The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Filming Locations - Part 1 Downtown Boston

Carlos and I headed to Boston to do some filming location research on The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). It's a project I had in mind for a long time and I hope to do the same for Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) which was also shot in the Boston area.

In The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) recruits several highly trained criminals to do a bank heist. They don't know who hired them and they don't know each other. Only Thomas Crown knows who they are. He figures this is the perfect crime because no one can squeal on anybody else. In the beginning of the film, you see all the criminals arrive in Boston and head to the Boston Mercantile Bank. This part of the film offers lots of glimpses of downtown Boston circa late 1960s.

Boston Common at Park Street

Alas, we couldn't find the exact spot in the Boston Common so we just shot a few pictures of the general area. The phone booths from the movie are long gone.

South Station. Maybe? We were at a loss and couldn't find anything in South Station that looked quite like this.

This is what part of the interior of South Station looks like today.

Faneuil Hall in Boston. 

The surrounding area of the historic Faneuil Hall looks nothing like it did back in 1968. My how things change! The Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market Place area is a popular tourist location. There are lots of shops, restaurants, eateries and live outdoor entertainment.

We think this is the entrance/exit of the Downtown Crossing subway stop (locally known as just a T stop) but we are not sure. Downtown Crossing area has gone through a lot of changes recently. The original Filene's Department Store and Filene's Basement in Boston, there since 1909, is being torn down for condominiums. The building is not part of the movie but important to the area so I thought I'd share it.

This is where we think the above shot from the film was taken but we are not sure. This entrance/exit is right beneath the Filene's building.

Truly the end of an era!

We tried and tried but couldn't quite figure out which streets these were. I think one of them is Washington Street. The actor is clearly walking across more than one street to get to Congress Street where the bank is. Below are a couple streets that could be these above.

We had better luck finding the Boston Mercantile Bank exterior which is on 55 Congress Street. The interior scenes of the bank robbery were filmed elsewhere.

See those dots? I think that is where the old Boston Mercantile Bank sign used to be.

City of Boston Police Department Headquarters. After the bank robbery, you can see an image of a police car driving by and of this building. The building is now a Loews Boston Hotel but they left the old inscription up.

In this scene, the getaway car drives off with all the money. I noted the name of the Snifter Tavern on the right and Googled it. It's no longer around but I found that the address was 237 Congress Street.

This is what the current 237 Congress Street looks like from the other side of the road. Note that the building with the Trade Composition Co. from the film screencap no longer exists. But there is a building in the far distance that is still the same and that and the address of the tavern is how I know I got the right spot.

In this scene, Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway) meets with Boston Police Detective Eddy Malone (Paul Burke) at the Prudential Center. I'll admit that I didn't quite find the spot but this looked similar and was in the same area.

Stay tuned! I have Parts 2 and 3 coming up. We had much more success finding the Beacon Hill and Cemetery locations from the film. We also plan to take a couple more trips to find the other locations we didn't get to the first time.

Love With the Proper Stranger (1963)

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) is a darling film. Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen star as Angie and Rocky two Italian-Americans living in New York City who are in a bit of a quandary. Their recent passionate rendezvous has resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. Angie, a Macy's shop girl, searches for Rocky, a jazz musician, to tell him the news. He barely even remembers her but now they are inextricably linked with the growing consequence of their previous actions. Angie and Rocky plan to seek an abortionist but decide against it when it comes to the actual event. What do they do now? Get married? Move on?

This film is really two stories. First it's the story of Angie and Rocky seeking an abortion. The second is their complicated love story. Despite the heavy and controversial subject of abortion, which at the time was still illegal, this is a very sweet and gentle story about two young people in the city finding themselves thrown together in an interesting story.

I very much enjoyed the performances of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen. Wood was a lot more subtle in her role as Angie as she had been in some other films of hers I've seen. Seeing this side of Natalie Wood was a lot more palatable for me that's for sure! Out of the two, Steve McQueen's character Rocky was my favorite. It's very easy to develop a little crush on Rocky when you watch him become protective and caring of Angie.

Tom Bosley has a supporting role (his movie debut!) as Anthony Columbo, the restauranteur boyfriend of Angie that her mom and brothers picked out for her. I really adored his character. He genuinely cares for Angie and I loved the opposing scenes in which he finds himself being very clumsy when visiting Angie's family and Angie finds herself being very clumsy when she visits Anthony's family.

