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)

Raging Bull anyone?

Ole Sat Jul 7 2012
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Somebody missed "A Bronx Tale". Superb story set in the Big Apple. DeNiro's directorial debut. Incredibly acted, especially by the kids. Packs a PUNCH.

Steve Sat Jul 7 2012
Rated as: 2/5
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From the 1960's, maybe not a lot of outdoor scenes but they are based in NYC and there are some scenes at locations like at Lincoln Center and Central Park - how about the original 1968 "The Producers". That's a great NYC movie, very funny and a classic. Total NYC story and good scenes in a few places. This is too good not to be included. I think if you know of this movie, you would agree of the importance and considering they made a movie remake and a Broadway show on the strength of the original. Nothing is better than the original, leave it alone and enjoy the way it was done with the legends in there.

O.S.Funk Sat Jul 7 2012
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Astounded that you omitted three great New York City classics: Paul Mazursky's Next Stop Greenwich Villagle (it doesn't get more New York than that!), "A Thousand Clowns" (which has a seen in front of Lincoln Center in progress) and West Side Story. What happened? There's also the wonderful indie "El Super." Very disappointed.

Myra Sat Jul 7 2012
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I guess if the movie has famous people or a good soundtrack, people remember it more and the critics give that more of a place on these reviews. Many good movies made in NYC, may not be top 100 to everyone, but they may be your personal favorites. You are your own critic. Here's a few from the 1960's when the transition was made to color from black and white. Strangers in the city - 1962, made in East Harlem and Brooklyn. Black and white. Really gritty movie, check this one. The Pawnbroker - 1964, Rod Steiger in black and white, he was also in a NYC movie later called No way to treat a lady - 1968. Those are good ones. Then some police movies in color from 1968: Madigan with Richard Widmark and The Detective with Frank Sinatra and Jack Klugman as cops. Both are very good and if you like NYC in the 1960's, you should get a copy of them. Then you have the famous Midnight Cowboy. No way to beat that one for 1969. Still, Dustin Hoffman made another movie the same era and the movie is John and Mary. All color and good quality movie, lots of on location Manhattan. No soundtrack or story equal to Midnight Cowboy but still a NYC movie you may like and I would put before any Muppet movie. Get to more later...

O.S.Funk Sat Jul 7 2012
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In America (2002). Are you people asleep? And what about Angels in America (2002)? These aren't better than Klute? For Christ's sake!

Matthew Sat Jul 7 2012
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Not one single Chaplin film.

Matthew Sat Jul 7 2012
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That top 100 summary needs some changes. How do you put a Muppet movie before Super Fly and Charles Bronson, Speedy and many others way better? Let me provide a few others from a few decades that should be of interest to any movie fans like us... From the 1950's: Side Street - 1950 and The Glass Wall - 1953 Top notch on location and awesome movies, Glass Wall is very good. All city locations and chases and quality made. So many noirs made here and it's a shame to exclude them for the more recent movies. Especially after WW2, they made more movies on location and those black and white ones are better then alot of the movies in that top 100 summary. More later on other decades.

O.S.Funk Sat Jul 7 2012
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You must be missing part of your brain (and half of your heart) if you can't find a place on your list for Bennett Miller's The Cruise (1998). If you've seen it, there's no excuse. And there's no excuse for not having seen it.

Matthew Sat Jul 7 2012
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i think saturday night fever should be in the top 5 and escape from new york in the top 20

wahoo Fri Jul 6 2012
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