It's often lauded as the worst James Bond film. After watching it, I can see why. I'm of course talking about A View To A Kill (1985), starring Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, and the inimitable Grace Jones; directed by John Glen. Moore celebrated his 57th birthday during filming, officially making him the oldest ever 007 to grace the screen. In fact, eight different stand-ins, body doubles, and stuntmen were employed as the aging Moore's doppelgängers, earning View the dubious record of the movie with the least amount of screen time for the lead. The result is a film that poetically reflects Moore's iteration of Bond: it limps along passably, but is clearly past its prime. This movie shouldn't buy any green bananas, is what I'm saying.
Story
It's important to note at the outset that this movie is interminably long at 130 minutes, and that the main plot doesn't really get going until nearly the halfway point. Or rather, the plot revealed in the first half (villain Max Zorin attempts world domination through genetically enhanced racehorses) is simply in parallel and not necessarily connected to the plot in the second half (villain Max Zorin attempts world domination by flooding Silicon Valley). Forgive me if I expound a bit more on the (almost imperceptively) more relevant second half.
The film opens in Sibera, where 007 (Moore) locates 003, who is now a frozen corpsicle. Retrieving a microchip from a locket around 003's neck, Bond then eludes the KGB by inventing snowboarding while escaping to his submarine. All the tune of "California Girls," because it's Siberia, so why not. There's a random woman on the submarine for Bond to sex up all the way back to England, also because why not.
Next come the opening credits, which are, far and away, the best part of the entire film. Duran Duran performs the titular "View to a Kill" while body actors wearing neon clothing, lipstick, and body paint dance and mime under blacklight. It's fantastic, and it's a shame for two reasons: 1) even this is phoned in by some of the actors hired and 2) when it's over you still have two more hours of this movie to watch.
The film opens in Sibera, where 007 (Moore) locates 003, who is now a frozen corpsicle. Retrieving a microchip from a locket around 003's neck, Bond then eludes the KGB by inventing snowboarding while escaping to his submarine. All the tune of "California Girls," because it's Siberia, so why not. There's a random woman on the submarine for Bond to sex up all the way back to England, also because why not.
Next come the opening credits, which are, far and away, the best part of the entire film. Duran Duran performs the titular "View to a Kill" while body actors wearing neon clothing, lipstick, and body paint dance and mime under blacklight. It's fantastic, and it's a shame for two reasons: 1) even this is phoned in by some of the actors hired and 2) when it's over you still have two more hours of this movie to watch.
In London, Agent Bond learns that the microchip is EMP-resistant, specially-engineered by the British government, and that it has been compromised and copied- but by whom?! It's at this point that I make a mental note to Google "Miss Moneypenny drag queen." Then for no good reason in particular, it's off to the horse races, where evil French industrialist Max Zorin (Walken) is introduced, but who the fuck cares because standing beside him is May Day (Jones), some sort of awe-inspiring space goddess visiting earth to demonstrate glamour to us simpering mortals.
There's some stuff in France involving Zorin's juiced up super-horses. Believe me when I say it's really and truly irrelevant. All you need to know is that Bond meets Stacey Sutton, an heiress whose Bay Area oil interests are being wooed by Zorin. Also, May Day fucks Bond, because why not.
At a staggering 56 minutes in is the first reference to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. At 58 minutes, Zorin's corpulent blimp is filmed crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge, as May Day marvels, "what a view." Zorin, in the very definition of hamfisted, pops over her shoulder and adds "to a kill!" WE GOT THE TITLE IN THERE, GUYS.
There's some stuff in France involving Zorin's juiced up super-horses. Believe me when I say it's really and truly irrelevant. All you need to know is that Bond meets Stacey Sutton, an heiress whose Bay Area oil interests are being wooed by Zorin. Also, May Day fucks Bond, because why not.
At a staggering 56 minutes in is the first reference to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. At 58 minutes, Zorin's corpulent blimp is filmed crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge, as May Day marvels, "what a view." Zorin, in the very definition of hamfisted, pops over her shoulder and adds "to a kill!" WE GOT THE TITLE IN THERE, GUYS.
