The 30 Best New York Movies, Ranked

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.

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30. Escape From New York

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Nostalgia King

Released: 1981

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Directed By: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russel

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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?'”

 

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29. Shadows

New York Movies
Photo Credit: Vague Visages

Released: 1959

Directed By: John Cassavetes

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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’.”

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28. King Kong

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Boston Hassle

Released: 1933

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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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: The Dissolve

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Sky

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Rolling Stone

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Rotten Tomatoes

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Haute Living

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Film Society Lincoln Center

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Racked

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Letterboxd

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Music Box Theater

Released: 1989

Directed By: Rob Reiner

Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan

Most Memorable Line: “I’ll have what she’s having.”

 

16. Rear Window

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Collider

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Film Society of Lincoln Center

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: The Toronto Star

Released: 1977

Directed By: John Badham

Starring: John Travolta

Most Memorable Line: literally any song by the Bee Gees

 

12. Gangs of New York

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Firmex

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Showbiz 411

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

Best new York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Biography

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Variety

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

Best NewYork Movies
Photo Credit: TIME

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Manhattan (1979)

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

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Mental Floss

Released: 1975

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale

Most Memorable Line: “Attica! Attica!”

 

2. Taxi Driver

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Letterboxd

Released: 1976

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster

Most Memorable Line: “You talkin to me?”

 

1. Do The Right Thing

Best New York Movies
Photo Credit: Brooklyn Mag

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.”

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