Free Self-guided Tours of San Francisco
I am a fan of movies and I'm especially a fan of movies that use the beauty of San Francisco as the backdrop for the drama, laughter and love of their characters. Movies capture the feel and detail of the city at the time when they were shot. Movies are also an easily accessible form of media. If the movie was filmed in a different time, you can compare the city of the movie to the city San Francisco is today. Astute movie watchers may find inconsistencies in the way movies present San Francisco space. For example, a car chase scene my show one street where a car is going uphill, but on the downhill side it may be a completely different street or neighborhood. Because I think that there is nothing better than being to watch a movie and see parts of San Francisco that you recognize or to see a San Francisco that you recognize from a movie, I've created some free self-guided movie tours to help you get to the different locations that a movie may represent.
I recommend that you watch the movie of your tour before your trip to San Francisco, so the scenes from the movie will be fresh in your mind. The current movies for which these self-guided tours are available include:
- Axe Murderer - So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) makes a great movie upon which to base a San Francisco tour because many of its locations and establishing shots are in or near attractions that you will want to visit on your trip to San Francisco. You can have a great time comparing the locations in the movie to their real-life counterparts.
- Body Snatchers - The scenes from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) provide an interesting perspective on how San Francisco has changed in the last 25 to 30 years. This tour takes you to some of the most prominent locations that were used for shooting Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