James Bond, never far behind the bad guy, pops up at Fisherman's Wharf and makes his connection with Chuck Lee, CIA Agent and undercover crustacean-monger. They talk shop and establish that Zorin has some oil rigs just over there in the bay. While attempting to infiltrate said rigs, Bond runs smack dab into SKGB (Sexy KGB) agent Pola Ivanova. They remove themselves to 'Nippon Relaxation Spa' to debrief (geddit) and compare notes on Zorin. Ivanova attempts to double-cross our man by nabbing a recording Bond made of Zorin explaining his evil plan while Bond is in the shower, but she steals the wrong cassette tape and she's left listening to relaxing koto music! Sucker!!!
Clearly not having milked his prostate enough by now, Bond reconnects with Sutton and falls asleep while "guarding" her from Zorin's assassins with a shotgun at her mansion. He is woken by her various pets reacting to an earthquake, which, when looked up on the oil heiress' state-of-the-art earthquake computer (an Apple IIe), proves to be a 2.5 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter "near Zorin's oil field."
We discover that Zorin is not pumping oil out of his wells- he's pumping sea water in, in the hopes of triggering a massive earthquake that will flood Silicon Valley, because guess what, guys, it was him who stole and copied the EMP-resistant microchip, and with his competitors Biblically washed away, nothing will stand between him and unfettered wealth and/or world domination! MWA HAHAHA!
To help further the plot, Bond and Sutton head to San Francisco City Hall, where they are confronted and trapped in an elevator by Zorin and May Day. The villains set a fire and our heroes must stage a daring elevator escape as City Hall burns around them. When the SFFD engine trucks show up, Bond helpfully absconds with one of them-- no, fuck you, City Hall --and leads the police on a chase through the city. The chase culminates with the fire truck making the inconceivable leap across a drawbridge, while the cop cars, trailing behind, end up in a comically crumpled pile at the bridge's base.
Having shaken the cops, Bond and Sutton drive all night to get to Zorin's mines, where, having abandoned his sea water pumping idea, he's decided to hedge his bets by simply exploding a giant bomb on the fault line. After some fights and confrontations, May Day gets screwed over by Zorin, and in a final act of petty revenge, she rides the bomb out of the mine and explodes it in open air, foiling his plans.
Zorin and company escape in yet another blimp, heading back towards the Golden Gate bridge. James Bond is along for the ride, too, hanging on to one of the mooring ropes for dear life. Zorin steers the blimp low and towards one of the bridge's two towers in the hope of smearing James Bond onto the cables like one might smear a booger onto the underside of a desk. Bond manages to find some footing and secures the mooring rope to the bridge, somehow stopping the blimp dead in its tracks. Zorin pops out, struggles weakly with Bond at a terrifying height, they both slip a couple times, and then Zorin finally falls to his watery grave. It's not so much that Bond wins because he's the better man, but because the tread of his shoes found better purchase.
Bond gets the girl, because, as always, why not.
The End.
Clearly not having milked his prostate enough by now, Bond reconnects with Sutton and falls asleep while "guarding" her from Zorin's assassins with a shotgun at her mansion. He is woken by her various pets reacting to an earthquake, which, when looked up on the oil heiress' state-of-the-art earthquake computer (an Apple IIe), proves to be a 2.5 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter "near Zorin's oil field."
We discover that Zorin is not pumping oil out of his wells- he's pumping sea water in, in the hopes of triggering a massive earthquake that will flood Silicon Valley, because guess what, guys, it was him who stole and copied the EMP-resistant microchip, and with his competitors Biblically washed away, nothing will stand between him and unfettered wealth and/or world domination! MWA HAHAHA!
To help further the plot, Bond and Sutton head to San Francisco City Hall, where they are confronted and trapped in an elevator by Zorin and May Day. The villains set a fire and our heroes must stage a daring elevator escape as City Hall burns around them. When the SFFD engine trucks show up, Bond helpfully absconds with one of them-- no, fuck you, City Hall --and leads the police on a chase through the city. The chase culminates with the fire truck making the inconceivable leap across a drawbridge, while the cop cars, trailing behind, end up in a comically crumpled pile at the bridge's base.
Having shaken the cops, Bond and Sutton drive all night to get to Zorin's mines, where, having abandoned his sea water pumping idea, he's decided to hedge his bets by simply exploding a giant bomb on the fault line. After some fights and confrontations, May Day gets screwed over by Zorin, and in a final act of petty revenge, she rides the bomb out of the mine and explodes it in open air, foiling his plans.
