Then … Callahan schleps the yellow ransom bag down a slope behind the Forest Hill Muni station heading for the side entrance on the right.
… and Now, an extension has since been built abutting that entrance.
Here’s a 1973 photo of the station showing it as it was when the Dirty Harry crew filmed there. It’s located where Laguna Honda Blvd meets Dewey Blvd in the Forest Hill neighborhood (map). Back then the extension was yet to be added (on the left) so the side entrance used by Callahan is clearly seen. The station is the oldest Muni station in the city; it opened in 1918, one of two with platforms far below ground in the Twin Peaks tunnel. It was originally named Laguna Honda Station - the name is still embossed above the entrance today.
Then … Callahan enters from the left; he hears a phone ringing and rushes towards it past the stairs leading to the platforms - note the snack bar next to them …
… and Now, the snack bar is long gone but the stairs are still in use for access to both outbound and inbound platforms for those passengers who eschew the elevators.
In this 1981 image the snack bar enclosure, on the left next to the stairs, was still there.
Then … In his haste Callahan goes to the wrong phone but grabs the other one in time to catch Scorpio’s terse instruction: “Downstairs. Take the K car. Get off at Church and 20th”.
… and Now, the phone, most likely a movie prop, was located in the corner at the ‘x’ below. Coincidentally there’s currently a vintage public phone box with a dangling phone book holder on display (center).
Then … He rushes down the steps to the inbound platform. CitySleuth can attest to the fact that he traversed 113 steps to get there.
… and Now, it’s held up pretty well this last half century! Looks even better, in fact.
Then … The K car, a light rail/streetcar hybrid connecting downtown with the Ingleside district, is seen here arriving at the inbound platform while Callahan is still scrambling down the steps.
… and Now, here’s the matching photo. Today, inbound K cars are redesignated as a T car. Go figure. A 1985 remodel included changes to the walls, tiles, platform surface and the addition of a sub-ceiling.
This contemporaneous photo of an L-Taraval car at the outbound platform confirmed that the scene in the Then image above was filmed on the inbound platform. Note the right-angled conduit pipe (large arrow) which is just barely visible in the Then image above, at the very top of the image, left of center. Note too the black dot on the wall (small arrow) which is glimpsed in the movie when Callahan’s K car exits the station on its way towards downtown.
Then … He barely gets to the streetcar in time, forcing the doors open to get in. Pheww!!
This next scene demonstrates repeated use of film footage by the filmmakers: Callahan stays on the car when it briefly stops at the next station, below. In the real world that would have been the other Twin Peaks tunnel station - Eureka Valley, open then but abandoned since 1972. But this footage is in fact part of that seen in the two Then images above at the Forest Hill station; the three images are just seconds apart.
Let’s end this post on a nostalgia note with a vintage photo of the first K-Ingleside car on its inaugural run emerging from the West Portal end of the new Twin Peaks tunnel on Feb 3, 1918 with Mayor James Rolph playing trains at the controls.
While looking at photos of fashion models at Jane’s studio George recognizes one of them; she was the nurse who had been on duty at his home the night Susan died. Knowing he is prime suspect number one in the police investigation and vehement in denying culpability, he realizes that finding her might help him.
Then … Jane wants to help George find the nurse. She meets her partner Larry at a photoshoot in the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park (map). The Torri Gate is behind the model posing at the top of the steps and behind that, the multi-tiered Pagoda. At left is the Temple Gate.
… and Now, CitySleuth was disappointed on arrival to find the Pagoda undergoing renovation, wrapped in plastic. A couple of notable changes are apparent: the Temple Gate is now a taller structure following a renovation in 1985 after deterioration of the original and the Torri Gate is gone, having been removed to storage in 2001, also because of deterioration.
But no worries, here’s a 2012 image showing the Pagoda without the offending shroud. The gardens were immaculately kept back then before the pandemic shutdown.
Then … Knowing that Larry had hired the nurse she asks him if he can remember her name or how to get in touch with her. From here the Pagoda is viewed across an ornamental lake; the glimpse of red at far left is part of the Temple Gate.
… and Now, 53 years later here’s that same boulder Jane was resting against. Also the leaning tree trunk next to it.
Then … Elsewhere in Golden Gate Park, Larry (French actor Jean Sobieski) recalls only that the nurse was an occasional hooker on the side.
