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Some movies reflect the perilous reality of living here, others the urbane fantasy. The greatest do both.
What makes a great New York City movie? Not just a movie set in New York — there are plenty of those. We’re talking about a great New York City movie that transcends establishing shots and dodgy accents to immortalize something distinct about this place. The anxious pace of a weekday commute, the philharmonic overlapping of sidewalk talk, the sweaty jockeying for position on any square foot. Great New York City movies find beauty in the rot of Times Square and ugliness in the penthouses of Central Park West.
Some movies reflect the perilous reality of living here, others the urbane fantasy. The greatest do both.
What makes a great New York City movie? Not just a movie set in New York — there are plenty of those. We’re talking about a great New York City movie that transcends establishing shots and dodgy accents to immortalize something distinct about this place. The anxious pace of a weekday commute, the philharmonic overlapping of sidewalk talk, the sweaty jockeying for position on any square foot. Great New York City movies find beauty in the rot of Times Square and ugliness in the penthouses of Central Park West.
Thank you for this interesting list. I have seen 33 movies from the list, and out of those I have 21 on DVD or VHS (yes, I am a senior citizen :-), meaning that I have seen them multiple times :-). Some of them I would put in a higher or lower spot than they are in the list, but I can attest that at least the 33 that I have seen all deserve to be in this list. But I think thrre are many more that should be there. As I was scrolling, I was just thinking how I would later write in this post that a certain excellent 1970s documentary unknown to anyone except arthouse film connoisseurs obviously would not appear in a list like this, though it should be high in it... and then it DID appear (!!??!!:-) in #9!!! Hats off to compilers of the list :-)!
But frankly, at least a quarter of the 101 Best NYC movies could be composed just of those made by Woody Allen, a good number by those starring Al Pacino (in addition to the above mentioned, eg, Panic in Needle Park - his breakthrough movie, Serpico, etc) or Dustin Hoffman. Looking for Mr. Goodbar with one of Diane Keaton's best performances, that also launched young Richard Gere. A huge % of silent or late 1920s-1940s movies happening in NYC. Endless documentaries set at least partly in NYC (Wim Wenders: Lightning Over Water, which captured so strongly the presence of the WTC Twin Towers in the 1970s with the hypnotized European eyes, similar as Chantal Akerman in #9). The list of the best NYC movies should have at least 350 of them, more like 500, and most of them can't really be numbered as better or worse than any other of the best.
I have seen 33 movies from the list...As I was scrolling, I was just thinking how I would later write in this post that a certain excellent 1970s documentary would not appear .. and then it DID appear (!!??!!:-) in #9!!! Hats off to compilers of the list :-)!
Panic in Needle Park....Looking for Mr. Goodbar
I've seen about 29 of the films listed. And like you, I was pleasantly surprised to find the more obscure ones were also included. Funny you mention the documentary (no. 9), because I was intrigued by that entry as I was scrolling. So much so, that I even looked it up. Pity that the person who made it committed suicide. This film is something I would very much like to see.
I agree with you. "Panic..." definitely should've been there. Ditto "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (that was a great but very disturbing film; the last scene...jeesh). Both films depicted the seedier but realistic side of NYC life in the early 70's very well, I thought. But at least they included "Klute", another similar type of film. I also think "Eyes of Laura Mars" should've also been included.
All in all, I was impressed with the list. I love NYC films.
Bookmarking it. Anything before 2000 is legit. Past that very few.
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