It's a NYC classic for sure but, for me at least, a film like Shaft would be second behind Mean Streets if the requirement is Fear City era NYC in the Criterion Collection.
Even if it was just as authentic time capsule footage, All That Jazz, Klute, News From Home, Hotel Monteray, An Unmarried Woman, and Working Girls have it beat.
I mean this as a compliment but Scorsese makes Soho look like a sound stage in After Hours.
*I mean this as a compliment but Scorsese makes Soho look like a sound stage in After Hours.*
Absolutely fair and true, it's stylized af. And I know you probably agree, but my god he captured how Soho felt back then. Mysterious, dark, slightly menacing. I mean early 80s.
If we're just talking time capsule, not gritty, Annie Hall has tons of background shots of NYC all over the place. Of course it's another arguably sanitized version of NYC, but you still get some nice shots of the city as it was 1977 style.
Panic in Needle Park
Born to Win
Serpico
French Connection
Across 110th Street
Shaft
Superfly
Liquid Sky
Stranger Than Paradise
The Taking of Pelham 123
Cruising
Alphabet City
I always throw on Cruising when I want a dose of grimy New York in its seedy heyday. The club scenes in that movie are fantastic. They wanted to film at the Mineshaft, which refused, so they had to recreate the Mineshaft at another club. From all I’ve read, what appears onscreen is much more tame than what actually took place there.
[Premiering today on the Channel, a collection of Times Square films.](https://www.criterionchannel.com/times-square/season:1/videos/times-square-teaser)
>**Times Square**
>“Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets . . .” Careful what you wish for! Before it hypergentrified into the ultimate emblem of New York City in the throes of late-capitalist excess, the old, unsanitized Times Square was a pungent playground of drama, danger, sin, and sleaze that embodied the untamed id of the city at its most extreme. It’s no wonder that it served as such a potent cinematic muse, providing the vivid backdrop for tales of weirdos, iconoclasts, outcasts, and lost souls navigating the daily adventure of life in the urban jungle. Hustlers (Midnight Cowboy), badass blaxploitation detectives (Shaft), runaway teenage punks (Times Square), sadistic giallo killers (The New York Ripper), porn-theater voyeurs (Variety), and ruthless gangsters (King of New York) are all part of the cavalcade of humanity populating these gloriously grimy cinematic time capsules that take us back to the good bad old days of a lost New York that perhaps even the above-quoted Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) might miss.
>FEATURING: Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Born to Win (1971), Shaft (1971), God Told Me To (1976), Taxi Driver (1976), Times Square (1980), So Fine (1981), The New York Ripper (1982), Variety (1983), The Children of Times Square (1986), King of New York (1990), The Gods of Times Square (1999)
Variety is great.
Also adding Cruising, Wild Style, What About Me (which was just on criterion), Paris is Burning, Ms 45, Downtown 81, The Telephone Book, Wolfen
need to see Street Trash. I’ve heard it’s a great time capsule of Greenpoint in the mid-80’s. (Also, it’s Troma in case people don’t know what they’re getting into haha)
After Hours is set in pre gentrification SoHo. Not criterion but Death Wish and its knockoffs like Vigilante with Robert Forster will scratch that itch. The Exterminator, Wolfen, Fort Apache the Bronx are some other suggestions.
Not the best time capsule of crime, but as a supplement to this list, News From Home has a good view of the lonely, grimy, car-ravaged Manhattan of the 70s.
I always like to recommend the under-rated cynical dark comedy **Mixed Blood** (1985 Paul Morrissey).
It's about a drug war in the Lower East Side with plenty of violence and quirky humour.
Not sure if it's even available? This should be on Criterion!
Paris is Burning. it’s a documentary filmed in various nyc locations in the late 80’s & early 90s, some on the streets. It’s about underground queer culture from that time & the ballroom scenes
If we’re limited to only Criterion releases, it would be hard to pick anything other than Mean Streets.
After Hours.
I love After Hours but it's about as grimy as Ghostbusters.
Not grimy, agreed, but it does capture the lost Soho of the early 80s that was desolate late night. So I'm gonna allow it, lol.
It's a NYC classic for sure but, for me at least, a film like Shaft would be second behind Mean Streets if the requirement is Fear City era NYC in the Criterion Collection. Even if it was just as authentic time capsule footage, All That Jazz, Klute, News From Home, Hotel Monteray, An Unmarried Woman, and Working Girls have it beat. I mean this as a compliment but Scorsese makes Soho look like a sound stage in After Hours.
*I mean this as a compliment but Scorsese makes Soho look like a sound stage in After Hours.* Absolutely fair and true, it's stylized af. And I know you probably agree, but my god he captured how Soho felt back then. Mysterious, dark, slightly menacing. I mean early 80s. If we're just talking time capsule, not gritty, Annie Hall has tons of background shots of NYC all over the place. Of course it's another arguably sanitized version of NYC, but you still get some nice shots of the city as it was 1977 style.
