WORLD TOUR Day 1 - San Francisco, CA
BEFORE: After months of planning and anticipation, it's finally here - the movie-based trip around the world. I think I'm about as excited as I get before a real trip somewhere. It's appropriate to start this on Labor Day, I think, since so many people go away on this weekend - I can't, except in virtual form. I'm celebrating with a large bottle of beer, in lieu of champagne, or my usual cup of Diet Mountain Dew. This upcoming chain combines two things I love - movies, and organizing things (Hah! I bet you thought I was going to say "travel".) I freely admit that I stole this idea from TCM's latest "31 Days of Oscar" schedule, but I put my own spin on it - their schedule would devote a day to films set in France, followed by a day of films set in say, the Orient, then a day in South America - jumping all around the globe. Whereas I looked at the films left on my list, and I was having trouble organizing them, since thematically they were all over the map. "Aha!" I thought, "That's it, I'll just move around the map in an organized fashion!"
I'll set some ground rules, before I start the journey:
1) Each of the next 63 films is closely associated with a particular city or country - anything taking place in a fictional place, or doesn't mention its location, or is set in outer space, has been moved to the 2013 schedule. Inclusion or exclusion from the itinerary is up to my sole discretion. If you're wondering why "Gone With the Wind" isn't in the chain to represent Atlanta, that film was not on my list as of 2 months ago. If you want to know why the tour doesn't go to Canada, or Germany, or your city/country, it's because I don't have any films set there on the list.
2) From this point, thematic linking or linking by actor is not required, but it still could happen. I tweaked my itinerary today, heading south after St. Louis instead of north, and it lined up three legal thrillers in a row. That's the stuff I like to see.
3) The trip has been planned to minimize crossing itself or backtracking, but again, anything is possible. Unlike TCM's schedule, you could make this trip in the real world - but why would you? I suggest following along on one of those newfangled "map" things if you want. I'll be keeping track of mileage, and I'll try kilometerage (?) as well, but I'm not responsible for conversion mistakes. I don't know what the final mileage will be so please, as always, no wagering.
4) This probably should go without saying, but I'm only interested in where the films were set, not where they were actually filmed. On a similar note, since the films are organized by spatial location, I'll be jumping around in time quite liberally - since I do want to visit these cities or countries during interesting times.
5) My ratings will be for the FILMS and should not be seen as an approval or indictment of any city, country or region. No offense is intended to your city or country if a film that was set there fails to entertain me.
6) And yes, there are 63 films in the chain, but 64 slots until movie #1300. Good eye, I knew I couldn't put one past you. I'm saving the last slot of the year for a "victory lap" film, you can probably guess what that will be.
My first film is set in San Francisco, and is the sequel film to "In the Heat of the Night". Linking from "The Mask of Zorro", Anthony Hopkins was also in "Amistad" with Morgan Freeman, who was also in "Hard Rain" with Ed Asner, who has a cameo role tonight.
THE PLOT: San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs is called in to investigate when a liberal street preacher and political candidate is accused of murdering a prostitute.
AFTER: Well, it's a good start to the tour, since San Francisco, aka "the city by the bay", "the city of broad shoulders", is well represented here. From the opening shot of Coit Tower (last seen at the end of "Bedazzled"), to the final shot of the skyline, you do get a feel for the city, especially the architecture. I also recognized some basketball courts that I think are near Ghirardhelli Square - but I only spent one day walking around the city, plus it's probably changed a lot since 1970.
The streets of San Francisco make a great setting for chase scenes - like in "Bullitt" or "What's Up, Doc", or that TV police show that took place on the streets of San Francisco, I can't remember the name of it though. Those work best in cars, though, and the most memorable chase scenes in this film took place on foot.
The character of Virgil Tibbs was described as a homicide detective from Philadelphia in "In the Heat of the Night", so we can assume he moved to San Francisco at some point, but there's a line in this film about the department "investing 12 years" in him - this film was released just three years after "In the Heat of the Night", so what gives? Then I guess later the character moved down South when they made the TV series of the same name (though by then the character was played by another actor.)
What carries over from "In the Heat of the Night" is Tibbs' use of forensics, which made him stand out in the rural South. Here he's all about the carpet fibers and the fingerprints and the small marks on the body. And this was years before "CSI" became a hit. But the real test of Tibbs' character comes when the evidence starts to implicate a friend, someone he's known for 20 years. (I guess they corresponded a lot by mail while Tibbs was living in Philadelphia...)
Anyway, the whole premise is sort of suspect, since the proper thing for a detective to do when he has a personal connection to the case is to hand it off to another detective - so why didn't he? This then sort of became just a standard procedural - they kind of forgot to add that sort of twist ending you see on "Law & Order".
Starring Sidney Poitier (last seen in "In the Heat of the Night"), Martin Landau (last heard in "9"), Barbara McNair, Anthony Zerbe (last seen in "Cool Hand Luke").
RATING: 5 out of 10 voting referendums
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