Thieves' Highway (1949)
The Movie
For those of you San Franciscans who have ever wondered what the area around the Embarcadero Center used to look like before it was built, this is the movie for you. Shot in just 30 days, Thieves' Highway was released in October 1949. It was based on the novel Thieves Market by A. I. Bezzerides who also wrote the screenplay. The storyline moves from a rural apple orchard to San Francisco's seedy (pun intended) Produce Market. This well-acted and entertaining film noir by director Jules Dassin examines greed and sacrifice within the working class of the trucking and produce industries, all of whom are out to make a buck.
The Story
Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home to Fresno from the war to find that his father, a Central Valley farmer, has been crippled in an accident arranged by Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb), a swindling produce merchant. The enraged Nick teams up with trucker Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell) and they each drive a truckload of apples to San Francisco's Produce Market to exact revenge. Figlia, up to his usual tricks, pays a shady lady, Rica (Italian actress Valentina Cortese), to lure Nick away while he sells off his load of apples. But sparks fly when Nick and the hard-bitten but soft-centered Rica fall for each other and turn the tables on Figlia. All ends well for Nick and Rica but his partner Ed meets a harsher fate.
(Watch an excerpt - but disregard the caption, it wasn't the Pacific Coast Highway)
The Locations
- Opening Vista View across Petaluma from La Cresta Drive
- Homecoming (Still searching for this location ...)
- Produce Market Washington Street at Davis Street - Map and Aerial View
- Mike Figlia Fruit & Produce Co. 364 Davis Street at Washington
- Washington and Davis Half Moon Fruit & Produce Co., southeast corner--- John DeMartini Co., southwest corner--- Levy & Zentner Co., northwest corner--- John DeMartini Co., northeast corner
- Crate Labels Not a location, but interesting nevertheless
- Oregon Restaurant 524 Front Street, corner of Oregon Street
- Colchester Hotel 259 Embarcadero
- Shorty's Bar Embarcadero between King Street and Berry Street (since replaced with South Beach Park)
- State Belt Railroad Embarcadero at Jackson--- Embarcadero under Bay Bridge--- Embarcadero near China Basin
- Nick Gets Mugged, Rica Gets Robbed Colchester Hotel, 259 Embarcadero--- Ceylon Street, near Front Street between Washington and Clay
- Ferry Building One Ferry Building, San Francisco
- Ed's Fateful Journey Calistoga Grade Road, Calistoga, Napa County
- Bob's Roadside Cafe (Still searching for this location ...)