District of Columbia

Gort Revisits DC 60 Years After The Day the Earth Stood Still

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Dead Man

{snip}

The Bizarre Cab Ride Through “Zone 5”

In the climactic sequence of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Klaatu hops into a cab with Helen Benson at Mrs. Crockett’s boarding house. He is clearly in a hurry to get to Professor Barnhardt’s house, and according to Google maps the trip from 1412 Harvard St. NW to 1609 16th St. NW should have taken four minutes, involving no more than three turns (south on 14th St. NW, west on U St. NW, and south on 16th St. NW). The cab driver, however, perhaps sensing that Klaatu is an alien and unfamiliar with the streets of Washington DC, takes him on a sightseeing of our nation’s capital.

Executing “Plan Baker,” the army in hot pursuit of Klaatu arrives at Mrs. Crockett’s boarding house just after Klaatu and Helen leave in the cab. Bobby’s friend Sammy tells the soldiers that they headed north on 14th St. (which would be the wrong direction) but shortly after that we see the cab pass by the Capitol building, which is well to the south. What started out as a 1.3 mile trip lasting four minutes is now going to be at least five times as long (according to Google maps this would be a 6.7 mile trip lasting 24 minutes). The next place we see the cab is when it passes in front of the Warner Building, which is at 1299 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. This actually makes some sense given the huge detour they’ve already taken. The commanding officer then asks the men to report the position they see the cab. “Heading west on 15th Street at Treasury Place,” is the first report. Well, this doesn’t really make sense since 15th St. runs north-south, but 15th St. does go by the Treasury, so let’s just give the soldier the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant that the cab had turned north toward Prof. Barnhardt’s house. The next report is that, “the target vehicle is turning west into Massachusetts Avenue.” OK, well Massachusetts Ave. goes northwest, but close enough in this case. Turning (north)west onto Massachusetts Ave. from 15th St. would mean that they are just a block away from Scott Circle. The cab driver should then take 16th St. NW from the Scott Circle, and then it’s just four blocks to Prof. Barnhardt’s, making up for that crazy idea of taking Helen and Klaatu to the Capitol. But then… “Yellow cab heading northwest at Columbia Road and Connecticut.” Oh wow, where is this cab driver going? Heading northwest at Columbia Road and Connecticut Ave. would mean they not only stayed on Massachusetts Ave. through Scott Circle, but they’ve also gone through Dupont Circle and are now the better part of a mile away from Professor Barnhardt’s house about to head across Rock Creek Park. At that point the commanding officer gives a puzzling order, “Block off all streets intersecting Connnecticut Avenue on a line from Wisconsin to the park”. I assume he means Wisconsin Ave. and Rock Creek Park, but he might just as well be referring to the state of Wisconsin for the confusion this order would no doubt have caused. Wisconsin Ave. is several blocks to the west of Rock Creek Park and several of the streets intersecting Connecticut Ave. west of the park do not go through to Wisconsin Ave. No matter, though. Immediately after that he gives the order, “all vehicles close in.” The next time we see the cab it is going through the Connecticut Ave. underpass at Dupont Circle, so the cab driver must have turned around at some point. When they emerge from the underpass they are surrounded by military vehicles and Klaatu takes off on foot only to be gunned down a second time. Had they made it to Professor Barnhardt’s house, the route would have looked something like this:

{snip the map, which isn't there anyway}