This is a list of fiction movies which have featured cable cars in some way. It is not a complete list and I am always open to suggestions.
After the Thin ManThanks to Jack Tillmany for suggesting After the Thin Man, the second entry in MGM's long-running series about Dashiell Hammett's characters Nick and Nora Charles.
Nick and Nora, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, arrive at the Third and Townsend station in San Francisco. As the ride through the city in their open car, they pass Powell Street cable car 510.
Released: 1936
Check the Internet Movie Database Big Fat Family Christmas, A
Released: 2022
Check the Internet Movie Database The BirdsThe Birds is one of Alfred Hitchcock's scariest movies.
The movie contains brief glimpses of cable cars during the opening scenes around Union Square in San Francisco. Released: 1963
Check the Internet Movie Database Thanks to Joe Lacey for recommending this movie. Chinatown SquadChinatown Squad is a movie that I have not seen.
Jack Tillmany reports that in the movie, about a former cop who tries to solve a murder to get back onto the force, "actor Hugh O'Connell tries, but fails, to catch a Hyde Street cable car as it descends the hill around Francisco St." Released: 1935
Check the Internet Movie Database Crime of PassionCrime of Passion is a movie that I have not seen.
Jack Tillmany reports that the movie, about an advice columnist, played by Barbara Stanwyck, starts out in San Francisco. There's an establishing shot of a California Street cable car heading down the hill from Powell, but nothing more, and we soon move to Los Angeles. Released: 1956
Check the Internet Movie Database Dark PassageDark Passage is my favorite Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall movie. The film was made during Hollywood's rediscovery of location shooting; it features wonderful shots of the Bay Area. Lauren Bacall drives through the Waldo Tunnel when there was only one bore. She lives in an Art Deco apartment building by the Filbert Steps. The subjective camera at the beginning is done well. The romance between the leads is moving and well-motivated. I particularly like the supporting characters, including Agnes Moorehead as Madge and Housely Stevenson as the creepy doctor.
Bogart leaves Madge's apartment house at the top of the Chestnut Street steps and catches an O'Farrell, Jones, and Hyde cable car. He is shown hopping onto the left front bench in a moving shot taken from the car. Remarkably, he hops off Powell Street car 520 at Market. This trip was not possible until ten years later when the O/J/H and the Washington/Jackson lines were combined into the Powell/Hyde line. Released: 1947, Warner Brothers
Check the Internet Movie Database D.O.A.D.O.A. is a dark mystery about a poisoned man searching for his own murderer. It was filmed on location in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Edmund O'Brien, staying at the Saint Francis Hotel, hops on inbound Powell Street car 519. Miraculously, he hops off an outbound car at Powell and California. In the Los Angeles scenes, there are some nice shots of LA Railway PCCs. Released: 1950
Check the Internet Movie Database Daydreams"In 'Daydreams,' a two-reel comedy from 1922, partially filmed in San Francisco, Buster Keaton, as the hapless hero, is pursued by cops, escapes by grabbing a Northbound Powell Bay cable car, which he rides around the turntable at Bay Street, and hops off later on Columbus Avenue. Later, there's a gag wherein a legion of cops are hiding on what appears to be an empty MSRY #27 Line streetcar on Second Street, and he once again attempts an escape by taking a ferryboat. "Interesting to note that this makes TWO films from 1922 both of which show the Powell Street cable car on the turntable at the Bay Street terminal, the other one being Moran of the Lady Letty with Rudolph Valentinto, which I reported to you previously." After I got this movie on DVD, I made some screen captures:
Released: 1922
Check the Internet Movie Database Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
Released: 1965
Check the Internet Movie Database Fog Over Frisco
Released: 1934
Check the Internet Movie Database Fools
Jack Tillmany reports that the movie, which stars Jason Robards and Katherine Ross, features a dream sequence in which Jason Robards performs as a mad scientist. His laboratory is the cable car barn. Robards plays a retired horror film actor. Released: 1970
Check the Internet Movie Database Foul Play
