Then … Next unfolds perhaps the most memorable of the Dirty Harry series scenes. It begins at this street junction, meant to be Battery and California. A passing California & Market Street cable car rolls by and on the left is a bank - the United Bank Of San Francisco. But this is all phony - there never was such a cable car line, nor was there such a bank; what’s more, Battery Street doesn’t terminate at California, it crosses. The entire scene was filmed on the Universal Studios back lot in Hollywood.
… and Now, Here’s an aerial photo of the back lot today showing where the scene was filmed, at one end of New York Street.
… and Now, a closer look courtesy Google Satellite View. The lot was rebuilt after a major fire in 2008 but the street layout is the same and the bank building seen in the movie has survived. The location of a corner burger joint prominently featured in the scene is also indicated here.
Callahan drives past the bank, takes a left , parks in what is today Wall Street on the back lot (it was called Factory Street before the post-fire rebuild) and takes a seat at the counter in the Burger Den for a hot dog. (The street signs behind him identifies this corner as Pine and Battery). But he’s very suspicious of the tan Ford that he drove by outside the bank with it’s engine running; his gut tells him a robbery may be in progress.
Then … The bank alarm starts to ring prompting him to draw his gun and head outside (note the Pine street sign) just as the robbers are running out of the bank ...
… in 2006 … As late as 2006, before the 2008 fire, this back lot photo reveals that this end of New York Street surprisingly hadn’t changed much.
Chaos and carnage ensue when, firing across Battery Street, he takes out the robbers one by one, including the driver of the fleeing getaway car which ends up on its side after destroying a fire hydrant. In this view along Pine Street (Wall street in today’s back lot) the crossing street is named Sansome, an actual SF city street that parallels Battery, although in the real world Pine doesn’t tee into Sansome as shown here, it crosses it. (But, for some semblance of accuracy to the San Francisco street layout that should have been Front Street, not Sansome).
Then … In this great shot looking the other way down New York Street Callahan nonchalantly strides past the shocked onlookers towards the bank. The corner burger joint is behind him but look at what’s playing on the movie theater just down the block … Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty For Me, released a few weeks before Dirty Harry. Free advertising!
… and Now, The same view in the back lot today reveals that most of the structures have been changed except for the one facing us dead center at the end (OK, it has an added top story). The burger joint in the movie was located at the far left corner.
Callahan approaches an injured robber whose dropped shotgun is just beyond his reach (note the street signs - California and Battery). The thief glances down at it, tempted but hesitant …
… prompting Callahan to deliver the movie’s classic monologue.
The punk backs off and Callahan retrieves the weapon. But did the punk make the right call? As Callahan walks off he calls out: “I gots to know”. So Callahan aims his gun right at him and slowly squeezes the trigger. Click … the chamber was empty. He turns away with a smirk having demonstrated an equal ability for mental as well as physical abuse.
Then … Behind the opening credits two views of the Embarcadero announce to the audience that the movie is set in San Francisco. Here, we see from right to left three piers, Piers 37, 39 and 41; Alcatraz and Angel Islands are seen beyond them. A small part of Pier 35 juts in at far right.
… by 1952 … the same scene was captured in this vintage 1952 photo. It was taken from the top of Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, this wider view also showing Pier 35 on the right.
… and Now, over the years many of the Embarcadero piers have been removed. In this recent photo we see that Pier 39 has been reimagined and rebuilt as a major tourist attraction while Pier 37 on its right is now a marina and Pier 41 mostly off to the left a cruise and ferry terminal. It’s not included here, but the original Pier 35 is still there (map).
Then … As the credits continue we next see streetcars dropping off and picking up passengers on the turn-around loop in front of the Ferry Building. Note the pedestrian overpass on the left that spared them an otherwise risky walk across the Embarcadero - it will make another appearance later in the movie.
… here’s a 1930 photo of the same place. Both images were taken from the top of the Southern Pacific Building on Market Street. The movie image, above in the bottom right corner, captured the edge of that huge billboard. History buffs might be interested to learn that the pedestrian overpass was subsequently sacrificed in the 1940s as scrap iron for the war effort.
Looking down Market Street from the Ferry Building, this pristine c. 1926 image (from Shorpy.com) lets us see the front side of the billboard and, arrowed, the Southern Pacific Building rooftop vantage point for the above shots. Note too the other side of the pedestrian overpass. (The eagle-eyed amongst you may also notice a reversed-image billboard in the lower right quadrant advertising Owl Cigars. Huh?).
Citysleuth begs your indulgence for a moment while he diverts from the movie. Dwell for a moment on the 1926 image above ... now step back a mere 20 years to see how it looked right after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Truly a Phoenix recovery!
And here for comparative completeness are those same buildings pre-earthquake.
Then … At his clinic George receives a call - his wife Susan, who has been ill for some time, has experienced another asthma attack. He hurries home, here approaching the Golden Gate Bridge from Marin County from the north (map), despite the fact that the storyline references the clinic as being in San Francisco (in the real world, the previous post explained otherwise).
… and Now, the aerial view looks down to Cavallo Point and Horseshoe Bay, aka Horseshoe Cove, a historic marina at Fort Baker. Above, the cluster of red-roofed buildings at the water’s edge were built in the early 1940s as a hospital station for wounded servicemen but this recent Google satellite view shows that they are mostly gone. Those that are left now comprise the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Note the popular tourist vista point left of center, devoid of cars during the pandemic (it’s also visible above at far left). Visitors looking across the Golden Gate from there are rewarded with a spectacular view of the bridge and the San Francisco skyline.
