Favorite Films set in San Francisco

[BarbaraGordon]

Originally Posted by BlueK

Flocks of seagulls don't attack people.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Flock of Seagulls.

But I agree with you. I didn't like Birds either. At all. It just seemed so silly.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Now don't get me wrong, I love Flock of Seagulls.

But I agree with you. I didn't like Birds either. At all. It just seemed so silly.

I don't think it's his best work, but some of you are too spoiled to appreciate really how innovative Hitchcock was. An innovator doesn't always hit a homerun.

[non sequitur]

Originally Posted by BlueK

Flocks of seagulls don't attack people

That's the hook. It's why Cujo is so frightening -- St. Bernards are supposed to be loveable. And it's why The Omen is so creepy -- little boys aren't supposed to be evil.

...I just never got that movie although the special effects for the time are very impressive.

My brother-in-law group up in Sepastapol and recalls when they were filming the movie. He said they had hundreds of these paper mache crows up on the phone wires and said it looked hokey as hell. At the time he thought there was no way in the world that anyone would ever believe those birds were real.

[creekster]

Forget the birds. Vertigo people, Vertigo is the one to see.

[BlueK]

Originally Posted by Archaea

I don't think it's his best work, but some of you are too spoiled to appreciate really how innovative Hitchcock was. An innovator doesn't always hit a homerun.

I'm a huge Hitchcock fan. I suppose it was innovative in terms of being a modern, special effects dependent action flick. But I'm judging it based on his other works. In terms of plot and mystery it's very much lacking compared to his other films. I would say The Birds isn't even in the same time zone as the following:

Vertigo
Psycho
North by Northwest
Rear Window
The Man who Knew Too Much (the remake with Jimmy Stewart)
Rebecca
Rope

and I'd probably rank it below these as well:

Suspicion
Notorious
Shadow of a Doubt
Spellbound
The 39 Steps
Young and Innocent
The Lady Vanishes
Strangers on a Train

[jay santos]

Originally Posted by BlueK

I'm a huge Hitchcock fan. I suppose it was innovative in terms of being a modern, special effects dependent action flick. But I'm judging it based on his other works. In terms of plot and mystery it's very much lacking compared to his other films. I would say The Birds isn't even in the same time zone as the following:

Vertigo
Psycho
North by Northwest
Rear Window
The Man who Knew Too Much (the remake with Jimmy Stewart)
Rebecca
Rope

and I'd probably rank it below these as well:

Suspicion
Notorious
Shadow of a Doubt
Spellbound
The 39 Steps
Young and Innocent
The Lady Vanishes
Strangers on a Train

I agree with your list.

1. Vertigo
2. Psycho (and the best scene is not the chocolate syrup shower stabbing scene it's when norman bates jumps out with the dress and wig on--maybe the best scary scene in a movie ever, copied quite marvelously by the last scene in blair witch)

and then those on your top tier I would agree with except I'd put Notorious and Dial M for Murder in there. Birds doesn't make my top 10. I'd put it also below Frenzie and Marnie.

[Tex]

Star Trek IV.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

The Maltese Falcon
Vertigo
Dark Passage
Dirty Harry
The Conversation
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
48 hrs


Just getting started...

Great list. You forgot Basic Instinct.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Since we've shifted to Hitchcock...

Frances Stevens: You want a leg or a breast?

John Robie: You make the choice.

[BlueK]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

Since we've shifted to Hitchcock...

Frances Stevens: You want a leg or a breast?

John Robie: You make the choice.

The scene where she's driving fast along the cliffs right before that is good too.