San Francisco has seen its fair share of movies—and not all of them are winners—but there are six that stand out in my book as enjoyable pieces of film often overlooked by current lists and rankings. Here they are, organized by year:
1. All About Eve (1950)
This movie boasts the acting chops of Bette Davis, George Sanders, and Anne Baxter. It is a classic that follows the story of a young woman that inserts herself into the lives of “an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends” (IMDB).
2. Harold and Maude (1971)
This movie can safely be called quirky and off-kilter. The soundtrack is entirely made up of Bob Dylan songs and the wardrobe is decidedly 70s, but the quirkiest part is the bond between a young man, with an inclination for the morbid, and an eccentric old woman. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
3. What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
This is no doubt my all-time favorite movie. It is, in my eyes, a comedic masterpiece. Lead by the ever amazing, Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal, it follows the characters of Judy (Streisand) and Howard Bannister (O’Neal) through a series of unlucky events ultimately leading to a destroyed hotel room, lost government documents, and millions worth of stolen jewels. What more could you want?
4. Sister Act (1992)
This is not one of the more classically sophisticated films on this list, but seeing Whoopi Goldberg as a swearing, beer-drinking nun being hunted by mobsters is definitely worth a watch.
5. James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Based on the Roald Dahl book by the same title, this movie is an oddity. It was filmed in San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Treasure Island. It combines live action acting and stop motion animation with life size bugs, magic worms, and one giant peach—that can pretty much do anything—to create a slightly creepy children’s movie (and one of my favorites).
6. The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Finally, is the modern movie set in the 1970s, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, starring Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, and Kristen Wiig. Based on the graphic novel, The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures, it is a sexually charged coming of age story that leaves Minnie (Powley) in an illicit affair with her mom’s (Wiig) boyfriend, Monroe (Skarsgård). I think the most remarkable thing about this movie is how creepy Alexander Skarsgård is, which is not an easy feat.
There are many amazing, and awful, movies that have been birthed by the streets of San Francisco, but that is all part of San Francisco’s dynamic and continuously alluring charm.
