Happy Anniversary, Café – I Left My Heart Again…

On September 13, 2009, I published my first post as a contributor to Rick Armstrong’s newly inaugurated classic film blog, The Classic Film & TV Café!  That first piece of mine was titled, “I Left My Heart…Five San Francisco Favorites,” and in it I proceeded to list and discuss five of my favorite films set in my favorite American city, a town just south of where I live now and where I once lived for many years. As part of my congratulatory return to the Café in tribute to its impressive tenth year, I thought it might be fun, for old times’ sake, to revisit the subject of that first blog post. So, here I offer, exactly ten years later, five more San Francisco-set favorite films.

Cleverly titled After the Thin Man (1936) this second - after The Thin Man (1934) - in the six-film series is the one I like best of all. It begins with stylish, martini-sipping, wisecrack-swapping Nick and Nora Charles returning home by train to San Francisco from the New York sojourn where the first film took place. The pair arrives at their mansion-with-an-amazing-view  (which looks like it’s either on Telegraph Hill or in Pacific Heights, both ultra-toney ) to find a “welcome home” party that’s already far past full swing. And poor Asta, their irrepressible fox terrier, comes upon an even more startling scene when he discovers that “Mrs. Asta” has, in his absence, been consorting with the Scotty next door. Pretty soon, once the party winds down and the Scotty is driven out, there’s trouble brewing, and murder, involving lots of shenanigans and tomfoolery until Nick reveals the killer in the final minutes of the third act. The plots don’t matter that much in Thin Man movies, they follow a pretty standard whodunit pattern. The attraction is in the characters – Nick, Nora and Asta – and the sophisticated, witty-banter-filled world they inhabit. It doesn’t hurt at all that Powell and Loy and Skippy (as Asta) are loaded with charm and chemistry and are, thus, entirely irresistible. Always interesting in the Thin Man films is the Runyonesque cast of characters Nick and Nora encounter on each case. Among the supporting folk in After the Thin Man is a very young James Stewart with a central role in this murder mystery. It’s interesting to watch him before he became a star and fully developed his onscreen persona.

The final scene, as Nick, Nora and Asta depart San Francisco by train, is quite cute but the change it portends will ultimately have the effect of taking some zing out of the series.

 

"...and you call yourself a detective..."

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Out of the Past (1947), Jacques Tourneur’s quintessential noir, is only partially set in San Francisco. Truthfully, among the film’s key locations – the others are rural Bridgeport, California, Acapulco, Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe – it’s not the most alluringly depicted of the lot. But San Francisco has gotten so much limelight in so many other movies that I won't quibble.

It makes sense, considering Out of the Past’s convoluted plot, that a convoluted series of locations is part of the story. The opening is set in rural Bridgeport, California, a small town in the Sierras, where Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) is leading the low-key life of a gas station owner/operator. Jeff’s tranquil idyll will be interrupted when an old acquaintance happens to catch a glimpse of him and then come looking for him. Jeff has a past. And into the past Out of the Past will go, in flashback, with voiceover narration. Back to New York, where Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) hired Jeff, then a private eye, to find the woman, Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), who shot him and took him for $40,000 (close to $500,000 in 2019 dollars). Jeff will track her to Mexico and once there he will find her…and fall for her and not care when she tells him she didn’t take Whit’s money. Jeff will lie to Whit and say he couldn’t find her, then he and Kathie will steal away to San Francisco, hoping to escape the past together. This, of course, doesn't happen in film noir. So, when Kathie nastily double-crosses Jeff and leaves him holding the bag with a potential murder rap, he heads for the hills. Literally. And in Bridgeport he will open his gas station and meet Ann, a nice girl, and once more try to leave the past behind. But that will never be possible, and he will trek to Lake Tahoe to face Whit. And he will go to San Francisco once more, this time at Whit’s behest. And, finally, in the Sierra Nevada, he will meet his fate.

Some San Francisco locales depicted in Out of the Past were filmed on a backlot...

the fictional "Mason building" in San Francisco

But there are also some nice location scenes, too.

on Broadway in San Francisco

Even more evocative - to the point of transporting - are the Lake Tahoe and Mexico settings, some of it studio work and some of it shot on location. Credit for this goes to Tourneur, the art director and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca (1948 Oscar nomination for I Remember Mama). 

