New York movies: The 100 best films set in New York City

From King Kong's spire down to the scummiest subway tunnel, TONY ranks the definitive list of the 100 best New York movies: crime dramas, romantic comedies, documentaries and more.

By David Fear, Stephen Garrett, Joshua Rothkopf, Keith Uhlich and Alison Willmore Tue Jul 3 2012

New York movies: Click to the next image to see our 100 best films set in New York City
New York movies: C.H.U.D. (1984)
New York movies: Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (2006)
New York movies: Black and White (1999)
New York movies: Hi, Mom! (1970)
New York movies: God Told Me To (1976)
New York movies: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
New York movies: Wolfen (1981)
New York movies: Man Push Cart (2005)
New York movies: Hamlet (2000)
New York movies: Three Days of the Condor (1975)

New York movies: Click to the next image to see our 100 best films set in New York City

Paradise and prison, bustling metropolis and the loneliest place on earth: New York City has a cinematic identity that infuses all walks of life. Even as we write our own narratives in this most famous of locations, we walk alongside fictional characters (and sometimes real ones, too, if we’re lucky).

In selecting the 100 most essential New York movies, we kept the city’s boldness in mind. TONY Film staffers David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich teamed up with movie experts Stephen Garrett and Alison Willmore to gather titles from all genres and eras—the widely known and the obscure—in pursuit of a complete picture of NYC on film.

Our only parameter: The movie had to be set in New York City, not Metropolis (sorry, Superman fans), Oz (ditto, you Wiz diehards), nor anywhere else. Dive in, jostle politely, find your seat or ride standing: Please tell us what we’ve missed. It’s a big town.—Joshua Rothkopf, senior Film writer

100

C.H.U.D. (1984)

More funny than scary, this schlock-horror Z flick articulates a primal NYC fear harbored by anyone who’s ever peered down a sewer grate: Who (or what) is living below? Not the homeless, not alligators, but cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. As the poster of a shimmering Manhattan skyline warned, “They’re not staying down there, anymore!”—Joshua Rothkopf

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Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (2006)

An essential New York band plays a landmark NYC venue (MSG) as 50 fans capture the event for posterity; only the Beastie Boys could turn a crowdsourced concert movie into a time capsule, a tour of the city’s musical styles (hip-hop, punk, Latin funk) and a tribute to the power of Gotham’s DIY spirit. RIP, MCA.—David Fear

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Black and White (1999)

James Toback’s giddy ensemble drama transforms the city into an urban playground where rich white kids play-act ghetto fabulousness, criminals consort with moguls and Brooke Shields sports dreadlocks. It’s a bold think piece on the malleability of class and race in NYC, spiced with the single most sizzling sex scene ever set in Central Park.—David Fear

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Hi, Mom! (1970)

Brian De Palma’s darker-than-dark comedy stars Robert De Niro as a XXX-rated filmmaker wanna-be who peeps on his neighbors. The no-budget film captures porn-theater-era New York at its seediest; it also features an astonishing sequence satirizing downtown experimental theater, in which a white-bread audience is viciously humiliated (and they love it).—Keith Uhlich

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God Told Me To (1976)

Larry Cohen’s sci-fi chiller about a detective investigating murderers who claim to be carrying out God’s will is the surreal B-side to Taxi Driver: a nightmare vision of the city’s repressed rage that starts with cameoing Andy Kaufman gunning down the St. Patrick’s Day parade and ends with our hero becoming what he was trying to stop.—Alison Willmore

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Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Stanley Kubrick’s polarizing swan song takes place in a Manhattan of the mind, specifically the sexually frustrated brain stem of Tom Cruise’s upper-crust physician. The film’s fantasy Greenwich Village, populated by taunting fratboys, a hard-sell hooker and a Lolita-like teen is especially weird—and disquieting.—Keith Uhlich

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Wolfen (1981)

Long before it was cool to go green, Woodstock director Michael Wadleigh helmed this environmentally conscious (though still pretty damned scary) werewolf movie. The South Bronx provides some memorably decayed, practically postapocalyptic terrain, and a number of vertigo-inducing scenes are shot atop the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.—Keith Uhlich

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Man Push Cart (2005)