Zorin and company escape in yet another blimp, heading back towards the Golden Gate bridge. James Bond is along for the ride, too, hanging on to one of the mooring ropes for dear life. Zorin steers the blimp low and towards one of the bridge's two towers in the hope of smearing James Bond onto the cables like one might smear a booger onto the underside of a desk. Bond manages to find some footing and secures the mooring rope to the bridge, somehow stopping the blimp dead in its tracks. Zorin pops out, struggles weakly with Bond at a terrifying height, they both slip a couple times, and then Zorin finally falls to his watery grave. It's not so much that Bond wins because he's the better man, but because the tread of his shoes found better purchase.
Bond gets the girl, because, as always, why not.
The End.
Authenticity
Note to set designers and prop masters: the city and/or fault are spelled H-A-Y-W-A-R-D, not H-A-Y-W-O-O-D.
That glaring correction out of the way, let's get back to the beginning of San Francisco's appearance in View. Aside from the appropriately stunning establishing shot of the Golden Gate bridge and a sun-soaked bay, the first San Francisco scene takes place in the tourist wonderland of Fisherman's Wharf, where BondJamesBond makes his connection with CIA Agent Chuck Lee. Nothing about the setting itself in this film struck me as particularly inauthentic, but an enormous issue that I know I have not been the only one to address is the issue of the respective agents' code phrase, "I'm looking for some soft-shell crab."
Just to clarify, Agent Lee's cover is working as a fishmonger at a seafood stand in the area popularly known as Fisherman's Wharf. There are several crabs on ice prominently displayed between the customers and the salesmen in this scene. And once again, the code words, which establish that the speaker has been sent on the official agenda of Her Majesty's Secret Service, are "I'm looking for some soft-shell crab." Why not station Agent Lee in a laundromat and make the code phrase "can you break a five for some quarters?" Idiots.
The spa where Bond and Pola Ivanova go to 'relax' is located on Buchanan Street in Japantown. Named Osaka Way for the first of San Francisco's sister cities, this one block stretch of Buchanan runs between Post and Sutter Streets and leads into Japantown's anchor, Peace Plaza. The movie does try to pull a fast one, however, by showing cars parked among the pedestrians on Buchanan, when in fact that block of Buchanan has been pedestrianized since at least 1976.
Because I was born in San Francisco and have been woken up a few times by seismic jostles, I naturally consider myself an earthquake expert, and scoffed loudly at Zorin's plans to induce an earthquake by flooding the fault lines. I was surprised to learn that water and flooding can indeed have an effect on seismic activity. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey stated that "at some locations the increase in seismicity coincides with the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells." Actual science notwithstanding, Zorin ultimately settled on the safe side by attempting to trigger The Big One with a bomb in a mine, which is probably a more guaranteed method than flooding, the effects of which on fault lines are imprecise and varied.
Just to clarify, Agent Lee's cover is working as a fishmonger at a seafood stand in the area popularly known as Fisherman's Wharf. There are several crabs on ice prominently displayed between the customers and the salesmen in this scene. And once again, the code words, which establish that the speaker has been sent on the official agenda of Her Majesty's Secret Service, are "I'm looking for some soft-shell crab." Why not station Agent Lee in a laundromat and make the code phrase "can you break a five for some quarters?" Idiots.
The spa where Bond and Pola Ivanova go to 'relax' is located on Buchanan Street in Japantown. Named Osaka Way for the first of San Francisco's sister cities, this one block stretch of Buchanan runs between Post and Sutter Streets and leads into Japantown's anchor, Peace Plaza. The movie does try to pull a fast one, however, by showing cars parked among the pedestrians on Buchanan, when in fact that block of Buchanan has been pedestrianized since at least 1976.
Because I was born in San Francisco and have been woken up a few times by seismic jostles, I naturally consider myself an earthquake expert, and scoffed loudly at Zorin's plans to induce an earthquake by flooding the fault lines. I was surprised to learn that water and flooding can indeed have an effect on seismic activity. In 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey stated that "at some locations the increase in seismicity coincides with the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells." Actual science notwithstanding, Zorin ultimately settled on the safe side by attempting to trigger The Big One with a bomb in a mine, which is probably a more guaranteed method than flooding, the effects of which on fault lines are imprecise and varied.
Sutton's bleeding-edge earthquake technology shows that the epicenter of the small 2.5 temblor, to which Sutton's various pets alerted, was located roughly between southern Oakland and San Leandro. There are two things I find not-too-credible about this scene. First, 2.5 on the Richter scale is nothing. You as a human will definitely not feel it, even if you are lying very quietly in bed early in the morning when the world hasn't woken up yet. I've heard this nonsense about animals reacting to earthquakes that are imperceptible to humans, but I've personally never witnessed it. Usually when we are hit by a quake big enough to wake us from slumber (3.5 and above), my dogs look at me like "stop moving the bed, asshole," and promptly go back to sleep.
