"Strange Days"

It's a dystopian nightmare in New York City in 1999 with guns and tanks on the streets in Kathryn Bigelow's "Strange Days" (20th Century Fox, 1995). Ralph Fiennes cruises the streets on December 30, two days before the expected Y2K meltdown. But the Christmas decorations look suspiciously like the ones on Hollywood Boulevard during that era. Indeed, the theatre he passes is the Ritz/Pussycat at 6656 Hollywood Blvd. 

 

Ralph is playing a cop turned street hustler who peddles "clips," videos that feel real if you are "wired" by putting on a special headset. Customers, of course, want sex clips but also thrills they can't get in their own boring lives: robbing a liquor store, getting in fights, etc. Many of the clips are generated by people wearing the headsets and having a recorder nearby that records not only what they're seeing but also their feelings.  

 

Ralph and friend Juliette Lewis stumble upon what looks like a police department death squad after an acquaintance is executed. There's a clip to prove it and two cops are after it. The film also features Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brigitte Bako and Josef Sommer. The cinematography was by Matthew F. Leonetti. Thanks to Sean Ault for noting the various theatres that appear in the film. 

 

Ralph drives around a lot with different footage cut together to make the streets look different. But this is a second view of the same theatre. And we get it in a brief shot a third time as well.

See the page about the Pussycat / Ritz Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It had opened in 1940 as a newsreel house. By the time of this film shoot it was in use as a church. 

 

It's new Year's Eve and we're supposedly in Times Square. We are on Broadway but it's the one in Los Angeles. The Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway, is down there in the distance in the center of the shot. 

 

 

 

The Palace is in the background as Ralph Fiennes, on the left, and Angela Bassett, on the right, run from a death squad cop who has spotted them. 

 

 The military on alert in front of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway. 

 

 

 

Another shot at the Los Angeles. 

 

See the pages about the Los Angeles Theatre on the L.A. Theatres site for a history of the 1931 vintage movie palace along with hundreds of photos. 

 

A troublemaker at the festivities. And a bit of the Palace signage on the left. 

 

 

Angela Bassett is in the foreground, trying to flee from one of the death squad cops. She has the clip showing a murder and gives it to the police commissioner. The overexposed signage in the background says "... Times Square," trying to help with the New York Vibe.

 

Angela still running, with the Palace in the background. Evidently she was looking in the wrong direction. Note that the shot has been flipped.  

 

 

 

One of the cops has her on the ground. She's fighting. 

 

More wrestling in front of the Palace. 

 

 

 

She triumphs. But only for a moment and then additional police subdue her. She's rescued by the arrival of Josef Sommer, playing the police commissioner. He's finally looked at the clip and now understands what has been going on.  

 

See the pages about the Palace Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1911 as the Orpheum.    

 

 

A distance view of the New Year's Eve celebrations. This shot actually IS New York City. Note the marquee of the National Twin in the upper left.

On IMDb: "Strange Days"