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King Kong (1933) |
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An enormous gorilla goes ape and scales what
was then the world's tallest building. |
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Miracle on 34th Street (1947) |
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A Macy's
toy department Santa Claus claims to be the real Kris Kringle
and slowly wins over a city of cynics—even a young, skeptical
Natalie Wood learns to believe. |
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On the Waterfront (1954) |
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Elia Kazan's Oscar winning tale of mob corruption
on the New Jersey docks opens with a shot of the Hoboken piers
across the river from Manhattan. |
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An Affair to Remember (1957) |
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The inspiration for the 1993 romantic comedy
Sleepless in Seattle, this older affair stars Cary Grant
and Deborah Kerr as a lovestruck pair who are both engaged to
be married to other people. They test their commitment to each
other by meeting again at the top of the Empire
State Building six months later. |
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The Seven-Year Itch (1955) |
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Marilyn Monroe performs her legendary skirt-blowing
scene above a lucky subway grate at 52nd Street and Lexington
in Billy Wilder's comedic romp. |
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West Side Story (1961) |
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Inspired by the real-life warring gangs of Hell's
Kitchen, Tony and Maria's musical tragedy begins with equally
dramatic aerial views of the city. |
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Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) |
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Who can forget a pouty Holly Golightly (Audrey
Hepburn) as she stands on the outside looking in at the famous
luxury jewelry store? |
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Midnight Cowboy (1969) |
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The once seedy streets of Times
Square precipitate the unusual friendship between the greasy
gimp Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) and Texas hustler-for-hire
Joe Buck (Jon Voight). |
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The French Connection (1971) |
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Traffic lights? What traffic lights? Gene Hackman
commits a number of moving violations as detective Jimmy "Popeye"
Doyle when he chases thugs in a high-speed car chase down Brooklyn's
86th Street. The scene inspired countless other action sequences
and numerous traffic offenses. |
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The Godfather (1972) |
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Enough about Tony Soprano and his Jersey boys. As mob boss
Don Corleone, the late Marlon Brando makes even getting shot
down at a fruit stand in Little Italy look cool. |
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Dog Day Afternoon (1975) |
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A young Al Pacino plays the ne'er do well Brooklyn bank robber
in this Sidney Lumet film shot in Park Slope—just a few
blocks from the bank where the real-life events took place. |
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Taxi Driver (1976) |
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The harsh lights of 42nd Street porn theaters and sidewalks
littered with prostitutes and drifters act as an isolating backdrop
for Robert DeNiro's ultimate catharsis in Martin Scorcese's
gritty classic. |
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Saturday Night Fever (1977) |
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A well-coifed, John Travolta practices shaking his Brooklyn
booty walking down Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge before steaming
up the dance floor. |
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Annie Hall (1977) |
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In one of his most famous odes to New York, the ever-bumbling
Woody Allen pulls some of his not-so-smooth moves on Diane Keaton
in Washington Square Park
and countless other Manhattan locations. |
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Manhattan (1978) |
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One year later, Allen still can't seem to get it right with
Keaton. The city gets a nine-minute introductory montage of
the midtown skyline, the Staten Island ferry, Park Avenue, Macy's,
the Guggenheim and the
Plaza Hotel. One famous
scene even takes place under the Queensborough Bridge. |
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The Wiz (1978) |
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This funked-up version of The Wizard of Oz combines
fantastic images of The Emerald City with New York. Special
effects include Diana Ross' short afro and Michael Jackson's
natural skin color. |
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Fame (1980) |
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Apparently, the only way to legitimately take over Times
Square traffic and dance on the hoods of cars is if you
attended New York City High School of the Performing Arts, the
school on which the film was based. |
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Escape From New York (1981) |
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It's hard to decide what's more ridiculous—the fact that
John Carpenter's futuristic tale predicts that the entire city
of New York will be turned into a maximum security prison for
hardcore criminals by 1997—or that Kurt Russell duels in
a gladiator-type contest in Madison
Square Garden. |
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The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) |
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The success of The Great Muppet Caper obviously gave
Kermit and his motley crew of fuzzy friends the confidence to
hit the Great White Way and start their own Broadway musical.
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Wall Street (1987)
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Charlie Sheen is a fresh-faced broker learning about corruption
on a lower-Manhattan trading floor from his boss (Michael Douglas).
Douglas also delivers one of the most memorable messages of
the 1980s: Greed is good; too much hair gel is bad. |
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Big (1988) |
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A rollicking dance on the giant piano keys at the FAO
Schwarz toy store gave Tom Hanks' character the right pint-sized
enthusiasm. |
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Do the Right Thing (1989) |
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Racial tensions in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest
day of the summer come to a full boil with the trashing of a
local pizzeria in this Spike Lee film. Rosie Perez also debuts
her incredible talent for nagging. |
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When Harry Met Sally (1989) |
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Probably one of the most memorable moments in recent film
occurs in Katz's Deli
when Meg Ryan shows a startled Billy Crystal that certain types
of acting come easy for her. |
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Independence Day (1996) |
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Sure, the thought of aliens taking over the planet is upsetting,
but it's nothing compared to the disturbing view of the Statue
of Liberty face down in the New York Harbor—or of the
gargantuan spaceship looming entirely over Manhattan. |
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Spider-Man (2002); Spider-Man 2 (2004) |
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Tobey McGuire plays the superhero from Forest Hills, Queens,
who flounders with the girl but glides effortlessly from the
skyscrapers of midtown in these big-budget blowouts |
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Published in December 2004
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