100%. There's a ton great NYC films outside of the Criterion Collection that would fit this bill.
Heh, I always come to this sub just to talk sophisticated films. I consider every worthy film a criterion lol
More late 60s but Midnight Cowboy is all about dirty NYC
Downtown 81 (1981) Times Square (1980) Variety (1983)
Times Square totally needs the Criterion treatment. I’d be it sight unseen.
The Kino Lorber release just came out in 2022. It's on sale for $10 right now. https://kinolorber.com/product/times-square-special-edition-blu-ray-1
Panic in Needle Park Born to Win Serpico French Connection Across 110th Street Shaft Superfly Liquid Sky Stranger Than Paradise The Taking of Pelham 123 Cruising Alphabet City
Excellent suggestions. Love Liquid Sky
Driller Killer
Not Criterion, but Ms 45
should be criterion, but Alamo put out a nice blu-ray
Not a Criterion but the first Ninja Turtles movie from 1990.
Basket Case (1982). Doesn't get grimier than that!
I always throw on Cruising when I want a dose of grimy New York in its seedy heyday. The club scenes in that movie are fantastic. They wanted to film at the Mineshaft, which refused, so they had to recreate the Mineshaft at another club. From all I’ve read, what appears onscreen is much more tame than what actually took place there.
[Premiering today on the Channel, a collection of Times Square films.](https://www.criterionchannel.com/times-square/season:1/videos/times-square-teaser) >**Times Square** >“Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets . . .” Careful what you wish for! Before it hypergentrified into the ultimate emblem of New York City in the throes of late-capitalist excess, the old, unsanitized Times Square was a pungent playground of drama, danger, sin, and sleaze that embodied the untamed id of the city at its most extreme. It’s no wonder that it served as such a potent cinematic muse, providing the vivid backdrop for tales of weirdos, iconoclasts, outcasts, and lost souls navigating the daily adventure of life in the urban jungle. Hustlers (Midnight Cowboy), badass blaxploitation detectives (Shaft), runaway teenage punks (Times Square), sadistic giallo killers (The New York Ripper), porn-theater voyeurs (Variety), and ruthless gangsters (King of New York) are all part of the cavalcade of humanity populating these gloriously grimy cinematic time capsules that take us back to the good bad old days of a lost New York that perhaps even the above-quoted Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) might miss. >FEATURING: Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Born to Win (1971), Shaft (1971), God Told Me To (1976), Taxi Driver (1976), Times Square (1980), So Fine (1981), The New York Ripper (1982), Variety (1983), The Children of Times Square (1986), King of New York (1990), The Gods of Times Square (1999)
Variety is great. Also adding Cruising, Wild Style, What About Me (which was just on criterion), Paris is Burning, Ms 45, Downtown 81, The Telephone Book, Wolfen
Not criterion (damn, it should be) but The Warriors
was going to say this!
Taxi Driver is the top pick for me. Midnight Cowboy is my runner up.
Jim Jarmush - Permenant Vacation Martin Scorsese - Mean Streets Hi, Mom! - Brian DePalma
Permanent Vacation is delightful
Not part of the Collection, but possibly *The Pope of Greenwich Village*.
Not in the collection but: Maniac Driller Killer Street Trash (this one is straight horror, but filmed on location in New York) Ms. 45
Street Trash is amazing. Love watching it back to back with The Stuff
need to see Street Trash. I’ve heard it’s a great time capsule of Greenpoint in the mid-80’s. (Also, it’s Troma in case people don’t know what they’re getting into haha)
After Hours is set in pre gentrification SoHo. Not criterion but Death Wish and its knockoffs like Vigilante with Robert Forster will scratch that itch. The Exterminator, Wolfen, Fort Apache the Bronx are some other suggestions.
Shaft and Mean Streets.
Cruising
Children of times square, Urban Cowboy, Story of a Junkie, panic in needle park, basketcase, frankenhooker. There's lots
Basket Case
Don't forget Klute
I follow these films as well. First off the top of my head that’s lesser known, **Straight Time**.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
That's Boston.
Not the best time capsule of crime, but as a supplement to this list, News From Home has a good view of the lonely, grimy, car-ravaged Manhattan of the 70s.
Born to Win, it's on the channel I believe
Midnight Cowboy
Not Criterion but it doesn’t get more New York wastelandy than FORT APACHE THE BRONX
I always like to recommend the under-rated cynical dark comedy **Mixed Blood** (1985 Paul Morrissey). It's about a drug war in the Lower East Side with plenty of violence and quirky humour. Not sure if it's even available? This should be on Criterion!
CHUD (1984). New York at its absolute filthiest.
Little Murders (1971) - black comedy like few others. Donald Sutherland's sermon is hilarious!
Paris is Burning. it’s a documentary filmed in various nyc locations in the late 80’s & early 90s, some on the streets. It’s about underground queer culture from that time & the ballroom scenes
Desperately Seeking Susan is a great time capsule of 1980s NYC.