FILM · 1988 · USA
The Presidio
22 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (22)
- #001
The shot of the aircraft carrier arriving in San Francisco Bay at the start of the film was entirely unplanned. At that moment the entire crew, along with hundreds of off-duty soldiers, was on the Presidio's parade ground filming a staged parade. When director Peter Hyams saw the fleet arriving, he stopped filming the parade in order to capture the passing ships. In the final cut of the film only a few seconds of the parade appear at the beginning, and the rest of that day's footage stayed on the editing room floor.
- #002
The aircraft carrier seen in the opening title sequence is the U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN 70), returning to its home port of Alameda, California.
- #003
Kevin Costner was signed to play the role that went to Mark Harmon. Costner apparently left the project, disappointing Sir Sean Connery, who wanted to work again with his The Untouchables (1987) co-star.
- #004
Sean Connery and Don Johnson were originally set to star, but Johnson had to leave the film because of a scheduling conflict with Miami Vice (1984). Mark Harmon was brought in at the last minute to replace him.
- #005
The film, which was to star Lee Marvin and Jeff Bridges, was scheduled to begin production in 1986, but Marvin fell ill and died the same year. Gene Hackman was approached to replace Marvin but turned the offer down. When Bridges left the project, it was put on hold.
- #006
Screenwriter Larry Ferguson was working on rewrites for this film when Paramount and producer Don Simpson asked him to join the Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) team for rewrites. The script for this film was shelved.
- #007
The Presidio was a fort built in 1776 at the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, at the center of San Francisco Bay, during the period when California was known as New Spain. It was established as a way to gain a foothold in Northern California while Spain continued to expand its territory. It endured as a fort and a prison, then passed to Mexico and in 1848 to the United States, serving as an Army post for one hundred and forty-one years. In 1989, under the Base Realignment and Closure program, the post was closed and incorporated into the Golden Gate Recreation Area, and in 1994 it was transferred to the National Park Service.
- #008
Sean Connery and director Peter Hyams had previously worked together on Outland (1981). This film was their last collaboration.
- #009
This film was shot on location at the actual San Francisco Presidio Army post.
- #010
Between shoots, Sean Connery made a cameo as himself in Memories of Me (1988), wearing his Lieutenant Colonel Alan Caldwell costume.
- #011
Tony Scott was set to direct before Peter Hyams was brought in to replace him.
- #012
Peter Hyams was also the film's cinematographer, a rare instance of one person handling both duties. Hyams, however, took on both roles on many films.
- #013
A State Advisor in Long Binh means that Peale is CIA and is probably attached to the controversial Phoenix Program, which used ARVN, Australian and U.S. military personnel together in Provincial Reconnaissance Units tasked with identifying and eliminating the Viet Cong infrastructure in South Vietnam through informants, intelligence, arrest, interrogation, infiltration and assassination.
- #014
Marlon Brando turned down the role of Master Sergeant Ross Maclure.
- #015
It is one of a handful of films whose story centers on an alleged murder in a military setting. Others include A Few Good Men (1992), Breaker Morant (1980), The General's Daughter (1999), A Soldier's Story (1984) and Basic (2003), and, if you include the German army, Night of the Generals (1967).
- #016
Mark Harmon drives the same copper-colored Dodge Diplomat that Leslie Nielsen used in The Naked Gun.
- #017
Mark Harmon's Master Chief character Leroy Jethro Gibbs in his later series NCIS (2003) shares some similarities with his former Army Military Police character Jay Austin in this film. Both characters are former military policemen who move into police detective work.
- #018
Sean Connery was 57 years old during filming, five years away from mandatory retirement from the army. His character is a Lieutenant Colonel, a rank that begins as a Second Lieutenant and awaits an opening for promotion, usually earned after sixteen years of honorable service. The average age of a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army is 39. If his character had been enlisted, that would show his age to be correct, but he is still far too old to be only four grades above Second Lieutenant. And it is unlikely he would be a full Colonel. And what is he a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of? A dozen MPs? Certainly far fewer than a company. He was probably held back because of his temperament. And being held back may have fueled the fire. On the other hand, the Provost Marshal (chief of military police) of a military installation like the Presidio is usually a lieutenant colonel commanding 2-3 MP companies, responsible for base security and traffic control, and an adviser to the base commander on security matters.
- #019
This is the first of two films starring Sean Connery with its main setting in San Francisco, CA. The second film would be The Rock, eight years later.
- #020
Many film posters carried the following long text prologue: "PRESIDIO ARMY POST, SAN FRANCISCO. When one of the symbolic structures of historic tradition becomes the scene of a shocking murder, a military commander and a street-hardened cop are forced into action against the killer, a mysterious past and each other."
- #021
Mark Harmon and Mark Blum appeared in Worth Winning (1989).
- #022
Mark Harmon and Jack Warden had previously appeared together in Beyond The Poseidon Adventure (1979).
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