ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

IMDB: A blending of documentary and experimental narrative strategies, combining stunning 16mm landscape cinematography with a bold, lyrical voice-over to share two San Francisco stories: the history of the Golden Gate Bridge as "suicide landmark," and the story of a butch dyke in San Francisco searching for love and self-discovery. The Joy of Life is a film about landscapes, both physical and emotional. 

[Fran]

From IMDb:  A network of older spies from the West recruits a young intelligence officer with a photographic memory to accompany them on a mission inside Russia. They must recover a letter written by the CIA that promises American assistance to Russia if China gets the atomic bomb.

Also from IMDb:  The Museum of Modern Art in NYC is having a "Huston family" festival and they showed this film last night. Big crowd to see this film that was a flop when originally released. I had been wanting to see it for some time out of curiosity: George Sanders appears in drag as a San Francisco gay bar pianist, and Barbara Parkins has a role, three years after "Valley of the Dolls."

[southendmd]

Plot:  Gun moll Nan Taylor, caught after an otherwise successful bank robbery, falls for radio crusader David Slade and confides her guilt to him. Much to her surprise, he turns her in. As a "new fish" at San Quentin, Nan fits right in, but won't see Slade, who still loves her. Then she learns that her former partners in crime, Don and Dutch, are on the other side of the wall in the men's section...and have an escape plan.

[memento]

From IMDB: In 1869, Justin Eagle lives on his ranch called "The Eagle's Nest" near the town of Button Willow, California. In addition to being a rancher, Juston is a trouble-shooter for the U. S. Government which calls for him to act as an undercover operative and thwart the forces of evil in the rapidly-growing West. He is sent to San Franciso to find missing U. S. Senaator Freeman, who has disappeared while fighting the efforts of Montgomery Blaine, a villain who has been, with the aid of his henchman, "The Whip," forcing settlers to sell their land to him, not knowing that the land is in the path of a proposed railroad, from Utah, that will link the western United States to the East. Senator Freeman is the leader of an effort to veer the railroad southward to bypass Blaine's land and, for his efforts, is kidnapped by Bliane's henchmen and shanghaied from the San Francisco waterfront. Justin Eagle's job is to find and return him safely

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Helen Roberts, who's on probation, goes back to work as a waitress at Torre's Fish Palace, a San Francisco waterfront dive. The customers are low characters trying to make time with Helen and ex-rum runners trying to make a dishonest dollar. Some of the latter, including Helen's unwelcome suitor Martin Rhodes, are after a mysterious, valuable hidden "cargo"; when violence erupts, Helen finds herself innocently involved and is soon on the run from both cops and crooks.

[southendmd]

Tagline:  A Romance of the Days When 'Frisco Was the Paris of America!---The Barbary Coast!---The Fire of 1906!---Massive!---Unprecedented

IMDb user comment:  The climax of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake might be model work made for the film, but it also looks like it might be stock footage (perhaps from Lon Chaney's movie THE SHOCK or something else). In any case, this film and THE SHOCK adopt the "cosmic retribution" angle that the dust-up was really a Gomorrah-like act of divine intervention against the Barbary excesses of Chinatown and such. Anna May Wong is thanklessly wasted as the sinfully exquisite assistant of future Charlie Chan Warner Oland, a ruthless land shark who doesn't let anyone know he's really Chinese. He keeps his jeering dwarf brother in a cage and terrorizes the heiress of an old Spanish family, whose righteous Christian iconography pierces his "mongol heart." He codifies the social and sexual threat of "passing" and miscegenation, which is depicted as repulsive to both races. But this is all articulated in religious terms. The anglos refer to his "heathen gods," while the Chinese get irate that he "betrays his ancestors." For a festival of Asian-American images in silent films, compare this with the more ambiguous sexual morality of Cecil B. DeMille's THE CHEAT with Sessue Hayakawa, the tragedy of Wong's role in THE TOLL OF THE SEA, the later films made by Hayakawa, or even Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS

[memento]

From IMDB: Claire Goldstein is a gifted pianist, but the same week that none of her friends pass a major competition, including her boyfriend Jeremy, he dumps her. An earthquake in San Francisco damages her apartment, so she must cross town to live with her parents. Her sister is about to get married; her mom is into the occult; her dad is withdrawing and losing his job. Claire obsesses about Jeremy, despite her girlfriends' advising her how to interest other men ("look mysterious, like Mona Lisa") and taking her to parties. Her sweet teacher, Bennett, gets her auditions, but she blows them off. Then, she meets Eddie. Is he the key to her rejoining the human race? 

[Lynne]

From Wiki:

Sweet November is a 2001 American romantic drama starring Keanu Reeves, Lauren Graham and Charlize Theron. The film is based on an earlier version made in 1968 and written by Herman Raucher. Due to its poor reception by critics the film was nominated for Worst Remake or Sequel and both Reeves and Theron nominated for Worst Actor and Worst Actress (respectively) at the 2001 Golden Raspberry Awards.

And from IMDb:

Nelson is a man devoted to his advertising career in San Francisco. One day, while taking a driving test at the DMV, he meets Sara. She is very different from the other women in his life. Nelson causes her to miss out on taking the test and later that day she tracks him down. One thing leads to another and Nelson ends up living with her through a November that will change his life forever. Written by V. Piper

[oilgun]

Plot:  Li is an ex-cop who went to prison in Hong Kong to let his father, a Chinese crime lord, and his brother escape to San Francisco. When his brother is killed, seemingly by a black gang headed by Delroy Lindo (of Get Shorty fame), Li breaks out of prison and gets to America to discover his brother's killer and avenge his death.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  A film that features a "Movie Montage" and divulges (finally!) why women really go to the restroom together, this is a fun and funny romp, a bit crude around the edges, perhaps, but for the most part, "The Sweetest Thing," directed by Roger Kumble, is harmless, pleasant entertainment that will make you laugh out loud and feel good for the rest of the day. And that's not such a bad deal in my book.

Christina (Cameron Diaz), Courtney (Christina Applegate) and Jane (Selma Blair) are close friends, single and young, who have for some time been living the high life in San Francisco, each of whom seems committed to avoiding commitment in any relationship (except for Jane, who's been with the same guy for nearly a year now). Christina's motto is, "Don't look for Mr. Right, look for Mr. Right Now!" After all, girls just wanna have fun. But the men in their lives do not necessarily want to play the same game, which Jane finds out the hard way when her boyfriend dumps her suddenly. And though they don't realize it at first, Jane's situation is about to become the catalyst for all of them to do some reevaluating as to where all the fun, freedom, and frolicking is taking them in their lives. They're all closing in on thirty (Christina is twenty-eight, the others about the same), and somehow, the "love 'em and leave 'em' thing doesn't seem to be all that fun anymore. And wouldn't you know it, Christina has just met a guy named Peter (Thomas Jane) at a nightclub but doesn't realize how much she is attracted to him until after she lets him slip away. And the next day she just can't quit thinking about him. Suddenly, the shoe is on the other foot, and Christina discovers that it's just not such a good fit....