Jagged Edge | 1985
- Locations |
- San Francisco;
- Los Angeles;
- California
- DIRECTOR |
- Richard Marquand
Set, and largely filmed, in San Francisco, Joe Eszterhas’ ‘did-he-didn’t-he?’ courtroom thriller predates his script for Basic Instinct by seven years. This time it’s the female defender involved in a passionate affair with a man who might be an ice-cold killer.
Former prosecutor Teddy Barnes (Glenn Close) is reluctantly coaxed out of self-imposed retirement to defend Jack Forrester (Jeff Bridges), who’s charged with the savage killing of his wealthy wife and their maid.
She’s been murdered in their luxurious beachfront home in a beachfront estate somewhere on the Northern California coast.
Since a matte painter is conspicuously thanked in the credits, and the house from the sea front looks suspiciously like a matte painting, we can draw our own conclusions, yes?
The actual hacienda-style house itself, where Teddy Barnes, visits was the old Dean Martin Ranch which stood at 1761 East Potrero Road, Hidden Valley in Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles.
The house, also featured in TV’s Dynasty as a ‘Caracas’ ranch, was demolished in the 1990s and its precise location is now difficult to pinpoint. Being a working ranch, it was convenient for Forrester’s horses, which provide an important plot point.
The trial itself, of course, is held in San Francisco City Hall, Polk Street between McAllister and Grove Streets, familiar from countless films such as Dirty Harry, Milk and A View To A Kill.
Divorced Teddy Barnes isn’t doing too badly, living with her kids in Presidio Heights at 305 Spruce Street alongside Clay Street.
When she breaks the rules by visiting trial judge Carrigan at home to ask to be released from having to defend Forrester, it’s not too far for her to travel.
The judge’s home is 2898 Broadway at Baker Street in Pacific Heights, coincidentally only a block away from the mansion of Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone) in Basic Instinct.
Forrester’s place in town is a penthouse in Montgomery Washington Tower, 611 Washington Street in the heart of the Financial District.
The 26-story condo, directly across Montgomery Street from the TransAmerica Pyramid, stands alongside the Hilton San Francisco Financial District Hotel. It’s in the Hilton’s rooftop pool that a bather becomes the first victim of sniper Scorpio at the beginning of Dirty Harry.
The rooftop parking space, with that lovely view of Coit Tower, where Barnes explodes with anger after believing that Forrester has been using her, is the parking garage of Pier 39, 2 Beach Street at Powell Street in North Beach.
