"The 101 is one of those highways; it runs up and the coast"
Odd. CA 1 runs up and down California's coast; the 101 is mostly inland. There is a section - Oxnard/Ventura to Gaviota, either side of Santa Barbara - that runs along the coast. (Two more areas are near San Francisco and just south of the Oregon border.) But none of those three areas are sufficiently close to Los Angeles for a movie set in LA.
Yeah it’s very much an “LA Movie” but the big crimes happen largely out of the city. One is in Santa Barbara and I was like “wait that’s … a long way away, isn’t it?” (I am not a Californian but have some knowledge of the geography.) But the 101 is a big freeway I guess.
"The 101 is one of those highways; it runs up and the coast"
Odd. CA 1 runs up and down California's coast; the 101 is mostly inland. There is a section - Oxnard/Ventura to Gaviota, either side of Santa Barbara - that runs along the coast. (Two more areas are near San Francisco and just south of the Oregon border.) But none of those three areas are sufficiently close to Los Angeles for a movie set in LA.
Yeah it’s very much an “LA Movie” but the big crimes happen largely out of the city. One is in Santa Barbara and I was like “wait that’s … a long way away, isn’t it?” (I am not a Californian but have some knowledge of the geography.) But the 101 is a big freeway I guess.
Santa Barbara is ~100 miles up the coast from LA.
Do you remember Tequila Sunrise? The great Robert Towne wrote and directed, stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Mel Gibson, and Kurt Russell, et al.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096244/
Your review reminds me of bits and bobs of that movie. Especially the languorous shots of sunset and palm trees, etc.