The Best San Francisco-Based Movies Streaming Now

Watch these to remind you of pre-corona times

Photo: Archive Photos/Stringer/Getty Images

Can you believe it’s been over a month since we were allowed to mingle in a crowded bar without having to worry about Covid-19? The bright side is that we’ve done a wonderful job of adapting in the Bay Area and have seen the results in flattening the curve. We’ve moved our social lives from the real world to the virtual one, and it’s not as grim as Black Mirror made it out to be (at least not yet).

However, back-to-back Zoom-call happy hours can be exhausting even for the most extroverted of us. If you ever felt strapped for time to binge watch Netflix in your pre-corona life, we sincerely hope that’s not the case anymore since this is a very appropriate time to Netflix, or Hulu, or Apple TV, or whatever streaming service of choice, and chill. If you need some downtime, and are looking to reminisce about San Francisco back in the day, we recommend watching the following movies and TV shows.

1. ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’

What’s a more San Francisco movie than Mrs. Doubtfire, starring the late Robin Williams? We can’t think of anything else, either. If you’re an SF transplant, you are probably guilty of making one touristy stop at the “Mrs. Doubtfire” house at 2640 Steiner Street. Has anyone not seen Mrs. Doubtfire? If you haven’t, you now have a weekend homework assignment. If you have, it’s arguably one of the best movies to rewatch over and over again. It feels weird to summarize a movie most have seen, but for the oddballs who have missed out: The movie came out in 1993 and is about a man named Daniel Hillard (played by Williams) whose rocky divorce keeps him from seeing his kids. So he dresses up and pretends to be an older housekeeper to take care of his children, like any sensible person would do. The movie also stars Sally Field who plays his wife Miranda. This is definitely a comedy, but one that will make you laugh just as hard as it will pull your heartstrings (seriously, be ready to cry).

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) | Streaming on Hulu

2. ‘Tales of the City’

Photo: Netflix

Based on the Armistead Maupin novel, Tales of the City, Mary Ann Singleton returns to 28 Barbary Lane. For the unfamiliar, in the novel, Singleton is a girl from Cleveland who ventured to San Francisco in the summer of 1976. She finds a home in a quirky apartment building with a cast of characters who become her family. The novel encapsulates the diverse and welcoming spirit San Francisco has long been known to embody. But in this relatively new miniseries on Netflix, Mary Ann, played by Laura Linney, is older, and she returns to San Francisco from Connecticut and reunites with her daughter, played by Ellen Page, and ex-boyfriend. While a lot has changed at Barbary Lane, many parts remain the same. If you miss smoking joints and laughing with your neighbors in a courtyard, watch this now.

Tales of the City (2019) | Streaming on Netflix

3. ‘Dirty Harry’

An oldie, but a goodie, and likely to be a favorite among true crime fans. This 1971 film is responsible for the genre of police films that followed. A young Clint Eastwood stars as a police officer, Harry Callahan, whose mission is to track down a rooftop killer before he kills a kidnapped girl. The movie isn’t officially based on the Zodiac Killer, but it certainly draws some parallels. The killer is known as “Scorpio,” for one, and he leaves a blackmail letter threatening that he must receive money or else he’ll kill people. It’s a good watch, but what makes it the most fun is the OG footage of San Francisco. The movie was filmed on location in the city in various spots, like North Beach in the 1970s and the old Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park, where the San Francisco 49ers used to play.

Dirty Harry (1971) | Streaming on Netflix

4. ‘40 days and 40 nights’

Photo: Miramax Films

After a breakup, would you go without sex for 40 days and 40 nights? This is precisely what Josh Harnett’s character Matt Sullivan does in this sort of cult-favorite early 2000s film. After a breakup, Sullivan decides to give up sex for lent, but it’s not easy to do when you’re living in San Francisco, or maybe, any major city for that matter. But then he meets a “cyber nanny,” Erica, (it was 2002 after all), and it’s fair game. Can he resist not having sex with the love of his life who he met in a very San Francisco laundromat? If you can relate to Sullivan’s predicament in this quarantine moment, or just miss a communal laundromat, watch this film.

40 Days and 40 Nights | Streaming on Netflix

5. ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’

If you work at a startup, and miss going to your quirky office, this show will remind you of back in the day. But bonus: A scary version of Lorelai Gilmore is your boss! Lauren Graham, who plays Lorelai Gilmore, is harsh CEO in this NBC series that’s based in San Francisco. This musical comedy-drama can be best described as Glee meets Silicon Valley where software engineer Zoey Clarke, played by Jane Levy, starts hearing people’s innermost desires through popular songs after an earthquake happens as she’s undergoing an MRI. You can catch season 1 on Hulu.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist | Streaming on Hulu