San Francisco in Cinema: Just One Night

238 Stockton Street at Maiden Lane
Timothy Hutton checks into the Beresford Hotel on Sutter Street on the eve of his wedding day then finds himself on a life altering 24-hour adventure in San Francisco. The 2000 romantic comedy Just One Night attempts to create a quasi fantasy world in a town filled with quirks. Results are hit-or-miss. City locations help. Hutton is the weak link. Mayor Willie Brown appears in a small speaking part as a courtroom judge. Unfortunately, a strange camera angle that makes the mayor look childlike behind the bench and the fact that his takes were clearly shot in isolation from the rest of the action make the scene quite awkward. Written and directed by Alan Jacobs. With Maria Grazia Cucinotta as Aurora (who smashes all the Maiden Lane windows at Bally of Switzerland to find a shoe for Hutton's character) and Udo Kier as Walter, the possessive husband who gets cuckolded in the last act of the picture. Opening sequence shows a jet flying north over the bay then landing at San Francisco International Airport, located in the opposite direction. Just One Night also includes a great shot of the Ferry Building, post-Embarcadero Freeway but before the new plaza had been built there.

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Copyright 2001 Hank Donat
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