Secondly, there are numerous fault lines in the area of Oakland and San Leandro (see above). I've personally felt dozens of small jolts from the Hayward (not Haywood) fault over the years. Nobody alerted to an earthquake below a 3.0 in that area would immediately leap to make the connection to nearby industrial activity, such as Zorin's oil rigs. While connections between earthquakes and, say, oil fracking certainly make sense in less seismically active places like Oklahoma, small rumbles around south Oakland are not in any way, shape, or form unusual or suspicious to the majority of people living through them in blissful ignorance.
View's scenes set in San Francisco City Hall are, indeed, shot at the real San Francisco City Hall, both inside and out. At a time that predated widespread, inexpensive CGI, it's impressive to consider they made it look as though the city's seat of government was soon to be reduced to a pile of rubble. By all accounts, local government was extremely gracious to the filmmakers, up to and including installing fire jets on the roof of City Hall to simulate the inferno.
Once Bond, Sutton, and their pilfered SFFD engine leave Civic Center, they also appear to depart from a plausible route. It starts sanely enough by heading northeast on Market Street, towards the Ferry Building. But suddenly the engine finds itself screaming down a hill with a postcard-perfect view of downtown. Then it's back on Market, to reappear a moment later miles away in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. The chase bounces between sensical downtown locations and far-flung thoroughfares before finally ending at the Lefty O'Doul drawbridge in Mission Bay.
View's scenes set in San Francisco City Hall are, indeed, shot at the real San Francisco City Hall, both inside and out. At a time that predated widespread, inexpensive CGI, it's impressive to consider they made it look as though the city's seat of government was soon to be reduced to a pile of rubble. By all accounts, local government was extremely gracious to the filmmakers, up to and including installing fire jets on the roof of City Hall to simulate the inferno.
Once Bond, Sutton, and their pilfered SFFD engine leave Civic Center, they also appear to depart from a plausible route. It starts sanely enough by heading northeast on Market Street, towards the Ferry Building. But suddenly the engine finds itself screaming down a hill with a postcard-perfect view of downtown. Then it's back on Market, to reappear a moment later miles away in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. The chase bounces between sensical downtown locations and far-flung thoroughfares before finally ending at the Lefty O'Doul drawbridge in Mission Bay.

I can't speak for drawbridges in the other fine cities across this great nation of ours, but I'm fairly confident in saying that the scene in which James Bond jumps the Lefty O'Doul Bridge in a full-sized fire engine is not plausible.
After finally eluding police at the bridge, Bond and Sutton continue south towards Zorin's mines (not the oil fields, which are in Oakland, but the mines, which seem to be on the peninsula). At a later point in this setting Sutton explains that the mines are located underneath San Andreas Lake, which would mean a drive of half an hour, tops, from the drawbridge. However, as they pull up to the mine in the fire engine, Sutton is showing yawning and stretching in the daylight as though she has slept through a considerable amount of nighttime driving.
Silicon Valley is not too incredibly far from San Francisco, so it's not inconceivable that the distance could be covered quickly in a blimp (hey, I don't know, I sold my blimp two weeks after impulse buying it because I was unaware of the upkeep involved). But it does present a contained conflict that the same movie presents the distance as an overnight drive via fire rig, with a return trip of just a few short minutes by dirigible.
The blimp's journey takes us directly over downtown San Francisco. The antenna at the tip of the TransAmerica Pyramid gooses Moore, and a hilariously inept cop gawks incomprehensibly up at the blimp from the intersection of Battery and Jackson Streets, causing a fender bender.
After finally eluding police at the bridge, Bond and Sutton continue south towards Zorin's mines (not the oil fields, which are in Oakland, but the mines, which seem to be on the peninsula). At a later point in this setting Sutton explains that the mines are located underneath San Andreas Lake, which would mean a drive of half an hour, tops, from the drawbridge. However, as they pull up to the mine in the fire engine, Sutton is showing yawning and stretching in the daylight as though she has slept through a considerable amount of nighttime driving.
