New York is a very iconic location, so it comes as no surprise that for countless films, it has been chosen as the ideal shooting location. With its tall skyscrapers, lush parks, and gorgeous historic streets, the city is becoming a symbol in itself. On our list today, we list films filmed in New York that show the city in all its vibrant glory.
The Fisher King
Everything is in a mess here – in Terry Gilliam’s eccentric way. There are real and funny moments and The Fisher King drifts off again and again. Anywhere. There’s the holy grail, homeless, action, dance, and love. Jeff Bridges plays Jack, a radio presenter who is responsible for one of his listeners running amok. Thereupon Jack quits his job, devastated. He falls into a long, drunk dream until he is released by the homeless Parry (Robin Williams). Parry believes the holy grail is in the possession of a Manhattan billionaire and that they could get him. In other words, there are two heroes who need to be redeemed.
In addition, two women who need love: Anne (Mercedes Ruehl) and Parry’s dream woman Lydia (Amanda Plummer). Everything is very charming, funny, and original. However, you have to be prepared for arbitrary phrases all the time. Another highlight, another revelation – and then the film simply throws the material away again. Fantasy becomes reality in The Fisher King. The storyline with the Holy Grail can serve as an example of how arbitrarily the film is structured: First, we ask ourselves whether the Grail even exists – and later whether the Grail plays a role. There are also two women who need love: Anne (Mercedes Ruehl) and Parry’s dream girl Lydia (Amanda Plummer). All this happens in a very charming, funny, and original way. However, you always have to be prepared for arbitrary twists and turns. One more climax, one more revelation – and then the movie just throws the material away again.
In The Fisher King fantasy becomes reality. The plotline with the Holy Grail, however, may serve as an example of how arbitrarily the film is constructed: First we ask ourselves whether the Grail exists at all – and later, whether the Grail plays a role. And Robin Williams? He seems to improvise and sometimes you get the impression that he is swimming freely. Does he follow a script or are these spontaneous ideas? Jeff Bridges’ character goes through a lot.
The sardonic radio host blames himself for someone else’s death and gets drunk. A homeless person would be a nice way to put him out of his misery. But then he recovers and experiences a trip full of romance, slapstick, and suspense. Anyway, The Fisher King is definitely a movie that doesn’t want to leave anything out.
Leon: The Professional
The professional killer Léon (Jean Reno) leads a lonely and largely isolated life without any social ties worth mentioning. There are only two exceptions to his tough business – he will never kill women or children. When one day the neighbor girl Mathilda (Natalie Portman) has to experience how her entire family is wiped out by a murderer, the traumatized twelve-year-old looks for shelter with Léon and finds out what bloody profession the taciturn man is doing.
Inspired by the desire for revenge for her four-year-old brother – she doesn’t care about the rest of her family – Mathilda urges the reluctant hired man to help her find the man who stole her brother.
At first, Léon refuses, but step by step the pretty girl softens his heart, and something like love almost develops between the two, which is only prevented by Mathilda’s age. The emerging feelings make the otherwise tough murderer soft, vulnerable, and ultimately even vulnerable…
Barefoot in the Park
Robert Redford plays the correct, solid, and new husband Paul. Jane Fonda, as his wife Corie, has made fun and enjoyment one of her life principles. After the stormy honeymoon, real married life begins. A “comedic disagreement” develops from the intimate togetherness. Five floors without a lift are the smallest problem.
The mother-in-law, who has suddenly become young again, and the flirting, self-centered neighbor are more likely to put young happiness to the test. And that’s how all the trouble arises in the marital paradise.
