We have reached the scene perhaps best remembered by the legion of fans who have seen Vertigo -the one in which Scottie saves Madeleine after she jumps into San Francisco Bay.
Then ... Madeleine, tailed by Scottie, approaches Fort Point (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, this is Marine Drive in the Presidio. The building on the right (above) was originally built to house the fort's lighthouse keepers but has since been demolished (below), otherwise little has changed (click image to enlarge).
Then ... They pull up at Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge (map) - to many a classic Hitchcock image, except that eight years earlier these same camera shots appeared in The Man Who Cheated Himself .
... and Now, just the same, except for the fence erected after 9/11 that bars visitors from walking behind the fort.
The city skyline glows in the distance as Scottie anxiously watches Madeleine, at the water's edge, dropping petals from her nosegay into the frigid bay.
Then ... In a moment of great drama she suddenly leaps into the bay.
... and Now, fortunately CitySleuth was there prior to this area being declared off-limits and took the matching photo below. Note that the fence chain was temporarily removed, above, for the jump.
Horrified, he dives in after her and carries her back to safety (up some conveniently added stairs). She might have temporarily lost her senses but she wasn't about to lose those high heels.
Kim Novak gives us all a delightful smile on location at Fort Point while shooting this scene.
Parry walks from the cable car turnaround to a bus depot where he buys his ticket to freedom.
Then ... On the depot window we can make out the name 'White Arrow Bus Lines'.
But where was this filmed? The absence of an entry in the 1947 street directory confirms that 'White Arrow Bus Lines' was a fictitious name. But there is a clue to its location ... there's a sign behind the bus as it was waiting to leave, pointing to the Lankershim Hotel.
The Lankershim was a real hotel at 55 5th Street just a block's walk from the cable car. And right next to the hotel, across the narrow Jessie Street at 75 5th Street, was a Greyhound bus depot at the Pickwick Hotel. Check out the 1942 map below of the Market/4th/Mission/5th Streets block showing the location of the Lankershim and the Pickwick on 5th Street at bottom left (click image to enlarge). It also shows the Greyhound Bus Depot Garage behind the Pickwick. Parry's bus would have been facing the Mission Street exit, so the Lankershim Hotel sign behind the bus, above, would have been on the side of the Lankershim in Jessie Street pointing to the hotel entrance on 5th.
... in the 1940s ... Below is a 1940's postcard rendering of the Lankershim, viewed from across 5th Street. Jessie runs down the right side.
... and Now, the Lankershim has become the Hotel Milano - the same structure with a remodeled street level facade (map). (Update - the hotel has recently been remodeled again and opened as the Hotel Zetta in 2013).
... in the 1940s ... Below is a postcard rendering of the Pickwick Hotel as it looked back then with its bus depot office on the corner of Jessie (click image to enlarge).. These vintage postcards were accurate images, using colorized photographs.
... and Now, this is the Pickwick today, on the corner of 5th and Mission. It's hardly changed, except there's no bus depot there any more. The side of the Hotel Milano can just be seen across Jessie to its left.
But the window view from the movie depot does not match the view from the Pickwick, which looks towards the old San Francisco Mint. CitySleuth thinks there's a good reason for this, namely the movie depot scene was filmed in a studio - but the old Pickwick bus depot was the inspiration for it, therefore it can be considered to be the implied location.
... and Now, below is where the bus depot was, at the corner of Jessie and 5th, now occupied by restaurants Cafe Venus and Sushi Club.
... and Now, the old bus depot garage can still be seen next to the Pickwick around the corner on Mission Street.
In the famous car chase Bullitt's Mustang 390 GT pursues the bad guys' Dodge Charger 440 Magnum through several San Francisco neighborhoods before ending with a fiery conclusion outside the city. This post takes sixteen of the highlights and presents them in a 'Then' and 'Now' format.
Two of Mike Figlia's henchmen mug Nick in front of the Colchester Hotel on the Embarcadero (the hotel was described earlier). When Nick's wallet falls to the ground Rica grabs it and takes off, with the thugs in close pursuit. They catch up with her in Ceylon Street, a narrow alley near Front Street between Clay and Washington which no longer exists after the Golden Gateway Project redevelopment. The map below shows where Ceylon used to be and where the scenes were filmed. The Colchester Hotel was at location 1 and Rica was cornered at location 2.
The chase starts in front of the Colchester Hotel, below.
... a vintage photo ... here's the Colchester in an undated photo taken before this block was demolished.
Rica is next seen at the south end of Ceylon Street which tees with Clay Street behind her. The small sign says 'Allied Produce Co' - this was the back door of the business of that name at 313 Davis Street.
Then ... The thugs close in on Rica and take the wallet from her. This panoramic composite looks north along Ceylon to where it tees into Washington; a large truck is parked across the intersection. A 'John DeMartini Co' sign is behind Rica at a side entrance to the DeMartini building on Washington which spanned Ceylon to Davis.
... and Now, the Golden Gateway Garage has been built where Ceylon Street used to be. The photo below shows the same view today, but taken on the garage's roof garden.
... an archival photo of Ceylon Street ... CitySleuth has combined two archival photos (below) to show how the Washington/Ceylon corner used to look before the area was redeveloped. On the left, from the 1950s, is a view east down Washington. On the right, from 1944, a view south down Ceylon. This is the opposite direction from the 'Then' movie view along Ceylon, above, but a comparison of the corner building's windows and awning shows it to be the same building.