City Spotlight: New York
Hello, and welcome back to Cinema Wellman! Today we will once again pick a city and shine our cinematic spotlight on it and some of the magnificent films shot there. Today’s City Spotlight is on New York City.
The Big Apple, Gotham, Empire City, The City of Dreams, The City That Never Sleeps, Fun City, The City So Nice They Named It Twice.
Big city, lots of nicknames.
And lots of movies. Lots and lots of movies! On today’s episode, Ghostbusters, Goodfellas, Manhattan, The Apartment, Prince of the City, 25th Hour, Taxi Driver, Rosemary’s Baby, Shaft, and Saturday Night Fever will NOT be discussed! Those great films didn’t make the list, which shows you how many deserving candidates there were.
I was born and raised in New York state. Since I lived north of the city (about 63 miles) I told people I lived in “upstate” New York. I then met someone from Oswego who corrected me.
I was close enough to visit New York City fairly easily, but I never lived there. I’m not much of a city guy. I love to visit, but…
To help me narrow down my NYC film choices, I asked my good friend John who lived in New York City for 17 years. He has been by my side for more than 95% of my visits to New York City as an adult. John knows his way around the city and is an exceptional tour guide. Especially if you’re looking for a good hot dog stand or a falafel truck at 2:30 in the morning.
John and I sat down with my original list of over 25 films. I explained my criteria for being placed under Cinema Wellman’s “City Spotlight,” and he helped me narrow it down to ten over a few adult beverages.
I’d like to thank John for his help on this project and the countless good times I’ve had with him in “The Greatest City in the World” over the years.
Before we get to the films, I’d like to repeat my intentions with this series. Once the location is chosen, I look for films that not only take place there but were shot there. Location shooting is a must. Exteriors are nice, but when everything else is shot on a studio lot somewhere, some of the magic is lost.
Along with location shooting, the city needs to be an active part of the film. It has to be treated almost like an additional member of the cast. I look for films that capture the essence of that particular city.
As a young man, many of my trips into NYC were with my Uncle Frank. He’d take me to Mets or Yankees games a couple times a summer, and it was always magical. Even though we went to Shea.
Uncle Frank would always say the same thing as we crossed the George Washington Bridge to enter the city…”Into the belly of the beast.”
So, let’s get in that belly!
#10) West Side Story (1961)
AP/153m/IMDb: 7.6
Shooting locations: Columbus & 60th St., W 68th St., 110th St.
We start with a movie that features an overture! Gotta love an overture. It means you’re in for something epic. The opening aerial shots of the city are tremendous, especially since New York City looked very different in 1961. It’s a great opening for a great film.
West Side Story has one of the highest Oscar winning percentages ever. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10 of them! The only one it failed to take home was for writing. It won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno), Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), and Best Director (shared between Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins).
The music and songs are, of course, legendary and familiar. We’re also especially familiar with the story (an updated version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”) since it was recently updated by Steven Spielberg.
West Side Story shows us a city that is divided by racial hatred and distrust. It also shows a city that is alive, vibrant, and filled with passion. And passionate people.
Not entirely shot on location, but that’s understandable since it’s a musical. Those huge set pieces with choreographed dancing by dozens of dancers can’t really be done on a real street during a regular day. That being said, it certainly captures the essence of New York City and that’s what the City Spotlight is all about.
#9) Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) PG/98m/IMDb: 6.7
Shooting locations: Madison Ave., 3rd Ave., 5th Ave., 87th St., Central Park, Manhattan
Anything written by native New Yorker Neil Simon that takes place in New York City is always a treat. One of my favorites, The Odd Couple, certainly comes to mind when you think of Simon and NYC.
From IMDb: “A suddenly unemployed company executive suffers a nervous breakdown, and his supporting wife tries everything to console him and pick up the slack.”
The couple are magnificently played by Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft (another native of NYC). The usual Big Apple Gripes are here on full display; noise pollution, crime (they get robbed), job insecurity, the lure of the suburbs, rude neighbors…everything you’d expect in a New York City comedy.
Lemmon and Bancroft are wonderful as Mel and Edna Edison. M. Emmet Walsh is a doorman (I think I would have made a good doorman), and Sylvester Stallone shows up briefly as a suspected mugger!