Kathie's bungalow in Mexico

Whit's estate in Lake Tahoe

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Kim Novak, Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth in Pal Joey

Pal Joey (1957) began as a 1940 Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hart. The story, by John O’Hara, followed the exploits of a conniving Chicago nightclub performer, primarily a dancer, who gets involved with a wealthy married woman. Gene Kelly starred, and it was the part and the show that would launch him to stardom and send him to Hollywood. When Pal Joey was adapted to the screen 17 years later, Joey would now be a so-so lounge singer newly arrived in San Francisco. With Frank Sinatra in the leading role, adjusting the character’s forte was not only logical, but necessary. The 1950s Joey would be nicer and more likable than the 1940s Joey, and the wealthy woman (Rita Hayworth) would now be an ex of his, formerly a stripper known as “Vanessa the Undresser” who’d married money and is now a rich widow. Kim Novak was third on the bill as the naïve chorus girl Joey falls for. San Francisco would play a  supporting role, providing locales like the ferry building, Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, Jackson Square, the Marina and Pacific Heights as a dreamy backdrop for all the drama and romance. It doesn’t stop there, though. Nelson Riddle would also be on hand taking care of musical arrangements, notably Sinatra’s renditions of “The Lady is a Tramp,” “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” “There’s a Small Hotel” and the medley, "What Do I Care for a Dame"/"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"/"I Could Write a Book." These performances alone would be worth the price of admission. The music, the racy elements (for the time) of the story, the glamour of Rita and Kim, and the tarnished charm of Ol’ Blue Eyes as Joey combined to make Pal Joey a very big hit that would go on to earn four Oscar nominations.

The Spreckels mansion served as the site for Chez Joey, Joey's club

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Bullitt (1968) provied Steve McQueen, already an A-lister when he filmed it, with his defining screen role. As maverick San Francisco police detective Frank Bullitt, McQueen is  the epitome of late '60s cool. The film was a monster hit and would turn out to be a precursor to the Dirty Harry franchise. In fact, McQueen was offered the Dirty Harry role (along with other renegade cop roles, like Popeye Doyle in The French Connection), but turned it (and them) down to avoid typecasting.

As James Stewart did in Vertigo, McQueen makes his way up, down and around the many streets of San Francisco in Bullitt, though in a hotter car at a higher speed. Location footage includes scenes in neighborhoods as diverse as Nob Hill,  Pacific Heights, the Embarcadero, North Beach, Potrero Hill, The Mission, South of Market (aka/SOMA) and downtown. McQueen, who produced, would choose Brit Peter Yates to direct because of his experience shooting on location for Tony Richardson and because of a film he’d made in 1967, Robbery, that featured an exciting car chase. Of course, the most famous sequence in Bullitt, it’s centerpiece, is a 10-minute car chase that winds through all parts of the city and climaxes in a takedown race over Mount San Bruno that ends in a deadly crash in Brisbane, a small town south of the city. That particular route was part of my daily commute for many years and every so often I’d think of that sequence when I reached the crest of the mountain and started down the other side. But I was never inspired enough to accelerate. Bullitt is another film in which the plot is incidental – a sort of MacGuffin. The real “story” is Steve McQueen’s character, Bullitt, and that tale is enhanced by the iconic chase scene – the “granddaddy of them all" – and the breathtaking city of San Francisco. For my full review of Bullitt on its 50th anniversary last year, click here.

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What’s Up, Doc?  (1972) was the second of the three films that made Peter Bogdanovich’s reputation as one of the top New Hollywood directors of the early 1970s (along with Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin and others). Before it had come his masterpiece, The Last Picture Show (1971), and following would be Paper Moon (1973). Bogdanovich’s standing - and career - as a director would suffer a dizzying plunge in the mid-'70s, but this was before that, and What’s Up, Doc? is an effervescent delight of a tribute to the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s. Stars Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal share a fine chemistry and are supported by a dazzling ensemble cast including Madeline Kahn (in her film debut), Austin Pendleton, Kenneth Mars, Michael Murphy, Mabel Albertson and more.

Four identical bags...

What’s Up, Doc? has been referred to by some as a re-make of Bringing Up Baby (1938). It’s not. It’s not even a “loose re-make,” but it is a superbly crafted homage. The plot follows the confusion that is unleashed when four identical plaid suitcases arrive at the same San Francisco hotel at the same time. One bag belongs to musicologist Howard Bannister (Ryan O’Neal, wearing a pair of glasses a la Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby), and contains a set of important “musical rocks.” Another bag belongs to Judy Maxwell (Barbra Streisand), a wacky perennial college student who leaves chaos and trouble in her wake wherever she roams. Her bag is packed with her clothes and a dictionary. A third bag belongs to “Mr. Smith” (Michael Murphy) and contains confidential government documents. The fourth bag belongs to wealthy Mrs. Van Hoskins (Mabel Albertson) and holds her vast collection of expensive jewelry. As you might expect, an incredible mix-up occurs and madcap escapades ensue.

