Freebie and The Bean

Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper. Harper was nominated for the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. The film was directed by Richard Rush. Key scenes were shot on location in San Fr... more

Freebie and The Bean is a 1974 action-comedy film about two San Francisco police detectives who have one goal in life, bringing down a local hijacking boss. The picture, a precursor to the buddy cop film genre popularized a decade later, stars James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit and Valerie Harper. Harper was nominated for the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. The film was directed by Richard Rush. Key scenes were shot on location in San Francisco in early 1973 at Candlestick Park then home of the Major League Baseball San Francisco Giants and now that of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers. One memorable chase sequence was filmed on the now-demolished Embarcadero Freeway, which ends with Caan and Arkin's car crashing into an apartment building next to the freeway. After the car lands in an elderly couple's bedroom, where they were watching television, Caan and Arkin exit the car and nonchalantly walk out of the apartment. The husband remarks, "Television is... less