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: Carnal Knowledge (1971)
New York movies: The Squid and the Whale (2005)
New York movies: Margaret (2011)
New York movies: Klute (1971)
New York movies: Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
New York movies: Fame (1980)
New York movies: When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
New York movies: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
New York movies: Fatal Attraction (1987)
New York movies: The Crowd (1928)

New York movies: Carnal Knowledge (1971)

Carnal Knowledge (1971)

Romantic dissatisfaction and a very Gothamite certainty that there’s always someone better out there shape Mike Nichols’s damning portrait of former college roommates (Art Garfunkel and Jack Nicholson). They navigate 25 years of shifting urban sexual mores but never find what they’re looking for.—Alison Willmore

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The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Noah Baumbach’s razor-edged semiautobiographical dramedy is set in a 1980s Brooklyn intellectual community that’s since devoured half the borough. For its cathartic image (see title), the movie revisits a childhood memory likely shared by any impressionable museumgoer of a certain age.—Alison Willmore

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Margaret (2011)

Kenneth Lonergan’s ragged masterpiece, haunted by personal and municipal trauma, showcases better than any film the flux of 8 million individual stories going at once. It also captures the way that a life-shaking, permanently altering experience for one teenager (the riveting Anna Paquin) can be just another glittering point in the kaleidoscope of the city.—Alison Willmore

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Klute (1971)

Jane Fonda won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a cynical actor (this town is full of them) moonlighting as a Big Apple prostitute. After she’s caught up in the mysterious disappearance of a business executive, director Alan J. Pakula and cinematographer Gordon Willis turn the city streets and alleys into a shadowy paranoiac’s nightmare.—Keith Uhlich

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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Robert Benton’s tale of a brutal custody battle is set during a specific, privileged era on the Upper East Side, the place to where upwardly mobile professionals aspired. It becomes Manhattan’s answer to the idyllic suburbs of other movies, beneath the surface of which lie all kinds of trouble.—Alison Willmore

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Fame (1980)

Alan Parker’s body-electrifying tale of High School of Performing Arts students trying to hit it big makes prime use of Gotham venues, from a thrillingly turbulent Times Square to the now-defunct 8th Street Playhouse’s midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.—Keith Uhlich

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When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

After a casual run-in at Shakespeare & Co., an orgasmic conversation at Katz’s Deli and long walks through Central Park, a Jersey-born Jew (Billy Crystal) realizes the high-maintenance shiksa (Meg Ryan) he resented since college is actually his soulmate. Director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron capture Manhattan romance with splendiferous anxiety.—Stephen Garrett

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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Truthfully, the city where it takes place is unspecified, but it’s impossible for us not to include Jim Jarmusch’s hip-hop fantasia, scored to the sinuous beats of Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA. Forest Whitaker cruises late-night streets in a stolen car, motivated by a solemn code of honor and capable of violent deeds.—Joshua Rothkopf

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Fatal Attraction (1987)

Histrionic bunny-boiling revenge overshadows what is an unusually well-located NYC psychothriller—from Michael Douglas’s Upper West Side domestic stronghold to Glenn Close’s Meatpacking District loft, a fitting spot for an illicit fling with a hot dish of crazy. Subtly, the hurtful nature of five-boroughs trysting is tweaked.—Joshua Rothkopf

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The Crowd (1928)

An office peon (James Murray), hitched after a night at Coney Island, struggles to raise a family in the tiny Murphy-bed confines of a tenement apartment and reconcile his outsize aspirations with the noble modesty of blending in with the urban masses. King Vidor’s stunning silent is a chronicle of crushed hubris.—Stephen Garrett

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(31 ratings)

The wanderers is better than 90% of this list.

Matt About 10 days ago
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Great list but where is "Ghost"? That surely has to be included here!

Louis Lilakos About 13 days ago
Rated as: 4/5
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XRwogannimeieTest Tue May 7
Rated as: 2/5
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Ghost Dog was filmed in Jersey City. This is a well known fact so why is it in this list? And yes, I'm from Jersey City.

John O'Hara Thu Apr 25
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Where is Scent of a Woman?

casey Mon Mar 25
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What about "LIMITLESS" and "How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days" ????????????

AM Wed Mar 20
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coming to america Home alone 2 Big Daddy the list here is shi*

Dean Tue Mar 19
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What about Breakfast at Tiffanys? Coming to America? Sister Act? The list goes on. I will say that you guys did a good job of putting "Do The Right Thing" in the Top 10.

Jordan Sun Mar 17
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How could you not include "An Affair to Remember" and even "Working Girl"? aacch!!

liz Sat Mar 9
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Whaaaat? No Die Hard with a Vengeance?!

Creon Thu Mar 7
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