The “Big Apple”, “City that never Sleeps” has been the background for many a films.
Not many cities have the same personality as New York. A concrete jungle, bustling and bursting with life and lives, New York is not only a enigmatic backdrop for filmmakers, but has a life of it’s own. Call it a paradise or a prison, the city never sleeps and movies from varying genres have been set in the Big Apple.
Without further ado, here’s a list of movies that are set in New York.
The Apartment
Filmed almost entirely inside an upper West Side apartment, this Billy Wilder classic is a raging evocation to the effects this city can have on people. The film focusses on climbing up the corporate ladder by turning an apartment into a place where bosses can have affairs. It had a great influence on Mad Men.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Iconic movie role by Audrey Hepburn in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is so New York. Getting out of a yellow cab, dressed in chicest of black sating Givenchy dress, pearl choker, eating a croissant and window shopping at Tiffany’s. Also, singing Moon River on her apartment fire escape window is classic.
West Side Story
It’s only normal for the Big Apple to be inspiration for musicals. Broadway screams New York and West Side Story is a modern-day love story between two from rival families. There’s choreography on the streets, fire escape and parking garages, brilliant musical scores and the film is a class of its own.
Home Alone: Lost in New York
We all love Kevin. This time he takes the wrong flight to New York. Ofcourse Kevin checks in The Plaza and fights off evil people. Kevin takes the yellow cab through the Queenboro Bridge, strolls through Central Park, visits though quintessential New York neighbourhoods, take off to Chinatown and everything New York has to offer.
Working Girl
Tess McGill is the working irl, working hard to ear her place at the top of a corporate ladder. Set in New York, in a competitive corporate world, Tess transforms into a man-eater with Balenciaga shoulder padded jackets,
Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese and Robert de Niro collab is about a reclusive taxi driver living in new York and the portrayal of the city isn’t as you expect. Even the opening narration is of the rain washing off garbage off the sidewalks. But it is realistic and de Niro is, as always, brilliant.
King Kong
The behemoth ape swinging at airplanes, while scaling the sides of the Empire State Building is a scene that has immortalized the film and the building. Of all of famous buildings that have ever appeared, this remains unforgettable.
