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There’s a famous song lyric that seems applicable when talking about the best New York City movies.
Here, then, are 32 of the best New York City movies.
In the then-future of 1997, Manhattan has been turned into a walled-off prison island.
Q is an absurd movie and knows it’s absurd.
However, it plays the action mostly straight with a fun dose of ’80s New York grime.
Panic Room
Year:2002Director:David Fincher
A thriller about New York City real estate?
American Psycho
Year:2000Director:Mary Harron
“Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?”
And, in Patrick’s case, chase victims.
Rear Window
Year:1954Director:Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart plays L.B.
It’s a rollicking, occasionally pulpy look at a side of the city that Hollywood often ignored.
That is, anyway, until he meets a girl who love hasn’t been especially kind to either.
The Daytrippers is a beautiful, funny portrait of a flawed family (aren’t they all?
Those for whom the city is just a day trip away.
Although the era that Inside Llewelyn Davis recreates is long gone, the film makes it feel heartbreakingly real.
It doesn’t matter.
The fact that this is also one of thebest superhero moviesof all time is just an added bonus.
The Apartment
Year:1960Director:Billy Wilder
“Shut up and deal.”
Jack Lemmon plays C.C.
Annie Hall
Year:1977Director:Woody Allen
Say what you will about Woody Allen, but Annie Hall is undeniable.
Ghostbusters
Year:1984Director:Ivan Reitman
The New York City setting of Ghostbusters is essential to why the movie works.
In addition to the classic rom-com “do opposites attract?”
Sandler’s Howard Ratner runs a jewelry store in Manhattan’s Diamond District.
However, he makes (and loses!
There is so much nervous adrenaline powering Uncut Gems that you understand why the city never sleeps.
Lee himself stars as Mookie, a young man who must make a choice when a tragedy occurs.
In his defense, the city was in rough shape in the ’70s.
When Harry Met Sally…
Year:1989Director:Rob Reiner
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
In a city of millions, Harry and Sally keep bumping into one another.