Thanks to Jack Tillmany for reminding me about the one appearance of a cable car: "... in the lengthy and totally nonsensical chase that defies all logic as well as San Francisco geography, there's a brief shot of a Westbound California Street cable car crossing Larkin Street; that's all there is, there isn't any more." Released: 1978
Check the Internet Movie Database A Gathering of Eagles
Jack Tillmany reports that "about an hour into Gathering of Eagles (1963), there's a bit of cable car action, the usual thing, (518 Southbound & 513 Northbound) on the Hyde Street hill. 513 conveniently stops ON THE DOWNGRADE, ostensibly to pick up Rod Taylor & Mary Peach, but they are never seen on boarding or riding the car, probably never left the studio." Released: 1963
Check the Internet Movie Database I Love a Soldier
I Love a Soldier was a wartime romantic comedy-drama filmed by Paramount Pictures in San Francisco between October and December 1943, and premiered in San Francisco (probably at the Paramount) on August 15, 1944. Paulette Goddard plays Eve, a welder in a shipyard who spends her nights dancing with soldiers and sailors due to ship out immediately. Eve wants to avoid getting emotionally involved and having her heart broken, but then she meets Sonny Tufts, who tries to change her mind. Barry Fitzgerald, plays a curmudgeonly surly cable car gripman. There are no less than five almost identical shots of 518 westbound on Jackson Street between Taylor and Jones, where Goddard allegedly lives with her two girlfriends. Another character played by Beulah Bondi lives in one of the well known Washington Street mansions, and there's one very brief shot of 517 passing by from the rear. At one point in the story, the principals go to Playland at the Beach (introduced via a terrific longshot of WWII crowds), with a visit the Fun House; yes, we see Laughing Sal and some of the interior. There's a Tunnel of Love ride (non-existent in San Francisco, it's done in the studio) and some rear projections of the midway and some of the rides. On no less than four separate occasions we bid farewell to departing soldiers boarding eastbound Southern Pacific trains at the Oakland Mole. Three times, Goddard returns to San Francisco via Ferry Boat (the "Berkeley" in one shot), and on one of these there's an air raid drill and blackout, but Sonny Tufts assures the audience that the planes heard overhead are ours, not "theirs." That must have been a relief to wartime audiences, especially in San Francisco, where such practice alerts were all too common. What's supposed to hold your attention for almost two hours, is a lengthy, rather tedious romance between the principals, in which Goddard doesn't want to get married until after the war, and Tufts can't anyway because he's already got a wife back east who's divorcing him. Yawn. The trials and tribulations of some even less interesting subsidiary characters only make it longer. Critics at the time were unkind. After its San Francisco premiere, it did not open in New York City until the following November, a sure sign that Paramount knew they had a turkey on their hands. The New York Times trashed it, saying "the situation here presented is so contrived that its syntheticness is only emphasized by a background of buzzing shipyards and departing troop trains." By 1946 the film was still being shown in SF, no doubt because of the local angle, at sub-run theatres such as the Embassy and Downtown, but by the end of the year had finally run out of steam and was put back on the shelf, as was the custom. Once upon a time, this reviewer heard rumors that a Sacramento-Clay cable car, out of service by the time the film went before the cameras, was used in this film, and it was towed in order to effect movement. I saw no evidence of this. Perhaps this was the original plan, there may have been some publicity about it, but it didn't work out. Washington-Jackson cable car No. 518 is obviously operating normally uphill on Jackson Street in exactly the same manner as Powell-Hyde cable cars do today. All five shots of 518 are taken from approximately the same angle, with a glimpse of the Bay Bridge in the distant background.
Thanks to Muni man Antonio Marquardt for finding an excerpt from the movie on YouTube:
The letters on Murphy's hat say "Motorman," the name usually applied to operators of electric streetcars. A pushy passenger also addresses him as "Motorman." This was standard practice in the 1940s.