Edna goes to work after Mel loses both his job and his marbles. When Edna loses her job, things really begin to unravel.
This comedy has a mixed message about mental health and therapy addressing the need for it and the possible help it could offer, but relying on the same old negative jokes occasionally, so it’s a mixed bag in that department.
New York City is portrayed as a sometimes-frustrating place to live, especially dealing with the people there, but the city isn’t really shown as an antagonist.
This isn’t exactly a love letter either.
Absolutely worth seeing just to see Bancroft and Lemmon together.
#8) The Warriors (1979)
R/93m/IMDb: 7.5
Shooting locations: Hell’s Kitchen, Coney Island, several subway stations in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan
I love seeing “The Wonder Wheel” in the opening shots of The Warriors. Coney Island is home to the Warriors, and after they’re wrongly accused of assassinating a charismatic rival gang leader, all they want to do is get home.
I read that former President Reagan was a big fan of this film, and called star Michael Beck to tell him so. Go figure!
The Warriors are being hunted by every gang in the city. I’d read the list, but it’s way too long. You can Google it! These gangs are wildly colorful and some of them are downright terrifying.
I’m looking at you, Baseball Furies.
The shoot for The Warriors took 60 days from midnight to 8:00 AM in the summer of 1978. Some real gang members were hired to appear in the film in order to keep the peace and keep the gang from disrupting the shoot. One gang did invade the set one day during lunch and trashed the place, breaking some equipment.
Coney Island is home in this film, and the rest of the city (and its gang inhabitants) are in full hunt mode. Every street, every alley, every subway line has trouble in store for the Warriors.
“Warriors……come out and play-ay!” (That line was ad-libbed!)
#7) After Hours (1985)
R/97m/IMDb: 7.6
Shooting locations: 6th Ave., Madison Ave., Soho in Manhattan
The idea that New York City is impossible to navigate and filled with lunatics is certainly backed up by After Hours. The NYC in this film is totally different than in the other films, with the possible exception of The Warriors.
I chose this film by native New Yorker Martin Scorsese over both Goodfellas and Taxi Driver because of how the director uses the city (Soho specifically) as an antagonist for the entirety of the movie.
Paul Hackett (played by another native New Yorker, Griffin Dunne) goes out for a seemingly low-key evening. He’s reading alone in a coffee shop when he meets Marcy (Rosanna Arquette - native New Yorker). When Paul meets Marcy, his evening, and his life, descend into a world of chaos.
Paul loses his money so he has no way to get home. He meets up with character after character and one is more outrageous than the other. Paul rides in a death cab with a psychotic cab driver. He also deals with a strict subway worker who won’t let him by without the exact/new fare. Paul just wants to go home, but Soho won’t let him escape.
An outstanding supporting cast (Teri Garr, Linda Fiorentino, Verna Bloom, Cheech & Chong) make this a wild ride well worth an “after hours” screening some night.
#6) Do the Right Thing (1989)
R/120m/IMDb: 8.0
Shooting locations: Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn
New York City is currently home to over 8 ½ million people. The city has always prided itself on being a melting pot of nationalities and cultures. That would be a metaphorical “melting pot.” When temperatures soar during the summer months, New York can become a literal melting pot. And when temps soar, tempers flare.
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is an honest look at race relations in a neighborhood in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy area during a sweltering summer day.
I remember growing up north of the city and hearing about oppressive heat waves hitting them from time to time. I always felt so bad for all of those people crammed together in that noisy place, especially those without air conditioning. During those heat waves, the news was always filled with stories of violence and crime. Look at the crime statistics in any major city. When the temperatures rise, violence and crime also rise. This, along with the simmering hatred between the races, is at the heart of Lee’s Do the Right Thing.
The film begins with co-star/newcomer Rosie Perez (she was given an introducing credit) dancing to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” in front of a neighborhood background. It’s absolutely amazing. When I was done with the movie, I started it over just to watch it again. I read that it took eight hours to film. Rosie must have been in terrific shape!
Perez (another NNY) is wonderful in this film as are Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. That pair makes me smile every time I see them in anything. Mr. Davis’s voice is as smooth and even as maple syrup being poured on a stack of flapjacks.