… and Now, they were a ten minute walk away at the Conservatory of Flowers (map), a botanical garden in a vast greenhouse thought to be inspired by the one in Royal Kew Gardens in Richmond, London. The Conservatory opened in 1879 and over the decades since then has survived two serious fires, years of inadequate maintenance and a devastating wind storm in 1995 that smashed 40 percent of its glass panes, necessitating an 8 year closure. A blessing in disguise because following a $25 million restoration it reopened in 2003 in the pristine condition seen here. Compare it to its shabby state above.
Then … Jane asks Larry to hire Monica to pose for a photo layout at her studio as a ruse to find out if she knows the nurse. He makes the call from a phone booth at Fisherman’s Wharf. (Check out his cool British sports car, a late 1960s Morgan Plus 4).
… and Now, the matching shot was taken from the Red & White Fleet terminal at Pier 43 1/2 (map). The yellow Fisherman’s Wharf circular sign so recognizable to tourists is seen in both Then and Now images.
Car buffs might enjoy this fine example of a 1968 Morgan +4 on display at a concours d’elegance - compare it with Larry’s.
Jane sets Monica up for the shoot in a steamy interaction between the two to the sexy strains of composer Riz Ortolani’s score. She has already found out from inquiries around the club circuit that the nurse’s name was Elizabeth O’Neill and that she was a dancer who had in the past worked with Monica.
But the erotica suddenly ends when Jane flashes an image of Elizabeth on a screen and George appears, offering to pay for information on her whereabouts. Monica, angry, would only say that she had left town some time ago.
Incensed with the police for trying to take him out on the roof of the Dante Building, Scorpio has kidnapped 14 year-old Ann Mary Deacon and buried her alive with just a few hours of oxygen. He demands $200,000 in cash to reveal her location.
Then … The authorities gather up the money and assign Callahan to be the bag man. He gets word to take it to the Marina Green East Harbor.
… and Now, the matching view looks east from the path along the Marina Green side of the harbor toward Fort Mason (map).
In this south facing overview of the harbor the Marina Green is at lower right, Fort Mason at upper left. The locations of the harbor scenes are indicated; the Then and Now images above were taken from location 1. (Photo by David Oppenheimer).
Then … With the yellow ransom bag at his feet Callahan waits to be contacted (location 2 in the overview above). Lit up in the distance is the Marina Safeway store, at location 4 above.
… and Now, the lampposts on the path today are at the same places as they were above. The Safeway store is still there but now hidden behind distant trees from here.
Here’s a recent nighttime shot of the Marina Safeway - note its distinctive curved roofline, clearly discernible in the Then image above.
Then … A public phone at the end of the path (location 3 in the overview above) starts to ring; Callahan sprints towards it. The gangway behind him is the same one that’s behind him in the Then image above.
… and Now, from the same spot today that gangway, still there, is hidden by shrubs, but the gangway next to the phone booth above has been removed.
Scorpio tells him he will bounce him all over town from phone booth to phone booth to make sure he’s alone. He can’t use a car; he’ll be given time to get there… but if he’s late… “the girl dies”.
… but Callahan isn’t alone - he is radio wiretapped to his partner Gonzalez who is parked nearby (that’s the Marina Safeway glowing behind him). When he overhears Scorpio say the next phone booth is at Forest Hill Station, he immediately heads over there. (San Franciscans will sympathize with Callahan - the Forest Hill Metro Muni station is 6 miles across town!).
Perry Mason now has four suspects in the Moxley murder case. First, Rhoda Montaine who was married to him before he faked his death and was being blackmailed by him after he showed up. The district attorney has already concluded she’s the culprit - he has her locked up awaiting trial. Second, her husband Carl Montaine who is desperate not to have a scandal besmirch the family name.
Third, Rhoda’s current squeeze Dr. Millbeck (Philip Reed), on the left, who clearly knows more than he is prepared to admit to, and fourth, Oscar Pender (Warren Hymer) whose sister was also married to Moxley and who was recently under threat from him.
So, who did it? Mason must have been a reader of mystery novels because, in true Agatha Christie style, he decides to throw a party and include the husband, the doctor and the roughneck. After accusing first one, then another without eliciting a confession, he turns to Carl Montaine, dramatically accusing him of being the murderer.
Montaine vehemently proclaims innocence then describes what really happened in a flashback that for the first time gives us a close look at Errol Flynn in this, his debut American film. After following Rhoda to Moxley’s place Montaine saw him knocking her around and intervened, prompting a desperate fight. A thrown chair shattered a mirror, punches were traded, Moxley (Flynn) fell back against a knife-edged glass shard and, stabbed, dropped dead. The account fitted all of the clues; Mason was convinced, Rhoda was absolved and the D.A. once again was one-upped.