Silicon Valley is not too incredibly far from San Francisco, so it's not inconceivable that the distance could be covered quickly in a blimp (hey, I don't know, I sold my blimp two weeks after impulse buying it because I was unaware of the upkeep involved). But it does present a contained conflict that the same movie presents the distance as an overnight drive via fire rig, with a return trip of just a few short minutes by dirigible.
The blimp's journey takes us directly over downtown San Francisco. The antenna at the tip of the TransAmerica Pyramid gooses Moore, and a hilariously inept cop gawks incomprehensibly up at the blimp from the intersection of Battery and Jackson Streets, causing a fender bender.
The film's shots of the San Francisco Bay are stunning, and that's the problem: they're too stunning. While climate change has resulted in a noticeable uptick in warm, dry, sunny days in San Francisco over the last several years, it's traditionally been known as an aggressively cold city with no-nonsense coastal fog and winds. I remember my parents boasting of seeing the sun three times in as many years while living in the Inner Richmond in the early 70s. It would have been far more accurate in 1985 to portray James Bond being towed through a misty, frigid chasm of blinding white fog, like that seen swallowing the bridge whole in the shot above.
Blimp expertise notwithstanding, I'm pretty confident that a knot more substantial than this is required to tether one to a bridge:
As is probably self-evident, much of the Golden Gate Bridge scene (and definitely any shot featuring Moore and not a stunt double) took place on a set constructed in London. Because of the bridge's sad history (and ongoing present reality) of suicides both completed and attempted, local authorities refused to allow the crew to shoot Zorin plunging to his death from the bridge. Instead, the scene was carefully cobbled together using studio footage and post-production effects.
However, Bond's final line "there's never a taxi when you need one," is as authentic San Francisco as a steaming serving of clam chowder in a bowl made of sourdough bread, eaten while standing obliviously close to a steaming pile of human feces in the street! Ever wonder why Lyft, Uber, and all those other companies originated out of here? It's because our taxis are THE WORST/NONEXISTENT.
However, Bond's final line "there's never a taxi when you need one," is as authentic San Francisco as a steaming serving of clam chowder in a bowl made of sourdough bread, eaten while standing obliviously close to a steaming pile of human feces in the street! Ever wonder why Lyft, Uber, and all those other companies originated out of here? It's because our taxis are THE WORST/NONEXISTENT.
Sightseeing
Pier 39. Fisherman's Wharf.
Ugh. I mean, if you have to. Pier 39 is basically San Francisco's version of Times Square, The French Quarter, Picadilly Circus, or any other place that has a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and its royal court of national chain shops. Notable local flavor includes a cacophonous orgy of sea lions, a Margaret Keane gallery, and Bushman, a street artist whose performance consists simply of jumping out from behind shrubbery to startle unsuspecting out-of-towners (RIP, Bushman II). I didn't take any present-day shots because it looks exactly the same today and also, because F that S.
Ugh. I mean, if you have to. Pier 39 is basically San Francisco's version of Times Square, The French Quarter, Picadilly Circus, or any other place that has a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and its royal court of national chain shops. Notable local flavor includes a cacophonous orgy of sea lions, a Margaret Keane gallery, and Bushman, a street artist whose performance consists simply of jumping out from behind shrubbery to startle unsuspecting out-of-towners (RIP, Bushman II). I didn't take any present-day shots because it looks exactly the same today and also, because F that S.
Japantown, where Bond and Ivanova have a sexy soak, is a neighborhood much younger than the diaspora it represents, because of an embarrassing chapter in our collective history- namely, when American citizens of Japanese descent were placed in internment camps while their property was seized and sold. In the 1960s, local government made a concerted effort to gentrify the neighborhood with an emphasis on its cultural significance to California's history. They accomplished this by completely razing and rebuilding a five acre, three block plot. After eight years of construction, and as it stands today, a cluster of shopping centers featuring traditional and contemporary Japanese products fan out from Peace Plaza and its embarrassingly dated Peace Pagoda, which resembles nothing so much as an abandoned prop from a Godzilla movie.
A number of Japanese- and Japanese-American owned businesses have returned and flourished in the surrounding streets since. My personal favorites to hit up are Daiso (essentially, a Japanese dollar store), Kinokuniya Books & Kinokuniya Stationery, and the wonderfully chaotic photo booths of Pika Pika. An absolute must-see, however, is the New People building at 1746 Post Street, which features a cafe, a cinema showing Japanese films, a mascot & cute things store, several pop-up boutiques featuring cutting edge Japanese fashion, an art gallery, and-- most importantly --the most futuristic robot toilets you will ever have the pleasure of using, imported directly from the Land of the Rising Sun. Check out New People just for the toilets (basement level), if nothing else. Now's as good a time as any to get acquainted with our new robot overlords.