One of the highlights of What’s Up, Doc? is a riotous car chase through the city involving, first, a delivery bicycle and then a decorative VW Beetle. The sequence is a wild parody of the legendary Bullitt chase and ends with a splash in the San Francisco Bay. Written by Buck Henry (The Graduate), David Newman (Bonnie and Clyde) and Robert Benton (Bonnie and Clyde, who won Oscars for Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart) and based on a story by Bogdanovich, the film also features a soundtrack filled with songs, sung or just heard in the background, by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and others of that golden age of popular music. This is one film that deserves a whole lot more love and attention than it gets.

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Curious about my original five picks of 10 years ago? Click here. And if you have favorite San Francisco-set movies, tell me about it.

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Congratulations, Rick, and thank you for everything!

My 100 Favorite Films: From 40 to 31

This month’s countdown list features a double dose of Sidney Poitier and two very different science fiction films. As always, please keep in mind that these films are not what I'd consider the best 100 movies ever made. They are simply one classic fan's favorites. (An underlined title means there's a hyperlink to a full review at the Cafe.)

40. Out of the Past- My favorite film noir has Robert Mitchum as a man who has put his shady past behind him and found love with a good woman in a small community where he operates a gas station. But, as is often the case in the movies, his past catches up with him when a former acquaintance passes through town. With its contrasts of bright lights and dark shadows, Out of the Past is a visual feast. It’s also a compelling tale of a man pulled back into the shadows of his past—no matter how hard he tries to escape them. Kirk Douglas nails the manipulating villain; too bad he didn’t play more bad guys. Yet, despite the presence of Mitchum and Douglas, the film belongs to Jane Greer, an underrated and under-utilized actress who created one of the genre’s best femme fatales.

39. The Andromeda Strain – This superior science fiction outing pits four dedicated scientists against a microscopic menace capable of destroying all life on Earth. Its critics have labeled it slow-moving and overlong, but I find it intellectually exciting. Its thrills come not from action sequences (though there’s a doozy at the climax), but from the time-sensitive need to determine: What is the Andromeda Strain? How can it be destroyed? Why did a 69-year-old man and a six-month-old baby survive when Andromeda wiped out a New Mexico town of 68 people? Part of the appeal for me is that The Andromeda Strain includes one of my favorite plot devices: the forming of a team in which each member is introduced to the audience.

38. Lilies of the Field – A quiet film that has grown in my affection, Lilies contains my favorite Sidney Poitier performance. His Homer Smith is a stubborn man who is delightfully at odds with himself… and with a savvy Mother Superior. A drifter, Homer stops at a small farm run by nuns in the Arizona desert. He agrees to do a small roof repair and winds up building a chapel. The gentle conflict between Homer and the Mother Superior (wonderfully played by Lilia Skala) forms the heart of the film. But I also love how Lilies captures the flavor of the community, encapsulated in my favorite scene in which some local workers gradually force their assistance on Homer as he builds “his” chapel.

37. In the Heat of the Night - This racially-charged mystery, 1968’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, has aged gracefully over the years. The secret to its success can be attributed to its many layers. Peel back the mystery plot and you have a potent examination of racial tension in the South in the 1960s. Peel that back and you have a rich character study of two lonely police detectives, from completely different backgrounds, who gradually earn each other’s respect. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger shine in the lead roles and Sidney delivers one of my all-time favorite lines of dialogue.

36. Executive Suite - The president of Tredway, the nation’s third-largest furniture manufacturer, dies unexpectedly in the opening scene. With no successor named, the company falls into the hands of five vice-presidents with equal authority. Since Wall Street viewed Tredway as a one-man company, the VPs realize the criticality of naming a a new president over the weekend—thus creating a high stakes battle for company control. The all-star cast (which includes Holden, March, and Stanwyck) is in fine form. However, it’s the film’s theme of quality vs. profit that always intrigued me. Indeed, I first saw this film in a college business course. It’s often compared to Rod Serling’s Patterns, another corporate drama made in the 1950s. It’s very good, with a killer ending, but Executive Suite is more entertaining.

