San Francisco Blog

Paramount Pictures

The Core

In real life, people are always fighting to preserve the beauty of San Francisco, but through the magic of the silver screen we can get the slightly wrong thrill of watching it get messed with just a little bit. We don't really want the Golden Gate Bridge to explode, crumble, or be swarmed by crazy creatures and we don't think cable cars should be used as weapons and flying machines . . . or, judging by the box office success of many of these films which depict these and other pyrotechnical acts on our fair city, do we?

10. Bullitt (1968)
Steve McQueen's infamous car chase left bullets, tire tracks and fire through the San Francisco streets. It has been duplicated countless times not only by television shows and commercials, but by amateurs with a bit of a death wish.

9. San Francisco (1936)
The 1906 earthquake is re-enacted thirty years later with the extra panache of leading actors Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. The film received nine Oscar nominations that year.

8. Towering Inferno (1974)
Steve McQueen (who must have a thing about wrecking our town) and Paul Newman portray a fire chief and architect trying to quell a raging fire in San Francisco's 138-story fictional Glass Tower, the largest building in the world that's been erected right in the middle of the city's Financial District. There's also enough celebrity star power here to float a memorable episode of The Love Boat, including Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, William Holden and Faye Dunaway.

7. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
This chilling movie explores an unusual blight on the city: Noise pollution. Those ear-splitting screams that are the pod people's calling card would be one of the worst things that could happen to the streets of San Francisco.