Reel SF

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 -

1. Angels Flight  S. Hill Street at W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles
2. Grand Central Market  317 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
3. Homer And Yvonne's Place  334 Clay Street, Los Angeles
4. At The Roxie  518 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
5. Puttin' On The Ritz  312 1/2 S. Main Street, Los Angeles
6. Columbine Beer Tavern  263 S. Main Street, Los Angeles---  (Moler's - 265 S. Main Street)
7. 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
8. 3rd Street Tunnel and Rico's Place  S. Hill Street at W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles  --- 916 W. 1st Street
9. Joyride  Main Street at 3rd---  3rd Street Tunnel---  3rd Street at Cinnabar---  Gas station at 3510 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
10. 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
11. 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
12. Hill 'X'  Chavez Ravine hill, now Dodger Stadium site, Los Angeles
13. The Morning After  Clay Street, between W. 2nd and W. 4th Streets, Los Angeles