Perplexed and confused by Madeleine's strange trance-like behavior and by his feelings for her, Scottie has trouble sleeping and wanders around town in the very early hours.
Then ... In the lower right corner we can just make him out crossing a deserted street at the corner of a city square.
... a vintage photo ... Any San Franciscan and many tourists will recognize this one - it's Union Square, the heart of the city's downtown hotel and shopping area. Scottie is crossing Stockton Street on Geary (map). The 1955 photo below shows us a clearer picture of how it looked back then. This photo was taken from atop the old City Of Paris Store (it became Nieman Marcus in 1980).
... and Now, a recent view (below) from the same corner. To the right, all of the buildings but one on the Post Street block have been replaced but the tall building rising behind them, the Sir Francis Drake hotel, is still there. That's the St Francis hotel on the left; it opened in 1903 and added its highrise tower in 1972. The Dewey 'Victory' monument in the center of the square was dedicated in 1903 and survived the devastating 1906 earthquake. A useful history of Union Square can be seen here.
Bigelow has discovered that Halliday is the one who poisoned him. He rushes from the Philips' apartment to find him, pursued by Majak and his henchmen.
Then ... They chase after him but he manages to stay steps ahead and jumps on a downtown bus (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, CitySleuth is indebted to L.A. sleuth Phil Stufflebean who pointed out this location. This is the junction of Western Avenue and W. 8th Street in Koreatown, just three blocks from Mrs Philips' apartment (map). There's still a liquor store on the corner (below) 60 years on! Old habits die hard.
Then ... Majak and his cronies don't give up easily - they follow the bus into town. The roof sign of the Gaylord Apartments behind them indicates that they are driving east into town on Wilshire Blvd. The Gaylord was built in 1929 as a hotel but had been converted to luxury apartments by the 1940s. It was across the street from the Ambassador Hotel where Robert F Kennedy was assasinated in 1968. Back in those days the clubs and joints on this stretch of Wilshire Blvd were the places to be to rub elbows with the Hollywood set.
... and Now, The apartment building is still there (below), at 3355 Wilshire Blvd in Koreatown (map), now book-ended by newer structures. The Ambassador Hotel opposite is gone, closed to guests in 1989 and demolished in 2005.
Then ... Bigelow arrives downtown and jumps off the bus - fortunately for him a couple of policemen at the bus stop tell Majak to move on. Clifton's Cafeteria can be seen behind them.
... from 1951 ... The vintage photo taken just a year after the movie's release (below) shows us a clearer view of Clifton's Cafeteria, at 648 Broadway near 7th Street (map). The Harris & Frank store is next to it - its rather unusual awning can also be seen above.
... and Now, the same view today. Amazingly, Clifton's Cafeteria, opened in 1935, is still doing business in the same spot, reopening in 2015 after a $10 million transformation to its original glory. Times change though, today's merchants can only sigh in envy over those long-gone teeming hordes of downtown shoppers
CitySleuth had fun finding this one. There's a flashback in the movie, lasting no more than four seconds where we see Petulia's father-in-law Mr Danner (Joseph Cotten) and his wife in a spectactular living room at their home. But where was this house? There are no clues whatsoever in the movie other than that one brief shot. But fear not - CitySleuth tracked it down, it's in Sausalito, and he was recently invited there to get matching photographs.
Then ... The striking feature of the room is this remarkable fanshell window.
... and Now, the room has to this day remained largely unchanged, exceptions being changes to the wall at far right and the refinished fireplace hood in the near right corner.
... and Now, from outside, the house is well-hidden on a hillside but the distinctive window is just visible from the street below.
CitySleuth is withholding the home's street address to respect owner privacy but a hillside view of the house is shown below. From its vantage point high above Bridgeway between Atwood Avenue and San Carlos Avenue (map), it enjoys a sweeping view across the Bay towards San Francisco. The house was originally built in the late 19th century by Melville Attwood, an immigrant mining engineer from England, then remodelled to its present form in 1961 by French architect Walter Nemhauser, a former owner.
So how was the house found? Serendipitously the movie DVD included a bonus feature Petulia: The Uncommon Movie with footage of the film crew setting up in a house misleadingly described by the narrator as being "somewhere In the suburbs of San Francisco". It's clearly not Petulia's house but CitySleuth surmised it must be the Danner house. Brief window views from the home in the documentary suggested it could be Sausalito; a study of hillside photos of east-facing houses pinpointed the site.
... on location ... The crew carries massive lighting fixtures into the house along a suspended walkway.
... and Now, here's the walkway, still there. Its railing design invokes a marine rope theme.
... on location ... The crew set up the lights above the living room. This is the window view that led CitySleuth to Sausalito.
... and Now, the same view, looking south along the Sausalito shoreline (part of the fanshell window is visible downstairs at lower left).
... on location ... Here's director Richard Lester and Joseph Cotten admiring a view of San Francisco across the bay. They are on the same balcony seen above - note in both Then and Now the same little shoreline projection, one of the clues in pinpointing the location.
... on location ... Look at this fascinating shot below - what on earth is that circular hole they are filming through? (That by the way is the camera being set up next to the fireplace hood to film the brief movie shot seen at the top of this post).
... and Now, it turns out to be the small oculus at the radial 'center' of the fanshell window! (seen in the shot at the top of this post). The shot above was filmed from the east balcony looking through it across the living room. Neat. Here's the matching photo, below, showing some changes to the fireplace.
Why was so much cost and effort expended for a mere four seconds of footage? Most likely it was filmed as a longer scene that ended up on the cutting room floor (Mrs Danner is speaking in the brief shot but there's no dialog heard).
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Bullitt now knows that the murdered state's witness wasn't mobster Johnny Ross after all, it was Albert Renick (Felice Orlandi), a car salesman who Ross had paid to take his place to take the heat from his pursuers. Following up, Bullitt finds out that Ross is at San Francisco airport (map) about to take a Pan Am flight out of the country under Renick's name.
Then ... Bullitt rushes to the Pan Am terminal at the airport, in the South Terminal.
... from the 1960s ... this vintage photo shows the departure level of the South Terminal as seen in the movie view above but viewed from the opposite direction.
... and Now, the airport has changed greatly since then but the terminal is still there, now called Terminal 1, although it has itself seen many changes over the years and is now used for domestic flights only. Here's how it looks curbside today (below).
Then ... Director Yates used hundreds of extras for the airport scenes. Here are some of them in the check-in area.
... and Now, Terminal 1's check-in area today.
Then ... San Francisco airport in 1968 had only two terminals as seen in the aerial photo below. Central Terminal was built in the mid 1950s, South Terminal in the 1960s.
... and Now, Today there are four terminals. South Terminal is now known as Terminal 1, Central Terminal became Terminal 2, Terminal 3 was added in the late 1970s and the International Terminal opened in 2000.
Ross's plane has already left the gate but Bullitt orders it to return to the terminal. As the passengers file out Johnny Ross (the real one, played by Pat Renella), in desperation, jumps from the plane to the tarmac as Bullitt closes in.
Bullitt follows him and a night-time chase across the runways ensues that is as daring and exciting as the movie's better-known car chase. Below, Bullitt ducks under a passing Boeing 707 to the soundtrack accompaniment of screaming engines.
After a harrowing exchange of gunfire Ross runs back into the terminal. Bullitt catches up with him and much to the consternation of the teeming crowd finally gets his man.