Released: 1944
There is a famous urban legend about Sonny Tufts. Check the Internet Movie Database I Remember Mama
The movie was shot on sets in Hollywood, but a real San Francisco cable car appears. Allow my late friend Walter Rice to explain:
"In 1947 the movie studio RKO contracted with Cal Cable to borrow a cable car for the movie I Remember Mama (released 1948). It was decided to ship one the short Jones Street shuttle cars, No. 61, since it would be easier to ship than a full size cable car. On June 11, 1947 No. 61 was hoisted aboard a truck and shipped to Los Angeles. The car retained its trucks. "No. 61, like all Cal Cable cars at the time, needed paint. A combination of the depression, World War II and an adverse post war economic situation for Cal Cable led to the company’s equipment looking shabby. RKO, accordingly, painted No. 61. It emerged as No. 62! "This is clearly shown by a photograph on page 105 of Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg’s book Cable Car Carnival. Beebe and Clegg wrongly caption the RKO photo by stating that "RKO Studios in Hollywood supply authentic San Francisco atmosphere for the film of I Remember Mama with a real California Street grip." The bottom grip Jones Street shuttles never ran on the side grip California line. "In the movie the now No. 62 is signed "O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Streets." Interesting, since the movie family lived on Steiner Street. They would have to walk 11-blocks to catch a cable car! "Why the number change is unclear. Evidence suggests that the car specified in the contract between the movie studio and Cal Cable was No. 62. No. 61 was sent in place of No. 62 after the Cal Cable determined that No. 61 was in better condition. Cal Cable was going to get a freshly painted cable car. The actual reason may never be known. "Muni in January 1952 purchased Cal Cable and in early 1954 the renumbered 62 was motorized on truck chassis by Muni for parades, charters and the annual Cable Car Bell-Ringing Contest. At the time it was correctly signed "O’Farrell, Jones & Hyde Streets." "The original No. 62 was renumbered to No. 61 painted and placed on rubber tires, but not motorized and shipped during November 1959 to Osaka Japan for display at the Osaka Transportation Museum. Unfortunately, No. 61 was incorrectly signed "Van Ness Ave, California & Market Streets." Subsequently, when now Muni's No. 62 was repainted it was also given this incorrect signage, which is its status today."
Actress Irene Dunne, who played Mama, later came to San Francisco to support the Save the Cable Cars movement. Released: 1948
Check the Internet Movie Database In Harm's Way
Paula Prentiss, playing the wife of officer Tom Tryon, walks out of an apartment building at Hyde and Lombard and boards outbound car 512. This is an anachronism because the O'Farrell Jones and Hyde line still ran during the war, using California-type cars. In any event, it's a nice shot. In order not to waste time between takes, Preminger used two cable cars. In addition to car 512, car 514 was also used. Decals were put on 514 that read "512." Thanks to Phil Hoffman for this information. Released: 1965
Check the Internet Movie Database In Love and War
In Love and War (1958) is a decent film dealing with Marines and their romantic involvements as well as psychological problems during WWII; some of it takes place in San Francisco. There are the usual postcard exteriors, including a pair of California Street cable cars passing each other on the hill between Powell and Stockton. Since the film was in CinemaScope and Color, contemporary exteriors had to be used, so there are lots of anachronisms, such as 1950's automobiles and the SP sign on the Southern Pacific building which don't fit into the 1940's environment." Released: 1958
Check the Internet Movie Database Kiss Them for Me
Here’s a film critics regarded as a bomb. It features Cary Grant and its single cable car segment is right in the middle. They ride a Powell/Mason car. Released: 1957
Check the Internet Movie Database Man's Favorite SportIn Man's Favorite Sport, partially filmed in San Francisco in 1963, Rock Hudson, who is supposed to be working at Abercrombie & Fitch, drives his sports car up California Street, passes a Westbound cable car at Mason, and makes a left turn down Mason Street to Pine. Nothing more of interest in that one. Released: 1964