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) is just the sort of quiet movie I really enjoy. It doesn't have some big message, it's not trying to fulfill some grandiose purpose and it's not trying to be something huge. It's just a simple human story that makes you feel and makes you think all while entertaining you.
 
I would vote for this film to NOT be a part of any discussion of abortion. I think it's just a love story and it should be left at that. It's from a different time and circumstances were different so it's really not an appropriate film to use in the modern day debate on abortion. Also, do not think this is an abortion movie because it's not. It's a love story!

This film is not available on DVD. It's a Paramount film and most of us know how difficult it is to get our hands on some of the films from that studio! Maybe Love with the Proper Stranger is part of the 600 Paramount films Warner Bros. acquired distribution rights for (see that news here). For now, it can be occasionally seen on Turner Classic Movies.

A BIG THANK YOU to Paul from Art, Movies, Wood and Whatnot who sent me a recording of this movie from a TCM broadcast. I am forever indebted to him for so graciously sending me this film! Thank you!

An aside:
To those of you who are bakers, I did find a goof in the scene in which Anthony is baking a cake. He takes the cake out of the oven and Angie helps loosen it from the bundt pan. At one point she burns her hand. She runs her hands under cold water but Anthony's mother slaps butter on her hand. Funny thing is that the cold water would have helped her infinitely more so than the butter! The cold water helps stop the burning. Once you burn yourself, your flesh continues to burn until it cools down. Anyways, a few moments later, Anthony brings out a perfectly frosted cake to serve to Angie, his mom and his sisters. Earlier in the scene I proclaimed to Carlos " I hope he's not thinking of frosting that cake while it's hot!". In timing, he would have had to frost a hot cake in order to have brought it out so quickly. Any baker knows that a cake needs time to cool before frosting. Otherwise the frosting will melt and you'll end up with a gloopy glaze rather than smooth frosting!

Warner Archive Wednesday ~ The Honeymoon Machine (1961)

Some people function better when things get hot. – Steve McQueen at Lt. Ferguson

The Honeymoon Machine (1961) stars Steve McQueen  as Lt. Ferguson (Fergie). On board a Navy ship is Ferguson and Jason Eldridge (Jim Hutton), a scientist who has developed a computer sophisticated enough to predetermine where a missile is going to land. Their first test run, Operation Honeymoon Machine, proves to be a success. In our digital age, looking back at a big clunky computer called MACS is amusing at best.

When the ship docks in Venice, Italy, Ferguson (McQueen), a big gambler, comes up with a plan to use MACS to predict where the ball of a roulette wheel will land. If Ferguson, Jason and their two buddies can manage it, they’ll make a killing at the local casino's roulette table.

Everything seems to be going according to plan until Ferguson meets Admiral Fitch’s (Dean Jagger)  daughter Julie (Brigid Bazlen) and Jason (Jim Hutton) reunites with his old flame Pam (Paula Prentiss) . Both ladies have marriage on their mind and Ferguson and Jason are even more eager to win a boatload of money in order to secure a future with both dames. However, Julie’s father, the Admiral, witnesses morse code signals being sent from the docked ship to their hotel. What he doesn’t realize is that a sailor is sending MACS predictions for the roulette wheel. The Admiral misinterprets this as inside information about a potential Russian invasion. Can Ferguson and Jason pull off Operation Honeymoon Machine with a nosy and paranoid Admiral snooping around?

The movie's plot is really interesting but poorly executed. The Honeymoon Machine suffers from the common problem of 1960s comedies that try to be too zany and whacky at the expense of real humor. Steve McQueen had great range and I believe he could do humor well. He did the best he could with such a limited role. Also, the female characters are so weak. They both only seem to be concerned with marriage. While Pam is adorably goofy, Julie is just plain boring.

While this film is just plain ridiculous, I think there are a few reasons for the 1960s film fan to watch it.

Steve McQueen playing an atypical fun role is very refreshing to watch.

Yeah so I'm posting a picture of Steve McQueen half-naked. So what? Take that Google Search!

Fans of Where the Boys Are (1960) will recognize Jim Hutton (actor Timothy Hutton’s father) and Paula Prentiss. According to IMDB, Hutton and Prentiss were paired up romantically in four films because their height suited each other. Hutton was 6’ 5” and Prentiss is 5’ 10”.

