Many a film has been set in NYC, but none so great as these.
From city-defining oldies to instant classics, here’s UrbanMatter’s definitive ranking of the best New York movies.
30. Escape From New York
Released: 1981
Directed By: John Carpenter
Starring: Kurt Russel
Most Memorable Line: “Hauk: ‘There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board.’ Snake Plissken: ‘The president of what?'”
29. Shadows
Released: 1959
Directed By: John Cassavetes
Starring: Ben Carruthers, Leila Goldoni
Most Memorable Line: “The trouble with you is, you have a case of self-induced hysteria every time you hear the word ‘existentialism’.”
28. King Kong
Released: 1933
Directed By: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Starring: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong
Most Memorable Line: “Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.”
27. 25th Hour
Released: 2002
Directed By: Spike Lee
Starring: Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Most Memorable Line: “No. No, f**k you, Montgomery Brogan. You had it all, and you threw it away, you dumb f**k!”
26. Big
Released: 1988
Directed By: Penny Marshall
Starring: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins
Most Memorable Line: “The space goes down, down baby, down, down the roller coaster. Sweet, sweet baby, sweet, sweet, don’t let me go. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock. Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock.”
25. Serpico
Released: 1973
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Al Pacino
Most Memorable Line: “You know what they say, don’t you? If you love a man’s garden, you gotta love the man!”
24. American Psycho
Released: 2000
Directed By: Mary Harron
Starring: Christian Bale
Most Memorable Line: “I can’t believe that Bryce prefers Van Patten’s card to mine. Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God; It even has a watermark.”
23. Once Upon a Time in America
Released: 1984
Directed By: Sergio Leone
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods
Most Memorable Line: “You see, Mr Secretary… I have a story also, a little simpler than yours. Many years ago, I had a friend, a dear friend. I turned him in to save his life, but he was killed. But he wanted it that way. It was a great friendship. But it went bad for him, and it went bad for me too. Good night, Mr Bailey.”
22. Ghostbusters
Released: 1984
Directed By: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd Sigourney Weaver
Most Memorable Line: “Who ya gonna call?”
21. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Released: 1961
Directed By: Blake Edwards
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard
Most Memorable Line: “No. People don’t belong to people.”
20. The French Connection
Released: 1971
Directed By: William Friedkin
Starring: Gene Hackman
Most Memorable Line: “When’s the last time you picked your feet, Willy? Who’s your connection, Willy? What’s his name? I’ve got a man in Poughkeepsie who wants to talk to you. You ever been to Poughkeepsie?”
19. The Devil Wears Prada
Released: 2006
Directed By: David Frankel
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci
Most Memorable Line: “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.”
18. Requiem For a Dream
Released: 2000
Directed By: Darren Arronofsky
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto
Most Memorable Line: “I love you, Harry. You make me feel like a person. Like I’m me… and I’m beautiful.”
17. When Harry Met Sally
Released: 1989
Directed By: Rob Reiner
Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan
Most Memorable Line: “I’ll have what she’s having.”
16. Rear Window
Released: 1954
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly
Most Memorable Line: “Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.”
15. A Bronx Tale
Released: 1993
Directed By: Robert De Niro
Starring: Robert De Niro
Most Memorable Line: “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.”
14. Mean Streets
Released: 1973
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel
Most Memorable Line: “You don’t make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it.”
13. Saturday Night Fever
Released: 1977
Directed By: John Badham
Starring: John Travolta
Most Memorable Line: literally any song by the Bee Gees
12. Gangs of New York
Released: 2002
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Daniel Day Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz
Most Memorable Line: “When you kill a king, you don’t stab him in the dark. You kill him where the entire court can watch him die.”
11. Wall Street
Released: 1987
Directed By: Oliver Stone
Starring: Michael Douglass, Charlie Sheen
Most Memorable Line: “The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”
10. West Side Story
Released: 1961
Directed By: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Starring: Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Richard Beymer
Most Memorable Line: “I feel pretty, oh so pretty! I feel pretty, and witty, and gay!”
9. Midnight Cowboy
Released: 1969
Directed By: John Schlesinger
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Most Memorable Line: “I’m walking here! I’m walking here!”
8. Hannah and Her Sisters
Released: 1986
Directed By: Woody Allen
Starring: Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Michael Crain
Most Memorable Line: “For all my education, accomplishments and so-called wisdom, I can’t fathom my own heart.”
7. GoodFellas
Released: 1990
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesce, Ray Liotta
Most Memorable Line: “I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to f**kin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?”
6. Annie Hall
Released: 1977
Directed By: Woody Allen
Starring: Diane Keaton
Most Memorable Line: “Love is too weak a word for what I feel – I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F’s, yes I have to invent, of course I – I do, don’t you think I do?”
5. The Godfather
Released: 1972
Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Marlon Brando
Most Memorable Line: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
4. Manhattan
Released: 1979
Directed By: Woody Allen
Starring: Diane Keaton
Most Memorable Line: “My analyst warned me, but you were so beautiful I got another analyst.”
3. Dog Day Afternoon
Released: 1975
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale
Most Memorable Line: “Attica! Attica!”
2. Taxi Driver
Released: 1976
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster
Most Memorable Line: “You talkin to me?”
1. Do The Right Thing
Released: 1999
Directed By: Spike Lee
Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
Most Memorable Line: “Let me tell you the story of Right Hand, Left Hand. It’s a tale of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cain iced his brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is finished. But hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes, now, that’s right. Ooh, it’s a devastating right and Hate is hurt, he’s down. Left-Hand Hate KOed by Love.”
