Golden Gate Bridge in popular culture

Kim Novak in the 1958 film Vertigo

As a prominent American landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge has been used in a variety of media, often shown or mentioned where San Francisco, California is the setting of the story.

Books

• Amazing Grace, a novel by Danielle Steel, in which an earthquake destroys the bridge.
• The Golden Gate, a novel by Alistair MacLean in which a kidnapping is staged on the bridge.

Films

It has featured in the following movies:

• The Abyss (1989) - Threatened by a tsunami
• Ant-Man (2015)
• A View to a Kill (1985) - In fight between James Bond and the main villain Max Zorin.
• Basic Instinct (1992)
• Bicentennial Man (1999) - Seen intact in the 2200s, with a two-tiered roadway added
• Big Hero 6 (2014) - Set in fictional San Fransokyo, with added shimaki
• Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
• The Birds (1963)
• The Black Bird (1975)
• The Book of Eli (2010)
• Boys and Girls (2000)
• Brainstorm (1983) - During presentation sequence.
• The Core (2003) - Destroyed by unfiltered sunlight
• Dark Passage (1947)
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) - Jeep drives across in an early opening scene. Koba along with two other apes are seen climbing across the bridge twice.
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) – The bridge is shown when San Francisco loses its electricity.
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• Escape from Alcatraz (1978)
• Flight of the Navigator (1986)
• Foul Play (1978)
• Godzilla (2014) - The central span of the bridge gets destroyed by Godzilla.
• Ground Zero (1973) - Terrorist places nuclear device on tower.
• Herbie Rides Again (1974) – Herbie drives along the cables of the bridge.
• High Anxiety (1977)
• Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996)
• Hulk (2003)
• Innerspace (1987)
• Inside Out (2015)
• The Internship (2013)
• Interview with the Vampire (1994)
• It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) - Part of the bridge is destroyed by giant octopus.
• Just Like Heaven (2005) - Driven over
• The Lone Ranger (2013) - Shown under construction in the background of the circus scene in 1933.
• Love Aaj Kal (2009)
• The Love Bug (1969)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009) - A large portion of the bridge is destroyed by a giant shark.
• Meteor Storm (2010) - Destroyed by meteor fragments
• Milk (2008)
• Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) – A monster/alien robot fight takes place at the bridge and it later collapses.
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - Mrs. Doubtfire and his children ride bikes in Crissy Field with the bridge in the backdrop.
• Murder by Death (1976)
• National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) – Shown as one of the postcards during the opening credits.
• On the Beach (1959)
• Pacific Rim (2013) – Bridge gets destroyed by the kaiju Trespasser when it attacks San Francisco.
• The Presidio (1988)
• The Parent Trap (1998)
• The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – Is seen in some background scenes.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Seen in 1936 as Indiana Jones flies out of San Francisco.
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - The climatic final battle takes place on the bridge, later the middle part of the bridge was shown in smoke due to the helicopter accident earlier in the film.
• The Room (2003)
• The Rock (1996)
• San Andreas (2015) - Shown in aerial shots of San Francisco; later a tsunami bringing a cargo ship slices the bridge in half, destroying the roadway, but not the towers. Later in the ending, an American flag is shown raised on the ruins of the bridge as a symbol of hope and renewal.
• Skyline (2010) - Threatened by an alien destroyer in TV promos
• Star Trek (2009) - Seen intact in year 2258
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) - Set in year 2273; in the Director's Cut version of the film, a brief shot shows that the bridge's roadway has been replaced with enclosed tubes.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) - James T. Kirk and Spock ride a bus across the bridge to reach the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito. Upon returning to the year 2286, the Klingon Bird of Prey HMS Bounty barely misses crashing into the bridge and splashes down into the Bay.
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) - In the background behind the Federation President's office.
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - Location of Starfleet Command.
• Sudden Impact (1983)
• Superman: The Movie (1978) - A School bus nearly plummets off of damaged bridge during an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault and is rescued by Superman.
• Terminator Genisys (2015) - Destroyed in a nuclear blast.
• Terminator Salvation (2009) – John Connor crosses a damaged version of the bridge on his way to Skynet.
• Time After Time (1979)
• The Towering Inferno (1974) - Helicopter flies over bridge in opening credits
• 2012 (2009) – In the background when the cruise ship Genesis surges against the pier from an earthquake, although it is in the location of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
• Vacation (2015)
• Vertigo (1958)
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) – Magneto switches the position of the bridge so that it connects to Alcatraz, but the bridge is partially damaged and destroyed.
• Zodiac (2007) - In the late 1960s during the Zodiac murders.