Birth
It’s been ten years since Anna (Nicole Kidman) had to mourn the sudden death of her husband. In the meantime, she left the grief behind and tried to lead a normal life again. She lives in New York with her pregnant sister Laura (Alison Elliott) and her mother Eleanor (Lauren Bacall). With the charming Joseph (Danny Huston), she has gotten involved with a man again, and both are about to get married. But one day she meets a mysterious boy named Sean (Cameron Bright). He claims to be the reincarnation of her late husband …
The Manchurian Candidate
Infantry soldier Raymond Shaw (L. Harvey) is captured and brainwashed with his entire unit during the Korean War. After his release, he is a mindless robot in the service of communist agents. Shaw returns to the United States and works as a journalist. But his former superior in the army, Lieutenant Bennett Marco (F.Sinatra), finds Shaw’s behavior suspicious and wants to know more about his former protégé.
When he learns that Shaw’s mother (A.Lansbury) has married an anti-communist senator who is running for the presidential election, Lieutenant Marco finally realizes the danger Shaw poses. But it is too late. During a political gathering, Shaw shoots his mother, murders his stepfather, and then takes his own life …
The Apartment
Over the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve, there is a deep gulf of melancholy between those who have found a place to stay and those who don’t. This is exactly where Billy Wilder’s The Apartment draws its charm. It plays during the season when the days are short and the streets are cold. After work, some can go home to their families, while others don’t even have a Christmas tree. Perhaps it is so that these lonely people become aware, especially on Christmas night, that something has been stolen from them that they have been attached to since childhood … Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter is such a lonely person.
The irony of fate: His single apartment is not always free, because there he allows his superiors from the company to have fun with their love affairs (equivalent: promotion). While his neighbor thinks Mr. Mixter is a tireless lover, he walks up and down the sidewalk and looks up at his lighted apartment. When Billy Wilder’s drama hit the cinema in 1961, the phrase “organized man” was still known. Baxter is one of them; a small wheel that is swallowed up every day at the same time by a large soulless company as a worker. He has no wife and no family. One day, however, he takes to heart and asks the “lift girl” Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) from his company out on a date. Unfortunately, she is the mistress of the boss Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray). He is married and promises to get a divorce soon …
Wolfen
A series of brutal murders in Central Park puzzle the New York police. The victims were not only murdered, but their bodies were literally torn to shreds. Including magnate Christopher Van der Veer (Max Brown) and his wife Pauline (Anne Marie Pohtamo).
The police initially assume a terrorist attack, but the investigation leads the officials under the leadership of NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) to an old Indian tribe. Because the tribe members supposedly have the power to take on animal form through spiritual ceremonies in order to protect their country from threats. With the help of the criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora), the police are trying to reconstruct the true events – or are the stories of the voodoo priests true?
Marathon Man
Thomas Babington Levy (Dustin Hoffman) – “Babe” – is a history student. His dissertation, which he is currently working on, deals with the McCarthy era. His father (Allen Joseph) committed suicide when he could no longer endure the persecution and humiliation by the so-called “Committee against Un-American Activities”. Babe runs a marathon, every day he practices in Central Park and does his laps along the famous lattice of the lake.
More or less by chance, Babe becomes involved in a story in which his older brother Henry (Roy Scheider), called Doc, plays a not inconsiderable role. Doc always told Babe that he worked for an industrial company, but in reality, he works for a special unit of the CIA – which Babe should find out soon …
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
John McClane (Bruce Willis) is used to fate playing badly with him, but now he’s really finished: his wife has left him, his boss has suspended him and a madman named Simon (Jeremy Irons) is making fun of it to send him on a macabre scavenger hunt across New York. The terrorist threatens to blow up a school if McClane fails to solve his riddles. His first assignment takes him to the Harlem ghetto, where he is supposed to present himself with a sign saying “I hate niggers”.
As expected, he did not get any applause from the residents but immediately got into trouble. The black shop owner Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) comes to the aid of the police officer and is unceremoniously put to McClane’s side as an involuntary helper. Simon takes great pleasure in rushing his partners through the city against their will and giving them impossible tasks …Ball of Fire (1941)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Mel and Edna – a middle-class, middle-aged, and moderately happy couple – live in a Manhattan apartment. The constant noise of the neighbors, the over-helpful relatives, and over-punctual bus drivers take Mel’s last nerve. When he then loses his job and is robbed, he almost goes mad.
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