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 Transamerica Pyramid |
Is it me? Is
it you? Who's snatched? That's the question in this remake of the 1950s
sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Philip Kaufman directs
Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and
Leonard Nimoy in a story of paranoia and alien abduction. This is one of
the best San Francisco movies to watch on a rainy afternoon. The City is
present throughout. The opening sequence includes quick cuts of
Sutro
Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, and
Golden
Gate Bridge, as tendrils of alien matter float through space until
finally landing on rain soaked San Francisco fauna. When the matter quickly
takes root and blooms into pretty red flowers, Adams plucks one from a
bush at Alamo Square and takes it home
to her house at 720 Steiner Street on
Postcard
Row. Adams and Sutherland are co-workers at the
Department
of Public Health. When Adams' husband and others start acting strangely,
the nightmare begins for Adams and Sutherland. Director Kaufman creates
a geographically realistic escape sequence from Sutherland's place at 1227
Montgomery Street, down Telegraph Hill via the Filbert
Steps to
Pier 33. The 1956 original
ended with a character played by Kevin McCarthy frantically running down
a city street trying to warn people of the alien invasion. More than 20
years later, in Kaufman's version, McCarthy briefly continues his mad dash
before being hit by a car in front of the Hamlin
Hotel, 385 Eddy Street. Also keep an eye out for shots of Powell
Street between Ellis and Market that include Woolworth's, which was
on the street level of the Flood Building for many years. You can see the
same storefront thirty years earlier as the Owl Drug Co. in Dark
Passage.
Additional Locations:
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Copyright 2002 Hank Donat |