Dee and Davis play “Mother Sister” and “The Mayor” respectively. It’s interesting to see how revered Mother Sister is by the neighborhood while the mayor is disrespected and sometimes taunted by teenagers.
Yet another native New Yorker, Danny Aiello, is the owner of a pizza restaurant in Bed-Stuy. He’s been in business for over 25 years in the same location and runs the restaurant with his sons (John Turturro (NNY) and Richard Edson).
We see things simmering in the heat for a while before tempers reach a boiling point and tragedy strikes.
Parts of this are difficult to watch. For that reason, Do the Right Thing should be required viewing when it comes to race relations in an urban setting.
As the song says, “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.” Lee doesn’t take sides here; he just tells it like he sees it. He also ends the film with two quotes by the great African American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.
“The time is always right to do the right thing.”
Amen.
#5) Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
R/125m/IMDb: 8.0
Shooting locations: 285 Prospect Park West (bank), Queens, Brooklyn, JFK Airport, 10th Street
This is the third time I’ve had the opportunity to talk about Dog Day Afternoon, and it actually caused me to create a database (I hate that!) of films that I’ve talked about during Cinema Wellman episodes. I don’t want to keep talking to you about the same movies over and over.
Dog Day Afternoon was featured in S1:E20 - “The 70s Show: Part 2” and S2:E14 - “Where’s the Music? ‘Scoreless’ Movies.” It absolutely belonged on those lists, and I can’t imagine a New York Movie list without it. So here it is again. Hopefully I won’t be repeating myself too much.
Native New Yorker Al Pacino plays Sonny, an amateur bank robber whose plans go south very quickly when he and his partner Sal (the late great John Cazale) attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank.
What follows is a circus that only New York City can produce. The botched robbery becomes an attraction on site and in the media. Charles Durning (adored here at Cinema Wellman) plays the cop assigned to deal with Sonny and the crowd. I have no idea how Durning spoke after shooting this film. He was required to yell at least half of his lines.
Even though the movie takes place in the summer, it was filmed from September-November of 1974. For the outside scenes on particularly cold days, the actors would place ice cubes in their mouths before the take so their breath wouldn’t be visible.
The citizens and the city are definitely “characters” in this great movie that manages to be very funny and very sad intermittently. This is an amazing film directed by Sidney Lumet, and I have a feeling it may show up again in Cinema Wellman in the future.
It certainly fits into a lot of categories.
#4) Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
AP/96m/IMDb: 8.0
Shooting locations: 5th Ave., 6th Ave., Times Square, Broadway, Jazz Club on E. 59th St.
There’s a chance that this is the only movie on this list that you’re not familiar with. No worries. I think Sweet Smell of Success is very underrated. More people should see it and talk about it.
I’ll go first.
Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster (BOTH native New Yorkers!) are top billed in this compelling film that reveals the ugliness of the entertainment industry.
Curtis plays Sidney Falco, a sleazy press agent. Lancaster is absolutely menacing as powerful (and extremely unethical) Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker. The conversations between the two in this film are unbelievably amazing. The writing, by Clifford Odets, includes some of my all-time movie lines. Here are a few:
“You’re dead, son. Get yourself buried.” ~ J.J. Hunsecker
“The cat’s in the bag, and the bag’s in the river.” ~ Sidney Falco
“I’d hate to take a bite out of you. You’re a cookie full of arsenic.”
~ J.J. Hunsecker
Sweet Smell of Success was shot in black and white, and that makes the city come alive, especially since much of the film was shot at night. The G.O.A.T. of cinematographers, James Wong Howe, shot this with director Alexander Mackendrick at the helm.
New York City is very dark and foreboding in this film, and J.J. Hunsecker is shot by Howe in a manner that suggests he lords over it all.
Susan Harrison, J.J.'s younger sister (she got an Introducing credit!) is really the only character here worth rooting for. She and her saxophone playing boyfriend (Martin Milner) who is accused of smoking those “jazz cigarettes” in a smear campaign by J.J.
I was way late to this party. There’s an oddball character in one of my favorite movies, Diner, who walks around reciting the dialogue to an old movie. That movie is Sweet Smell of Success. I had never heard of it when I saw Diner in 1982, but I’ve made up for lost time.
