Scene it…from books to films

Marin County has been used as the venue for numerous films and books; in some cases these works have also incorporated scenes set in neighboring San Francisco or Sonoma County. The following are representative works produced in whole or in part in Marin County:

  • Marin County lifestyles of the 1970s were spoofed in the 1977 novel The Serial: A Year in the Life of Marin County by Cyra McFadden, and in the subsequent film Serial (1980 film) which was based on the novel.

  • The book The Body Snatchers was set in Mill Valley.

  • Key scenes in the 1973 movie American Graffiti were filmed in Marin at Tamalpais High School and on 4th Street in downtown San Rafael.

  • Scenes from The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II were filmed in Marin.

  • Marin County's reputation as a counter culture enclave, especially the town of Bolinas and its isolationist reputation, made it a location of many key events in the 1981 novel Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach.

  • The 2002 film High Crimes takes place in Marin.

  • Many scenes of the 1971 film Dirty Harry and its sequels were filmed in Marin.

  • The Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds (1963) takes place in Bodega Bay which borders Marin and Sonoma county.

  • The 1995 film Village of the Damned was filmed entirely in Marin.

  • The 1996 film Jack was filmed almost entirely in Ross.

  • The 2001 film Bandits was filmed in Marin.

  • The 1997 film Gattaca was filmed at the Marin County Civic Center.

  • Scenes from the 1971 film THX 1138 were filmed at the Marin County Civic Center.

  • In the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, the college scenes were filmed at Dominican University of California; additionally, Indiana Jones' home exteriors was filmed in San Rafael.

  • In the book Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp, the Twisp family resides in Oakland and Nick's father is in jail in Marin County.

  • The book A Time For Dancing was set in Mill Valley, and the characters attended Tamalpais High School.

  • Scenes from the 1992 film Basic Instinct were filmed in Marin, particularly the car chase scene when Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), follows Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone) from Mill Valley to Muir Beach on Highway 1.

  • In the 1978 movie Foul Play Chevy Chase's character, Tony Carlson, lives on a houseboat in Sausalito.

  • Short scenes in the 1995 movie Nine Months were set in Tiburon with a view of San Francisco.

  • Short scenes from the 2007 film "Zodiac" were filmed in and around Marin County. Note: the stabbing scene at the lake was not filmed in Novato but at Lake Berryessa.

  • The staging of George Grisby's shooting in Lady From Shanghai was shot on the dock outside what is now the Gaylord Indian Restaurant in Sausalito.

  • In March 2008, MTV announced that they would begin shooting a new reality show, "The County", which follows the lives of seven teenagers in Marin County. The show is set to air in early 2009.

  • In the television series M*A*S*H, the fictional character Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (played by actor Mike Farrell) was from Mill Valley in Marin County.