The Lineup (1958) - A San Francisco Cinema Classic

"He pushed me too far! So, I pushed him just far enough."

Director 

Don Siegal

Cast
Eli Wallach - Dancer
Robert Keith - Julian
Warner Anderson - Ben Guthrie
Richard Jaeckel - Sandy McLain
Mary LaRoche - Dorothy Bradshaw
William Leslie - Larry Warner
Emile Meyer - Inspector Al Quine
Cheryl Callaway - Cindy Bradshaw

San Francisco is in my blood. I really believe that, though I was born and raised across the Bay in Oakland. 

My paternal lineage has a long history in San Francisco beginning sometime in the 1880s when my great-grandfather and some great-grand uncles immigrated to the city from Sweden. 

San Francisco's rich past appeals to me. I have some wonderful memories of the city. My grandmother lived in an apartment along Pacific Avenue until sometime during my teen years.

There were parts of the city that were my personal getaways up until I moved out of California in 2007. Walking along the Embarcadero was a primary go-to for me. North Beach, doubly so. Caffe Puccini on Columbus had the best cup of coffee I ever tasted. Seldom did I take BART over to the city and not make a stop in Caffe Puccini's. Unfortunately, it closed its doors a few years ago. 

It's heartbreaking to see what the city's pathetic leadership has done to this wonderful city. 

Anyways, among the city's gems are the classic movies filmed and set in San Francisco. A lot of these classics (those movies shot before 1980) are a unique look back into San Francisco from yesterday. They're a trip to watch. I have a short list of movies filmed and taking place in the San Fran that I plan to watch and comment on. I'm sticking with earlier films, again filmed before 1980, beginning with this hot and heavy film noir, "The Lineup" from 1958. 

In this movie, an international drug cartel smuggles in heroin by planting it on innocent American tourists traveling from Asia. The idea is that they can pass through customs without detection. Then the druggies can grab the heroin from these unsuspecting tourists anyway they can. 

The story begins along the Embarcadero as an American tourist docs in San Francisco. His bag is suddenly stolen just as he gets off the cruise ship. Nothing seems to have changed in the city since then. 

The thief, who happens to be a porter, tosses the bag in a cab. 

Eli Wallach in "The Lineup" (1958).

The cab driver speeds off and hits a cop. The cop still manages to open fire at the cab, hitting and killing the driver causing the car to crash.

As police investigate, they're made aware of this heroin smuggling operation. 

When another stash of heroin surreptitiously crosses the U.S. border, drug trafficker and killer, Dancer (Eli Wallach) accompanied by his henchman, Julian (Robert Keith) and an overly talkative driver, Sandy McLain (Richard Jaeckel) are sent to retrieve the stuff.

Dancer's contact instructs him to snag the drugs from the unsuspecting tourists, and then drop it off inside an antique ship binnacle at the museum inside the Sutro Baths. And the drop-off must be done before 4:05pm. 

Dancer, being the ruthless psycho killer he is, murders three people during his pursuit of the stash. 

He finally makes contact with the tourists who have no idea they're smuggling drugs - a mother named Dorothy Bradshaw (Mary LaRoche) and her young daughter, Cynthia (Cheryl Callaway).

Dancer makes contact with them at the Steinhart Aquarium. 

He puts on a friendly charming act with Dorothy and offers to drive her and Cynthia back to their hotel. 

The drugs are secretly stashed in an Asian doll Cynthia is fond over. 

However, Cynthia found the bag of powder underneath the doll's dress and used it all to powder the doll's face. 

Now, Dancer has nothing to drop off. He kidnaps Dorothy and Cynthia and forces them to accompany him to the Sutro Baths so they can back up his explanation as to where the drugs went. 

Instead of dropping off the bag, Dancer decides to explain to the pickup guy what happened to the drugs. 

The man's reaction isn't what Dancer was hoping for. All the man says is that no one ever sees him, and that now Dancer is "dead!"

Little does Dancer know that the San Francisco Police are on his tail. And the outcome of the tight situation he's in leads to a high-speed chase through San Francisco. 

This is a gritty film that doesn't hold back. There aren't too many movies from this era that depict heroin trafficking, kidnapping, child endangerment, and a psycho murderer. The movie feels ahead of its time for 1958. 

Scene in "The Lineup" filmed on the Embarcadero 
Freeway while under construction.

This is Eli Wallach's second film, and he puts on a ruthless and fantastic performance. I have yet to see a Wallach performance I don't like. He's an actor who never disappoints. His character, Dancer, has an intimidating presence on screen. So much so, the audience waits in anticipation to see Dancer get what's coming to him. Wallach carries the movie the moment he appears on screen. 

I recognize him best as Tuco in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," as Don Altobello in "The Godfather III," and as Stratos in Disney's "The Moon-Spinners." 

The movie itself is intense from beginning to end. I mean that literally. It's an entertaining bold film noir that doesn't hold back in its depictions. It becomes more and more intense as the story progresses. 

What makes "The Lineup" a unique San Francisco movie is the array of filming locations. 

This movie was shot inside the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, as well as along the Embarcadero, the Cliff House, inside the Sutro Baths, and on the Embarcadero freeway while it was under construction. For those unaware, all that's left of the historic Sutro Baths are ruins as the building burned down in 1966. 

And the Embarcadero Freeway collapsed in the 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake. 

"The Lineup" is a classic that deserves to be remembered. 

Director Don Siegal has directed some notable films such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." He also directed some San Francisco cinema classics - "Dirty Harry" and "Escape from Alcatraz" which both star Clint Eastwood, and both of which I plan to review in this category. 

"The Lineup" is a gem of a film that captures truly significant parts of San Francisco that exist only in history.