I can’t find the link, but a recently posted list of the greatest New York City films didn’t include Woody Allen‘s Manhattan or Roman Polanski‘s Rosemary’s Baby. Because, of course, Allen and Polanski are political heathens among wokester media types.
So please allow me to re-post HE’s list of the 25 most culturally pungent New York movies — mid-to-late 20th Century Manhattan and Brooklyn, I mean…’50s, ’60s, 70 and ’80s…movies that make you really feel as if you’re actually standing there on those coarse, exhaust-fumey streets and eating a hero sandwich or a slice of so-so pizza or sipping a cup of shitty coffee from a local diner. Films that exude classic, Sidney Lumet-like New York flavor and atmosphere.
HE’s new list has Manhattan and Rosemary’s Baby at the top, followed by Lumet’s Prince of the City (’81), William Friedkin‘s The French Connection (’71) and Sweet Smell of Success (’57) for the top five.
20 random runners-up: The Naked City (’48), Midnight Cowboy (’69), Do The Right Thing (’89), Taxi Driver (’76), Serpico (’73), Marty (’55), The Godfather (’74), King of New York (’90), Dog Day Afternoon (’75), Bad Lieutenant (’92), Detective Story (’51), On The Waterfront (’54), Across 110th Street (’72), Shaft (’71), Patterns (’56), Metropolitan (’90), Saturday Night Fever (’77), 12 Angry Men (’57), Marathon Man (’76) and After Hours (’85).
Bad or inauthentic New York movies: Ghostbusters, West Side Story, Fame, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Devil Wears Prada, Gangs of New York (too Cinecitta), When Harry Met Sally, The Apartment, All About Eve…anything that feels too uptown or WASPy or insular or sound-stagey.
m’s climax) was shot at 62nd Street Station near Borough Park.