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I <3 NY (9 titles)

The best films that take place in the greatest city in the world. Watch before you visit...

by: A customer

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Manhattan

Gershwin thunders on the soundtrack, a stunning black and white montage of scenes from the city consumes the screen and Isaac Davis is struggling with the beggining of his novel: "Chapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Beneath his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat." This film IS New York.

Manhattan on DVD (1979)
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael O'Donoghue
Director: Woody Allen
Certificate:
On the heels of Annie Hall, the Oscar-winning romantic comedy that rocketed Woody Allen to the front ranks of American filmmakers, Manhattan continued Allen's romantic obsessions in a slightly darker, more pessimistic vein. Allen stars as Isaac Davis, a TV comedy writer sick of the pap he is forced ..read more »
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Daytrippers

This is an amusing little indie flic in which a family from comfortably suburban Long Island travel to busy, intellectual Manhattan in order to track down the husband of one of the daughters who may or may not be cheating on her.

Daytrippers (1996)
Starring: Liev Schreiber, Pat McNamara, Stanley Tucci
Director: Greg Mottola
Certificate:
Happily married Eliza (Hope Davis) discovers a letter written to her husband Louis (Stanley Tucci), signed 'Forever Sandy'. Her curiosity pricked by the note, she seeks the advice of her family, who do nothing to allay her fears that Louis may be having an affair. The entire clan - Eliza, her ..read more »
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- 60
- from 610 members
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New York, New York

The film that gave the city its song. The more famous Sinatra version is actually a cover (with slightly different lyrics) of the Liza Minnelli version. When the Yankees win the Sinatra version is played, when they lose Minnelli is used. This film is avery entertaining if slightly overlong musical love story between Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli. You don't have to like musicals to like it.... trust me!

New York, New York on DVD (1977)
Starring: Liza Minnelli, Mary Kay Place, Lionel Stander
Director: Martin Scorsese
Certificate:
Martin Scorsese combined the splashy atmosphere of the old studio musical with an unromanticized marriage story in his valentine to Hollywood and the Big Band era. On V-J Day 1945, newly minted civilian saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) meets USO singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) at a ..read more »
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Dark Days

This documentary is about people who live outside of society... well, underneath it!. Neil Jones had never made a film before but felt so moved by the plight of the homeless living in the disused railway tunnels under Manhattan that he made this fantastic film (using the homeless as camera crew etc) in order to help them. As a result, many of the homeless were moved into housing. This is what documentary film making should be!

Dark Days (2000)
Starring: Marc Singer
Director: Marc Singer
Certificate:
Acclaimed feature documentary about one of the many groups of homeless people who live in the subway tunnels beneath Manhattan. Includes interviews and footage of the tunnels' inhabitants going about their daily lives and features a soundtrack by DJ Shadow. A 45 minute 'Making of...' documentary is ..read more »
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Rosemary's Baby

I thought I should include a film showing the darker side of New York (I was going to put Jacob's Ladder but then I thought 'wait a second, that's a bad film so I chose this instead.) This film preys on a New Yorker's fear that they never really know their neighbours and also that they might get date raped by satan... Great film!

Rosemary's Baby on DVD (1968)
Starring: Ruth Gordon, John Cassavetes, Tony Curtis
Director: Roman Polanski
Certificate:
In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into the Bramford, an old New York City ..read more »
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- 70
- from 11,120 members

The Warriors

Cult film set in a future (1997 where New York is overun by street gangs. Violent but very entertaining (see also the more iconic 'Escape from New York')

The Warriors on DVD (1979)
Starring: Deborah Van Valkenburgh, James Remar, Dorsey Wright
Director: Walter Hill
Certificate:
After a city-wide gang meeting, a downtown New York gang called the Warriors is forced to make its way back across enemy territory after being framed for the killing of a rival unit's leader. Unarmed and desperate, they come up against one hostile gang after another as they fight their way back ..read more »
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Smoke

Written by novelist Paul Auster (and based on his own short story), this witty and literary film features a group of characters linked by a Brooklyn tabacconist's run by a charcter called Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel). Compelling, funny and unexpectedly moving. Very Brooklyn...

Smoke on DVD (1995)
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Harvey Keitel, William Hurt
Director: Wayne Wang
Certificate:
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A Brooklyn cigar shop is the setting for this drama from director Wayne Wang that interweaves the stories of several characters that have fractured family relationships in common. Harvey Keitel is Auggie Wren, poetic owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a store that he considers the center of the ..read more »
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The Age of Innocence

Beautiful film of unconsumated romance set in the 19th century amongst New York's upper classes. Based on the novel by Edith Wharton, this film was directed by Martin Scorsese and it is not hard to spot the similarities between the rituals and codes of honour of the aristos in thsi film and the ruthless gangsters he is more commonly associated with.

The Age of Innocence on DVD (1993)
Starring: Alec McC, Winona Ryder, Michael Gough
Director: Martin Scorsese
Certificate:
Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's scathing account of the tribal customs of the 19th century New York elite. Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is betrothed to the demure May Welland (Winona Ryder), a sensible girl who befits his respectable social position. But when May's cousin, the ..read more »
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Do The Right Thing

Racial tensions run high on the hottest day of the summer in the Bed-Stuy neighbourhood of Brooklyn. Spike Lee gradually builds up the tension transforming the film from a kind of hazy, joyful dream to a climax of blistering violence that is all too real. Absolutely brilliant.

Do The Right Thing on DVD (1989)
Starring: Danny Aiello, Giancarlo Esposito, Giancarlo Esposito
Director: Spike Lee
Certificate:
Spike Lee's study of racial tensions takes place on the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. The film charts the increasing tension between a black pizza delivery boy (Spike Lee) and his Italian bosses, the local folk and yuppy newcomers, and builds ..read more »
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