If you’ve seen King of Kings (1961), you’ll recognize Brigid Bazlen (Julie) who played Salome in that film:

 

Those of you who are big Steve McQueen fans may recognize Jack Weston  who was also in The Cincinatti Kid (1965) and Thomas Crown Affair (1968) . Weston plays a drunk Signalman in the film and rivals Pam (Paula Prentiss) as the funniest character in the film.

1960s Hollywood seemed to have a love affair with Italy and The Honeymoon Machine, being set in Venice, is a perfect example of that. Fans of ‘60s films will love the wardrobe, the set design, the fancy casino and gorgeous Venice as a backdrop.

While The Honeymoon Machine (1961) is more palatable than really crazy and just plain boring films from the decade, such as  Sex and the Single Girl (1964) or Lord Love a Duck (1966) , it should be reserved for those 1960s fans who can appreciate the decade’s kooky films. And because I love kooky films, I think this one may deserve a future viewing so I can appreciate it more.

Useless and Morbid trivia bit: All of the stars of this film, except for Paula Prentiss, have passed away. In my online research I discovered that Brigid Balzen, Jim Hutton and Steve McQueen all succumbed to cancer at relatively young ages: 44, 45 and 50 respectively.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. Movies selected are rented from Classicflix or purchased from Warner Archive, Classicflix or TCM. This series is not sponsored by Warner Archive.

Isn't Paula Prentiss delightful?

The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

"You're just not ready for me yet" - Cincinnati Kid

Most classic film enthusiasts consume films at a high rate. I am not one of those people. My slow rate of consumption leaves for a lot of new discovery. Having only seen two of Steve McQueen's movies prior to receiving a copy of the new McQueen biography, I thought it was a good as time as any to explore McQueen's body of work. I asked a few people which McQueen film they recommended I watch and pretty much received a list of every film the actor ever made. Carlos is a big Steve McQueen fan and was very excited about my new found interest in the actor. He showed me Bullitt (1968) and The Getaway (1972). But of all the McQueen films I hadn't seen, the first one on my list was The Cincinnati Kid (1965). Why? For various reasons. Stories set in the deep South are always so deliciously intense and I love anything sports related as long as it's connected with the 1920s/1930s. This film takes place in 1930s New Orleans and concerns itself with poker gambling (a "sport" of the elite and the lower class alike). It's got a magnificent cast including the beautiful 1960s starlets Tuesday Weld and Ann-Margret, the 1930s superstars Joan Blondell and Edward G. Robinson and the blue-eyed Karl Malden who always makes my heart melt a little whenever I watch him on screen. Steve McQueen just seems like the cherry on top of this delicious ice cream sundae of a film.

The Cincinnati Kid is not the best film I've ever seen but it's one of the coolest and most fun I've watched in a while. I was fascinated by Edward G. Robinson's tie pin and his glass of creme de menthe, Joan Blondell's fox stole complete with $100 bill in its mouth, the juxtaposition between sweet Tuesday Weld and the saucy Ann-Margret, how incredibly quiet Steve McQueen was and how well Karl Malden plays frightened characters. It's difficult for me to articulate why I wanted to watch this film and why I liked it. So I will allow these screen shots to express that for me.

Stay tuned, all of my screen caps (including several not posted here) will be available on the Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog Facebook page!

There are lots of great overhead shots like this one. 

Train and Railroad track scenes always make me nervous. Run, McQueen run!

Could use some more Tabasco.

Tuesday Weld and Steve McQueen share a sweet yet oddly sexy scene together.

Do you always have to cheat?

Turkish bath looks pretty good to me right now.

What's up with that beer glass? What did Tuesday Weld eat? Should I make a Steak and Salad dinner? These are the type of random questions I ask myself throughout a movie.

You've got problems if there is a shooting range built into your home.

Frolicking in a field.

McQueen had a great smile. He should have used it more!

Pocket Watch sighting!

Two Hollywood legends meet again. Don't tell Blondell that Robinson called her an old b****.

Edward G. Robinson complained that Steve McQueen never looked him in the eye. Technically, he's looking at him here. 

Why are they sniffing the decks?

Karl Malden looking uber cool with his tie and matching pocket square. Dealin' out the cards.

Why?

Doubt that McQueen was tough? He's biting into a lemon. No joke. And he doesn't even wince from the sourness of the lemon juice. Amazing!

Bring out Lady Fingers!

See how that Fox Stole has a $100 bill in it's mouth. I'm guessing it's a $100 because Blondell is high class.

Another great overhead shot. If anything, this film is candy for the eyes.