San Francisco is a movie. 

A picture-perfect sight.  Images of nature and architecture that can't be conveyed in words. 

Alfred Hitchcock absolutely loved San Francisco and famously shot parts of his classic 1958 film 'Vertigo' here.

The ironic thing is that San Francisco, which is either mentioned or glimpsed in arguably more movies (for example, 'Monsters Vs Aliens', 'Summer Hours', 'The Ugly Truth', 'Star Trek', 'Up In The Air') than any other American city, sees fewer films or television productions actually film here. 

Prohibitive production costs are most often cited as the reason some filmmakers avoid filming in various U.S. cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. 

Despite incentives offered by the San Francisco Film Commission, some film crews are choosing to film in the state of New Mexico, which offers even more generous incentives, or Canadian cities like Toronto or Vancouver, home of the current Winter Olympics.

There are exceptions, however. 

The films 'Milk' and 'Medicine For Melancholy' were shot all or in part in San Francisco, as was 'Trauma', the recently-cancelled NBC television drama series, which has several new episodes that will air next month.

One other film production visited the City By The Bay recently.

'Hereafter', a supernatural thriller starring Matt Damon, was shot in part in San Francisco last month.  One of the locations was The Final Final Sports Bar in the Marina-Cow Hollow area of the City. 

Clint Eastwood, who was born in San Francisco, directed 'Hereafter'.  He was in town at The Final Final with Mr. Damon, who plays a blue-collar American, and Jay Mohr, who plays Mr. Damon's brother in the film.

Arnie Prien, the owner of The Final Final, said in a brief telephone interview that Mr. Eastwood and crew set up and shot scenes at the bar with the two actors over three days (January 19, 20 and 21) for several hours. 

"Clint is an incredibly fantastic guy.  He is just a real gentleman."

Mr. Prien has a cameo as a bartender in "Hereafter", which opens in December in the U.S. and Canada. 

"I didn't know I was going to be in it until they told me," he said.

Related: San Francisco at night - Photojournal, audio, plus fog, at the bottom of Popcorn Reel's Page Two: here

For more of Omar's film stories, movie reviews and interviews visit his Popcorn Reel website and watch his unscripted film reviews on YouTube. Follow him on Twitter. For a list of Omar's Examiner articles, click here. He is also a foreign correspondent for the preeminent film critic Roger Ebert and a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.

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