The Dunsmuir Hellman Estate, which serves as oil heiress Stacey Sutton's home in the film, is located in Oakland, just across the bay from San Francisco. Built by a Canadian coal baron as a gift to his bride in 1899, the estate was the sole survivor of the union when both husband and wife were dead by 1901. It has been owned by the City of Oakland since the 1960s, and has appeared in eight other films in addition to View. It's also open to public only on weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm, so unless you're an idly rich coal baron and/or oil heiress, the farthest a working stiff like you will get in your spare time is the locked gates.
San Francisco City Hall is, without a doubt, one of our more grandiose and elegant buildings. It has served as stage to a number of other film productions, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Dirty Harry. In real life, the building has probably seen more excitement, drama, and joy than any screenwriter could hope to imagine, from same-sex marriage ceremonies to the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. It's also a great place to go if you need a business license.
Because the creative forces behind this film felt positively no obligation to portray a plausible sequential route through the city, many of the specific locations used in the fire engine chase are difficult to pin down. Also complicating any positive street IDs is the fact that the chase takes place at night, and that many of the areas glimpsed in split-second shots have changed significantly over the past 30 years. The route I plotted on the map embedded above was made with a confidence ranging from absolute to "educated guess." Here are some of the chase locations of which I'm more sure:
The first intersection the truck hits after leaving City Hall is easy to pinpoint- the shot prominently features the street signs marking the intersection of First, Bush, Battery, and Market Streets.
The first intersection the truck hits after leaving City Hall is easy to pinpoint- the shot prominently features the street signs marking the intersection of First, Bush, Battery, and Market Streets.
After tooling around Market Street a bit more, the truck takes a wild detour into what appears to the Potrero Hill neighborhood. The camera, in a slightly surreal shot, tracks the fire engine hurtling down a typically steep San Francisco hill and pans across to a lovely shot of the downtown skyline... the same skyline through which the truck was driving just a split second ago.
I can't find any definitive filming location online, and I don't personally recognize the street, but one filming locations website (link below) posited that this was likely shot in the area of DeHaro & 20th Streets. After poking around myself, I think this is probably the likeliest intersection, but like I said, can't be 100% sure.
I can't find any definitive filming location online, and I don't personally recognize the street, but one filming locations website (link below) posited that this was likely shot in the area of DeHaro & 20th Streets. After poking around myself, I think this is probably the likeliest intersection, but like I said, can't be 100% sure.
After screaming down the hill, the engine magically transports itself somewhere closer to downtown again (it appears to me to be Van Ness, but it could very well be 19th Avenue or another major thoroughfare), before popping back over to Potrero Hill. The engine is shown turning north onto Potrero Avenue from 17th Street. The intersection remains largely the same today, including the 76 and Shell filling stations on opposite corners.
In one of the more thrilling stunts of the film, the engine hurtles down California Street on the edge of the Financial District and executes a hairpin turn between two cable cars heading towards each other, stymieing the cops on its tail. There's really nothing especially remarkable to say about this intersection in my mind, so I'll just wrap it up by letting you know that the California Street cable car is the only cable car line without a turnaround at the terminus, as it can be operated from either end.
The climax of the chase scene depicts Bond's pilfered SFFD engine truck leaping across a drawbridge known locally as both the Third Street Bridge and the China Basin Bridge. In 1969, it got a third name, the Lefty O'Doul Bridge, in honor of the San Francisco-born baseball legend. It was an unusually premonitory name, as 31 years later in 2000, the Giants' new stadium, Pacific Bell Park (now AT&T Park), opened right next door, easily making this the most radically altered of all of View's local filming locations.
Oh, hey. You want to go see an intersection where unimportant nameless characters gawk at the sky for a few seconds, and when you're done with that, maybe catch a comedy show on top of a parking garage a block away? Go crazy.
Of course, the film's ultimate scene takes place atop what is, undoubtedly, San Francisco's most iconic landmark: the Golden Gate Bridge. The towers and cables are strictly off-limits to all but the most qualified technicians, so there's no Syndey-esque bridge climbing tour you can take to enjoy your own 'view to a kill.' You can, however, walk and bike across the bridge for free. There's been talk of charging cyclists and pedestrians a small toll, but they haven't done it yet, so get it while you can. If you've never been to the Golden Gate Bridge, here are a few tips:
- Layers: It is goddamn cold and windy out there, trust me. It's July? Bundle up. It's 85 degrees in the shade in Golden Gate Park? Bundle up. You don't want to be the one wearing short-shorts and gooseflesh when the fog rolls in.