His car, seen numerous times throughout the movie, is a 1968 Chevrolet Corvette C3 convertible. In a later interview Jean Sorel waxed lyrical about it, recalling how much fun he had driving it in San Francisco. Note though the continuity goof - the car is heading south into the city with its top up but in the closeup he’s driving north towards Marin with the top down.
Then … We follow him crossing the bridge to the Presidio, the city stretching out ahead of him ...
… and Now, this recent matching photo was taken from Battery Spencer on the Marin Headlands.
Then … As he enters a freeway interchange the business signs next to it are clues to the location (click or tap the image for an expanded view). For example, Dunhan, Carrigan and Hayden was a well-established hardware company opposite 8th Street and Townsend. So this must be the connecting ramp from the east-bound central freeway section of 101 to north-bound 80 (map). The hills of Alameda County are across the bay in the distance.
… and Now, the interchange looks very similar today but the cluster that is downtown San Francisco at far left has been transformed. One thing that hasn’t is the huge billboard in the center. The Dunhan, Carrigan and Hayden building is still there at 2 Henry Adams Street, currently housing the San Francisco Design Center Showplace, as too is the rooftop structure that supported the tank seen above (with the DCH Co sign); but the tank is gone; it looks as though an array of antennae has replaced it.
Then … Now in Nob Hill, he leads a cable car up California Street past the Fairmont Hotel (map). The sign above and behind the cable car advertises the hotel’s popular Tonga Room.
… and Now, barely visible through a tree, there’s still a Tonga sign although the room is temporarily pandemic-closed. The Tonga Room has entertained visitors since 1945; before that its basement space was a swimming pool for hotel guests. On the extreme right is the Stanford Court Hotel which interestingly has been stripped of its balconies.
Then … Now he’s on Twin Peaks Boulevard heading up the hill to Twin Peaks! Wherever his home is, in the real world he won’t find it up there. Clearly the movie’s Italian director was enamored with the city’s breathtaking views. The 3 mile-long arrow-straight diagonal thoroughfare on the left is Market Street knifing its way through downtown to the bay.
… and Now, the view from here (map) is indeed breathtaking, as in this matching 2016 image, benefitting from California’s strict air quality laws that banished the smog-draped vistas of the 60’s and 70s. Once again the comparison highlights the downtown transformation.
Then … George finally arrives at his home, a Greek Revival Plantation-style mansion. CitySleuth spent a lot of time searching for this without success. He even tracked down the movie’s location manager but he couldn’t recall where it was. So, he appealed to his readers to help…
… and Now, (2023 update) … it took 2 1/2 years but it was worth the wait. ReelSF reader Brad alerted CitySleuth that an Italian website had revealed its location: the mansion at the historic Oak Knoll Ranch in California’s Napa Valley wine country, a property with a fascinating history. The address is 2200 W. Oak Knoll Avenue, Napa, Ca (map).
Then … As he gets out of his car we see there’s a fountain in front of the main entrance, covered to keep out fall and winter leaves.
… and Now, this photo from a reception held at the mansion in 2023 pictured the same fountain, still there.
The styling of the house, with 8 doric columns spaced along its front, is very similar to the historic 1839 mansion at Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, even down to the 3 gabled dormers on the roof. This is no coincidence; the 19th century Oak Knoll Ranch mansion was originally a Victorian until a former owner remodeled it, closely copying the Oak Alley Plantation mansion design (it’s pictured below).
Then … He walks around the house and enters a side entrance (this part of the house is completely different from the Oak Alley Plantation mansion). Note the sports court outlined on the asphalt in the foreground...
… and Now, this aerial view shows that same side of the house. The sports court is no longer there in the guest parking area.
The Lamoreaux family are the current owners of the Oak Knoll Ranch. They feature an image of the mansion on their wine label.
A feeling of antipathy pervades the house as his ailing wife Susan (Austrian actress Marisa Mell, in the rear) and her sister Martha (American actress Faith Domergue) harangue George for devoting too much time to his clinic. Clearly this is not a happy marriage.
He attempts to make amends by hiring a nurse (Italian actress Malisa Longo) to attend to Susan while he is away. At the medicine cabinet he stresses to her that she must never administer Susan’s nightly tranquilizer while she is taking her asthma medication - it could be a fatal combination.
The ransom note is addressed to the city’s mayor (John Vernon). He summons the chief of police to his office at City Hall in the Civic Center and reads it out; it demands a ransom of $100,000 or else one person will be killed every day. It is signed ‘Scorpio’.
Then … Harry Callahan has been assigned to handle the case; he joins the police chief (John Larch) and his boss Lt. Bressler (Harry Guardino) to brief the mayor on his progress.
… and Now, CitySleuth was allowed in the mayor’s office in May, 2023 to take matching photographs. Incumbent Mayor London Breed has moved the desk across the room and mitigated the formal decor with wall art and comfortable furniture. Both Then and Now images show the same two doors in the background.
Then … The mayor decides to tell the killer that the city will pay but will need time to get the money together. Callahan protests, convinced this will lead to more people dead. He wants to first make contact with the killer but is overruled because of his vigilante reputation.
… and Now, the window behind the mayor is one of two that look out across the Civic Center Plaza from the office. A mirror has since been added between them.
(Another scene was filmed in this office later in the movie. Click here for that post).
