Vertigo and Bullitt

****Warning - plot spoilers ****

This week we've watched two films set in San Francisco. I wonder, perhaps this is the beginning of a challenge - "watch all films set/filmed in SF by the time we leave SF". I think we started with two of the most famous and probably the best.

Vertigo is Vertigo. What can you say? It's Hitchcock continuing with his cool blonde fetish and putting yet another Hollywood hero through the wringer. It is a great movie but also an odd one. I'm not sure anyone is terribly likeable apart from Midge the long suffering not quite a girlfriend. It has that odd slightly mystical atmosphere and it has San Francisco which plays a starring role showcasing some of its best sights. A couple of days after we saw it, we drove down the peninsula towards the Mission where the final scene takes place and Tom and I both thought it was a helluva a long way to drive for dinner. Poor old Kim Novak. She said she was hungry and then Jimmy Stewart drives her two hours only to have her jump off the tower. If you want to see the locations used there's this cool site showing then and now pictures. You can easily find these places now and relive the film.

Meanwhile, I'm pleased to say that I've lived here long enough (5 months) to have worked out that the car chase in Bullitt is geographically inconsistent. It's also quite a slow film apart from the car chase so not as riveting as Vertigo. But it has Steve McQueen so what's not to like.

Anyone got any suggestions for what to watch next? And don't say Herbie - we've seen it.