- Respect the Rules of Traffic: the Golden Gate is a great thing to check out when you're visiting town. It's also a great place to train if you're a local who likes long-distance running or cycling. Stay in the pedestrian lane if you're on foot; stay in the bike lane if you're on a bike. Step to the side and be aware of others around you if you want to pause to gaze admiringly at or take a picture of the view.
- Be Safe and Smart: For an intentionally-built structure that exists in the United States, the bridge is surprisingly not idiot-proof. It took years and years of deadly head-on collisions before a movable median barrier was installed this year; we still have no barriers to prevent suicidal jumpers, despite years of passionate debate; and in 1997 a small child tragically died after falling between a gap in the railing (it seems like this happened again a few years ago, but I can't find any news reports online). Be careful and... Die Another Day. (I'm sorry)
B-B-B-B-BONUS FEATURE: Style Guide!
This isn't a regular feature on NMM and it's a little unorthodox, but Grace Jones' costumes really deserve a mention of their own. I feel confident saying that Grace Jones and her amazing everything is the only thing that salvages this dog turd of a movie. They were lucky she deigned to be a Bond Girl.
When we first meet Jones' character May Day, she's enjoying the races with her boytoy Max Zorin, patiently indulging him by pretending to be his arm candy. She is swathed in a slinky red dress accented by a thick black belt and elbow-length black gloves. So far, so staid, but naturally the outfit is topped with a towering headdress that appears to be the progeny of a stovepipe hat and a fez, slightly crumpled, as if slowly being crushed under the weight of its own hubris. It clearly shows that May Day's thought process was "right, so the races are when Earth ladies doff 'wacky' hats. Challenge accepted." It crowns a draped veil made of the same fabric as the dress because, as we soon learn, cowls are an integral component of May Day's character.
Back at you with another cowl. Well I guess technically this might be considered more of a hood, but even so. It's two different colors and that's not even the craziest thing happening on this outfit. Not by a long shot That is leather lattice work in those leg-of-mutton jacket sleeves. Just think about that. Someone made a leather jacket with a harlequin hood, shoulder pads, and leg-of-mutton sleeves to be worn by Grace Jones and thought "you know what? It needs more." This is far and away the worst May Day outfit, and on anyone other than Grace Jones it would look like tepid cat vomit. But this is Grace Jones, so she looks fucking amazing.
MORE COWLS. Cowls are traditional attire on May Day's home planet, and, much like Sampson's hair, are the secret source of her extraordinary strength. Note how the eye shadow matches the cowl in each instance. On point.

Of course, only one cowl can rule them all and in the darkness bind them, and it is without a doubt the dress worn at Zorin's horse auction. This gown was created by famed designer Azzedine Alaïa for Jones, his muse. The body-hugging, wine-colored sheath drapes elegantly over Jones' statuesque figure, revealing a shocking swath of bright red on the inside of the cowl, bringing attention to Jones' face and her impeccable 1940s pinup girl hair.
For such a modest dress- the skirt grazes the ground, there's a scant peek of clavicle, and Jones' arms are fully enclosed- it's deeply sensual. Even as it covers her shoulders and neck, the draping cowl echoes and emphasizes Jones' curves, which are further exaggerated by the shoulder pads and billowy sleeves leading to tight cuffs. As she turns to stalk away, the broad expanse of her smooth, muscular back is suddenly and surprisingly revealed by a plunging rear neckline. A train flutters from the shoulders (a rear cowl?). The hem scatters nervously around her feet like the dress is dancing on its own as she walks. She is a stunning vision and I want her to sashay out of this movie and into a better one.
It is, ultimately, the perfect dress for cock blocking and being a HBiC, and that's exactly how May Day uses it, busting into James Bond's and Stacey Sutton's flirty little conversation to, essentially, tell Sutton to get lost.
