Fantasy/sci-fi NYC:
King Kong. A glittery night in Manhattan is the theatrical backdrop for Beauty-killed-the-Beast update.
**The Planet of the Apes ** (series). Lady Liberty never looked worse (until ID4, that is.)
**The Omega Man ** – another Charlton Heston post-Apocalypse actioner; this time, it was nuclear war, and only a handful of mutants remains, with Heston the lone holdout civilized man…
**Soylent Green ** – nothing grows anymore. Yet another Heston post-Apocalypse actioner based in NYC… this time, he hunts down a secret recipie, of sorts.
Ghostbusters (series) – Slime from the sewers! The Statue of Liberty walks! (And, she kicks @ss!)
**12 Monkeys ** – Terry Gilliam’s take on the whole biological-weapon Apocalypse thing.
**Dark City ** – morphing skyscrapers and a dour Rufus Sewell in this (color) ode to German Expressionism.
Independence Day – the aliens have us checkmated, and Lady L. bites the dust.
Godzilla – dreadful in every way; this city and its mutant giant lizard spawn are made for each other.
**A.I. ** – future, post-global-warming, post-human-civ ruins of NYC.
Historical:
**The Gangs of New York ** (2003). And you thought things are often violent and ugly these days…?
The Age of Innocence – an earlier Scorcese interpretation; this time, it was Edith Wharton’s Victorian upper class, largely ensconced in a series of sumptuous interiors.
Top Hat, Swing Time, The Awful Truth, and a zillion other Depression musicals and comedies – the glamorous nightlife and dancefloors of Manhattan.
The Purple Rose of Cairo – Woody Allen’s tragicomic, postmodern take on Depression matinees, and the working stiffs who needed their vicarious thrills.
Radio Days – Woody Allen’s love letter to the late-'30’s and WWII years, when the glamour of NYC was sold to the masses through radio as much as through the movies, and a lucky few enjoyed a vertiginous upward mobility in the radio biz.
**The Godfather ** series.
**The Sweet Smell of Success ** (1957) – Oversized egos and unsavory personalities clash in the brash mass-media industry (specifically, entertainment gossips and agents). Features technical, stylistic breakthroughs in on-location, nighttime filming on the NYC streets.
**The Apartment ** (1960) – Big business booms in brand-new, triumphantly modern glass boxes, but alienated Manhattanites struggle to find friendship, love…
Moscow On the Hudson (1984) – Naive, exuberant Soviet sax musician (Robin Williams) defects at Sak’s, struggles economically, but makes city his home.
You’ve Got Mail – Hit the mattresses; big-box category-killer Gesellschaft vs. boutique-retail Gemeinschaft in the rapacious Trump/Guiliani era, and “selling” wins, with love ultimately reconciling lion and lamb (yeah, right).
**In America ** (2002) – Poor Irish immigrant family in NYC; both glamorous and gritty.
punk NYC:
**Smithereens ** – early-1980’s punk scene in Hell’s Kitchen & environs.
**Desperately Seeking Susan ** – similar to Smithereens: very bohemian, romantic, and somewhat menacing.
**After Hours ** – Yuppie gets stranded in SoHo after dark, and almost everyone’s a wackjob.
**Quick Change ** – Bill Murray, et al., can’t find their way out of NYC after their bank robbery.
A NYC state of mind:
Manhattan – Woody Allen’s B&W valentine to his town; or at least, his neighborhood in it.
**My Dinner With Andre ** – erudite, flaky windbag holds court over dinner for two; one famous vignette describes New Yorkers as the pomo residents of a concentration camp of their own making; they get as far as the G.W. Bridge, but can’t bring themselves to leave…