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: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
New York movies: The Warriors (1979)
New York movies: Wall Street (1987)
New York movies: Annie Hall (1977)
New York movies: On the Waterfront (1954)
New York movies: Chelsea Girls (1966)
New York movies: Ghostbusters (1984)
New York movies: After Hours (1985)
New York movies: Saturday Night Fever (1977)
New York movies: The French Connection (1971)

New York movies: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Transit cop Walter Matthau (wearing MTA cynicism like a badge of honor) has to stop a quartet of thieves holding a subway car of distinctly Noo Yawk passengers for ransom. This crackerjack action thriller pulses with ’70s-era sleaziness, from dank, dark train tunnels to David Shire’s pounding, jazzy musical score.—Keith Uhlich

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The Warriors (1979)

New York’s real and fictional gangs have garnered their share of screen time over the years, but no one has depicted the city’s “armies of the night” as colorfully as Walter Hill. Fleeing from the Bronx to their Coney Island home turf, the Warriors encounter cabals of hoods ranging from the terrifying (Gramercy Riffs) to the campy (Baseball Furies). It’s street warfare as costume party, where fashionable psychos come out and plaaa-aaay.—David Fear

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Wall Street (1987)

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good,” goes the classic line (paraphrased from an actual Ivan Boesky speech), but the richness of Oliver Stone’s morality tale comes through with every scene. Here are dizzying office views and the watering holes (the ‘21’ Club, Tavern on the Green) of the ultrarich. Who can blame Charlie Sheen for buying an automatic sushi maker and selling out?—Joshua Rothkopf

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Annie Hall (1977)

Woody Allen’s Alvy Singer may be the movies’ most New York character, so much so that he grew up underneath a Coney Island roller coaster. Perceptively, his New Yorkness seems the reason for the demise of his relationship: As Annie tells him, “You’re like this island unto yourself.”—Alison Willmore

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On the Waterfront (1954)

The greater NYC skyline lingers in the backdrop like an unreachable dream in Elia Kazan’s bruising corruption drama, based on Malcolm Johnson’s articles for the late New York Sun. The Hoboken docks are so tough that, as one character says, they almost “ain’t part of America,” but are their own seemingly unchangeable kingdom.—Alison Willmore

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Chelsea Girls (1966)

Conceived at Max’s Kansas City and inspired by the Hotel Chelsea (where it was mostly shot), Andy Warhol’s three-and-a-half-hour underground opus was also an unlikely commercial hit, a split-screen endurance test of nonnarrative vignettes featuring the Pop artist’s menagerie of eccentric New York personalities—the cultural progenitors of histrionic reality TV.—Stephen Garrett

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Ghostbusters (1984)

Manhattan’s got an otherworldly pest problem in Ivan Reitman’s blockbuster supernatural comedy. They’re among the stacks in the New York Public Library; they’re in and around Central Park; they’re even hiding in a scared-stiff street vendor’s hot-dog cart. Do we have to ask who you’re gonna call?—Keith Uhlich

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After Hours (1985)

Martin Scorsese has made bigger movies—that’s inarguable—but none capture the wasteland that was ’80s Soho after midnight better than this black comedy, a time capsule of NYC weirdness. Frantic Griffin Dunne wanders through papier-mâché-strewn artist lofts, the Moondance Diner and the Emerald Pub, all on his desperate way to get back home (or at least to survive the wiles of Teri Garr).—Joshua Rothkopf

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Saturday Night Fever (1977)

It was the movie that took a New York nightclub subculture and turned it into a phenomenon, one Bee Gees song at a time. But this disco melodrama is really about the dream of breaking out of the outer boroughs, with Travolta’s well-coiffed, white-suited Bay Ridge mook standing in for every talented, stifled Brooklyn kid trying to stay alive.—David Fear

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The French Connection (1971)

The car chase in which Gene Hackman’s Popeye Doyle follows the D train through Bensonhurst is one of the all-time best for a reason: William Friedkin brilliantly captures the clammy-palmed madness of a high-speed pursuit through bustling, crowded neighborhoods that yield for no one.—Alison Willmore

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(31 ratings)

The wanderers is better than 90% of this list.

Matt About 9 days ago
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Great list but where is "Ghost"? That surely has to be included here!

Louis Lilakos About 12 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
Rated as: 2/5
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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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