Please seek out and see Sweet Smell of Success. You’ll need to shower after it to wash off the sleaze, but you’ll love this movie.
#3) Carlito’s Way (1993)
R/144m/IMDb: 7.9
Shooting locations: 6th Ave., Long Island, Brooklyn, Greenwich Village, East Harlem, Manhattan, Bronx, Grand Central Station
I’m very happy that I decided to re-screen all of these films to prepare for this episode. I had forgotten how great this movie really is. Al Pacino is Carlito, and Sean Penn plays his ultra scummy lawyer friend David Kleinfeld.
Carlito is fresh out of prison and hoping for a new start, a new/legal business opportunity, and love with an old girlfriend, Gail (Penelope Ann Miller).
Unfortunately, Carlito’s hopes collide with the real world and his old world. A Pacino character is drawn back into the underworld once again, just like in the Godfather saga.
The scenes shot in Grand Central Station are absolutely amazing, as Carlito races to meet up with Gail at the train while being chased by several men who want to kill him.
Carlito’s narration over segments of the film is touching and gives an extra insight into this character who is masterfully played by Al Pacino when he could still act and didn’t shout all of his lines.
#2) The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) R/104m/IMDb: 7.6
Shooting locations: Park Ave., Brooklyn,
Court St. Station - Fulton St. Line (tunnel/station closed since 1946)
I’ll let IMDb lead this one off: “Four armed men hijack a New York City subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. The city’s police are faced with a conundrum: Even if it’s paid, how could they get away?”
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three boasts four native New Yorkers! Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller play police lieutenants while Martin Balsam and Hector Elizando play two of the hijackers.
The leader of the hijackers is played by Robert Shaw. Shaw’s Mr. Blue is cold, calculating, cruel, and he’s willing to kill innocent passengers if his demands aren’t met. He is one dude you should not mess with.
This is an excellent cat and mouse thriller. Matthau and Shaw try to outwit each other as lives hang in the balance. There’s a terrific “chase” sequence (without an actual chase) as police officers race against time to deliver the ransom money to Mr. Blue.
I love how the city seems to cooperate with these productions (for a cost, of course!) and allow them access to shooting in very public and popular areas. Or, in this case, subway stations and tunnels that had been closed for close to 30 years.
The ending of this movie is the cinematic equivalent of the chef’s kiss. The look on Matthau’s face is just classic.
#1) The French Connection (1971)
R/104m/IMDb: 7.7
Shooting locations: Broadway, 5th Ave., Madison Ave., Park Ave., Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge, Queens, Brooklyn, Henry Hudson Parkway
“There’s a big shipment coming in, and everybody’s gonna get well.”
The film opens in Marseilles, and that city is shot just as beautifully as New York.
When we first see Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) he’s undercover as Santa Claus on a street corner ringing a bell. Within a minute he’s in full foot pursuit trying to run down a criminal.
This New York City is seedy, gritty, dirty, and rife with gangsters and other criminals. There are great location shot sequences in an auto graveyard and down at the docks.
I always forget that Popeye does that classic chase scene in a commandeered car! And he’s chasing a train! Not sure if that had been done before (without horses). And Bill Hickman is back! The great stunt driver (and sometime actor) from Bullitt plays a cop. He also did some of the stunt driving for Hackman in the iconic chase sequence here.
The French Connection was shot from November 1970 - January 1971. Winters in NYC can be particularly bleak. And desolate. And filthy. That white snow isn’t white for long.
One of my favorite parts is when they take apart the entire car looking for heroin. It’s in the last place they look! How did they not check the rocker panels first?!!
This doesn’t happen often in major (and successful) movies, but it’s one of the odd times when the bad guy gets away! But I guess that’s why we got The French Connection II.
Directed by the great William Friedkin, who tried to outdo this epic car chase in 1985’s To Live and Die in L.A. He came pretty close!
This movie isn’t dated at all and has stood the test of time. It’s definitely worth a second look…or 5th…or 8th…
Well, our cinematic tour of New York City has come to an end. Thanks so much for getting on the bus with us! Stay tuned in the future for more “City Spotlight” episodes!
Coming next week, Cinema Wellman’s June Screenings: Best & Worst. We hope you’ll join us for that.
Until then…take care.
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