MovieChat Forums > The Mack (1973) Discussion > was this movie really made in oakland ?

was this movie really made in oakland ?

posted 18 years ago by rvrjose
10 replies | jump to latest

i,ve seen this movie plenty of times and people keep telling me this movie was made in oakland ca i grew up there and most of the places they show on the movie don,t look like oakland only a couple of places on the movie look like it,s in oakland like the players ball looks like san pablo blvd and i think they show lake marritt in one part but yea the rest of it looks like southern cali but if anyone knows for sure it was filmed in oakland leave a reply

[–] billyindica 18 years ago

I'm from Oakland also, and I think that a lot of those places just look different now.. I recognized San Pablo Ave. Instantly. And in one scene I thought that I recalled them being by "Lake Merrit".. Some of it could of been shot else where, but I do believe that a lot of the film was shot in, and based on Oakland, Ca..

[–] ZombieTongue 18 years ago

I too didn't recognize much of it, but in the commentary the director talks about how they had to deal with the Black Panthers. I realize the Panthers were in more areas than just Oakland, but I know that they shot at least some of it there.

[–] rashida_go19 16 years ago

Yes This Movie Was Made in Oakland, My HomeTime !!

[–] Devans00 16 years ago

I live in the Bay Area and I was looking out for any familiar Oakland landmarks. I'm disappointed I didn't recognize anything. Although the house by the marina Goldie was buying for his mother kind of reminded me of Richmond.

Too bad they had too many interior scenes that could have been shot anywhere.

Some of the fashions and hair styles I did recognize. Some of those little kids hanging around Goldie's car would have been my older brother's age. He wore similar shirts and pants.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] dweber34 14 years ago

Goldie's mom lived in the Watergate apartments in Emeryville. That was very clear. And the scene near the beginning where the kids were hanging with Goldie and the old ladies sneer "is that one a them damn pimps?" was clearing recgonizable as West Oakland. I could be wrong, but I thought the rooftop where Tony stuck himself was recognizable as a Broadway building from the backgrounds. In any case, far truer to Oakland than something like "Romeo Must Die" (aerial shots of Oakland, the rest filemd in Vancouver) or what they did to Richmond in "Coach Carter" (not a single scene shot in Richmond -- all in Long Beach -- and the gym made over to look slummy when Richmond High's looks like any other 60s-era suburban gym).

[–] OldeSkool 13 years ago

I knew a couple of people who were extras. 2 were kids in the scene where Goldie hands the kids money the other was one of Goldie's men who pulled The Fatman off the fence before he gets the battery acid shot. In fact they were father and his 2 sons.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] kamikaze-4 12 years ago

Having lived in Oakland, I immediatley recognized Knowland Park where the *ahem* Pimps/Hoes picnic took place.
I read somewhere, that the producers paid the Black Panthers with checks to guard the props and sets. When the checks bounced the Panthers left, and the sets were destroyed and props stolen, so the majority of the film was made in LA perhaps?

[–] 12 years ago

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