The Exiles (1961)
( A Bunker Hill movie in a San Francisco blog? CitySleuth explains why).
The Movie
Filmmaker Kent MacKenzie became familiar with the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles when, as a student at USC, he made a short, 'Bunker Hill - 1956', deciding then to follow up with a feature length film, The Exiles. It is a remarkable film, on the one hand a cinema verité style presentation of a young group of native indians who had left their reservations in the Southwest for the promised land of an urban city, and at the same time a fortuitous record from 1958-60 of the Bunker Hill neighborhood in which they lived, a neighborhood soon to be wiped from the face of the earth. The story is presented in semi-scripted pseudo-documentary style with excellent photography that captures the mostly night-time action in evocative black and white, energized throughout by the gritty late fifties rock sounds of a local band, the Revels.
The Story
Is there a story? Not really, it's more of an education for viewers as they eavesdrop on the protagonists during a typical night's carousing around town drinking, smoking, gambling, womanizing, dancing, chanting. But feathered savages, the prevailing indian image back then, they are not.
(Watch the trailer here)
The Locations -
- Angels Flight S. Hill Street at W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles
- Grand Central Market 317 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
- Homer And Yvonne's Place 334 Clay Street, Los Angeles
- At The Roxie 518 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
- Puttin' On The Ritz 312 1/2 S. Main Street, Los Angeles
- Columbine Beer Tavern 263 S. Main Street, Los Angeles--- (Moler's - 265 S. Main Street)
- Voiceover Views, Main Street at 3rd Street, Los Angeles--- 3rd Street at Hill Street-- St. George Hotel, 115 E. 3rd Street--- south side of the 300 block of 3rd Street
- 3rd Street Tunnel and Rico's Place S. Hill Street at W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles --- 916 W. 1st Street
- Joyride Main Street at 3rd--- 3rd Street Tunnel--- 3rd Street at Cinnabar--- Gas station at 3510 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
- A Walk Through Town Roxie Theater, 518 S. Broadway, Los Angeles--- Desmond's, 616 S. Broadway--- Brass Rail bar, 334 W. Hill Street --- Cooper's Do-nuts, 315 E. 5th Street--- Fig Leaf Cafe, 833 W. 3rd Street--- Gloria Cafe, 109 W. 3rd Street--- Hill Street at 3rd Street tunnel --- 3rd Street steps to Clay Street--- Sunshine Apartments at W. 3rd Street and Clay Street
- Closing Time Ritz Cafe, 312 1/2 S. Main Street--- Scott and Freeland restaurant, 325 S. Main Street--- El Progreso bar, 260 S. Main Street, Los Angeles
- Hill 'X' Chavez Ravine hill, now Dodger Stadium site, Los Angeles
- The Morning After Clay Street, between W. 2nd and W. 4th Streets, Los Angeles