Check the Internet Movie Database Memoirs of an Invisible Man
The bad guys are based in a hotel at California and Jones, so there are frequent glimpses of passing California Street cars. Chevy Chase rides a Powell Street car to Market while on the run. Released: 1992
Check the Internet Movie Database Moran of the Lady Letty
Thanks to Jack Tillmany for suggesting it. It includes a nice shot of a Powell/Mason car at the Bay and Taylor turntable. The book and the movie resemble Jack London's The Sea Wolf: A rich, irresponsible young man winds up on a ship and learns to be a real man. Released: 1922
Check the Internet Movie Database Mr Billion
Thanks to Jack Tillmany for suggesting it. Jack reports that "A California Street Cable Car figures in the finale of Mr. Billion (1977), filmed, in part, in San Francisco in 1976, but it's a phoney. The front panel still reads "Presidio Avenue" and the side panel still reads "California Street Cable R.R. Company" so it's obviously a movie prop, not a real live operational cable car." The story involves a rich man who leaves his fortune to his Italian nephew. To collect, the nephew has to get to San Francisco by a certain date. It is not a very good movie. Released: 1977
Check the Internet Movie Database No Escape
Just for the record: TCM unleashed a rarely seen turkey titled No Escape (1953), (AKA City on the Hunt) which supposedly takes place in San Francisco. Watching it was like a 75 minute root canal. They keep throwing in postcard like views of SF to remind you where you were, but the actors (if you can call them that) never left the cheap studio sets, and only their doubles were seen in long shots in a couple exterior shots. About 40 minutes into the film, there's the traditional Powell & Market shot, with 521 doing the usual turnaround. Then Lew Ayres (a good actor, but in his decline here)& Marjorie Steele (inept and grating) supposedly board 525 (seen in another Powell Street shot), and exchange some inane conversation while sitting in the front section, but it's all done in the studio on a mockup cable car, not a real one. The only other exteriors of note were a nice, but all too brief, shot of Mason and Market, with a Muni N car headed Eastbound, and a brief establishing shot of the Ferry Building, with Twin Fageol TCs doing the loop. File and Forget. Released: 1953
Check the Internet Movie Database Pal Joey
Joey gets run out of a town in the Central Valley and arrives at the Oakland Pier. He rides a ferry to San Francisco. In one scene he gets off of an O'Farrell/Jones/Hyde car with Kim Novak. Novak and Rita Hayworth wear some remarkable costumes. Released: 1957
Check the Internet Movie Database Petulia
Dexter Wong reports that Petulia is a romantic drama set in San Francisco. It stars George C. Scott, Julie Christie and Richard Chamberlain. At the conclusion, former lovers meet by chance at Powell and California, one on a Powell Street car and the other on a California Street car. Released: 1968
Check the Internet Movie Database The Rock
The only cable car in the movie is a fake one that explodes during a chase scene. I mention the movie because I remember walking along Bush Street to a medical appointment and seeing cable car tracks on Hyde Street. I had to stop and think for a moment because there has never been a cable car line on that block of Hyde. I thought I must have been dreaming. When I got closer, I saw that the tracks were painted on the street. Released: 1996
Check the Internet Movie Database Shoot to Kill
Stephen Goodman recommends the movie because it "starts with an interesting opening as the credits start and you see and hear this silver thing going from the top to bottom of your screen. It's the Powell Street cable. The camera then pulls back to reveal the track then looking up Powell reveals a lone cable car. A great movie! Only a few shots were taken in SF however as 99.8% was shot in BC and Vancouver." Released: 1988
Check the Internet Movie Database Thanks to Stephen Goodman for recommending this movie. The Sniper