35. To Kill a Mockingbird – For many fans, this film’s appeal lies with its literary origins and Gregory Peck’s powerhouse performance. While that’s also somewhat true for me, my favorite part of Mockingbird is its portrait of a time and a place through the eyes of a child. I don’t think any movie has done a better job of that (my runner-up is the French two-part film My Father’s Glory/My Mother’s Castle). Additionally, Mary Badham and Phillip Alford give incredibly naturalistic performancea as the children. Badham was equally good in This Property Is Condemned. Mockingbird is full of magical moments, with my favorite being Atticus’s formal introduction of Boo Radley.

34. Von Ryan’s Express - Released in 1965, just two years after The Great Escape, Von Ryan’s Express also tells the tale of a daring escape from a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. While both films split their running times between scenes inside the camp and outside the fence (once the prisoners break out), the similarity ends there. A near-perfect blend of suspense, intense action sequences, and occasional humor, Von Ryan’s Express takes off when the prisoners hijack a German train. OK, I admit I’m a sucker for train movies—but this one is a gripping thriller with a flawed hero well-played by Frank Sinatra. I always thought Sinatra was an odd star, capable of excellent performances (here and in The Manchurian Candidate) and truly awful ones (The Detective).

33. Picnic – William Holden stars as a handsome drifter who wanders into a small town to see old chum Cliff Robertson…and inadvertently steals his girlfriend Kim Novak. Based on William Inge’s play, Picnic is about taking chances, whether it’s in the pursuit of passion (and perhaps love) or whether it’s two lonely middle-aged people willing to take a chance on each other. I know film buffs who may cringe when I say it, but Picnic is at heart a big screen soap opera—and that’s not a bad thing. My Mom loved this genre and when I watched these soaps with her as a kid, I called them “people stories”—apparently because characters talked a lot instead of engaging in swordfights, hunting vampires, etc.

32. The Leopard Man – Set in a small New Mexico town, this fascinating Val Lewton-produced suspense film concerns a black leopard that escapes during a foolish publicity stunt. When a young girl is found clawed to death, the leopard is blamed—but was it the killer? Leopard Man is justly famous for what Exorcist director William Friedkin once called "one of the greatest horror sequences ever filmed." However, it’s more than a one-trick pony. I’m surprised that film critics rarely note its complex, interweaving narrative structure in which the plot sometimes zigs and zags as the characters interact. I can’t think of many other films like it, except for La Ronde, in which the narrative device is much more obvious.

31. Quatermass and the Pit – Construction workers uncover the ancient skulls of “ape men” while working in a deserted underground subway station in the Hobbs End area of London. A scientist dates the ape men’s remains as five million years old, making them the earliest known ancestors of humans. His work comes to a sharp halt, though, when the excavations unearth a large metallic-like object in the rock. Is it a bomb? A spacecraft? And what does it have to do with stories of former Hobbs End residents claiming to have heard odd noises and experienced visions of “hideous dwarfs”? Writer Nigel Kneale hatched this incredibly inventive melding of science fiction and horror, the third film in the Quatermass series. Too many films are labeled “one of a kind,” but this little gem truly fits the definition.

Next month, I’ll count down the next ten, which include a gimmicky mystery, the greatest color film ever made, and a whole lotta dogs.

Robert Mitchum faces his shadowy former life in "Out of the Past"

Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) is living a quiet life, running a gas station in a small town. But then a stranger drives his car into town, and everything changes. It seems that someone from Jeff's past wants something from him, and so Jeff tells his girlfriend, Ann (Virginia Huston), about his shady past. Years ago, Jeff had been hired by Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) to find his lady friend, Kathie (Jane Greer), who had shot him and ran away with 40,000 of his dollars. Jeff tracks Kathie to Mexico, meets her in a bar, and the beautiful lady helps him forget all about bringing her back to the States. The two lovers are eventually forced to part ways, and Jeff soon learns that Kathie had returned to Sterling. Now, Sterling wants Jeff to do one simple job, so that they're square, but Jeff suspects that it might be a frame.

Jacques Tourneur, who'd directed some of the Val Lewton-produced films, Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie, and The Leopard Man (both 1943), helmed this movie. Many of the Val Lewton movies were covered in shadow, with the terror merely hinted. This was for budgetary reasons, but it helped immensely to heighten the suspense. Tourneur employs a similar technique in Out of the Past (1947), in this case with a thematic purpose. All that Jeff has left behind is creeping back into his life. The shadows begin to represent impending doom for Jeff, so that it's not only a reference to the title, but is almost a literal interpretation of the man's "shady past."