Documentaries

It has been the subject of a 2006 documentary and a 2008-2010 documentary TV series:

• The Bridge – a film about suicides from Golden Gate Bridge in 2004.
• Life After People - A TV documentary series about what happens to the world if humanity suddenly disappears; the Golden Gate Bridge collapses after around 100 years due to corrosion in its support cables. After 200 years, only the towers remain intact.

Music

• "A Little Bit of Everything" - Dawes (band)
• "Because Of You" – 98 Degrees – The music video for the song features the band on the bridge.
• "Golden Gate Jumpers" – Cold War Kids
• "Jumpers" – Sleater-Kinney
• "Ocean Front Property" – George Strait
• "Once in a Lifetime" - Keith Urban - music video features the bridge.
• "Rambling On" – Procol Harum
• "San Francisco" – Judy Garland
• "Some Kind of Monster" – Metallica
• "The Miracle" – Queen
• "Weightless Again" – The Handsome Family
• "Who's got it better?" – Bailey
• "Gucci Gucci" - Kreayshawn

Television

It has also appeared in the opening credits (and/or episodes) in the following television series:

• 10.5 (miniseries)-destroyed by a 9.2 earthquake
• Angels in America
• Charmed The top of one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge was a frequent location in Charmed, and panoramas of the bridge were used in every episode as location establishing shots.
• Eli Stone-destroyed by earthquake
• The Doris Day Show (seen in the opening and closing sequences seasons 2-5)
• Falcon Crest
• Full House (seen in the opening credits)
• Futurama-seen intact in the 3000s, but roadway removed to allow hovercars to glide along it
• Half & Half
• Hotel
• Kindred: The Embraced
• Journeyman (TV series)
• Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
• Monk
• My Sister Sam
• Nash Bridges
• Phyllis
• Sliders - "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome," it is blue in color and known as the Azure Gate Bridge.
• Stargate: Atlantis
• Star Trek - Starfleet Command, the headquarters of Earth's military and space exploration authority, Starfleet, is located in San Francisco.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation - seen in the background of establishing shots of Starfleet Command and Starfleet Academy.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Star Trek: Voyager - bridge adapted to accommodate mass transit.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise
• That's So Raven
• The Streets of San Francisco
• Too Close for Comfort (in one episode, Henry Rush is mistaken for a jumper when trying to get rid of several severely overdue library books by throwing them off the bridge).
• The West Wing—The bridge is not seen on-screen; however, a potential terrorist attack against Fort Point, underneath the bridge, was a key plot point in the final episodes of the third season.
• We Bare Bears

Video games

It has also appeared in the video games:

• Asphalt 3 3d Street Rules
• Ace Combat:Joint Assault
• Battletanx
• Blockland
• Blur
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Cities XL
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
• Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
• Cruis'n USA
• Defiance (video game)
• Driver
• Fallout 2
• Ford Mustang Racing
• Fracture
• Godzilla Unleashed
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - named the Gant Bridge in the game and it is seen in the city of San Fierro.
• Homefront
• Lego City Undercover
• Mass Effect 3
• Microsoft Flight Simulator X
• Midtown Madness 2
• Pilotwings 64
• San Francisco Rush 2049
• Sim City, various games
• Star Trek Online
• Rig'n'Roll
• Vanquish
• Vette!
• Watch Dogs 2
• Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Other

• KRON-TV, the former NBC/My Network TV affiliate used an animated version of the Golden Gate Bridge as their legal ID in the 1970s and 1980s.^[1]
• NORAD Tracks Santa, the Golden Gate Bridge was a featured Santa Cam location for the 2002 tracking season.^[2]

References