearst (1988) – Natasha Richardson stars in writer/director Paul Schrader’s account of Patty’s plight, making her conversion from heiress to revolutionary bank robber weirdly relatable.

Milk (2008) – minutes into Gus Van Sant’s beguiling biopic, you can see why Sean Penn won an Oscar for his moving portrayal of charismatic Milk; look for cameos by SF locations, GLBT activists and 1970s pop culture references.

* * *

Even after 35 years, the force is still with the Bay Area’s biggest movie mogul, George Lucas. Say what you will about his latest ventures (ouch, those Star Wars prequels…) but his films American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) are among the most influential and profitable films ever made. What’s more, Lucas’ sound and special effects