The eminent film critic and resident San Franciscan David Thomson was a guest on KQED Public Radio’s Forum show today, talking about his latest book, The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies, and other explorations in cinephilia. Jan Stuart’s review of the book in the Chronicle puts Thomson’s place in the critical continuum nicely…
Rare is the film critic who accesses a movie through hidden doors, off-the-map passageways that most of us lack the internal GPS, let alone the moxie, to locate. With the loss of Pauline Kael and Manny Farber, that exclusive clubhouse is now dominated by David Thomson, an indefatigable provocateur and the most quotable cineaste you won’t find in the movie quote ads.
After today’s show, I talked to Mr. Thomson about the topic of San Francisco in the movies. One particularly interesting thing he said: he thinks Star Wars is in some way emblematic of the city’s ethos.
Edited transcript…
JON BROOKS: So what films stand out to you as particularly evocative of San Francisco and the Bay Area?
DAVID THOMSON: Vertigo is the obvious answer. It’s a film that not only uses San Francisco as its background, but it sort of understands the way in which San Francisco and its light can also be a dreamy, sinister place. Von Stroheim’s Greed has amazing shots of Polk Street. Everyone in San Francisco loves the car chase in Bullitt not just for the chase but because it’s put together using shots on streets that don’t match. Then there’s the Dirty Harry movies. The Lady From Shanghai has quite a lot of stuff in San Franciso. Point Blank uses Alcatraz and Fort Point very well.