Indie filmmaker Ramin Bahrani provides an eloquent, empathetic backstory to a pushcart vendor so street-corner standard, he’s all but invisible to passersby. Bahrani explores the fictional man’s past as a Pakistani rock star and his lonely, lowly present in a New York that’s both beautiful and coolly indifferent to his Sisyphean struggle.—Alison Willmore

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Hamlet (2000)

Michael Almereyda transposes William Shakespeare’s seminal tragedy to the world of high finance as Ethan Hawke’s brooding prince goes up against his slick CEO stepfather. The modern-day setting—moving from grungy streets to antiseptic boardrooms and even that cylindrical mousetrap the Guggenheim—adds thematic heft to the greatest of all plays.—Keith Uhlich

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Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Filmed at the peak of Hollywood’s political paranoia, this CIA thriller captures a tense, spy-saturated NYC that would reappear in The Bourne Ultimatum. Choice local touches include Robert Redford’s clandestine office on 77th Street at Madison, a quiet Brooklyn Heights getaway (occupied by sultry Faye Dunaway) and a WTC window overlooking the intrigue.—Joshua Rothkopf

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(31 ratings)

What about "BIll Cunningham New York"? You guys have "Man on Wire" (a great choice) but not that? I will say, it's great to acknowledge "Wolfen" but its visuals of late 70s New York really make it deserved to be in the Top 50. Not one film ever made has so captured NYC the way it did.

Clarence Sun Jul 8 2012
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Two of my favorites are 'The Fisher King' and 'Leon', oh and 'Ghostbusters' should be definitely be higher! I'm visiting the Big Apple this fall and I surely will have a movie marathon for the occasion!

AnDi Sun Jul 8 2012
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The Gangs of New York should be high on this list.

Rebecca Young Sun Jul 8 2012
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Hey! What happened to The Pawnbroker (Rod Steiger, et al) and Twelve Angry Men? Both are quintessentially New York - and involve the Third Avenue El! Let's have them listed - they are definitely New York!

Bill Goodhart Sat Jul 7 2012
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Definite List? You guys sure missed some of THE most definitive ones. It’s back to the ‘drawing board’ for you. How about (in no particular order): New York, New York, Laura, Pickup on South Street, Sisters, Gangs of New York, The Age of Innocence, The Heiress, Swing Time, Love Affair (1939), An Affair to Remember, Interiors, Cat People (1942), Radio Days, Saboteur (Statue of Liberty Finale), Holiday (1938), My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, Scarface (1932), The Seventh Victim, Butterfield 8, The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, The Devil Wears Prada, The Boys in the Band, Parting Glances, Longtime Companion, The Best of Everything, Lonesome, The Seven Year Itch, How to Marry a Millionaire, Portrait of Jennie, Easter Parade, She Done Him Wrong, Humoresque

Steven Hecht & Ken Phalen Sat Jul 7 2012
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Eyes of Laura Mars

Frankie Baby Sat Jul 7 2012
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Eyes of Laura Mars

Frankie Baby Sat Jul 7 2012
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By and large a very creditable list. but "Manhattan" should be #1. I also would have included "A View From The Bridge," "The Pawnbroker," "A Bronx Tale," "Dead End," "Angels with Dirty Faces," "Miracle on 34th Street," "Moonstruck," "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "Raging Bull" and "An Unmarried Woman." Perhaps "Next Stop Greenwich Village," "A Thousand Clowns," "The Out-of-Towners," "The Odd Couple" and "Barefoot in the Park."

Bob Sat Jul 7 2012
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Wow, 'Taxi Driver' was picked at the No 1 NYC movie? Who woulda' thunk it? This same damn list, give or take is trotted out every few years, and it ALWAYS is missing easily one of the best films of NY ever made: Raging Bull. Why? From the depiction of Bronx tenement life, to the neighborhood thugs who bankrolled LaMotta's career, to the demographic changes already starting to appear in the 1950's, it's hard to think of a film that better captures the raw feel of the city back then.

BJK Sat Jul 7 2012
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I would add 'French Connection' to the top 10 list and remove the Cassavetes film, since very few people have ever seen it, at least since Jack Kerouac died.

paskuniag Sat Jul 7 2012
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