I’m suddenly in the mood to watch some HD versions of those rude, gritty New York City flicks of the late ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Klute, Panic in Needle Park, The French Connection Serpico, Death Wish, Mean Streets, Dog Day Afternoon, The Taking of Pelham 123, Dog Day Afternoon…that line of country. A version of New York City that no longer exists…gradually replaced starting around 30 years ago…a few remnants here and there but mostly wiped from the hard drive.
Manhattan hardly seemed glorious or heavenly when I first moved there in the late ’70s (“to live in this town you must be tough tough tough tough tough tough tough“), but at least hungry, determined, hand-to-mouth types like myself could afford to live there, and that made it a whole different place.
As the classically scrappy, Sidney Lumet-like depictions of 20th Century Manhattan (urgent, pugnacious, edgy, ethnic, pointed, blunt) are becoming more and more eroded and diluted and sanded down by corporatism and skyrocketing rents, the value of high-personality New York movies like Uncut Gems (which, don’t get me wrong, I found infuriating for its complete lack of interest in exploring anything but how it feels to ride on the back of a gambling edge-junkie tiger)…the ethnic, pushy atmosphere of such films is starting to seem more and more valuable as the social forces, aromas, attitudes and pulsebeats that fed into your classic 20th Century NYC culture are starting to lose more and more of their influence as the corporate, tourist-friendly strip-mall aesthetic creeps in and influences and even to some extent dictates the cultural tone of that town, certainly as far as Manhattan is concerned.
When was New York City really and truly a classic Lumet-like atmosphere? The peak era of feisty Manhattan movies ran from the late ‘40s to late ‘80s. The ‘80s were the last authentic gasp. The corporate clean-up began in the Mayor Giuliani era of the ‘90s.
What are my all-time favorite New York flavor movies? The top two are Lumet’s Prince of the City (’81) and William Friedkin‘s The French Connection (’71). Followed by (forgive the repeats) Sweet Smell of Success, Naked City, Midnight Cowboy, Do The Right Thing, Taxi Driver, Serpico, Manhattan, The Godfather, The King of New York, Dog Day Afternoon, Bad Lieutenant, Detective Story, On The Waterfront, Across 110th Street, Shaft, Patterns, Metropolitan, Saturday Night Fever, 12 Angry Men, Marathon Man, After Hours. But NOT West Side Story — too antiseptic and Robert Wise-y. And NOT Fame. And NOT Breakfast at Tiffany’s or The Devil Wears Prada.