The Golden Gate Bridge has, over the years, become a popular destination for directors in search of a picturesque backdrop — most notably, Alfred Hitchcock, who featured the bridge in one of his classics, “Vertigo.” (He later admitted that “The Birds” should have ended with a closing shot of the bridge, covered end to end with bloodthirsty crows. His budget didn’t permit it.) Other films employing The City’s signature landmark include:
» Dirty Harry: Scorpio, the Zodiac-inspired serial killer who runs afoul of Clint Eastwood’s indefatigable inspector, hijacks a bus full of schoolchildren and directs it northbound across the bridge.
» Hulk: Eric Bana, as Dr. Bruce Banner’s muscle-bound alter ego, saves an errant jet fighter from crashing into the bridge in director Ang Lee’s comic-book fantasy.
» The Love Bug: Driven by depression, Herbie attempts to take a deep-sea dip by hurtling over the bridge’s safety barrier.
» Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones flies over the bridge, still under construction at the time of the film’s 1936 setting, during his epic quest to recover the Ark of the Covenant.
» The Rock: A team of jet fighters dip below the bridge en route to Alcatraz, where Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage await.
» Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: A Klingon warship manned by the crew of the Starship Enterprise narrowly avoids colliding with the bridge before plummeting into the Bay — less than a mile from the Federation Council’s Marin Headlands headquarters.
» Superman: Christopher Reeve saves a school bus teetering on the edge of the bridge in Superman’s first cinematic adventure.
» A View to a Kill: In the 14th installment of the 007 series, Roger Moore’s James Bond engages in a tense shootout with power-hungry madman Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) atop a bridge tower.
» X-Men: The Last Stand: Mutinous mutant Magneto (Ian McKellen) rips the bridge from its foundations and plunks it down on Alcatraz at the climax of “The Last Stand.”
» Other sightings: “Bicentennial Man,” “Foul Play,” “Interview with the Vampire,” “Just Like Heaven,” “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” “The Core,” “Boys and Girls”
