A native Manhattanite's guide to all things Gotham and beyond.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Growing Up Gotham (I knew I wasnt the only one...)

Greetings and Salutations
This evening while dining at one of my favorite Manhattan spots- East- home of the never ending sushi conveyor belt (good sushi-great prices, bad service) on Third Avenue in Grammercy, I happened upon another borobred Manhattanite.
Marjorie, a recent law school grad (Congratulations!) was born and bred (and YES currently resides) in Greenwhich Village. I happen to strike up a conversation with her as she was sitting next to me at the sushi bar.
Over the course of some good sushi we had a great conversation about growing up borobred. It appears that Im not the only one who has had the same run-ins on vacations, and with transplants pretty much everywhere. We talked briefly about going to high school in NYC, and the passage of time in Gotham and how unique we are in general.
While I won't recap the entire conversation, I am not ashamed to admit that I felt a certain bit of kinship with her.

Now, as promised is my list of favorite films set in or about Manhattan, in no particular order:

Igby Goes Down
and
Kids- Have any two movies so perfectly described growing up gotham on both ends of the economic spectrum
Night Falls On Manhattan-Andy Gracia, Richard Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, and Ian Holm wrestle with law, justice, and morality in a corrupt world.
Night and the City- the consummate love letter to the village, by its most ubiquitous resident- Robert DeNiro- another borobred you may have heard of...
King Of New York-Abel Ferrara's masterpiece which had a star studded cast: Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi was the precursor to the next film (where Wesley Snipes swapped roles)
New Jack City- No explanation necessary
Manhattan, New York Stories, Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, Manhattan Murder Mystery and Mighty Aphrodite- Woody Allen's films are all masterworks, and truthfully I have trouble choosing between them so I will put most of them them on the list. (He also, I've heard is from these parts...)
When Harry Met Sally- The Casablanca of my generation
Carlito's Way- Al Pacino, John Leguizamo's breakthrough performance, Puerto Rican Gangsters, East Harlem in the 70's. Need I go on??
Serpico- Gritty view of police corruption. Has a scene in the French hospital where Yours Truly was born
Taxi Driver- "Are you talkin to me?"
Notable Mentions: Gangs of New York (automatically DQ'ed due to the DiCaprio factor) Sex and the City (I am a hetero), Mean Streets and The Pope of Greenwhich Village (too depressing and generally insulting to Italians)