Dexter Wong reports that The Sniper was "was made in 1952 and set in San Francisco about a man who has an obession with a type of woman who who spurned him. So he gets a small rifle and quietly shoots at them from rooftops. But he is spotted and his description published. When he rides the Washington-Jackson car down Washington past the powerhouse, someone recognizes him and in fear he gets off at Mason and runs away... It has been shown on Turner Classic Movies, but it is rarely shown elsewhere." Released: 1952
Check the Internet Movie Database Thanks to Stephen Goodman for recommending this movie. Starlift
Jack Tillmany reports that: "In WB's Starlift (1951), there's an establishing shot of San Francisco, with a nice shot of a meet between 507 & another car on the Powell/Bay line, but nothing more. The picture is insufferable." Check the Internet Movie Database Released: 1951
That Brennan Girl
Mona Freeman plays Ziggy Brennan, a young woman whose mother raised her to be a con artist. Ziggy meets and works with Denny Reagan, played by James Dunn, who is also a con man. Ziggy steals a watch from a young petty officer and she and Denny both have an attack of conscience. She returns the watch and marries the sailor, Mart Neilson, played by William Marshall. Mart and Ziggy marry before he ships out. Ziggy breaks with her mother after Ziggy finds she is expecting. Mart dies in the Pacific and Ziggy has trouble doing her duty to her child. Eventually the child welfare people take away her baby and she is put in jail. Denny gets out of prison and bails her out of jail. Ziggy is sentenced to a year of probation. Denny's mother suggests that she pray. Ziggy goes to a church and finds an abandoned infant. She takes care of the baby and does a good job. The judge who had sentenced her gives her a break and lets her have her own child. Ziggy and Denny, with the two babies, walk to Powell and Market and get on cable car 525, which is now numbered 25. Released: 1946
Check the Internet Movie Database Walk a Crooked Mile
Jack Tillmany reports: "Much of the first half hour was filmed in SF in 1948, in some unusual places, Clay & Larkin, Octavia North of Market, for example. There's just a single cable car shot on California Street that's only in the background, so it barely qualifies at all. "There's also a distant shot, from above, of an N Car heading West on Duboce from Market, but other than that, no streetcars either. It has the U.S. Maritime Service promotional paint job, so it's probably 148,which ran a lot on the N Line around that time. "I figure sooner or later someone is going to ask about this one, so you can file this info. It's a darn good film about the FBI (Dennis O'Keefe) and Scotland Yard (Louis Hayward) working together to oust some Commies from a secret atomic project." Released: 1948
Check the Internet Movie Database Thanks to Stephen Goodman for recommending this movie. What's Up, Doc?
It is a funny movie, with a wonderful performance by Madeline Kahn. Released: 1972
Check the Internet Movie Database Woman on the Run
Woman on the Run is a neat romantic thriller from 1950 about a San Francisco woman (Ann Sheridan) who, along with an intrepid newspaper reporter (Dennis O’Keefe), goes in search of her in-hiding husband after he witnesses a gangland murder -- she must find him before the underworld does. Depicting marital estrangement while offering up a vivid, progressive portrait of feminine strength; the film is a superb showcase for Miss Sheridan, who balances resentment, fear, and ferocity with graceful fluidity while navigating the winding tale’s shadowy twists and turns. There are many tense moments along the way especially when Miss Sheridan ends up riding on a roller coaster. Despite views of Playland’s "Laughing Sal" this action is filmed at Santa Monica’s Ocean Park. The actress’ forcefully nuanced performance is nicely counterbalanced by O’Keefe’s charmingly blunt one-dimensionality. Robert Keith is first-rate and intriguing as San Francisco police inspector Ferris. There are many street scenes of San Francisco of 1949. We see Muni "Iron Monsters," including an A-type of the F-Stockton, then new trolley coaches the highlight being a Twin, and yes Sheridan and O’Keefe ride a cable car -- a California Street Cable Railroad California car up Nob Hill to Powell Street. Cable car trackage is seen from the rear window of a Desoto Yellow Cab. Released: 1950
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Last updated 01-September-2024