Then … The deep knife wound inflicted by Callahan at the Mount Davidson Cross forces Scorpio to seek treatment. He limps into the small emergency hospital at 811 Stanyan Street close to Kezar Stadium at the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park (map).
… and Now, the building, a designated City Landmark, was built in 1902, one of four emergency hospitals in San Francisco during the early 1900s. It continued in this capacity until 1978 then as an ambulance station until 1991. It now serves as offices for the city’s Recreation and Parks District.
Its original name is still engraved in the stonework above the entrance.
The doctor who treated Scorpio calls the police to report the unusual situation. Inside the hospital Callahan desperately wants to know if he recognized the patient - Scorpio’s buried victim Ann Mary Deacon only has one hour of oxygen remaining.
Then … The doctor does indeed remember him. He takes Callahan outside the rear of the building and beckons across the parking lot to Kezar Stadium … apparently the man occasionally works for the groundskeeper who lets him stay in a room there.
… and Now, this aerial shows the matching buildings relative to the hospital. In the movie image above, the stadium stands are behind and to the left of the “NO THRU TRAFFIC’ sign; that structure was demolished in 1989 when the stadium was downsized to its current configuration. The other buildings visible above, circled in yellow below, are still there.
Then … George is running out of time - his execution date is just days away. His attorney and Henry visit him at San Quentin Prison in Marin County (map), where director Fulcio was allowed remarkable access for all of the prison scenes.
… and Now, decades later the main gate and gatehouse have changed very little.
Then … They are waved through, here approaching an observation tower with the prison buildings in the background. The crowded visitor’s parking lot is on the left.
… and Now, CitySleuth has been here before, successfully talking his way past the gate to get a matching photo for a scene from the 1947 movie Dark Passage. This time he wasn’t allowed to photograph inside the gate - “You’re wearing a blue shirt; the prisoners wear blue” - but through the open gate he took this fairly closely aligned match.
The attorney tries his best to comfort George in the cell.
There are many parallels between this movie and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, including what happens next: the director presents a surprising early whodunnit reveal. Alone in the cell with George, Henry stuns him by confessing, a smug sneer on his face, to framing George for Susan’s murder. He has always been jealous of his younger brother’s success and wealth; now he will inherit the valuable clinic. But that’s not the half of it, he tells him that he and Susan have been lovers for years and what’s more, she is not dead after all; he faked the death by killing her nurse Elizabeth O’Neill, burying her as Susan. Instead of Henry having to deal with George he has devilishly arranged for the State to do it instead.
Then … Of course Henry knows that George will tell his attorney but in the absence of corroborating evidence no one can be sure this isn’t just one more fake claim by a desperate man. Nevertheless, in a TV news interview the district attorney announces the Governor of California granted a 24 hour stay of execution to allow the police to exhume the corpse a second time to check it against Susan’s dental records.
… and Now, this was filmed alongside the lawn in front of the State Capitol Building in Sacramento, California’s capital (map). (Reader Paul Penna has pointed out that the TV reporter is Harry Martin from Sacramento’s KCRA Channel 3).
The coroner debunks George’s claim by declaring the corpse is indeed that of Susan based on a match with her dental records. But the records were from the Dumurrier clinic, provided by Henry - couldn’t he have given them the nurse’s dental records instead? But neither Susan nor Henry can be located and there’s no time to investigate further; the execution will take place tomorrow.
Then … Mount Davidson Park is on the right as Gonzalez drives up a steep hill and pulls over.
… and Now, this is Dalewood Way in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood (map) where the view looks west across Forest Hill, West Portal and beyond. For locational reference, the house at far left by the power pole is 125 Dalewood Way.
Then … Meanwhile Callahan reaches his destination atop Mount Davidson, San Francisco’s highest hill. As he approaches he is dwarfed by the massive illuminated cross.
… and Now, the cross is still there, a reverent attraction for thousands of visitors every year.
In 1934 this 103 foot tall reinforced concrete structure replaced a succession of three smaller wooden crosses that had been built here between 1923 and 1931, each destined to be destroyed by fire. The new cross was illuminated year-round with twelve 1,000 Watt lamps until the energy crisis of 1976 dictated otherwise but this 1971 Dirty Harry scene is a record of its former dramatic luminance. (Go here for an interesting history by FoundSF of Mount Davidson Park and the cross)
The nearby Twin Peaks isn’t the only vista point with sweeping views of downtown and the surrounding city; check out this view across Diamond Heights just steps from the cross.
At the base of the cross Scorpio’s voice from the shadows commands him to drop the bag, raise his hands and turn to face the cross.
From behind, Scorpio rifle-whips Callahan to the ground. Barely conscious, our helpless hero appears doomed but before the gloating killer dispatches him (…“Goodbye, Callahan!”…) Gonzalez arrives and engages him in a fierce gun battle.
During the confusion Callahan grabs a concealed knife - he had taped it to his shin just in case - and manages to stab Scorpio. Shrieking, the startled psycho grabs the ransom bag and staggers off with the knife protruding from his thigh; Callahan and Gonzalez, both wounded, are in no shape to stop him. As police arrive in response to the gunshots Scorpio escapes but drops the bag along the way; at least the ransom has survived intact.
Then … With airplane ticket in hand Monica continues on to JFK International airport.
… and Now, her cab was heading southwest along FDR Drive on the Lower East Side of town towards Manhattan Bridge directly ahead (map). To reach the airport the cab would cross the bridge then continue through Brooklyn to Queens …
Then … But for reasons only film editors would understand the next shot is back in Midtown where her cab is passing 30 Rockefeller Plaza next to the seasonal ice rink (map). Today that short street between W. 49th and W. 50th Is now a pedestrian precinct.
… and Now, skating at the ice rink, seen here in a recent photo, continues to be a popular New York City winter pastime. Both Then and Now images showcase Prometheus, the 1934 gilded bronze sculpture by Paul Manship. 30 Rockefeller Plaza faces us at street level.
Then … She reaches her destination - the iconic TWA Flight Center at John F Kennedy International Airport, the busiest international air passenger gateway into North America (map).
… and Now, the soaring creation by architect Eero Saarinen opened in 1962. It closed in 2002 for restoration and integration into a new 512 room hotel complex.
Pictured here in this fine promotional photo, the TWA Hotel opened in 2019.
Then … Monica crosses the arrivals lounge of the flight center.
… and Now, it’s been faithfully restored as part of today’s hotel.
… and Now, in this promotional photograph of the terminal we see the overhead walkway from which the Then and Now images above were taken.
Monica heads straight for a restroom to shed her blonde wig and green contact lenses, revealing her true self and confirming she is indeed Susan Dumurrier, no surprise to anybody by now.
Then … She completes the transformation by turning her reversible coat inside out then walks through one of the two tubes connecting the terminal to the gates.
… and Now, still there, the tubes now join the hotel to an adjacent newly built Jet Blue terminal.
At the gate she now matches her passport photo for the flight to Paris.
