New York Magazine's 101 Best New York City Movies

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This list was released in 2021. Here's the introductory text:

What makes a great New York City movie? Not just a movie set in New York — there are plenty of those. We’re talking about a great New York City movie that transcends establishing shots and dodgy accents to immortalize something distinct about this place. The anxious pace of a weekday commute, the philharmonic overlapping of sidewalk talk, the sweaty jockeying for position on any square foot. Great New York City movies find beauty in the rot of Times Square and ugliness in the penthouses of Central Park West. Many reflect the perilous reality of living in Brooklyn today and the Bronx yesterday; others, the urbane fantasy. The best do both. In assembling this list of the greatest New York movies, we laid down a few ground rules: in the interest of fairness, a director could only be represented twice on the list; any selection had to take place mostly in New York City (even if it wasn’t shot in New York City); and, most important, it had to feel deliberately set in one of the five boroughs. Not just in any big city, but here.

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  1. 1 new

    25th Hour

    2002, in 7 top lists Check
  2. 2 new

    Dog Day Afternoon

    1975, in 23 top lists Check
  3. 3 new

    Sweet Smell of Success

    1957, in 20 top lists Check
  4. 4 new

    Taxi Driver

    1976, in 34 top lists Check
  5. 5 new

    Paris Is Burning

    1990, in 12 top lists Check
  6. 6 new

    The Apartment

    1960, in 28 top lists Check
  7. 7 new

    Crossing Delancey

    1988, in 0 top lists Check
  8. 8 new

    Moonstruck

    1987, in 10 top lists Check
  9. 9 new

    News from Home

    1976, in 7 top lists Check
  10. 10 new

    The Muppets Take Manhattan

    1984, in 0 top lists Check
  11. 11 new

    Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  12. 12 new

    Margaret

    2011, in 7 top lists Check
  13. 13 new

    The Godfather

    1972, in 42 top lists Check
  14. 14 new

    Parting Glances

    1986, in 1 top list Check
  15. 15 new

    An Unmarried Woman

    1978, in 2 top lists Check
  16. 16 new

    The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

    1974, in 6 top lists Check
  17. 17 new

    Inside Llewyn Davis

    2013, in 8 top lists Check
  18. 18 new

    Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

    1968, in 7 top lists Check
  19. 19 new

    Rosemary's Baby

    1968, in 21 top lists Check
  20. 20 new

    The Cool World

    1963, in 4 top lists Check
  21. 21 new

    Do the Right Thing

    1989, in 25 top lists Check
  22. 22 new

    Rear Window

    1954, in 31 top lists Check
  23. 23 new

    Miracle on 34th Street

    1947, in 7 top lists Check
  24. 24 new

    Carlito's Way

    1993, in 5 top lists Check
  25. 25 new

    Two Lovers

    2008, in 3 top lists Check
  26. 26 new

    Metropolitan

    1990, in 5 top lists Check
  27. 27 new

    Black Caesar

    1973 — a.k.a. The Godfather of Harlem, in 1 top list Check
  28. 28 new

    After Hours

    1985, in 7 top lists Check
  29. 29 new

    Once Upon a Time in America

    1984, in 19 top lists Check
  30. 30 new

    The Royal Tenenbaums

    2001, in 8 top lists Check
  31. 31 new

    American Psycho

    2000, in 12 top lists Check
  32. 32 new

    In Jackson Heights

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  33. 33 new

    The Crowd

    1928, in 20 top lists Check
  34. 34 new

    Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

    2018, in 21 top lists Check
  35. 35 new

    Smithereens

    1982, in 2 top lists Check
  36. 36 new

    Man Push Cart

    2005, in 3 top lists Check
  37. 37 new

    Love Is Strange

    2014, in 1 top list Check
  38. 38 new

    Klute

    1971, in 11 top lists Check
  39. 39 new

    Annie Hall

    1977, in 34 top lists Check
  40. 40 new

    Shadows

    1958, in 12 top lists Check
  41. 41 new

    Personal Problems

    1980, in 2 top lists Check
  42. 42 new

    Make Way for Tomorrow

    1937, in 16 top lists Check
  43. 43 new

    Light Sleeper

    1992, in 3 top lists Check
  44. 44 new

    The Producers

    1967, in 14 top lists Check
  45. 45 new

    Applause

    1929, in 4 top lists Check
  46. 46 new

    Mother of George

    2013, in 0 top lists Check
  47. 47 new

    I Shot Andy Warhol

    1996, in 0 top lists Check
  48. 48 new

    All That Jazz

    1979, in 19 top lists Check
  49. 49 new

    Girlfriends

    1978, in 6 top lists Check
  50. 50 new

    On the Town

    1949, in 10 top lists Check
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Last updated on Dec 7, 2021; source