"The Exiles"

A look north on Broadway at the Arcade, Cameo and Roxie theatres from Kent MacKenzie's "The Exiles." The film, about 24 hours in the life of a group of Native Americans in downtown Los Angeles, was shot in 1958-59 and released in 1961. At the Arcade it's "Escape to Burma" with Barbary Stanwyck and Robert Ryan.

They hold the shot long enough that you can see the neon flashing on the tower of the Roxie. Thanks to Gerald Sato for posting this screenshot on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles. His set included five other views from the film. Ken McIntyre also had a post of this shot on Photos of Los Angeles.

 

 

Approaching the boxoffice at the Roxie Theatre, 518 S. Broadway. We actually go inside for a show -- note that we can smoke in the balcony. "The Iron Sheriff"  with Sterling Hayden (1957) is the main feature. 

 

 

Another look at the front of the Roxie. 

 

 

Watching the film at the rear of the house.  

 

 

Another Roxie view as our lead, Mary Donahue, is coming out of the show.

 

We see the marquee of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, in this shot looking through show windows. Thanks to Sean Ault for the screenshot. 

 

 

 

A grainy look south on Broadway. In this shot the Roxie is running Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life" (1959) with Lana Turner. 

 

We spend a lot of time in the cafes, donut shops and bars of Main St. This shot is looking north toward 3rd St. The triangular Enderle Hardware building on the right is what remains of the Liberty Theatre, 266 S. Main. The building just beyond once housed Tally's Electric Theatre at 262 S. Main. 

See the pages about the Broadway theatres Arcade, Cameo, Roxie and Los Angeles on the Los Angeles Theatres site for the history of the buildings along with many photos both vintage and recent. There are also pages about the long-gone Liberty and Electric theatres on Main St.

The "The Exiles" can be seen in its entirety on YouTube. Lots of footage from the film appears in Thom Anderson's "Los Angeles Plays Itself" (2003), an epic discussion of how the city has been portrayed in the movies.  

On IMDb: "The Exiles" | "Los Angeles Plays Itself"