New York City is one of the great places to set a story. From its dodgy, hardened citizens who take nothing for granted, the allure of its skyscrapers’ grandiosity, and the grime of its dirtiest neighborhoods. The films on this list take it all in. Not just creating a setting but utilizing all of New York’s characteristics to enrich its story and test the limits of the people in them. From the Kings of New York like Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Abel Ferrara, Spike Lee, and Woody Allen come films that range from incredible tales of political corruption, criminals tapping into the underworld, and couples finding love amiss in the city’s lights. So many stories were set in the great city because of all the possibilities. Here is a look at 10 films that get the most out of the Big City.
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10 Uncut Gems
One of the only films allowed to shoot in the highly tense Diamond District of New York, Uncut Gems is a fever-pitched, anxiety ride fueled by illegal sports gambling. In one of his finest performances to date, Adam Sandler sheds his comedic persona to play the desperate and lowly Harold Ratner. Lying his way from one opal diamond to the next, shifting money he doesn’t have to cover his debts and get the bookies off his back. It’s a high-art performance at degeneracy, while Sandler sees his life around him crumble highlighted in the beautiful city lights. One thing the Safdie brothers have been able to do in their young career, articulate the anxiety of living in the big city.
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9 Moonstruck
The fleeting nature of love in a moonlit New York City and the chaotic dissonance of Italian households were front and center in Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck. Cher won the Oscar for her charismatic and loving turn as a woman caught up in the wrong marriage. Opposite Nic Cage, the pairs over-the-top-energy were the perfect fit to match that classic Italian New York attitude. The film flirts with becoming a triptych as Cher’s parents battle their infidelities and the limits of monogamy.
8 Wall Street
The criminals of New York lurk in the hot steam permeating the grimy alleyways but, they also sit comfortably in the high offices of Wall Street wearing designer suits and go home to their Midtown suites. Oliver Stone’s cautionary tale of unbridled ambition in the financial sector is a warning to anyone who thinks they can get out of the money game clean. “Greed is good”, uttered Michael Douglas’ infamous Gordon Gekko, whose greasy, conniving charisma lures the young Charlie Sheen into a world he thinks he is ready to inhabit. Wall Street is a great New York film because of its depiction and indictment of the business sector but also because Stone has a fine eye for 80s decadence and financial excess.
7 Home Alone 2
In Hollywood, if you want to make a sequel, go bigger. After the instant classic status of Chris Columbus’ Home Alone, the only way to match the gimmickry and wit of the young Kevin McCallister was to take him to the Big Apple. There’s no playground larger for a kid with the charisma of Kevin, rich with his dad’s credit cards and his two nemeses free from prison, hot on his tail. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York catches the magic of New York during the holidays and imparts the wisdom of love and the importance of family in the form of one friendly pigeon lady in Central Park.
6 The French Connection
Groundbreaking at its time for the documentary-style director William Friedkin shot in and for its hard-hitting, anti-hero cop Jimmy Doyle (Gene Hackman), The French Connection is a staple in the New York genre. Friedkin’s depiction of gritty 70s street life and how international drug dealers flood the concrete jungle with narcotics, the film was a shock upon release. Featuring one of the great car chases of all time, The French Connection feels timeless because of Friedkin’s modern aesthetics and the loose nature of the film’s ensemble.
5 When Harry Met Sally
One of the great romantic comedies and one of the great New York city romances, When Harry Met Sally made perfect use of its precarious and hectic backdrop. Throwing Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan together in the middle of Manhattan’s famous Katz Deli for the famous “I’ll have what she’s having.” scene or Crystals marathon miracle through Washington Square Park, the film was designed to become a New York classic. Especially with Crystal’s known love for the Knicks and Yankees.
4 Dog Day Afternoon
One of the great New York directors Sidney Lumet and his early 70s muse Al Pacino had their finger on the pulse of the city that never sleeps in Dog Day Afternoon. Told over the course of a day, Pacino (a native New Yorker) has the firecracker energy that led him to superstardom as the live wire bank robber Sonny. Nearly setting the city into a spiral of chaos as the media circus and high police presence makes for his failed heist attempt one crazy day in New York. With the unforgettable “Attica!” scene, Lumet and Pacino are one of the best to use Manhattan as a vessel for storytelling.
3 Inside Llewelyn Davis
One of the Coen Brother’s saddest films in their long filmography, Inside Llewyn Davis takes us to the East Village of Manhattan during the folk renaissance of the early 1960s and the artists who inhabit the scene. Oscar Isaac plays the titular character as his free fall through artistic and money struggles doubles as one long ride through hell. Punctuated by the Coen Brothers’ fine eye for character ridiculousness which eases some of the emotional weight on the audience. Inside Llewyn Davis is a thoughtful endeavor into how hard it was to make it in the Big Apple.
2 Taxi Driver
We have yet to invent time travel. But, if you want a perfect capsule to have a 1970s New York sensory overload then Taxi Driver is the film to watch. Scorsese takes us through the streets that made him but coded everything underneath with existential dread, misery, smoke, and criminality. The film features one last score from legend Bernard Hermann with the haunting brass to elevate the delusional psyche of anti-hero Travis Bickle. Scorsese’s ride through New York is one you’ll never forget.
1 Do The Right Thing
A seminal cinematic text on the intricacies and complexities of racial dynamics in America, Do the Right Thing served as a warning and firestorm of what could happen when people are confronted with their racial biases. Brooklyn doubling as the perfect microcosm of America’s multiculturalism, Spike Lee’s film was a fury of specific character portrayals, uncomfortable dialogue, and urban cultural cornerstones. Do The Right Thing is one of the great American films ever made and it came from no other than one of New York’s great storytellers, Spike Lee.