When we first see Jeff, he's fishing by a pond, in the bright of day. By the time he tells his story to Ann, he's partially hidden in shadow, where he spends the majority of the film. When Jeff is introduced in the flashback, he is wearing a dark overcoat. It was a time when he was a part of the seedy underworld, and he fits right in with the disreputable Whit Sterling. The refurnished Jeff, the man who fishes and owns a gas station, is adorned in a much lighter trenchcoat. It hints at a change in the man, but this is immaterial when he is hiding in the dark, continually stepping into the shadows when trying to uncover Sterling's scheme. It's almost as if Jeff is stepping back into his old role. He must return to his past, become who he used to be, to expose the frame-up. Despite his new life with Ann, Jeff seems more comfortable as his darker self.

When Jeff sees that Kathie is with Sterling again, she comes to his room later to explain herself. Jeff tells her simply, "Let's just leave it where it all is." But even Jeff knows that cannot happen. This is why he goes to see Sterling without an argument, why he takes the job offered to him, knowing fully well it's more than likely a setup. It's a basic belief in penance. Jeff walks back into the past to face whatever consequence awaits him.

The lighting in Out of the Past helps shape the film's story and people. Heavy contrasts, like the infamous sequence in which Jeff walks down a hallway (after stealing evidence implicating Sterling), clearly express the world in which the characters reside. The brighter the lights, the deeper the shadows, and the easier it is to lose oneself in the dark. Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca had worked with Tourneur previously on Cat People. He'd also photographed other Val Lewton movies, such as The 7th Victim (1943) and The Curse of the Cat People (1944).

Out of the Past was based on the book (and released in the U.K. as) Build My Gallows High. The novel and its adaptation were written by Daniel Mainwaring, both under the pseudonym, Geoffrey Homes. Mainwaring's dialogue is so sharp that a viewer might need a box of gauze handy while watching the film. The lines are witty, with a wry sense of the environment. In other words, most of the characters have accepted their lot in life, and their words are assertions of this reserved compliance. One of the film's best scenes involves Jeff's first meet with the potential victim. He arrives at the door, where Meta Carson (Rhonda Fleming) is posing as his cousin. The other man and Jeff share this bit of dialogue:

"Your, uh, cousin is a very charming young lady."

"No, he isn't. His name is Norman, and he's a bookmaker in Cleveland, Ohio."

The performances in Out of the Past are flawless. The lazy-eyed Mitchum is unparalleled as Jeff. His lines flow from his lips like water from a faucet. The beautiful Jane Greer is the quintessential femme fatale. Her performance is so strong and alluring that it's easy to see why Jeff is such a sucker for her. You want to see more and more of her, in spite of knowing what her presence means. Douglas is equally solid as Whit Sterling. He spends so much of the film smiling that you can't help but assume that his charm is genuine. In one incredibly effective scene, he approaches Kathie, and just as she enters the frame, Sterling slaps her. Greer's reaction makes you wonder if the slap was unexpected, but more than anything, it makes Sterling a terrifying menace. Even Fleming, in the small role as Meta, is noteworthy. In essence, she is the other femme fatale, but she is so appealing that her association with the bad guys is a trait that can readily be forgiven.

Out of the Past was remade in 1984 as Against All Odds starring Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward. Greer played the mother of Ward, who was portraying Greer's '47 character. Paul Valentine, who made his film debut in Out of the Past as Sterling's crony, Joe Stephanos, also had a small role in the '84 remake.

Out of the Past is often cited as a prime example of the film noir genre. Tourneur's film is dramatically sound, and at times romantic, suspenseful, and just plain cool. So many separate elements come together to form a memorable film. And, just like Jeff and the movie's seemingly endless shadows, it's easy to lose yourself in a dark, somber world.

"And then she walked in out of the moonlight, smiling..."

Jane Greer is undoubtedly best remembered for her splendid portrayal of the sexy femme fatale Kathie Moffat in Jacques Tourneur's film noir classic, Out of the Past (1947). But this classy dame, a stunning beauty with a perpetually cocked eyebrow, was a topnotch actress, holding her own against the likes of Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger in the '52 version of The Prisoner of Zenda, Gary Cooper in You're in the Navy Now (1951), and James Cagney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). If you haven't seen it, I would recommend 1949's The Big Steal, a fun action romp in which Ms. Greer re-teams with her Out of the Past co-star, Robert Mitchum. Later in her career, the actress starred in an Out of the Past remake, Against All Odds, playing Rachel Ward's mother (Ward herself playing Greer's character from the original) and had a small part in David Lynch's cult TV series, Twin Peaks, as the mother of Norma (the owner of the diner). The Cafe salutes this talented lady!