For such a modest dress- the skirt grazes the ground, there's a scant peek of clavicle, and Jones' arms are fully enclosed- it's deeply sensual. Even as it covers her shoulders and neck, the draping cowl echoes and emphasizes Jones' curves, which are further exaggerated by the shoulder pads and billowy sleeves leading to tight cuffs. As she turns to stalk away, the broad expanse of her smooth, muscular back is suddenly and surprisingly revealed by a plunging rear neckline. A train flutters from the shoulders (a rear cowl?). The hem scatters nervously around her feet like the dress is dancing on its own as she walks. She is a stunning vision and I want her to sashay out of this movie and into a better one.
It is, ultimately, the perfect dress for cock blocking and being a HBiC, and that's exactly how May Day uses it, busting into James Bond's and Stacey Sutton's flirty little conversation to, essentially, tell Sutton to get lost.
When the cock blocking is done and it's time to get it on, however, May Day has another outfit for that. Her foreplay, naturally, consists of aggressive sparring with Zorin and the gnashing of teeth. May Day's foreplay outfit is a very high-cut thong-back leotard that appears to be a size too small, and over-the-joint arm and leg warmers. The leotard shows off that Grace Jones has amazing thighs and an amazing Brazilian wax.
When the phone rings, disrupting Ms. Day and Mr. Zorin's canoodling, she huffily puts on a robe-type thing that appears to be the missing link between your ordinary couch throw and the modern day Snuggie. I'm not a fan of this robe. It's the color of melted, congealed chocolate ice cream and its silhouette looks like a fashion student on speed just grabbed a blanket off their dorm room bed and sewed a bunch of random seams in it. I appreciate the over-the-top effort, but ultimately it falls flat and is least favorite of all of May Day's getups.
In addition to 90% of her clothing incorporating some type of cowl (as, naturally, the "robe" does), approximately 50% of her clothing must also be backless, as shown in the red racecourse dress, the wine-colored Alaïa gown, and now the "robe."
When the phone rings, disrupting Ms. Day and Mr. Zorin's canoodling, she huffily puts on a robe-type thing that appears to be the missing link between your ordinary couch throw and the modern day Snuggie. I'm not a fan of this robe. It's the color of melted, congealed chocolate ice cream and its silhouette looks like a fashion student on speed just grabbed a blanket off their dorm room bed and sewed a bunch of random seams in it. I appreciate the over-the-top effort, but ultimately it falls flat and is least favorite of all of May Day's getups.
In addition to 90% of her clothing incorporating some type of cowl (as, naturally, the "robe" does), approximately 50% of her clothing must also be backless, as shown in the red racecourse dress, the wine-colored Alaïa gown, and now the "robe."
Whether it's business dressy or business casual, just do not trust May Day when she gets out a cinched-waist blazer. She will cross you.
What I like about May Day is that, even when instructed to put on a uniform, she really just puts something on that's "inspired by" the uniform. Take, for example, this Zorin Industries duotone cowl in utilitarian slate and heather grey! You just can't boss around a woman like May Day, which is why it's no surprise that her response to being double-crossed by Zorin is to essentially cut off her nose to spite her face: she personally escorts a bomb away from the fault line, paying with her life just to throw a wrench into her ex's plans. She's got the perfect outfit for riding a bomb into the sunset, which is a post-apocalyptic shift, smudged with sweat and subterranean grime, cinched with a functionless belt and topped with Those Boots. Seriously. Those Boots on Those Legs.
Summary
Plot: 2/10- Fuck You.
Authenticity: 3/10- Gave a trustafarian spanger from Wisconsin $5 to take their picture at the Haight & Ashbury signs.
Viagra score: 7/10- Deleted scenes on the DVD extras include Bond queuing up for his Pensioner's Benefits.
Overall: Don't watch this because it takes place-- well, kind of --in San Francisco. Watch it for Grace Jones, and only Grace Jones.
-EL
Authenticity: 3/10- Gave a trustafarian spanger from Wisconsin $5 to take their picture at the Haight & Ashbury signs.
Viagra score: 7/10- Deleted scenes on the DVD extras include Bond queuing up for his Pensioner's Benefits.
Overall: Don't watch this because it takes place-- well, kind of --in San Francisco. Watch it for Grace Jones, and only Grace Jones.
-EL
References & Further Reading
A View to a Kill on IMDB
A View to a Kill on Wikipedia
A View to a Kill filming locations
A View to a Kill trivia, and more trivia
Filming Locations on Film in America
A View to a Kill on How Did This Get Made? (Live episode)
A View to a Kill on Wikipedia
A View to a Kill filming locations
A View to a Kill trivia, and more trivia
Filming Locations on Film in America
A View to a Kill on How Did This Get Made? (Live episode)